Path to remote working culture (2/3)
Now that the topics to improve remote working have been decided I will show you some concrete actions as well as some tips and tricks that we personally use to make it happen.
Two main topics (Improve meeting tools and setup, Guidelines & trainings) must have been defined before we can start with the last one, Clarity and rules.
Improve meeting tools & setup
To improve meetings rooms and setup, we recommend 3 main actions:
- Decide on an official tool for video communications.
Anyone can use the tool they want, but the company recommends ones that allow screen sharing while keeping the video feed. We also make sure we acquire some pro accounts. - Provide high quality headphones on demand.
We need to ensure high quality of sound while remote meetings happen. - We decided that instead of improving the meeting rooms for mixed meetings (some people remote some people in the office) to adapt the whole office to make it remote friendly. With our input and the creativity of our IT superhero, Natanael , we found solutions with no need for huge expenses.
The meeting rooms “magic”.
When meeting rooms were first designed, not that many people used laptops, so every room has a computer to login and connect to the TV. We needed to adapt to the current era, where everyone works with his laptop. So IT put a hub in every meeting room that allows access to full room camera, mic & speaker, extra details camera and TV connectivity by just plugging in a USB. This solved the problem of having to spend a lot of time setting up a room for remote.
Standups or informal meetings “magic”.
In the office, we have several spaces used for informal meetings, and also the standups are done next to the team’s space. To enable anyone in remote to participate we prepare Johnny 5 and Dolores , 2 “robots” that helps us connect everyone working in remote.
Ambassadors or learn by pollination
Once we have all the tools and the office ready as a remote working-friendly environment, we need to help people learn how everything works, so things become a habit.
To do this, inspired by visits to another company, we decided to assign one ambassador volunteer per department.
There are 3 main responsibilities:
- Learning by pollination, get knowledge , share knowledge.
The ambassadors will have special training which explains all the details on how to use everything and also about the habits that we need to have to be remote-friendly. For example, that we remind all remote people to turn the camera on. This person will be responsible for expanding knowledge to the department. - Contact person in the department
They will also be the go-to person when someone in the department doesn’t know how to use remote tools or needs to use a premium account. - Feedback
Finally, and most importantly, to give us feedback about the needs of each department, like about what is keeping them from doing remote working, t or what can be improved.
Guidelines and trainings, first steps to expand remote culture
To expand remote culture we divided the training sessions into 3 groups:
- To managers: Managers’ responsibilities and the obligations of non-manager regarding remote working quality.
- To ambassadors: Workshop around their responsibilities and how to use all available tools .
- To the whole company: Tips & tricks to make the most of remote working and to help change habits.
I will share some highlights of these trainings
Presenting the cultural change
If we want to change from having a work from home perk to a remote working culture we need to do all changes needed so “there is no interaction, meeting or daily activity that I can do better in the office” is always true. This change has more to do with people’s mindset than with the tools used.
A clear process for requesting remote working
We have defined a clear process common for everyone to request remote working and, more importantly, to give visibility to all the people in the company about our status (remote or at the office)
Minimum requirements
You can request remote working from anywhere ( the top of Himalaya mountains, your mom’s house or a cafe in the Bahamas) as long as you can guarantee these minimum requirements.
- Network speed and stability that allow you to have a conversation at any time, without interruptions.
- Equipment necessary to have clear audio and video. Avoid places with visual noise and ask for headphones if needed to ensure good sound during your calls or meetings.
- Be ready to have video always active. This seems pretty obvious, but it’s your responsibility to dress properly and with the proper environment to turn on the camera at any time.
If people don’t follow these minimum requirements, managers have a clear reason to refuse requests for remote working.
Tips for remote working
Some basics tips that will help you to have a better remote working experience:
- Check in/out in ritual
When we come into the office, we tend to get ourselves into a work mindset. The same should be true with remote — create some ritual to do no matter are. Some people dress differently when coming to work, others switch out their coffee cup to remind them if they are working. Find the ritual that works better for you. - Over-communicating or work loud.
One of the main challenges of remote working is to have the same presence as in the office when colleagues don’t see you. Over-communicating when you are available or what you are doing helps you to have this presence and build some trust, especially when first starting out with remote working - Check alignment with manager
Remote working is an opportunity to test alignment around objectives with your manager and team. Again, over-communicating to your team at the beginning of the day about your objectives will help with alignment - Don’t work where you sleep
To have the proper work mindset, you need to separate clearly working from not working. Some people prefer to go to a cafe, others have a specific place at home. Find your solution but avoid working where you sleep if you want to sleep or work properly.
Remote first culture
To promote the remote-first culture, the people at the office need to have in mind the ones offsite and prioritise them in mixed meetings (some at the office / some remote). Here are some tips to make it happen:
- Facilitator in mixed meetings
Someone will have the role of facilitator, addressing those in remote and make them active participants. They will also facilitate turns for speaking, so there’s only one person talking at any given time. If a person at the office and another in remote start talking at the same time, the facilitator will prioritise remote. - Async decision
Don’t make decisions that involve people in remote without consulting them. Using email or Slack instead of informal in-office conversations help include remote people
Health and safety while remote working
When working at the office, someone on staff has taken care of your health and safety needs, and has hopefully purchased a proper desk and chair for you. When you are in remote, it is your responsibility to take care of these things. It is also important that you make sure you use correct posture when seated, and that your power sockets aren’t overloaded.
In our training, we share the protocol in case of an accident while out of the office.
Conclusions
With all the office tools improvements and the training done, our people started to integrate into remote working culture. But as this was a culture change, must remind you one more time that we need to see remote working a continuous path, not a final destination.
To have a good remote working culture, we need to always try to improve in different iterations, so we ask for feedback using our ambassadors and our company feedback tool.
In the last chapter I will share our conclusions after 3 months of implementation.
To be continued…
