Creating Community in a Work-from-home World - The Case of JumpCrew

One of our favorite leadership books that emerged during the pandemic is David Pachter’s Remote Leadership: How to Accelerate Achievement and Create a Community in a Work-from-home World.

Pachter–who founded JumpCrew, an outsourced marketing and sales firm out of Nashville, and a seasoned Circl.es partner–begins on page one confessing “I never liked the idea of people working from home. I wanted them to be in the office, accountable for meeting their key performance indicators (KPIs) and feeding off each other’s energy,” a sentiment most leaders have likely grappled with over the past two years. Pachter details how in March 2020 when the pandemic hit, JumpCrew initially lost clients and cash flow, but also shares that by the end of 2020 they were out-performing their pre-pandemic selves, including hiring again and experiencing high morale. “It’s not because of our technology or training, or because we threw millions of dollars at the problem. It’s because by the time the world changed, we had already built a culture that prepared our leaders to spearhead that change in a way that was mindful, connected, vulnerable, and transparent” (pp 6). Pachter attributes their resiliency to what he calls the three pillars of great remote organizations: reflective leadership, coaching culture, and peer learning.

“Peer learning is about creating trust in groups and enabling deeper conversations between people across the organization who might not ever have met”

He asserts that leaders who’ve embraced the first two pillars of reflective leadership and coaching mindset will likely add a peer learning layer as a next step, which is where Circl.es and JumpCrew have partnered for years. “Peer learning is about creating trust in groups and enabling deeper conversations between people across the organization who might not ever have met” (pp 10). JumpCrew, who had been running Circl.es internally well before the pandemic hit, has found that peer learning circles have created deep bonds of trust amongst engaged employees, and that the emerging organic learning has benefited the whole company.

“Most of our people get together now in thoughtful, reflective online forums using a wonderful peer sharing and learning platform called Circl.es"

Specific to the transition to work-from-home, JumpCrew has found these circles have replaced “water cooler” talk, have reinforced and enhanced training programs, often help B and C players level up, and facilitate best practice exchanges. “Most of our people get together now in thoughtful, reflective online forums using a wonderful peer sharing and learning platform called Circl.es…people share stories from their own experiences, listening to each other share, and asking questions to help each other see their actions and patterns more clearly. That’s how you build connections and community when you’re not in the same office” (pp 25-26).

Pachter ends his book looking towards the future of remote leadership, covering everything from hiring for WFH in a post-resume world, to whether or not WFH can lower the cost of leading. His parting words embody the human element of his three pillars: “We need each other, perhaps now more than ever. We need each other’s wisdom, heart, and humanity…we need the tribe, the family.

The wise leaders of the future will be the ones who understand that and work to make it happen.” We think David Pachter is one of those wise leaders of the future, and look forward to our partnership for years to come.