063 | How To Master Remote Hiring So You Can Manage Your Time & Find Top Talent Faster

Are your hiring decisions costing you time and money? 

The truth is, building a high-performing hybrid team is the key to saving resources and boosting productivity. When you bring the right people on board, you’ll not only prevent costly communication breakdowns but also create a cohesive team that collaborates effortlessly—even across time zones.

In this episode, I’m breaking down 6 strategies to hire smarter, foster a culture of collaboration, and boost your team’s efficiency. You’ll learn how to prevent turnover, improve client relationships, and unlock your team’s hidden potential using my secret weapon: the People Reading Guide. 

If you're ready to stop micromanaging and start growing your business, this episode is your game-changer.

In this episode, you’ll learn

• How to hire the right people for your hybrid team without wasting time or money. 
• The six step strategy for building a high performing remote team. 
• Leveraging the People Reading Guide to increase team productivity.

This episode at a glance:

[2:15] - Reflecting on how the pandemic changed the workplace permanently

[8:45] - Six reasons hiring right is the foundation for team success

[12:12] - How to ensure effective communication in a remote work environment

[20:05] - An example of how the "People Reading Guide" helped a consultancy improve team dynamics

Resources and Links mentioned in this episode

• Free Range Thinking
• Dawn Andrews
• People Reading Guide
• Join the Female Founder Society
• Visit our website

You might also like:

• 8 Strategies for Niche-Bound Businesses
• Crafting Your Business Identity and Personal Branding
• 3 Ways To Set Focused Goals For Intentional, Sustainable Business Growth

More about the “My Good Woman” podcast

My Good Woman is a podcast for new and future female leaders, hosted by me, Dawn Andrews, founder of Free Range Thinking, "My Good Woman" is for new and aspiring female leaders. Join me each week for candid chats with trailblazing women breaking barriers and leading impactful businesses. We dive into what drives them and share practical tips to help you streamline

Want to increase revenue and impact? Listen to “My Good Woman” for insights on business strategy and female leadership to scale your business. Each episode offers advice on effective communication, team building, and management. Learn to master routines and systems to boost productivity and prevent burnout. Our delegation tips and business consulting will advance your executive leadership skills and presence.

Transcript

My Good Woman
Ep. 63 |  How To Master Remote Hiring So You Can Manage Your Time & Find Top Talent Faster

Dawn Andrews:

Hiring isn't just about filling a role. It's about building a team that collaborates, innovates and saves you time and money in the long run. 

Hey, Hey, hey, welcome to another episode. This is the podcast where we empower consultants and founders of service-based businesses. To lead with ease and joy. I am your host, Dawn Andrews And today we're diving into a topic that's as crucial as your morning coffee. 

Today's topic is hiring well to enhance teamwork and collaboration in these hybrid work times. As we continue to adapt to this post pandemic world. The way we build and manage our teams has changed. But with change comes opportunity, the opportunity to boost productivity, to improve team dynamics and save both time and money. 

In this episode, you'll learn how hiring the right people can be the secret sauce to creating a cohesive efficient team that thrives in remote and hybrid settings. The six step strategy for building a high performing remote team. And I'll introduce you to the people reader, the ultimate guide to preventing communication breakdowns in hybrid teams. 

So grab your notepad and let's get started. 

The first thing I want to talk about is the pandemic. We're four years past it, you say. Life has returned to normal. You say. Has it? I mean, really? I think we're just starting to truly feel and deal with the effects of that collective experience. 

For real, it turned our work lives upside down. It forced us into remote and hybrid models almost overnight. Many people left the workforce altogether, especially women. Many people relocated to other states and it permanently changed the way we look at how work gets done. 

According to a recent report by intuition, prior to the pandemic 30% of employees worked remotely compared to 48% now. And post pandemic, 62% of employees expect their companies to keep their work from home policies. And well, this offers flexibility, it also presents ongoing challenges, especially in terms of communication and collaboration, and even hiring. When teams are scattered across different locations, poor communication can lead to costly errors and inefficiencies. 

