Remote Work Is Not Your Scapegoat
This is a tale of a company at a crossroads. Innovation had stalled. Teamwork was anemic. It was a time of stagnation. Leaders wrung their hands over the ailing enterprise. So they issued a decree. “Hear ye, hear ye! Remote work is banned. All employees must return to the closest regional office.”
These leaders blamed remote work for a string of disappointing results and lack of progress. It was a bold but empty declaration. Of course, they had it completely backward.
Remote work is not what cast a pestilence upon this corporate land. When done right , it can actually be a company’s salvation.
I understand that remote work makes an easy scapegoat though. And some leaders are prone to knee-jerk reactions. With deeper thinking, those leaders would likely see in remote work a path towards better individual and team performance. I know it has worked for us at Aha!
This is not a matter of opinion or conjecture either. According to research, office workers are far less able to focus than remote workers. And nearly two out of three respondents to a survey said working remotely would boost productivity.
Blaming remote work for rudderless teams and sluggish business is not only wrong — it exacerbates the real problems.
Rather than pointing the finger at distributed workforces, companies need to take a hard look at what is causing organizational strife and dysfunction. And it usually is bigger than gathering everyone in the same office building.
Here are some of the scenarios I have seen in the past which cause companies to go sideways:
No strategy
This is the mother of all institutional failures. You can have a hardworking and talented team — but if you do not have a clear purpose guiding the work and tying everything and everyone together, success will still be out of reach.
No goals
There is a vision — but do you set clear objectives for realizing it? People without goals have no confidence that the actions they are taking are the right ones. Setting measurable and time-bound goals not only gives clear direction to the team, but it also lets you gauge progress.
No priorities
Objective prioritization of tasks and To-dos gets everybody marching in lockstep towards those goals. Without some level of consensus, you will end up with a free-for-all where everybody focuses on what they consider to be most important.
No transparency
Achieving a vision is a team effort. But that also means the team must communicate continuously. It is up to leaders not only to set strategy and goals but to also share them clearly and explain the reasoning. This lack of transparency is a major culprit behind very dysfunctional teams.
No urgency
Without good communication, there will not be fast action. It does not matter if the team is remote or co-located — progress will be slowed. Our team at Aha! lives by The Responsive Method, which includes the principles of transparency and quick responses to requests.
Companies that scapegoat remote work for poor results will battle those same problems again — but with a less effective workforce to tackle the challenges.
Do not take this humble narrator’s story as the last word — the evidence supporting remote work is too compelling and today’s top talent has too many options of where to work. Even the company in our tale found it impossible to enforce the wildly unpopular decree.
You see, the company leaders later quietly acquiesced on the remote work policy: “Please use your best judgment in the spirit of productivity and collaboration.”
It may not exactly be a fairytale ending, but it is a start.
Why do you think companies scapegoat remote work?
ABOUT BRIAN AND AHA!
Brian de Haaff seeks business and wilderness adventure. He is the co-founder and CEO of Aha! — the world’s #1 product roadmap software — and the author of the bestselling new book Lovability. His two previous startups were acquired by well-known public companies. Brian writes and speaks about product and company growth and the adventure of living a meaningful life.
Sign up for a free trial of Aha! and see why 150,000+ users on the world's leading product and engineering teams trust Aha! to build brilliant strategy and visual roadmaps.
We are rapidly growing and hiring. Customer Success Managers. UX Designers. Rails Developers. Product Marketing Manager. Join a winning team — work from anywhere in the U.S. and a few international locations and be happy.
Providing Virtual Executive Assistants for busy executives. Engaging Speaker & Podcast Guest.
6yManaging remote teams takes real clarity and persistence and tending in a way that is unique. This isn't needed because of some low-drive of those working remotely, but simply because we are remote. We are disconnected and it takes a little something extra to keep your team connected and moving forward. But there are so many tools today that make that quest easy to do. As the bosses we need to keep what is important alive and present for ourselves and those working for us.
Disabled | Amateur Genealogist | Volunteer | DAR Member
6yI agree about the open workspace comment, as I found it extremely difficult to focus in lower-walled, smaller cubicles which allowed more peripheral view activity and brought people closer in proximity. Distractions abound and more people packed into a space affects things like exposure to allergens and can create an exclusive environment to people with disabilities. Days when I was able to work from home I got so much more accomplished and felt more confident in what I produced because I didn't have distractions pulling my attention away from the task. I am pro-remote working for positions where it makes sense. Obviously, there are some jobs where it isn't possible (e.g. on-site builders). Where it can be done, a company needs to support this type of work format through infrastructure (e.g. inclusive technology) and culture (e.g. established standards, education and promotion of using tech, and a feedback system to encourage improvements). If a manager suspects someone may be abusing the flexibility then he or she needs to work with the individual and remove the privilege if necessary rather than pulling everyone back into the office.
Senior System Administrator at Associated Global Systems
6yI feel like I've just been Spammed.
Electrical Coordination & Prefab | #BIMHero | CM-BIM | USMC Veteran
6yI can say for fact that I am more productive when I can work remotely. While it assumed being in the office makes you more available, it also causes more interruptions to workflow. I find the distractions caused by "collaboration" to get in the way of progress more than not.
Making your travel dreams come true
6yI work remotely a few days a week and like that option. I find that I'm more productive at home but still need that face to face communication with people. However, in today's office environment so many people are being stuffed into small cubicle spaces being at home allows for better concentration, less distractions and less likelihood I'll contract an illness someone else has.