It Always Seems Impossible, Until It Is Done

Two thousand and twenty could be the year that the benefits of remote work and distributed teams are evaluated in a new light, thanks in no small part to the Coronavirus pandemic. 

At Pop Up Sales Team, we are struck by how this quote, “It always seems impossible, until it is done,” generally attributed to Nelson Mandela, is so relevant to the recent rush to roll out teleworking policies to help contain the spread of Covid-19. 

These new flexible work arrangements and mandates intend to eliminate the need for workers to commute and spend their work day in offices, thereby dramatically reducing their exposure to other people. 

This is an interesting moment. All it took was a global pandemic, and suddenly enterprises across the Fortune 100, 500, 1000,  start-ups and everyone else in between have had to instantly adapt to the reality that work routines in 2020 need not be constricted by an antiquated in-office model.

While the remote work community has been quick to offer tips, tricks, best practices, guides and webinars in an effort to help workers and their companies as they suddenly crash into their new WFH lifestyles, it’s important to take a moment to consider that only a few short months ago, the majority of the companies now enacting these policies were operating from the point of view that their in-office model was absolutely necessary. 

Necessary for “culture”, necessary for “collaboration”, necessary for “learning by osmosis”.

Necessary for, let’s be real, keeping an eye on everyone and reinforcing the lazy, antiquated and delusional mindset that just because you can see someone dressed nicely and sitting at their desk “working” that automatically equates to productivity and results that will add value to the business. 

Let us not rush to the aid of all those pushed into this brave, new world without first acknowledging this. 

So who will thrive in this brave new world and who will wither on the vine? 

Leaders who are orientated to focus on results and subsequently process and improvement will far outperform managers who are orientated toward focusing on monitoring their team members keystrokes, screenshots or other dummy data, as we like to refer to it.  

Leaders who approach their mandate to foment collaboration with intention. 

Leaders who understand that managing processes via “oral tradition” is not a modern work practice and is inefficient. These leaders embrace business team knowledge and collaboration platforms.

In sales, AKA the revenue engine of the company, it will be leaders who use their best reps to look for patterns of success across the sales process and then coach and scale those best practices out to the team as a whole.

We have had the technology in both connectivity and applications to run effective and connected remote teams for at least the last decade. Every year, more applications come online that support remote work and distributed team capabilities.

The trick is to reimagine how we can best work together without physical presence as a prerequisite.

Resist what may be your natural temptation to merely overlay antiquated work process onto newly distributed teams and their supporting technology.

Instead, step bravely into this new world of virtual collaboration, increased productivity and success with an eye and a mandate for taking an innovative approach to team learning, training and collaborative efforts.