RWL026 How Defining Core Values Can Unlock Remote Work Success w/ Nick Francis

Speaker 1

0:01

You're tuned in to the Remote Work podcast, where remote professionals from around the world come to grow and learn from those who know the world of remote work best. What I will do is share with you what I've learned from a number of CEOs, leaders and entrepreneurs in the remote space. I'll also talk to you about the benefits of remote work and what I've learned in my 10 years or so experience in remote work, so that you know what to expect and how to build your own remote work life. And if you've been with me over the course of the last few episodes, you will know that I've been talking about the various pillars of remote work. In fact, there are seven pillars, I believe, of remote work. These pillars I have derived from my various conversations with remote professionals over the course of the last year or so. I've talked to them about their experiences. I've talked to them about how they hire people, etc. Etc. I've talked to them about the features and the characteristics of remote workers, and there's been a number of recurring themes that I am now sharing with you via the seven pillars of remote work. And today I'm going to be talking about another very important pillar, and that is values, and for me, the thing that sticks out for me when it comes to remote workers, to to remote businesses, is that remote businesses the best remote businesses live their values, they define their values, they articulate their values, but their values are embedded and play out in their day-to-day work and how they behave towards each other, and perhaps more so than businesses that are co-located. Because obviously values help to really, I suppose, shape the culture of a business and, as I'd mentioned in a previous episode, the culture of a business, or especially a remote business, is really important to the survival of the business and your survival within that remote business. Because what tends to happen and from my interview with nick francis is that the people who survive within remote businesses will have an active or actively participate in the culture. So the values, as I said, really sort of shape, um, how remote professionals behave with each other, towards each other. So this is so, so important for you and, as I said, probably more so important than, um you know, the co-located businesses.

Speaker 1

2:48

Essentially, values for me the really the guiding principles that are the most important thing about the way you work. They're the principles that I suppose help you to choose between right and wrong ways of working and they help you to make important decisions for your career. So that's why it's so important and that's why, as I said, as a remote worker, you really need to get to grips with this, especially if you're new and trying to find your way, or if you are in a situation where perhaps you're feeling unsettled, unhappy, uneasy. You know you're lacking confidence, you're perhaps um marginalized, or at least marginalizing yourself from your teammates. It may be that then there's some sort of conflict when it comes to values and it might be a sign that you need to start to, to look elsewhere or perhaps didn't make a right choice when it comes to the team that you joined. So that's why it's so important. It's important for your own happiness, your own survival in the business or the role. Sometimes values don't just affect workers, so remote employees they can affect you. If you're working with a client that you feel kind of uneasy with and you don't get on with, what you'll find is there'll be conflicts, there'll be different ways of working, and you perhaps won't. It probably won't be a sustainable relationship for you if you have that particular client on your books.

Speaker 1

4:33

So that I used to work for a remote business, a remote recruitment business. It was an excellent business. It was a values-led recruitment business called Good Talent and we had a number of clients that we really got on well with and worked well with and had an opportunity, in fact, via the actual founder of the recruitment business, to bring on board another client, but we didn't do it and this particular client would have been quite lucrative, I believe, because they had a number of roles, it was within an industry that was thriving, but it didn't match the values of our business, match the values of our business. So, as much as you know, it would have been a maybe a prosperous, prosperous solution to to our clients and to our, I suppose, our pipeline of clients and business and hiring people into different uh, different roles. It would have been really good on that side of things, but it just didn't sit well with us to work with that particular client, so we let that one go and we we didn't look back and, like I said, if you, if you were in a situation where perhaps there's a conflict with with the values that you hold and the values that the people that you either work with or the clients that you work with hold, then you're not going to be at your best, I wouldn't have thought, or at least not for any period of time. So that's why it's so important to you and that's why I had to highlight it in this series to do with the pillars of remote work, and here's what you should do.

Speaker 1

6:13

Next really is just a few things you should do next, not saying this is a comprehensive list of things, but here are a few things that you need to do, especially if you're in a situation where you're feeling unhappy or if you're in a situation where you're looking for your next move. The first thing you should do, or one of the first things you should do, is identify your own values, and this could take some time. Don't expect it all to come at once. Be patient with yourself when you're doing it and perhaps think about the situation that you're in now and think about some of the things that you don't like, about what's going on within your team or within the setup with your client. Think about some of the things that you don't like, and then I suppose what you can do is then think of the opposite to that particular thing and that that could actually help you to identify some of your own values.

Speaker 1

7:08

So you need to identify your values first and foremost, not just identify them, write them down. I'm actually in the middle of writing a manifesto, um, which includes my values, which includes a number of different things what do I stand for, what's my purpose, what is my mission and the mission of remote work life, all of those kinds of things are things that you should identify, but in this respect we're talking about values. So identify your own values and then another thing you can do is identify examples of how your values have played out in real life and work. Because the thing is, when you identify, or at least get to a point where you can identify, your values, one way in which you might be able to do that is also by thinking of times when you were at your best and what you were doing and how you did it and why you did it, and all those kinds of things that will help you to really begin to identify your values. But it's important also to be able to give examples of a time when you did this or did that, which kind of illustrates how those values played out in real life, and they will put you in good stead when you're talking to prospective clients at your networking events or at your interviews, etc. So, yeah, think about the real life scenarios and then next on my list of what to do next. So I talked about identifying values, identified examples of those values, and the next thing on my list is find businesses that have the same, or at least similar values and talk about similar things to you. Because what you'll find is you'll find hopefully, at least anyway, there'll be, there'll be a connection, there'll be conversations that you'll be able to have, there'll be things that they do that you feel as though you would like to do and in in the way that they do them. So it's really important to identify businesses that share your values or at least have similar values to your own. So that's really it for me.

Speaker 1

9:23

I didn't want to make this. I don't like making these episodes too long for you, unless you want me to. So if you, let me give me a bit of feedback on this particular series of episodes. They've been around about 10 to 15 minutes some of them. Some of them are a bit longer. Tell me what you want to hear. Tell me what you want to learn. Tell me you know what you need to know about when I work, to sort of push you forward. This is what it's all about. I want to help you in whatever way I possibly can. So if you haven't listened to the other episodes which include the values, this is one of seven. So if you've listened to this one, there's another six to go. So check out the other six pillars of remote work and let me know what you think and also, as I said, let me know what episodes I should be planning for the future.

Speaker 1

10:18

Another thing you could do as well is please connect with me on linkedin. You'll find my linkedin details in the show notes. You'll also be able to connect via the facebook group that we have, the remote work life accelerator group. There you'll find around about a thousand or so other remote workers, or at least people who are looking to get or interested in remote work. Um. So please go there and just write. You can write your questions there if you like. You can hopefully make new friends in there, meet new people, make some connections in there too. This is what it's all about. This is what remote work life is all about. It's about connecting the world of remote workers, and don't forget to say hello and I will see you in the next episode.