How to measure your remote working skills and succeed in 2023 and beyond

Image credit: Ian MacRae / Midjourney.

Latest guest article by Ian MacRae 

Future skills are remote working skills

Remote work is here to stay and the jobs market is gradually shifting to more remote and hybrid jobs. Remote working skills are essential for success as more jobs become less dependent on physical offices. The shift is likely to happen fastest and smaller companies and startups, while larger companies with long-term leases and commitments to working in physical spaces shift more slowly.

How to measure your remote working skills and succeed in 2023

As of 2023, approximately 13% of full-time employees work from home and 28% have a hybrid working arrangement, with at least some of their time spent working remotely. By 2025 the number of full-time remote workers is predicted to rise to 22%. The vast majority of people also prefer flexible working arrangements. When workers are offered flexibility in their work, 87% of them accept it.

Measurement for improvement

Remote work requires a new set of skills that are required for both short- and long-term success. Some workplace skills transfer directly to remote working environments, while others will take some time and practice to master. Measuring and understanding your own skillset is a good place to start: When you know what you’re good at, you can use those skills to your advantage. For example, if you’re a great communicator, you can use to learn from other people more quickly. If you’re organized, you can use that skill to manage your time and workload effectively.

Once you know your strengths, you can also identify areas where you could improve. If you struggle with technical troubleshooting or find it challenging to learn to use tools and technology, developing your technical skills could have a direct impact on your time management and work-life balance (less troubleshooting over the lunch break).

High Potential Psychology offers a free remote working skills self-assessment. It takes about five to ten minutes to complete and comes with a comprehensive report remote working skills, based on responses to a series of targeted questions in six key areas:

Factor 1: Communication

a. Clarity: Crucial for understanding and communicating information, preventing miscommunications.
b. Responsiveness: Key to timely task completion, project coordination, and team productivity.
c. Proactivity: Enhances problem-solving, decision-making, and collaboration by initiating communication.

Factor 2: Collaboration

b. Teamwork: Essential for goal achievement and a supportive environment.
b. Adaptability: Enables adjustment to new situations, communication tools, and team dynamics.
c. Problem-Solving: Crucial for managing complex tasks and misunderstandings in virtual spaces.

Factor 3: Time Management

c. Prioritization: Key for managing workload and enhancing productivity.
b. Scheduling: Facilitates smooth operations and boosts productivity.
c. Work-Life Balance: Maintains mental health, prevents burnout, and enhances job satisfaction.

Factor 4: Self-Motivation

a. Initiative: Valuable in remote settings for task completion without supervision.
b. Goal-Setting: Provides direction, boosts motivation, and enhances productivity.
c. Perseverance: Maintains productivity and job satisfaction amid remote work challenges.

Factor 5: Technical Skills

a. Digital Proficiency: Vital for efficiency and team contribution.
b. Troubleshooting: Minimizes downtime and fosters self-reliance.
c. Security Awareness: Prevents data breaches or cyber attacks in remote work.

Factor 6: Working Environment

a. Ergonomics: Improves productivity and prevents work-related health issues.
b. Resource Management: Ensures efficient task performance and reduced interruptions.
c. Focus and Concentration: Boosts productivity and work quality despite home environment distractions.

The Remote Work Mastery Scale is freely available, with reports generated instantly on completion of the questionnaire.

How to improve your remote working skills

Once you’ve got a clear picture of your remote working skills and have established a benchmark, then you can decide which areas you want to prioritize for improvement. Pick the area that is going to have the most impact and set realistic and practical goals for improvement.

What do you want to achieve in terms of your remote work skills? Do you want to be able to work more efficiently, communicate more effectively, or collaborate more seamlessly with your team? Once you know what you want to achieve, you can start setting specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals.

Track your progress over time.

Once you have set your goals, track your progress over time. You can take the remote working self-assessment as many times as you want. It’s best to retake assessment at regular intervals, especially intervals that align with other important and memorable milestones. You may also want to track your progress with colleagues or a work group. This can be especially helpful when you’re looking to build skills like communication and collaboration: work with others to see what is most effective for your team, as well as your individual efforts.

Ask for feedback from a range of sources

Engage in open conversations with your colleagues, not only to seek advice but also to learn about the strategies that have proven successful for them. Involve your colleagues and supervisors in discussions about your remote work skills. Their feedback can be an essential resource to help you identify areas where you can improve.

You can also seek feedback from a range of other sources outside of your typical work or social networks. Connect with mentors, industry experts, or peers from different organizations. Online communities and forums also provide additional ideas and expertise. Searching for ideas and inspiration from a wider range of sources can help you find new ideas, and practical advice that might not be available from your immediate network.

Participate in professional development opportunities.

There are many professional development opportunities available online and in-person that can help you improve your remote work skills. These opportunities can include webinars, courses, and workshops. By participating in these opportunities, you can stay up-to-date on the latest trends in remote work and learn new skills that can help you succeed in a remote work setting.

But remember: you don’t have to take every piece of advice you hear. Evaluate the advice based on your own situation, your work, the culture of your workplace and your own experience. Reading articles, joining webinars, participating in workshops and listening to podcasts or talks can all be useful, but the advice may not work equally well for everyone. A key feature of remote and flexible working is that there is greater opportunity to tailor it to your own individual strengths and situation. There is no one-sized-fits all approach to scheduling, time management, collaboration or work-life balance. The opportunity and the challenge in effective remote work is finding what works best for you.

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