Wundamail Blog

As more and more businesses begin to see the value in remote working, and as increasing numbers of the workforce demand the ability to work remotely, managers need to think in different ways.

An interesting conversation broke out on my Twitter feed recently. A good friend - a photographer and filmmaker - mentioned that he was building a new editing studio and had installed a stand-up desk.

Listening to the radio a couple of days ago, there was a discussion on how a team was suffering from low morale and that the manager had ‘lost the dressing room’. Its a common expression, and a common problem. Some set of external influences creep slowly into the dynamic of the team. The players see the problems in different ways, and this leads them down ever more dangerous paths.

So, you have a project. Its a big, important project, one that needs a full team effort to bring to completion. Time is ticking, though it's not yet against you. But if you don’t get moving soon, the project won’t stand a chance. You need to get going. Often, it's that first movement that becomes the first challenge of the project, the first hurdle. Project managers need to build momentum. Momentum feeds the project, because once it’s moving, momentum makes it difficult to stop. That’s a good thing. The beginning of any project is fraught with fears. Fear of the unexpected, maybe. Or a fear of the outcome. How to maintain the momentum? How do we prevent the project going off course, or worse, and never reaching its destination.

You’re having a good day. You’re meeting deadlines and the project you’ve been working on is progressing well. You’re enjoying your work, as you plough through your to-do list. It feels great to strike a line through each task, you feel you’re achieving.

Creating, building and maintaining a team can be a stressful enough task for leaders. So many factors play into the dynamic of the team, and the mood can change in the blink of an eye.

We are not robots. Well, I’m certainly not a robot, though I guess you may be. But what I mean is, we’re not meant to be robots. We don’t have to work like robots, behave like robots, or live like robots. Which is just as well, because we’re not robots.

The benefits of remote working are clear and obvious. We know the story. For the worker, it offers a more flexible way of working, a better work-life balance, less disruption and distraction, and an increased sense of autonomy. As long as their managers and coworkers are supportive, and the communication is kept open and regular, remote working can be a force for good.

I once owned a restaurant and bar with a function suite attached. We hosted private functions for customers. Family occasions, business networking events, meetings, private dining events. That kind of thing. Our challenge was not only to work closely with the client in advance of the event, but to deliver the perfect function on the day, providing the very best service no matter what the event. In that respect, we were much like our competitors. But we wanted more.

I’ve been trying to think of a proverb. A suitable tale in a single neat sentence, to describe a thought. It needs to sound wise, as though handed down through the centuries, gaining some sort of wisdom momentum as it went. I need it to convey my thoughts on a particular subject. The thing is, it doesn’t exist. There is no proverb for this situation, no received historic wisdom or message. Not for this. And I'm not the person to write one. Which is exactly my point.