Remote work offers unparalleled flexibility, allowing employees to better shape their schedules around their priorities without the stress and time suck of daily commuting.
Despite myriad positives, working from home presents unique challenges—particularly when it comes to advancing in your career. Without the organic day-to-day interactions of an office, it can be tougher to remain top of mind, build meaningful relationships, and position yourself for the next promotion.
Navigating these hurdles requires a proactive approach to ensure your contributions and achievements don’t go unnoticed. We spoke with Erica Kim, a strategic leader and coach dedicated to reimagining how to lead and build careers with greater purpose, to get her expert insights on how remote workers can overcome common challenges and unlock more opportunities for growth.
Read more: How to Feel More Confident & Secure in Your Job While Working Remotely
6 tips for advancing in your career when you work remotely
1. Decode team dynamics by asking good questions
Remote employees may wonder if they’re effectively promoting themselves when trying to advance their careers behind the screens. “The challenge isn't just visibility, though, it's missing the subtle context that shapes strategic work,” says Kim. “Remote work makes it easier to gloss over organizational subtext and team dynamics that drive decisions. The unlock? Creating deliberate systems to gather this context. Think: scheduling strategic 1-on-1s, observing narratives (and where they come from), and being the person who asks those nuanced second-level questions about where things are really headed.”
In action, this context-gathering might look like:
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Track patterns in communication: Pay attention to recurring themes in team meetings, emails, or Slack channels. Are certain goals, challenges, or priorities mentioned repeatedly? This can reveal the unspoken focus of the organization.
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Listen for what's not said: Topics that are avoided in discussions can be just as telling as what's openly discussed. For example, if no one mentions a specific project, it might indicate a shift in focus or priorities.
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Monitor messaging from leadership: Notice how leaders talk about success, strategy, or values. The way they frame issues can guide what the team prioritizes.
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Read between the lines in reports: Look at metrics or project updates to uncover what’s truly valued. What’s being highlighted or downplayed?
Deeper questions for 1:1s or team meetings might include:
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Why do you think this strategy is the best fit? Can you share more about the reasoning behind this approach?
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How do you see this decision impacting our long-term goals?
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What assumptions are we making here?
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What’s the ultimate outcome we’re trying to achieve?
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What’s the next step after this?
Read more: 5 Steps to Respectfully Making an Impact as a New Hire
2. Take advantage of small self-promotion opportunities
“When you're remote, you have to design the moments for career conversations—they won't happen organically by the coffee machine,” Kim says. “The most successful remote workers don't wait for recognition to find them, they make their leadership undeniable through how they approach challenges and influence others.”
Without more casual face-to-face interactions with leadership, it’s imperative that you take the initiative to promote yourself during regular team stand-ups. Here’s how that might sound:
Meeting leader: “Does anyone else have any updates to share?”
You: “I do. Over the past month, I’ve implemented a new social media strategy that increased our engagement rates by 25% and brought in over 1,000 new followers. These results are helping us reach a wider audience and attract potential customers to drive future sales growth.”
This approach clearly communicates what you accomplished, a measurable result, and its broader impact on the company. If the opportunity to self-promote doesn’t come up in a meeting, use another space to share your wins, such as a Slack channel or project-tracking app.
Here’s a sample Slack message you could use to share your wins:
“Hi team — I wanted to share a quick update on the social media strategy I implemented this past month. By shifting our content focus and optimizing posting times, we’ve increased engagement rates by 25% and gained over 1,000 new followers. This growth is helping us expand our audience and attract more potential customers, setting us up for future sales opportunities. Thanks for all the collaboration—it’s great to see these efforts paying off!”
3. Make your unique skills apparent
When working remotely, you have to make your differentiators just as visible as your deliverables. “Shipping great work is just table stakes. Anyone can deliver a solid final product,” Kim says, “Your superpower is how you think and work. The most successful remote workers I know make their approach visible. They share their methodology, decision-making frameworks, and the insights they pick up along the way. Maybe you're brilliant at untangling thorny problems or maybe you have a knack for getting teams unstuck—that's your edge.”
