Remote is not for everyone

Karthi Subbaraman -

Remote Working doesn't work for everyone. Here is why!

  1. Remote working needs a lot of trust. We can't manage people based on green dots and red bots on slack/discord. Trust is hard and many leaders have not spent time in nurturing the trust in their teams before going remote.
  2. Remote teams are high on Async communications. They create a communication, as a walkthrough video or a one pager or a simple visual for everyone to consume. They are great at expression. It is not a skill every employee has. When the skill is absent the team struggles with communication breakdowns. Worse teams are silent. Silence creates more pain than silos do.
  3. Everyone is remote. There are no timezones and special team members in special locations. Everyone has access to every piece of communication. This transparency is hard for people. It depends on the culture that is set in the team before going all remote.
  4. In Remote teams, the team members are vulnerable to show their first drafts and early prototypes to everyone. This style attracts early feedback loop. A team that is not setup this way will suffer as vulnerability is hard for folks.
  5. There are no power centers in a remote base. Everyone is equal. This is hard for hierarchy based orgs.
  6. In a remote company infleunce works with facts and data. It has no relevance of being in the right room at the right time.
  7. The hiring style for remote companies must be different. Old ways of hiring will not work. How expressive the team member is matters. How they belong in the company matters. How they are engaged in their work matters all the more. All the above are hard parameters to measure in an individuals in addition to competence.

Remote working style is a choice. Are you doing it by choice or are you doing it because you don't have a choice. The difference in your answer will show you where you stand.

Self assess your company culture and team structure with the above points and sincerely see if remote if for you. Even if it is not, the skills can be learnt once you see the benefit of a remote company. It will make the world a lot more efficient and effective. Think about it 🙌

🥂 to remote!