The Coming Remote Work War
Bad: Most companies still don't know how to operate as distributed companies.
Worse: Most workers don't know how to operate as remote workers...
That might be surprising to some people but should be obvious, and we should be honest about it. These are huge problems that need to be overcome.
There are a few innovators leading the way who know what they are doing but most people are still searching for answers and don't know where to look. This is a big problem in two ways:
Company Wide Operating Systems
For number 1, that means workers and teams being put in a position to be successful from a top down perspective. If you don't have this, a business can't operate in a way that empower it's people to do the best work of their lives.
Darren Murph & Annie Dean are the two people at the cutting edge here who I turn to the most. If you're a company hoping to understand and improve how you operate that is where I would go. And they are both so generous in sharing their knowledge publicly there is a deep well that you can explore and implement. For companies hoping to operate as a distributed company better they have answers.
Individual contributor success
For number 2, and this is where the gap is, individual contributors and functional leads lack the same insight on how to operate in their parts of the business.
Whether that is HR, IT, Engineering, Operations, or Sales.
Some areas are better than others, but where and who are those leading voices sharing best practice ideas and solutions to the big problems we face? And let's not even get into the fact that everyone lacks remote-native tooling specifically designed to enable global leaders.
Some things are coming from an operating system perspective (👋 Howard Lerman and Roam ), but that isn't the same thing as giving the workers on the ground in the trenches day to day the right tools they need to succeed.
This is where I expect massive progress in 2024
Functional leaders sharing what has worked for them and the emergence on new ways of working driven from the bottom up. From there, the emergence of new tooling that makes the leaders and innovators adopting them super heroes in the space relative to the people who haven't.
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And because distributed work is such a new way of working – really we're only 3 years into a mass experiment for tens of millions of people and we shouldn't expect to have all the answers – the people that start to develop them are going to become incredibly appealing to bigger businesses.
Imagine an IT leader at a 500 person company who implemented the right remote-native tooling and their organization is operating at a world class level. Who is the 5,000 person company going to find when they want to implement and achieve the same things.
Imagine an HR leader at at a 5,000 person company who implemented the right remote-native tooling and their organization is operating at a world class level. Who is the 50,000 person company going to find when they want to implement and achieve the same things.
You get the point. The early adopter and innovators here are going to be the most desirable talent on the market in 2024. It won't be about the operating system installation, it will be about the functional leaders implementing excellence in their part of the business. Both connect together, but aren't the same thing.
There is great knowledge out there on how to operate at the top level as a distributed or remote company.
There is next to no knowlege out there about how to operate as a distributed leader of a function.
And they aren't the same thing!
That is the knowledge I want to get out there.
Those are the people I want to talk to.
The ideas I want to find in 2024.
Firstbase is a single platform to equip teams and manage assets globally. We help companies set up, support, and scale distributed teams by automating the employee & asset lifecycle, getting critical equipment to & from employees wherever they are in the world.
Our platform is used by everyone from the fastest growing startups to $20B+ public companies. Firstbase.com to find out more.
I help coaches & founders craft story-driven offers to attract 5 ideal customers in 5 weeks 🎯 | Co-Founder @ Nomad Cowork | Certified Life Coach | Breathwork Instructor | Ex-adidas Ex-DELL Ex-Heineken.
11moGreat read! For the bigger companies, an approach from the top is to let the team figure out what works best for them and then start re-organizing based on learnings. Every team and individual will have different speeds of learning. This will allow a smoother transition of processes and tools within the organization. Thoughts?
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11moBoth are true but many workers are figuring things out. The difficult part is developing one's digital collaboration skills as part of a group but even this is fixable in time.
Delivering change in real estate - Challenging established thinking - Flex space and Proptech enthusiast - Radio networks enabler - Portfolio and workplace transformer
12moVintage Chris Herd
President Digital Nomads Switzerland ★ Remote Work Consultant ★ lorenzramseyer.ch
1yThe ability to adapt to remote work is indeed a modern struggle; companies and individuals alike need to develop this competency to thrive in the future workspace.
Future of Work/IP/AI/Innovations | Founder | Patent Manager | European Patent Attorney|
1y"Distributed" is the keyword. Organizations need to find ways to support the distribution of their employees, without "herding" them (pun intended) in hubs, local offices, dedicated spaces etc. Distributed employees need tools to communicate and connect both in-person and remotely, and distributed spaces to function and collaborate. The duality of office/home is already becoming an organizational liability.