Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past few years, you would have experienced a surge in remote working opportunities. This surge was not created due to the enlightenment of executive teams but forced upon the world thanks to a global pandemic that locked us all at home. You either worked remote, for essential services, or didn’t work at all.
As a technologist, it was a wonderful experiment that proved our technology could successfully support a dispersed workforce. The pandemic itself was not so wonderful.
The Cat Was Out of the Bag
What the pandemic proved was the remote working, at a technical level, was possible. And has been so for many years. If it were not, then most every business on the planet would have ground to a halt. For most organisations, this transition took less than two weeks. They had the technology ready to go.
The pandemic forced many to re-evaluate our ways of working.
What was not ready were the many management teams. Many freaked out and failed to cope with the idea of not being able to see their team busy at their desks. They didn’t know how to manage or motivate a remote team. Most feared their teams were being lazy and not working at all. In most cases, they were wrong.
Back to Normal…Kinda
Now the pandemic is largely over, many organisations are trying to force their teams back into the office. They never fully adapted to remote working. For some employees, they are glad as the experience of working from home has not been great. For others, they would rather quit and find a more flexible employer. And there are those that questioned why the work for someone else at all.
Regardless of which side of the argument you reside on, the terms of employment and concept of The Office has changed forever.
And now we have the rise of #AI (Artificial Intelligence) reshaping the business environment at a pace most cannot comprehend. All these chances mean that we need to rethink what a business is, how it works, and where/when we work.
All You Need is the Internet
Our world has become dependent upon internet access. Our shopping, banking, entertainment, and businesses rely on access to the global system. Without, business quickly stops. Recently, I was flying from Sydney to Perth, but was still able to support my clients from 30,000 feet above the ground. Sure, WiFi on a flight is not new, but having a stable and relatively fast connection transforms the way we work.
Working from Anywhere is empowering
Being able to work from any place you chose has been a dream for many. I was fortunate to work for many early developers of the technology systems we take for granted today. More than 20-years ago I was manging a global team where instant messaging, video calls, remote access, mobile payments, global navigation, chat bots, and remote support were common-place. They were clunky, but they worked.
We Need to Reset Our Perspective
The point I’m trying to make is that business is being forced to change at an unprecedented rate. And these forces are external, meaning we are not in control. It is ok to feel overwhelmed, yet if we need to adapt to these changes. Remote working can be liberating, but it can also create more challenges. We need to find new ways to motivate, empower, and measure the performance of our teams. This may also impact how we renumerate our teams.
If you are not moving forward; you are going backwards.
The sad truth is that those organisations that fail to change will soon cease to exist. We have already seen many large businesses fail because they did not adapt to the forces acting around them; Blockbuster, Kodak, Toys-R-Us, Godfreys, and many more. Regardless of your business, you need to continuously review and reassess your business strategy and how you deliver value for your clients. If you do not change, the market will swallow you.
