Pursuing Authenticity in the Digital Era
Why remote working AmaZix still meets face to face
Despite having been together for over two years, many of us in the AmaZix family have never met. Quite often, during interactions with others within the industry, we tend to completely overlook this as out of the ordinary. Simply put, because it works.
We are scattered all over the world, quite literally. Being ‘decentralized’ is at the very core of AmaZix. Diverse in culture, experience, and expertise, brought together by a mutual desire to help shape the still-developing blockchain space. Pragmatically, it was also what allowed us to pioneer round-the-clock community management with moderators in every continent (except Antarctica, but we are working on it!).
Breaking barriers
Working remotely ensured we could extend practical contact beyond the confines of geography and timezones. It also gave the team freedom to work at their most productive times, without the inefficiencies of commute and fixed hours. The digital nomads at AmaZix dial in from train rides, story-tell from open spaces, conduct interviews from their living rooms and livestream from conferences.
All that being true, none of these aspects of remote working sacrifices professionalism. In fact, a 2017 Stanford study found that remote work improves productivity while boosting morale and happiness (who isn’t happier working with a pet dog in their lap?).
Of course, when we say most of us haven’t met, that’s only from a physical perspective. AmaZix uses the very latest productivity tools to ensure the team is constantly in touch and able to reach out for support at any time. Team calls and meetings happen as frequently as they do in a physical workplace (if not more so, with the utmost efficiency — our Chief Pushing Officer makes sure of that) and there are voices, faces and personalities behind all our names.
Digital divide
On the same note — remote working isn’t all sunshine and rainbows — and our team is acutely aware of the limitations, especially when looking at the external work we do with our clients and partners.
We value greatly the human aspect of our work and we like to believe this is what sets us apart in the services we provide — and understand the importance of physically meeting our clients, partners and other stakeholders in the industry.
There is much intangible value in all that human interaction. Beginning from that first impression, gained from that initial eye contact — to the expression of warmth in the follow-up handshake. The shared frustrations and inside jokes of people working in the same sphere. That knowing wink and the “I-know-what-you-mean” moments.
Those experiential encounters, sadly, cannot make it across the digital layer of remote work.
Pursuing authenticity
We at AmaZix make a point to extricate ourselves from the virtual identities behind that headset and laptop monitor. Management meetings already take place in person, but we also consciously make an effort to go out and meet the industry regularly.
This happened most recently two weeks ago at the Malta AI and Blockchain Conference, an event that brought together thousands of delegates to discuss, develop and negotiate. We got to meet a number of clients we’re already working with across a diverse range of sectors.
For example, the Bosagora team, who are developing a solution for democratic governance and have had great successes with actual applications. Or the guys at OVR, building what’s possibly the most advanced form of augmented reality real estate out there. We also sat down with TreeCoin, who are on the ground, pursuing incredible opportunities in sustainable reforestation and equitable wage in Paraguay.
From a business perspective, it was great for us to connect with past, present and future partners. For us, it’s a huge privilege to simply have the opportunity to work with such unique and daring archetypes that describe every client and partner we’ve ever had. Having that privilege translate into physical space makes it all the more meaningful.
And opportunities abound when you just reach out to people — we spoke to so many interesting personalities, we managed to put together seven interviews for our Talk-o-nomics podcast (and we’ll release an episode every week so follow us on iTunes and Spotify to hear them all!).
We love innovation and are completely sold into the premise of decentralized finance and independent money — for us, remote work is a demonstration of that belief.
But we also believe in creating real human relationships. Beyond the benefits from a networking perspective, we pursue authenticity and humanness.
And we’d love to talk to you about it when we next meet.
Originally published at https://www.amazix.com.