A recent study by SHRM found that miscommunication alone costs companies with a hundred employees, an average of $420,000 a year. Now, depending upon the kind of company that you own. What kind of head count could that potentially be or savings or reinvestment into innovation? That is a lot of money slipping through the cracks. Because of something as simple as not understanding one another. 

And I would even argue, that miscommunication may not cost that high of a dollar amount for smaller organizations. But it has an even greater impact. So why does hiring well matter? Hiring well is crucial for any business because every business is just people. But it's especially crucial for consulting and service-based businesses that operate largely remotely. 

Remote consulting businesses face unique challenges in communication collaboration, and maintaining a strong company culture. Because not only are you operating the business and needing to communicate among the team, you also are communicating across multiple projects and people. which makes the right hiring decisions essential for success. 

Here are six reasons why hiring well, really matters for our service-based businesses. 

One hiring well, insurers effective communication. 

In a remote setup, clear communication obviously is important because miscommunication leads to project delays. Misunderstandings, which usually leads to decreased client satisfaction, which is going to affect your bottom line. And your ability to get repeat work and referrals. So if you hire people with excellent communication skills, it ensures that they can articulate their ideas. Clearly they can ask great questions and provide concise updates, which helps keep things clear across projects and minimizes errors.

Another reason hiring well matters for our type of business, is fostering collaboration. 

Remote teams have to collaborate effectively. Across time zones, digital platforms, and without face-to-face interaction and a water cooler moment, building a collaborative environment can be really challenging. Being able to hire team members who are already comfortable using collaboration tools like Slack, Trello, zoom. And who have experience working in remote settings also helps foster teamwork. 

And you can find candidates who demonstrate that adaptability and bake it into your hiring process. That way you'll know, they have a willingness to engage in collaborative efforts, even virtually. And after the pandemic, so many people have these skills. 

And the third reason hiring well matters is productivity and efficiency. 

In a remote environment, monitoring productivity and holding people accountable can be really challenging. Team members need to be self motivated and disciplined. And when you hire people who have a proven track record of managing their time effectively and working independently, it ensures that projects stay on track. 

People that work remotely need to be proactive and capable of delivering results without constant supervision. We're halfway through why this matters and already in these first three examples, there are so many things that you can pull into your job postings. And into your hiring questions and requirements. So listen ahead for the next three, we're reworking your remote hiring process.

Another reason is enhancing client relationships. 

In consulting and service-based businesses relationships are everything. Because your business success and growth relies on repeat engagements and referrals. So when you hire people who excel in client interactions and relationship management, it means your team can maintain high levels of client satisfaction. 

These employees who are empathetic, attentive, and responsive. They can help strengthen that client trust and loyalty that you need to maintain a strong foundation for your business. 

Another reason that hiring well remotely matters is so that you can cultivate a strong company culture. 

When you're all spread out most teams struggle to build a cohesive company culture without the benefit of in-person interactions. So you want to hire people who already align with the company's values and culture. So that you can maintain a sense of unity and belonging. 

There's already that shared foundation, maybe even a common language. And you're looking for candidates who are not only skilled, but share the vision for your company and are enthusiastic about contributing to a positive remote work culture. 

I'm calling all of these things out and we've got one more. Because I really want you to understand that what I'm seeing in the coaching and consulting that I'm doing with companies who are struggling with some of these things, is that we changed rapidly. 

In terms of our geography, we were in the office and then we were out of the office. But we still are dealing with the reverberations of changing how we hire and connect with people to fill these remote work positions. And chances are, you haven't gone back and reviewed how you do what you do. So that it accounts for people working remotely. Let me give you the last one. 

Hiring people who can adapt to technological tools. 

Obviously remote work relies heavily on technology. Team members need to be adept at using so many digital tools to perform their roles effectively. From a business perspective, depending upon your budget, you may be responsible for providing them with high speed internet or with quality laptops or things like that. 

