THE LONG TERM EFFECT OF COVID AND YOUR CAREER - WHAT ARE YOU DOING?
Paul Johns
Experienced CMO | Strategic GTM Advisor | Founder of RO40 Consulting - focused on growth strategies for enterprise software businesses.
Like many who are reading this, I am sitting at home on a laptop with a backlight for my zoom calls, an iPad and phone sitting in charging stations. I have an ice coffee (I didn't have to spend $7 at Starbucks to get).. My daughter is in her room calling for snacks while she talks to friends from her iPad.. I am about to start my 3rd call of the morning as I tuck into a chia bowl.. No commute, no stressful start to the day but something is starting to feel off. Something is missing. I know it.. As productive as I believe I am with calls, and shared docs to collaborate on I am missing real interaction. I can't remember the last time I was in a room throwing up ideas on a whiteboard and doing what teams do best - ideate, innovate, challenge openly and drive highly paced outcomes.
There are absolutely positive things about working from home but even as companies begin to institute hybrid working one thing is becoming more and more apparent. We didn't take location into account when hiring over the past 3 years and now bringing people together is something of an ordeal. We are highly distributed. More so that we realized across the various teams.
Additionally, hiring remotely, and here I must confess I struggled to truly ascertain some of the soft skills over zoom - this has left some lingering challenges on the chemistry between some team members in various groups.
So the purpose of this post is mostly to hear from you all? How are you doing in terms of personal and team productivity? Any tips or learnings? Would love to get your thoughts and ideas..
领英推荐
Senior Vice President of Engineering at RegEd
1 年There are pros and cons to each model and preferences abound by individuals. However, the real value with the distributed workforce model is it allows businesses to find the best talent, not the best proximity limited talent. That distribution model also brings into organizations various cultures, belief systems, thought processes that further the demographic makeup of the company. The best organizations I have worked for over my career are those that have talent across a nation or the globe. This was historically viewed as a large corporation advantage. However, that barrier has been mentally and technically removed and its allowing businesses of all sizes to take advantage, leveling the playing field.
Results Oriented Marketing Professional and Team Player
1 年As a fellow working parent, I find working from home allows for a much better work-life balance. My company has been remote since pre-COVID; we use collaboration tools (we have a lot of bases in AirTable) and weekly planning/catch-up calls to keep the team connected and on the same page. We also spend almost a week together each year at our annual conference. We’re a small organization, which probably makes it easier to build and maintain team connections. Personally, some balance of remote with occasional in-person meetings is probably my preference at this point.?
Senior Presales Consultant - Centre of Excellence at SAI360
1 年While I love working remote, am measurably more productive AND being more in the life of my dear wife and kids. So that is an absolute win in my book ?? I had the opportunity to meet my colleagues from across the globe during a sales kickoff, and that was a true moment of reflection on how I missed physically being with my colleagues and mates. As with all things I believe balance is the key, but finding balance requires effort too. My lesson was: “It’s not always easy, strive to be better. Remember to be kind to yourself.”