The Dangers of Decoupling
What Our Failed Startup Can Teach Others About Organizational Distance
During the last few months of 2017 I was in a constant state of outrage. I woke up every morning terrified of the next inevitable crisis, exhausted from putting out fires. I was tired of wasting my breath shouting into a digital void, asking for recognition of the problems that were escalating every day.
The startup I was working at was a few months from shutting down, and at this point it was too late to turn things around. Looking back, I don’t think we would have made it in the long-term, but what I do believe with certainty is that organizational distance played a role in ensuring that failure. The outsourcing, remote work, automation, and geographic distribution that were part of our strategy to be lean and resource efficient ultimately blocked us from working as an aligned unit.
The sudden arrival of social-distancing and shelter-in-place orders across the world have catalyzed ongoing discussions about the benefits and challenges of a remote working environment. Now, to be clear, the 34% of US workers who are able to keep their jobs remotely — those who haven’t been laid off or aren’t forced to put their lives at risk as they perform their jobs — are the lucky ones. But if remote-work and an ongoing shift towards contract…
