Working Together
“ If you are going to succeed as a leader, you simply must find a way to engage our fear of the unknown and turn it into spiritedness.”
How do we stay connected when we are far apart? What work needs to be done in person, what can be done apart? If we are apart, how do we build the spirit of a team?
These are some questions we are asking at Sutro Li as much of the world is returning to the office. Many of our clients are asking the same questions without finding easy solutions.
There are additional complexities to these questions for organizations that grew substantially during the pandemic while everyone was working from home. Sutro Li only very recently lifted a two and a half year hiatus from international travel with a trip to Pune, India around Diwali in October 2022. Our team size had more than doubled since our last visit to Pune in 2020. On our US team, many members have never met another member of the company in person.
Many of our clients have similar stories and challenges. Many have expanded their hiring from a city to the entire country- how do you treat employees fairly who were hired under drastically different circumstances? Some have stayed with a more remote model (majority work from home), some have resumed in office work, and many are trying out hybrid combinations. The drive to bring people back to the office seems to be about needing to establish a sense of common purpose by being in the same room. Even software companies that empower remote work like Asana have called staff back to work together, much to the dismay of many employees. Our India office has resumed in person work as well.
For me it’s exciting. I’m excited to be returning to Pune to work together.
For building team spirit and connection, nothing can replace sharing space, being able to ask a colleague something over your shoulder, or being able to sense in someone’s body language that they might need support. Where many employees express a desire to work from home, many managers want to have teams work together in person. Almost everyone has now learned how to work from home, but may not be clear on all of the costs to an organization of this model. The field has shifted.
Regardless of what model Sutro Li arrives at, nothing replaces being in the same room for strategic discussions. No Typeform, Slack channel, group email, Zoom, Meet, or Huddle will generate the same quality of idea sharing. I’ve noticed a diminishing value to interactions over zoom and Meet after almost 3 years of screen meetings. Even phone calls somehow feel more connective, a relief to not have to try to read the room through a screen.
One of the few things we know for certain is we must invest in time together. I’m about to take off for a 30 hour journey to Pune, India as I write this post. On the way to the airport, my kids kept asking me why I couldn’t just work from home as I usually do- “Why do you have to leave?” It’s tricky to explain to a four year old - some things just don’t translate over distance. Sometimes you need to be in the room to hear everything that is being said.
Leaders and managers of teams are in uncharted territory. The path is not yet known. This unknown can either be a source of fear or an opportunity for discovery. For me it’s exciting. I’m excited to be returning to Pune to work together.