Social Current Book Report: Must-Read Titles on Leading Remote Teams 

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the social sector has undergone a significant shift in how it views and utilizes remote work. According to the latest data, over 50% of “digitally capable” nonprofit roles are now remote or hybrid.  

Organizations are leaning into this model for several strategic reasons: 

• Attracting and retaining top talent: Roughly 85% of nonprofit job seekers now prioritize remote work over salary or even mission alignment.  
• Filling critical workforce shortages: By hiring remote workers, nonprofits can recruit nationwide, or even globally, to find specialized candidates. 
• Operational efficiency and cost lowering: Reduced overhead costs related to physical office space and utilities are a key benefit of a remote workforce. 

As remote work becomes commonplace in our sector, success in this new landscape requires leaders to embrace the intentional habits and unique soft skills.  

To help you develop best practices in virtual, hybrid, and remote workforce management, Social Current’s Knowledge and Insights Center (KIC) recommends these books. Through their KIC access, Impact Partners can easily gain insights from top resources: 

• Business Books Summaries: Featuring book briefs that convey key concepts in 10 pages or less 
• Learning Community Courses: Interactive, self-paced courses to develop essential skills 

Staff at Social Current Impact Partners should log in to access these resources. 

KIC access can be purchased alone or as part of an Impact Partnership. 

Business Book Summaries  

Remote Works: Managing for Freedom, Flexibility, and Focus – Ali Greene & Tamara Sanderson 

To master the intentional approach required for leading hybrid and remote teams, Remote Works by Ali Greene and Tamara Sanderson is your essential playbook. The authors provide a practical roadmap for managing distributed teams with fewer meetings and less digital frustration. The book moves beyond basic troubleshooting to help leaders establish clear team norms and outcome-oriented workflows. By focusing on “freedom, flexibility, and focus,” Greene and Sanderson empower nonprofit professionals to transition from simply working off-site to intentionally designing a high-impact workplace that maximizes both productivity and well-being. 

Access the business book summary. 

The Power of Remote – Cynthia Watson & Shane Spraggs 

The Power of Remote is another guide for the nonprofit leaders who feel their organization is still developing their remote culture. While many organizations already have basic protocols and technology in place for their remote teams, Watson & Spraggs challenge leaders to audit whether their workflows truly enable peak productivity and long-term wellness. This book provides a strategic framework for every stage of the remote employment cycle – from hiring and onboarding to identifying the subtle signs of burnout. This book frames remote work not as a threat, but as an opportunity for a highly efficient and highly engaged digital workplace. 

Access the business book review. 

Open Talent – John Winsor & Jin H. Paik 

Open Talent by John Winsor and Jin Paik goes beyond traditional borders to explore global solutions for local workforce shortages. While not every nonprofit can recruit globally those with remote-first service structures can use this book to tap into a global ecosystem of freelancers and specialists. Drawing on their work at Harvard, the authors argue that the “war for talent” is over, and the prize is a new operating model where organizations orchestrate talent from both inside and outside their walls.  

Access the business book review. 

Learning Community Courses 

If you prefer a more interactive format, take one of Social Current’s on-demand courses. Through this self-paced, multimedia experience, you’ll gain a deep understanding of the key concepts and practices of leading remote teams. 

Managing Virtual & Hybrid Teams  

Virtual, hybrid, and remote teams need a strategy for thinking differently, communicating digitally, and making sure people feel included, connected, and aligned to perform at their best. This course is designed to help leaders develop a new mindset, skill set, and toolkit to handle the additional complexity and ambiguity associated with navigating the new remote landscape. 

Learn more about this Learning Community course. This course includes eight hours of content and can be completed over the course of a year. 

Learn more about how the KIC helps social sector leaders and professionals stay informed without becoming overwhelmed. Impact Partners and KIC subscribers receive access to our clearinghouse library, tailored databases, and more. 

Social Current also offers training, assessments, and consulting around organizational and leadership development to help teams sharpen their strategy, embrace adaptive leadership, build inclusive teams, and more.