RWL040 Adapting and Excelling in the Remote Work World

Adapting to Remote Work Culture

Speaker 1

0:00

Hey, it's Alex from Remote Work Life here. I hope you're doing well, wherever you may be in the world. Thanks so much for listening to the Remote Work Life podcast. I really appreciate it and I appreciate your questions as well. I've been getting quite a lot of questions these days. It's probably because I've been asking for those questions.

Speaker 1

0:17

So thank you for the questions, and lots of the questions I get revolve around finding remote work, and I think lots of people are very interested in this way of working. It's becoming a lot more popular, as you probably notice. More and more people speaking about it on LinkedIn, more and more speaking about it just generally across the internet and people writing about it, and that can only be a good thing. But with that comes, I suppose, lots of questions, and I just want to be as useful as possible in my role as, I suppose, an advocate of the world of remote work, having worked remotely myself for the past what I don't know 10 years on and off. I'm working remotely now, but also working office-based too, but it's something that I'm really, really passionate about, really love. So any information that I can share with you to help you out, then I will do my very best and, as I said, many questions have come my way. One of those questions is, or centres around, I suppose, adapting to working on a remote basis, many people wanting to know if they would suit that kind of scenario. And I can understand why because if you can understand if you would suit working on a remote basis, then you can sell yourself. You can use whatever skills, whatever attributes, whatever, I suppose, characteristics about yourself. You can then begin to resolve those and put them into your sales pitch if you're interviewing or if you're meeting somebody on a remote basis who is hiring.

Speaker 1

1:59

So yeah, I mean today I just want to talk about very briefly anyway, that is because I kind of get quite a lot of questions where this is concerned and that question mainly centres around is remote work or remote work will it work for me? That's the question that I get and that's a difficult, very difficult question for me to answer on an individual basis unless I get to know you as a person and get to know you in terms of your skills, etc. You know, another question I get is how do I know if remote work will suit me? So what I'm going to do today, I'm going to just sum up a few, just a few thoughts, I guess, from the research that I've done myself, because I've spoken to a number of CEOs. I've worked remotely myself. I've spoken to a number of people who work remotely. You know I do a lot of, I suppose, networking in this sort of area. So, like I said, I'll share what I know and hopefully it will go some way at least to answering your question.

Speaker 1

3:02

So yeah, remote work, I know I mean remote work won't work for you if, if you don't like working independently and that, I suppose, goes without saying, because lots of times there's going to be scenarios, going to be occasions on which you're going to be called upon to work independently, to to work on projects without too much involvement or interaction from other people. That's not to say that if you're in a remote team you won't get the support that you need to thrive in your role. But I think more often than not you're going to be working quite independently. So you have to have that confidence, I guess, to be able to do that. So it won't work for you if you're not able to work independently. So if that's you, I mean, do you have there been instances in your current job or previous roles where you've been set tasks and you've had to do them independently.

Speaker 1

4:06

So start by thinking about how you felt during those situations. Did you feel comfortable doing that? Was it quite uncomfortable for you? Did you crave the support and the attention of other people in your team or your manager or whoever it may be? If that is the case, then you may find that you may struggle where remote work is concerned. That's not to say that you can't adapt to it because it's going to involve a certain amount of. I mean, if this is you, it's going to involve a certain amount of discomfort on your part if you can't work independently, discomfort on your part if you can't work independently is going to involve a certain amount of discomfort until such a time that you adapt to working on that scenario or in that scenario. So it's not to say, just because you don't necessarily naturally like working independently, that you can't change the way in which you work. But if it's something that really sort of gets to you and perhaps doesn't quite chime with the way you work, then it may be something to consider how you're going to work around that. So that's number one on my list.

Speaker 1

5:16

So number two on my list is if you are straight out of university, for example, and you're learning either a new skill or a new niche for the first time, or a combination of both, then yeah, again, it may not suit you, may not work for you. That's because what you find, what I found in remote teams, is that there are people who have developed their craft over a period of time. They're so confident and so so, in many cases, expert in what they do, that it just literally comes a second nature. They they don't necessarily have to ask a lot of questions and if you're at straight out university then, yeah, it's only right that you should ask lots of questions about what you're doing and the role that you're in. It's going to be a situation where you might be training and learning the role for the first time and, you know, if you combine that with learning a niche for the first time, then again it will be an uncomfortable scenario for you and it may not be a scenario that those who are hiring would necessarily want for themselves. Those who are hiring would necessarily want for themselves.

