WLP307: The Role of Values and Async Communication in a Remote Organisation
Today’s guest is Niklas Dorn, CEO and co-founder of Filestage, a fully distributed company.
Niklas co-founded the Filestage in 2015 and both founders knew how difficult it was to review and approve video content with clients. Once they found out that other people had the same problem in marketing and advertising, needing endless emails to comment on the files and other visual content, they started looking for the solution.
The company was originally based in Stuttgart, Germany but they have been a remote company since 2018. There are now 50 employees, based throughout the globe. At the beginning, they tried to recruit people in their home town, but it proved very difficult. So they decided to recruit globally and they went from having 50 applications from which only 2 were slightly suitable, to having 200 high quality applications.
Initially the 3 co-founders worked from the same room, garage start-up style, with no windows, and then transitioned through different sized offices. But soon it was obvious there was no need for a central office.
Recruiting globally meant having a very structured interview process to get a feeling of the people: first through a get to know you interview, where candidates can ask questions, then a more technical interview with the people from the department, and finally, a cultural interview where they talk about ethics, culture, what candidates would need from the company to be happy, how do you solve certain problems etc. A different set of people is involved in this third stage.
Niklas and his colleagues learned early on to emphasise the company’s culture and values early on, and the hiring process has improved with time.
It took Niklas some time to discover the importance of values fit, and how they evolve in the organisation. At first, the values were assigned top down, but eventually they evolved from the people working from them. You can find the values here: https://help.filestage.io/en/articles/5144078-open-positions-jobs-at-filestage
Being a remote company forces you to be very well organised and document almost everything. The company is not just remote but also operates across timezones. In a remote company, meetings are often more transactional, so you need to articulate aspects of your culture and make them available to everybody.
Onboarding also needs to be very structured (they use the task management tool Asana) and this includes discussing the values again, plus referring to values when reviewing what goes well and what doesn’t.
Culture is not just about socialisation but about knowing how we want to behave.
In companies that became suddenly remote, it’s difficult to address this because sometimes it feels strange to articulate values that have been implicit and sometimes, in the new remote setup (including hybrid) even express them in a different way.
“Documentation” is another thing that new remote companies struggle to get their heads around. For Niklas, documentation refers to the having the most important information you need to do your job somewhere written down. It starts at a high level eg company values, but also for example a customer success playbook. Other examples: “how do I report a bug?” so that you don’t have to ask a developer (who might not be available) every time you have a question.
Other forms of documentation may include how people work together, eg everything that needs to be done in the organisation will become a project in Asana, and the person initiating it will add a project description etc. This will give someone new or someone who needs to take over the idea of the day to day.
Thirdly, how you communicate with others eg avoid internal emails and use Slack for brief discussions and updates, is also part of documentation. To provide more time for deep work, there is also a process via which urgent or quick feedback thoughts are shared - via a call for urgent, or if it’s something important but not urgent, they create a task in Asana and move it to the respective board where they collect new ideas. Once a week they look through the new stuff and move it on.
At Filestage they also use Loom as a form of asynchronous video/screen sharing to share a thought or a project. They link the videos to the tasks as a description, or sometimes they upload them to Filestage so that everyone can comment on them dynamically. Finding the best ways of communicating and documenting how they work is something that evolves with time.
25.04 MINS
Of course, Filestage plays an important part in Niklas’ company’s communication. The platform allows people to obtain feedback on different types of content, like video, audio, websites… With Filestage you can create your own workflow eg marketing first starts with change requests, then it’s moved onto the legal department, then finally it moves on to the CEO.
Within Filestage, employees mainly use the platform to review marketing materials, but also to start discussions around things that might need change in the organisation. For example, someone spots something on the platform that needs changing, and this is shared via Filestage for comments on how it could be improved. It’s great for expressing thoughts on visual elements. (You can check this on filestage.io). If you want to see how it could work for you, Niklas recommends arranging for a consultation with one of his people.
Before recommending how to use Filestage, the team will ask you questions about your workflow you should be asking yourself when adopting a new tool, like what your process is, how your team is organised, how you’re doing reviews and approvals already.
Niklas and his team believe that online platforms need to be easy to use, especially for those that don’t use it day to day, and like to add value during the demos, suggesting workflows and other tools that can complement theirs.
Niklas Dorn
32.14 MINS
Finally, we get to the Filestage values!
1. Knowledge seeker.
Being curious helps us to develop. Asking “why” helps us to find the root cause of problems and find new opportunities. At Filestage, where you’re always trying to evolve and reach the next level, it is important for everyone to ask tough questions.
2. Reflective thinker.
Reflection helps us improve. It’s about giving and asking for feedback, and also about reflecting on your own experiences. At a company level, they reflect every quarter on their strategy to see whether it’s still fit for purpose. Still, Filestage is a fast-paced company, being in a very competitive industry.
3. Clear communicator.
This is incredibly important in remote teams, communicating information in a way that’s easy to follow, providing as much information as possible, especially when you request something from someone else. Sharing context and clarity is important - as is seeking it when you’re not clear.
When we’re heavily using asynchronous communication, we need to make a time investment on our own and communicate more often and precisely than if we’re collocated. Information doesn’t flow organically.
4. Goal-owner refers to being responsible for your objectives and deciding how to reach them, how to get there, asking others to help you, it’s up to you to push it forward. At the same time, the company trusts everyone to move forward on their own, and so goal-owners are expected to drive their goals forward. (Which also involves acknowledging you can’t, and coming up with the alternative.)
For some people it can be very rewarding to work in this way, but those who are more used to others driving the work forward might struggle.
5. Problem-solver.
This is self-explanatory: if you see a problem, tackle it. (And of course have everything at hand to solve it.)
6. Team player. Part of this at Filestage is “playing fair” and jump on problems and bring forward no ideas regarding of your position in the organisational hierarchy. Being honest about problems is also important, celebrating together and acknowledging the role of the team in the company’s achievements.
One of Niklas’ most important learning has been that a company cannot remain a founder-led company, but become a people-led company. This means you need good people in the company that are aligned with the values. For Niklas, his role is about removing the blocks so that people can do a good job and enjoy their work.
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