Say you've developed a system or process that works particularly well—consider running a short workshop or creating a guide to share with your team. For example, if you've streamlined the client onboarding process, you could present a step-by-step walkthrough during a team sync to help others adopt your approach.
4. Write down your accomplishments in real time
Keeping a record of your successes ensures you’ll have a comprehensive list to refer to when it’s time for performance reviews and promotions. Make sure to write down your successes as they happen—don’t wait until the end of the quarter when it’ll be much more difficult to try and accurately remember every goal you hit.
The key is to not only document what you achieved but also to frame your accomplishments in the context of the company’s KPIs. Kim says, “Document your wins in real time, connect them to company goals, and build such a clear impact narrative that others can't help but become your advocates, even when you’re not in the room.”
Here are some specific things you should track:
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Quantifiable results: Anything you accomplished that has a number or percentage attached to it—such as revenue growth, customer acquisition, or engagement increases—make that a priority to write down (e.g., “Increased social media engagement by 25% over two months”).
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Process improvements: Write down any workflows you optimized that saved time or resources and/or approaches you applied to solve a complex problem (e.g., “Redesigned the project intake process, reducing approval times by 40%” or “Created a new dashboard to simplify data reporting for cross-functional teams”).
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Professional development achievements: Document any courses, certifications, or training you complete that adds to your skill set (e.g., “Completed an advanced Excel certification to enhance data analysis capabilities”).
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Customer feedback: Always compile positive testimonials, reviews, or client comments that reflect your impact.
5. Prioritize building meaningful relationships
Many remote workers struggle with isolation and loneliness—even in leadership positions. Your social wellbeing might suffer, and without strong relationships, it can be harder to demonstrate your value, build trust with your team, and position yourself for a promotion. Building real connections helps ensure you're seen, heard, and supported, increasing your chances of career advancement.
“Meaningful professional relationships aren't built through awkward virtual happy hours. They're built through genuine curiosity about the humans behind the Slack avatars,” Kim says. “Let's drop this myth that we're a 'family' at work. We're not, and that's a good thing. We’re a team of people who can still care about one another’s growth, celebrate real wins, and show up in tough moments. Real connections form when you take time to understand not just what your colleagues are working on, but also what lights them up and how they think about the world. It's about finding that sweet spot where being human meets being professional—that's where deeper trust and connection thrive.”
In order to become closer with your coworkers, use deeper conversation starters like these:
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What’s something you’re passionate about outside of work that you think everyone should try?
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I noticed you're always so organized. Do you have any tips or tools you use to stay on top of everything?
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What’s one thing you wish everyone knew about you that might not come through in our work interactions?
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What’s something you’re excited about learning or improving on in the near future?
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What’s a recent win you’re proud of, either professionally or personally?
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If you could work on any project, no matter the scope or budget, what would it be and why?
Read more: Work Remotely? Experts Share Tips for Staying Motivated & Connected When Working From Home
6. Take initiative and build scalable processes
“Everyone talks about good communication in remote work, but what they actually mean is being able to reduce complexity and the cognitive load for others,” says Kim. “Remote work has this sneaky way of amplifying confusion.”
You can be the leader or team member who anticipates challenges and addresses them before they become roadblocks. Being proactive goes beyond reducing confusion—it’s about empowering your team to work independently and efficiently. “The leaders who truly shine (and get promoted) are the ones who make things clearer, simpler, and more actionable for their teams,” says Kim. “Whether that's through crisp documentation, streamlined processes, or strategic asynchronous updates, be the person who brings clarity to chaos.”
When you boost productivity and position yourself as someone who drives long-term success, your contributions will have magnitude. As Kim says, “The magic happens when you combine clarity with influence and a bias to action, creating systems and artifacts that help others succeed even when you're not online. The strongest remote leaders don’t just communicate well, they also build processes that scale beyond their presence, turning their impact into a force multiplier. That's the difference between being a good remote worker and being the kind of proactive leader who's ready for that next step.”
