Making Remote Teams Work

Summary

Before the pandemic, about 5% of paid workdays happened at home. Today it's roughly 25%. Remote and hybrid aren't experiments anymore. They're the operating model.

So why does it still feel like most companies are winging it?

In this episode, Jeff Pelliccio and Erin MacKenzie sit down with Valerie Bowden, founder of CRDLE, to get into the real reason remote teams struggle. Spoiler: it's not the model. It's the system behind it. Valerie has built distributed teams from scratch and works with companies every day navigating the gap between "we hired someone remote" and "we actually set them up to succeed."

The conversation covers where onboarding breaks down for remote hires, why proximity was never a management strategy, and what operators like Jeff and Valerie have built to replace it. You'll hear the story of one client named Josh who invested an hour a day training three remote SDRs and generated $100,000 in closed revenue in six weeks. You'll also get a look inside Allied Insight's virtual office on Gather Town and why 38 out of 40 team members show up to a voluntary monthly Coffee Break.

If your remote team is online but not connected, this episode is your starting point.

Key Takeaways

• Start with onboarding, not outcomes — If you're expecting day-one KPIs from someone you haven't trained, the problem isn't the hire. It's the setup. Rethink your remote onboarding before you evaluate remote performance.
• Proximity was a crutch, not a strategy — The hallway conversations, the desk drop-bys, the lunch table learning. When everyone was in the office, those moments covered for weak systems. Remote work didn't break your management. It exposed it.
• Treat remote team members like they're in the office — Give them the same tools, the same access, the same introductions across departments. The closer the experience mirrors in-office onboarding, the stronger the results.
• Invest in connection, not surveillance — Stop watching the green dot. Build cultural rituals like voluntary Coffee Breaks, cross-department introductions, and personal celebrations. People invest back when they feel invested in.
• Give someone ownership of the remote experience — One of the biggest mistakes is having no single person responsible for remote team member success. Assign it. Own it. The results follow.
• Be like Josh — One hour a day of personal training. Six weeks. $100,000 in closed revenue. Three SDRs who are still on his team. The ROI on intentional onboarding is real and measurable.
• Your talent pool is as big as your infrastructure allows — When your systems work, geography stops being a filter. Whether that means across the state or across the world, good remote infrastructure removes the ceiling on who you can hire next.

Sponsors

🐼 Allied Insight: The team behind the systems that make distributed work actually work. The Preferred Marketing Partner of Staffing and Consulting businesses.

🐙 All Things Staffing: Where staffing leaders go for the resources that sharpen their edge. Expert Resources for the Staffing Community.