Out of Office: Learning to Work Remotely
The coronavirus pandemic has prompted each of us to wonder when will things be back to normal. But we must consider: “What will normal life look like? And how will success be defined in the new normal?”
As cases of the novel coronavirus surged in the United States in March 2020, many employees received a mandate to begin working from home. Though over three-quarters of Americans have access to high-speed internet, the transition from office to home was far from seamless. For some companies, it was the trial and error launch of Zoom or Google Hangout implementation and for others, it was providing laptops or securing VPNs to prepare employees for a remote future. The transition also presented challenges for managers who were learning how to supervise and inspire their employees from a distance. Without a coffee pot or water cooler to congregate around, coworkers have turned to instant messaging and video conferencing to sustain their relationships and company cultures.
Despite the risks and challenges, remote work has worked. In a 2019 study for Harvard Business Review, researchers found that the flexibility of remote work stimulates employee productivity, increasing output by 4.4%. In May 2020, a spokesperson from Square announced that employees may choose to work from home after shelter-in-place mandates are lifted, recognizing that employees are most efficient and creative when they choose where to work. After few weeks of mandated company-wide remote work, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey also announced that employees would be permitted to work from home permanently, with Twitter’s head of human resources saying that the company will probably never be the same. Though early adopters, Square and Twitter are a part of a growing trend of new work-from-home policies: the consultant group Gartner reported that 48% of polled employees will be allowed to work remotely even once the pandemic subsides.
Like many industries, higher education has also been abruptly launched into a digital transformation. For some institutions, remote learning has forced campuses to cancel classes entirely and delay the start of school. But for Carnegie Mellon, remote learning is a future we’ve been preparing for since the 80s.
In 1982, Carnegie Mellon and IBM joined forces to design, develop, and implement the technology to support computer-aided instruction, campus-wide computer-mediated communication, access to the University’s library database, and the creation of software across the University’s various departments. This endeavor, known as Project Andrew, took four years to complete and established the University’s legacy as the first connected campus. More than connecting our campus, Project Andrew created a culture unafraid of applying new technologies to connect students to resources and to one another.
At Carnegie Mellon’s Integrated Innovation Institute, we explored the future of remote learning the early 2000’s as we launched Master of Science in Software Management (MSSM) degree. The Software Management program has been available to part-time professionals all over the world, serving as the first Integrated Innovation program that is offered both in-person in Silicon Valley and remote. With the online structure, the MSSM program has allowed global professionals to earn their degree and gain critical managerial skills without having to relocate or disrupt their careers.
Though the move to online-only in March 2020 in the face of the pandemic seemed abrupt, faculty at Integrated Innovation had the technology, educational resources, and guidance to switch their classes from in-person to remote. Students sought engagement through discussion boards and video breakout rooms. Students also implemented new workspace tools, such as chat features, Slack, and email to stay connected and share feedback with their professors, who adjusted course plans based on hyperlocal successes. By the end of the semester, students had become more agile and more thoughtfully communicative, finishing the year with collaborative and impactful final projects and presentations.
Moving to an online format never caused our students to miss a beat. The pandemic has provided a learning laboratory for working in this new normal. As we move forward, our graduating students are better prepared than create impactful change in a tech or innovation “office.” As more companies move to a work-from-anywhere model, the incoming workforce must be prepared to thrive in an office-free environment. Integrated Innovation Institute students work across disciplines to develop new products and services; with remote classrooms, now students learn to collaborate across geographical boundaries, too.
The individuals and organizations that have remained most resilient throughout this unpredicted season were those that valued and embodied flexibility. Flexibility isn’t a skill easily learned, but it is a quality that is earned through creative thinking, openness, and communication, often in reaction to adversity and the uncertain. As we train the next generation of innovators for a workforce that looks very different from prior eras, we’re confident that our students will be leaders in agile collaboration.
Dr. Peter Boatwright is the director and a co-founder of the Integrated Innovation Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. As an expert in innovation education, he has coauthored two books and teaches coursework on topics such as product innovation, new product management, pricing strategy, and market research.