Speaker 1

6:24

So it may be that you just have to develop yourself over a period of time in terms of the skill, in terms of an understanding of a particular niche or vertical. And once you've developed that understanding, you can then start to look at opportunities where you can work remotely, or you can work as well as a part of a team or independently, running your own, running your own sort of setup. So yeah, if you're straight out university or learning something for the very first time, it may not suit you because you may, you may, crave that direction, you may need direction which may not exist in many remote teams. So number three on my list is if you're the kind of person who's not able to focus, to work on blocks of work for periods of time, then again there's going to be a learning curve for you. You're going to have to be able to demonstrate that you're able to do that and have done that. And again, if you're uncomfortable in that sort of setup, then a certain amount of adaptation or it may be an indication that it's not going to suit you. I mean, just as I'm going through this whole list, if you're saying to yourself actually, no, that doesn't suit me, that doesn't suit me, that doesn't suit me in itself, it could be an indication that, uh, it just, it should be just something that you you might not consider doing, but, on the other hand, if it's something that you think to yourself actually, yeah, I can do that, I'm sure I could do that, I've done that before then you're on the right track, so just stick with me. So that's number three. So what was that that was not able to focus and work on blocks of work.

Speaker 1

8:00

Number four contribute to the team and wider goals of the company. And this is more focused on the cultural aspects of the business, because remote work culture is very different to the co-located counterpart. So what I mean is and I've spoken to Nick Francis, the CEO of Help Scout, about this he signposted this in an interview I did with him a few months back and he was basically saying is you have to be really vested in the culture of a remote team. You have to really be on board with the goals and what they do, how they work, etc. Because what you find is everybody else within that setup is on board with it. So if you're not on board, then you might find yourself on the periphery and feeling uncomfortable, feeling as though you don't belong, etc. Etc.

Speaker 1

8:57

And he kind of punctuated that point by saying when you're working in a co-located scenario, you can show up to work, you can do what you're doing. You can go home without necessarily having to interact, without necessarily have to being have to get in being involved with what's going on. Um, on a cultural level, you can just not necessarily drift, but you can. You can just essentially hang out and just do the work and go back home, whereas when you're working in a remote team, within a remote culture, you have to be like I said before, you have to be really on board with it and vested in what they're doing and really on board with the goals and really get involved with what's going on, with the conversations that they're having, because it's usually as much as they work that they're having, because it's usually, uh, as much as they they they work and they separate their work from from their, their leisure time. You know the conversations often just, uh, interchangeable and it's just so much, they're so vested in what they're doing.

Speaker 1

9:58

So again, if, if you, if you're thinking to yourself, well, I haven't quite found a business that I could potentially be vested in, then it may not be necessary that you wouldn't suit the remote sort of work life, but it may be that you haven't found a business yet that you could really get on board with in terms of the goals, the mission, et cetera, the way that they work. So it's a matter, then, maybe, of you doing some really detailed search, and it often requires that, anyway, any any new role that you that you're looking for, whether um, co-located or remote, requires that you really, really look for a business that suits you, that's aligned with the things that are important to you, the things that that you like, etc. Etc. So that could be just a tweak, really, or a bit more effort on your part in terms of looking for the right sorts of companies. So what else do we have? Well, solving problems. What you find, that's the number. What number is that? That's number five on my list, solving problems. You'll find that, again, working remotely.

Speaker 1

11:10

As I said in point number one, I was talking about working independently, and usually you're working independently not just in your day-to-day work, but solving problems as they arise, and those problems can be different types of problems. So, for example, example, it may be something as basic as your router is down at home, or you, I don't know you're having a uh, some, some sort of issue with your computer, um, or it might be that it might be work related that you're having, uh, an issue with, I don't know a particular project or a piece of code or whatever it may be. You have to be able to usually solve those problems yourself. I mean, don't get me wrong again, you're going to have support when you're working in a remote team. But and this comes again, this kind of crosses into what I was saying to you before about problem solving on a work level will probably come a lot easier to somebody who is a seasoned professional or an experienced professional, should I say than somebody who is fresh out of university, is learning the ropes. So you know you're in a better position to solve problems.

Speaker 1

12:22

That's not to say you can't ask for help. You know you're in a better position to solve problems. That's not to say you can't ask for help, whether whatever scenario you're in. But, um, problem solving if it doesn't come naturally to you and if, if it's something that's, you're in a situation where you're going to have to ask lots of these questions in order to get to the root of a problem, then again it may not, remote work may not suit you and, again, the certain amount of perseverance that you have to have in order to solve problems that arise. So again, I've added an extra one to the list that perseverance, that will to sort of carry on until you've figured that thing out, is an important attribute. So that was number five solving problems. Number six trust.

Remote Work Adaptation and Challenges

Speaker 1

13:08

Trust is a massive one, and I mean these issues, or this list that I'm going through now is not in any particular order, as I always say, but trust may be the most important of all, and this can apply to you if you're a manager looking to, to move into remote work. If you, let's say you've you've worked in a co-located situation for a while, your employees are sitting right near to you, you're working on projects, you're interacting on a day-to-day basis, you've got oversight of everything that you, that you do um on a daily basis to. You may even be the kind of person who really needs that oversight to feel a sense of security. Well, what you may find when you again, when you're working in a remote team, you're not going to have the level of oversight that you had when you're working face-to-face in a collocate scenario, that may again make you feel a certain amount of discomfort and it may be an indication that, uh, you again, remote work may not be for you. So you have to trust your, your team members and I.