But if you're a smaller business that may not be within your budget. So when you're hiring remotely, you want to make sure that your people are tech savvy. That if something goes down, they're not sitting, waiting for an IT professional to help them out. They have to be able to be proactive. To make sure that they can still do their jobs job's well with the technology that they have available. 

You want to hire people who can quickly adapt to new software and platforms so that your team can operate smoothly. Especially with the inception of AI. There's so much changing quickly, you want to find people that not only have that adaptability, but also that curiosity. And willingness to learn new things because it reduces the learning curve and if the learning curve is reduced, it's increasing overall efficiency. 

 And here's a bonus one. Which should be obvious, but let's just call it out. When you hire well for remote workers, you reduce your turnover rates. And those can be costly financially. They can cost you in terms of productivity. They cost you in terms of culture. And they cost you in terms of finding and training new employees, which takes your time and resources.

If you hire the right fit from the beginning, it helps reduce that turnover. By ensuring that new team members are satisfied and engaged in their roles. And employees who feel connected to your long-term mission are really well-suited to that remote work and more likely to stay in the longterm. For consulting businesses that operate remotely hiring well is not just nice to have it is really important. It is a foundational component of your success.

And here's your shopping list, you want individuals who are skilled communicators, collaborative, self-motivated, and culturally aligned. And with those people, you can build a strong, efficient team that thrives in a remote environment. This leads to improved outcomes for your clients, better team performance, and a sustainable growable business model in this rapidly changing digital age.

I'm going to give you a quick example, a while back I was working with Sarah who had a small growing consultancy and her hybrid team was struggling. Communication was choppy. Deadlines and accountability slipped. And everyone seemed like they were overwhelmed and overworked. After talking through her challenges, it became clear that the problem wasn't the work itself, it was the way her team was interacting and how well they fit into their roles.

I introduced Sarah to the people reading guide. It is a tool designed to help leaders understand the unique strengths and working styles of their team members. By diving a little deeper into each person's communication preferences, how they solved problems, their adaptability, she was able to realign her team. 

She was also able to make smarter hiring decisions moving forward, because she learned how to empower her existing team to work more efficiently. And within a month of using the people reading guide she reported that her team improved productivity by 20%, which is great. And they were also more engaged and collaborative than they were before. 

I think this is the biggest win. She felt like she'd gotten back hours of her day because she was spending less time managing crisis and more time focusing on business growth. If you would like to unlock the hidden potential in your team, the people reading guide can be your secret weapon too. 

It's a game changer for understanding your team's dynamics. And it could be the key to saving both time and money in working with the team you have and building a powerhouse hybrid team moving forward. 

 So what are our takeaways today? First hiring the right people is crucial for building a high performing hybrid team. And having that high performing team will save you time and money. We also talked about how collaboration in remote settings is is essential for Long-term success and efficiency. And finally The People Reading Guide can be your secret weapon to unlocking your team's potential. 

Let's recap. By understanding the impact of the pandemic, implementing strategic hiring practices, and fostering collaboration you can transform your hybrid team into a cohesive and efficient powerhouse. The investment of time and money that you will make in hiring well, will pay off exponentially through improved team culture and reduced costs.

If you're ready to unlock your team's full potential and save resources. Download The People Reading Guide the ultimate guide to preventing communication breakdowns in hybrid teams. Grab it now so that you can better understand your people and transform your leadership style. 

And if you enjoy today's episode, please subscribe. Leave a review and share it with fellow business leaders who are building and managing hybrid teams. For more insights visit dawnandrews.com and join our community of forward-thinking leaders in the female founder society. All links are in the show notes. Thanks for tuning in, until next time, keep rocking your business and living your best life. I'm Dawn Andrews. And this is the, my good woman podcast. Have a fabulous day.

If you found today's episode valuable, please share it with fellow business owners who might benefit. And don't forget to subscribe to My Good Woman for more insights and strategies to help you transform from founder to confident CEO. Until next time, keep striving, thriving, and staying impactful. I'm Dawn Andrews, and this has been My Good Woman, business strategy and time management for impactful female leaders.

See you next time.