The Problem
You're managing a team in a fully-remote environment. You provide instructions, tell them the context and objectives, and make sure they understand what they need to do. You agree to next steps, and then...you wait.
And wait.
And it feels like you're just waiting for something to happen with little or no communication.
The Real Problem
This isn't about remote work or management being inherently harder. It's about two invisible things that being in the office masked or took for granted: missing communication structures and underdeveloped ownership mindsets. When everyone is in the same room, you get updates almost by osmosis, just by sheer virtue of being in the area through hallway conversations and visual cues. You take those stimuli out of the equation, and the gaps become glaring.
Many managers think remote work requires LESS structure because "people are adults" and "we trust them to manage their time". While that should be true, and mostly is, here's what's actually happening:
Your team doesn't know how to communicate without you asking.
They're completing tasks but not taking ownership of outcomes. They wait for direction instead of flagging problems. The uncomfortable truth is that remote work didn't create these problems, it just revealed them. Your team doesn't suddenly lose communication skills. They just lost the crutch of physical closeness that was covering up a lack of proactive behaviour.
Why This Happens
The root cause isn't what you think. It's not "remote work culture" or "Zoom fatigue". It's that most teams operate without 3 key foundations:
- Common structure - In-office teams get away with informal or ad-hoc updates because they happen naturally. Remote teams need explicit structures like daily standups, weekly meetings, public communication channels, or communication doesn't happen without someone initiating it intentionally.
- Task-completer mindset vs. problem-solve mindset - Many people were hired and trained to complete specifically assigned tasks, not own outcomes. When they finish a task and hit a block, they wait for you to notice instead of proactively flagging it.
- Invisible urgency - In an office, you see your coworkers hustling and moving with energy. The momentum of other people creates natural urgency. At home, without the visible cues, people lose the responsiveness and tempo that could come by default in the office.
What To Do Instead
Step 1: Create Communications Structures
Stop hoping communication happens organically. Build the infrastructure for it. Include daily asynchronous standups (everyone posts what they did yesterday, what they're doing today, any blockers) - this takes 2 minutes and creates visibility. Set up a weekly team sync of 30 minutes for connection and problem-solving, not status updates (that's what the standups are for). Create channels that are public by default and enforce it as a rule - all work discussions happen in shared channels unless genuinely private, helping to reduce information silos.
Step 2: Set Explicit Ownership Expectations
In your next team meeting, say that you need 3 things from everyone going forward: First, proactive updates to you when a task is complete. Second, if they hit a blocker, flag it immediately and don't wait for the next check-in. Third, if they see a problem to bring you a solution as well, not just the issue. These things seem obvious, but most managers never say it explicitly. Your team aren't mind readers. You need to tell them what ownership looks like.
Step 3: Coach Self-Direction Behaviours
When someone waits for you to check in, don't just answer their question. Coach the behaviour so that, in the future, when something similar happens, you want them to just do the action you said rather than waiting for you. They don't need to wait for you. Make sure you follow up to make sure they understand and that it makes sense. Self-direction is a skill that needs to be taught, modelled, and reinforced.
Step 4: Build Healthy Urgency
Create urgency without burnout by making priorities transparent. Start each week by sharing the top 3 priorities, then set a response time expectation. For example, you could have a response window of X hours during the work day for items that are marked URGENT. When people know what is urgent and what isn't, they can match their responsiveness appropriately.
What Most People Get Wrong
- Assuming that remote work is the problem. It's not. The problem is lack of structure and underdeveloped ownership skills.
- Micromanagement to compensate. This creates dependency, not self-direction.
- Hoping culture will fix itself. It won't. Communication and ownership require explicit systems and coaching.
Instead, build communication infrastructure, set clear expectations, and coach proactive behaviours.
The Bottom Line
If your remote team feels like you're always waiting for a reply, you don't have a remote work problem, you have a communication structure problem and an ownership mentality problem. The fix isn't bringing people back to the office. It's installing the systems and coaching the skills that make any team, remote or not, high-performing.
Great teams, including remote teams, aren't accidents. They're built on visible structures and cultivated behaviours.