Speaker 1

14:14

I think trust is probably a default setting in many of the best remote teams. They just not I wouldn't necessarily say they take it for granted, but it's something that comes. It comes with, with, with everything else. That comes with everything else that they do best. They trust each other to get on with the work. They trust their team members to do what they say they're going to do when they're going to do it. So if you have an issue with trust, then remote work may not be for you. Again, you may well be able to adapt to this, but if it's innate, then you may, you may struggle. So trust, trust, a big one. And then what do we have? We have.

Speaker 1

14:52

This is the final thing in my list. I'm sure there are more. If you can think of more, I encourage you to to um, to let me know and to get in touch with me. I'll tell you how you can get to me at the end. But um, number seven on my list, that is uh, if you're not prepared to adapt to changes, I guess, and those changes can be different types of changes.

Speaker 1

15:13

So I don't know if you're not used to using technology in your day-to-day work and you're you're thinking about transferring your skills to a remote scenario, then again you'll need to to adapt and change, because tech is a massive um, a massive um thing within within remote teams. It's a massive, massive topic within remote teams. They use tech to get work done, to be more productive, to communicate in literally every facet Literally every facet of their work. Tech is intertwined within what they do and it's quite easy to learn and understand the platforms that they use, because they're often very much cloud-based platforms that you probably heard of. So things like I don't know Google, google Docs, that sort of thing, g Suite, trello, hubspot, things like that. So it's very easy to find out what applications they're using.

Speaker 1

16:23

What may be of a challenge for you, if you're not that way inclined, is actually getting to grips with them, but it's something again, I think if you are vested in that and if you really want to do it and if you want to grow it as a professional, as an individual, then I think you will do it and it's something that you can do. So I'm very confident that you will do it and it's something that you can do. So I'm very confident that you can do it. You can do that side of the adaptation pretty well. The other side is basically what you find is lots of remote businesses, relatively small compared to some of their their bigger, um co-located counterparts. Lots of them are startups, for example, that are going through change and going through hiring, going through different products, different services and needing ideas and just moving and changing on a regular basis. So if you thrive in that kind of environment, in that kind of changing, fluid atmosphere environment, then again you'll, you'll, you'll, thrive, you will be an asset, and if you can contribute to that sort of changing environment, all the better.

Speaker 1

17:39

So but again, if you struggle with change, if you're the kind of person who likes things to be the same and do the same thing on a day-to-day basis and be working in the same sort of environment with little change, and if you want certainty every single day that you go into work in terms of your daily work tasks, then again it may be something that you'll need to to think about how you can adapt to that. It may be that you that you don't want to to adapt to that kind of scenario, but imagine, I mean, if you, if you've um thought to yourself as I've been going through this list of seven things, if you thought to yourself, actually no, I can't do this. Or if you thought to yourself, yes, on the other hand, then you, you then lots of the things that I've mentioned. There are things that I've noticed as recurring themes in terms of things that when I've spoken to people, when I've done my coaching with people, I've thought to myself and told them well, if you can't adapt to these things, or if this is not you, then you may need to consider working differently. And it's not everybody who suits remote work. That's fair enough to say. I would say so. Those people who I've spoke to, those people I've coached, I haven't necessarily taken it to heart. It's just empowered them with information that's enabled them to take their next step and move on. So I mean that's it for me, as ever, a nice and short and sweet podcast for you. I mean hope it has been helpful.

Speaker 1

19:19

As I said before, I want you to get in touch with your ideas as to that you could add to my list in terms of how remote work or ways in which you feel remote work may not be suitable for certain types of people. So get in touch with me. I leave my LinkedIn details in the show notes. Say hello, even if you don't have a question. Let me you that you saw me or or found me via the remote work life podcast, um, and we'll get the conversation going and just connect with me on on linkedin. And, of course, if you've got any subjects or topics that you want me to speak about, any people that you want me to interview, or if you want to be interviewed yourself, if you're hiring, for example, for example, what I'd encourage you to do is get in touch. Let me know if you're hiring, um, then we can just feature you on the on the podcast.

Speaker 1

20:18

Uh, let more people know about what you're doing, because I think, well, I want remote work Life to be a platform that, I suppose, promotes the benefits of remote work, promotes the best remote teams, the best remote businesses. So you're more than welcome to come on the show. Well, I am or will be publishing shows in the future where I'm interviewing other tech and remote professionals. I've got Dan Yoda from Panda Strike, I've got Matthew Stibber from Articulate Marketing coming up, amongst other people. So many great guests coming up. So bear with me and I'll get those interviews out very soon. But, yeah, if you want to be a guest on the show, check out my link in the show notes by LinkedIn link. Get in touch, say hello and I will see you on the next episode.