Adapting to remote work
Remote work isn’t going away soon so here’s four things to consider as you adapt
In the early months of this year many companies faced the prospect of going ‘remote first’ overnight. It wasn’t a choice — many were thrust into this world with no guardrails and no precedent to guide them. The optimists thought it might last a few weeks and sent staff home with a note of “we’re shutting the office for a little while”. Others were a bit more cautious and were issuing guidance to their staff that they were “following the science and would return when it was safe to do so”.
As a consequence of the pandemic some people, myself included, haven’t been in an office since late February. If you’re a senior leader or a manager in an organisation this might represent a fundamental change in how you’ve done business to date. In an office environment where you have proximity with your people you get all of the benefits that come with that. Huddling around a whiteboard, walking up to a coworkers desk to chat with them about something, seeing one another day-in, day-out. Of course, it’s not all rosy…too many meetings that drag on for too long, people not respecting the “headphones means do not disturb rule”, long commutes, etc. Being in office is neither inherently good nor bad, but if you’re used to it and you’re not longer in the office…
