WLP232 Transitioning to Remote: Adopting New Tech - and a New Mindset
In today’s episode we talk to two guests about the journeys organisations take to working remotely - and while recording in April 2020, we’re trying to take a longer term and more considered view on this transition, rather than the overnight emergency response many are dealing with right now. We always prefer to talk about ‘office optional’ working, so we’re looking ahead to the possibilities when we all enjoy true options again, and the myriad motivations for teams to work in new ways.
Our first interview with Jacqui was recorded on the 9th March, and we spoke to Rye more recently.
07.00 JACQUI WALPOLE from Peppercom
Jacqui Walpole
Jacqui initially contacted us as a newsletter subscriber and first featured in our March bonus episode about suddenly working from home - so it’s great to have her back on the show, talking about her organisation’s approach to ‘working wherever’.
Jacqui is a Senior VP at Peppercom, a New York based long-established communications agency with offices in other locations, who in 2018 found their work dividing into two separate businesses, under the respective leadership of the two original founders. Peppercomm therefore had the chance to redefine itself, just as Jacqui was returning from maternity leave and redefining her own priorities, which included the potential of a relocation to Florida - so the remote approach naturally appealed, even though it meant some major rethinking of how the agency would function.
So, they did just that, seized the opportunity to instigate new online project management and other internal systems, and now they have 5 fully remote colleagues. They’re using MS Teams, and finding ways to make client work visible and accountable digitally, so everyone knows what’s happening within the team on everybody’s projects.
This case study really emphasises the value-driven change-management role of transitioning to remote, embracing the chance to radically shake things up and change the way they worked together. It even meant a change to who they were and what they looked like - communications agencies have typically tended to be located in busy cities with young urban teams, and their new workstyle meant they could tap into experienced and senior demographics for hiring which no longer depended on a specific life stage.
The outcome of the strategic process was a “work wherever” approach, embraced by the whole hybrid team - freeing everyone to get their work done autonomously and flexibly, and remain accountable to each other and ensure things like cover within the office when necessary.
They still value face-to-face office time with clients and colleagues, and some of the team prefer not to work remotely. Others found the transition to the digital workspace challenging - lacking the appetite for change and trying new ways of doing things. But the team evolved and shifted along with the transition, identifying that not everyone is comfortable with an experimental mindset. But alongside the innovation, the team found themselves unpicking the trappings and taking the communications craft back to basics, find new ways of solving old problems. Because as ever, it’s not all about the tech - Jacqui proves herself a woman after Pilar’s own heart - it’s about the connection and communication and different people’s needs in that respect.
The “work wherever” mindset does require some tech however, and Peppercomm’s digital workspace is underpinned by Microsoft Teams, for messaging, chat, project management, and shared files. Its role and use continues to evolve within the group. Settling on Teams instead of experimenting with multiple tools, helped create consistency - even if there were other apps better at specific tasks, which were hard to give up. Just having everything in the same place, really helped. But every tool came with its own learning curve.
Moving clients to videocalls also represented a big transition, and finding ways to create that sense of working as closely together as ever before - or perhaps even more so, with the immediacy and intimacy such calls can create, in the way they go beyond the corporate setting.
Connect with Jacqui (and Peppercomm) on Twitter, and LinkedIn.
42.09 rye austin from core
Core is a London-based Microsoft service partner, and they help clients adopt cloud-based workspaces and online collaboration approaches.
Their work with new clients starts with an exploration of their current situation and their goals, before building a plan to take them through the transition. They work with IT and department heads, to get buy-in at all levels, and ensure minimal disruption to the organisation. The client might start with the idea that they want a specific piece of technology, but the needs analysis sometimes leads them somewhere else - each solution is customised and unique.
Rye Austin
Big IT projects always involve cultural change too - planning for change, education, and ensuring everyone understands why the transition is taking place. This goes on to inform both the functions and the governance decisions.
To do this Core need to first understand what success looks like to that organisation, then how the technology fits into that strategy. Simply choosing what options and permissions to select within something as vast and complex as Office 365 can be challenging, because certainly not everyone needs everything. Cloud licencing is scalable and flexible, and it can always be added to later. Education matters, to ensure people are making the best use of the technology they have invested in, and can grasp its future potential. It has to be about what it can do for them, rather than the features and benefits of the product.
Some customers might need to lock down some functions, to control a rollout, and manage a deployment strategically across a large organisation. It’s easier to release controls later, than take them back after things have evolved organically and created sprawl, and it’s better not to turn on tools that aren’t needed or fully understood - so they develop a bespoke governance plan for each client, aligned to their goals. Finding the balance between creativity and control is the key, and ensuring everyone understands what the parameters are, regarding privacy, scope and roles.
Of course right now the ideal considered path to adoption has had to adapt to circumstances, and Core are doing all they can to ensure business continuity for their clients in response to the global health crisis, helping them to keep working somehow or other, while ensuring the longer term strategic planning gets built in to the future roadmap and not overlooked.
And Core themselves are now all working remotely, and Rye and his colleagues is adapting new dynamics of team conversation and catch-ups, both in terms of client liaison and team management. Pinpointing the differences can be subtle, but they are used to working in a hybrid way - and adapting successfully to the way the world has changed for now.
Contact Rye and check out all the content on the Core website, including lots of webinars and educational resources.
01.03.49 (Yes, this is a long episode…)
Pilar points you to a number of other episodes to refer back to if these conversations resonated for you, including:
Bonus from June 2019 with Justin Morris
Episode 199 Digital transformation with Euan Semple
Episode 191 with Matt Ballantine, on improving collaboration (complete with an excellent cheat sheet)
If, like Rye, you are missing those everyday conversations in the workplace, there’s an exploration of planned spontaneity ideas for your remote team, in Episode 211.
And remember to avoid the temptation to move all your conversations to real-time synchronous chat - plan your time, consider your communications needs strategically, and protect your ability to focus and consider your context.
If you like the podcast, you'll love our monthly round-up of inspirational content and ideas: