I am currently part of a six-member multi-disciplinary team, which is working on an online design thinking course started by Ideo.org. We're currently involved in a design challenge that entails getting more young people to become social entrepreneurs. Every other week, we're required to physically meet up for three- to four-hour long workshops that are fun and stimulating. This tends to be a challenge, given that our team members are spread across different localities in Mumbai and Bengaluru. While we've often used Skype to patch in our colleague in Bengaluru, the incessant rains this weekend made it impossible for us to gather at a physical location in Mumbai. We tried Skype - but, for some reason, we ran into some infrastructure challenges. So we switched to Sabsebolo, a free conferencing facility. And then, one of our team members (she's a serious gamer at one of the country's leading interactive learning companies) introduced us to Mural.ly, a smart online visual collaborative software that allowed us to post our ideas on a mural. Till I used it, I didn't realise just how easy and seamless it made the task of collaborating.
This design thinking project is no exception. In the past two years, as we've built our new venture, we've learnt to constantly use every kind of online communication and collaboration tool. It helps that I'm surrounded by two co-founders who pride themselves on being tech evangelists - and believe in experimenting with almost every new tool that comes along. Sometimes, it can be a tad infuriating; but I've realised that it's fun to test if the new stuff is indeed idiot-proof. (More often than not, it isn't, which leads me to believe that more tech firms need to adopt design thinking into their DNA, so that their designs are based on a better understanding of user needs.)
So what's my point? Such smart communication tools are exploding. And thanks to the smartphone, it is becoming a lot simpler. I, for instance, tend to rely on a smart bunch of former colleagues who invariably recommend new apps (last week, one of them recommended an app called Ringr, which helps record your phone interviews).
Yet try asking around in your friends' circle just how open their workplaces are to using collaborative tools. You'll find that the answer isn't very encouraging. An entire generation of leaders still cling to old ways of working that entirely rely on face-time. What if employees goof off and don't deliver? Wouldn't work that requires intense teamwork tend to suffer? All valid concerns, except that there are enough examples now to prove that remote working isn't a bad idea for our gridlocked cities. After all, it is anybody's guess just how much efficiency and productivity is unleashed in getting employees to endure three hours of commute through blinding rains or blistering heat.
I remember being told the story of how Far Eastern Economic Review, a leading global economic magazine based in Hong Kong that shut down a few years ago, had to square up to the bird flu crisis, which forced them to work from home. After a month or two, they realised it was so much smoother and convenient for its staffers that they switched entirely to a remote working model.
It may seem like an extreme example, but it eventually all boils down to the notions of trust and control. So at your next town hall or team meeting make sure to ask your team if your workplace culture offers them the flexibility to work just about from anywhere. I remember recently a conversation with a Delhi-based friend who had worked for more than a decade at an organisation. He worked long hours and followed a gruelling six-day week. His organisation was leanly staffed and it meant that he couldn't ever take more than two weeks of leave at a go without the work suffering.
This year, he urgently needed a month to dispose of an apartment in Bengaluru. So he proposed working from his Bengaluru office. It would help him gain some useful experience of working in a new city and also allow him to meet new contacts. What's more, it would enable him to also settle a personal issue that was impossible to resolve from Delhi, given his long hours at work. The request was turned down. Apparently, the office culture didn't take too kindly to such plans.
Technology has, for the most part, made our work location-neutral. All we now need is a good internet connection, a laptop and a smartphone. The rest of it is about building a culture of trust and performance orientation. Yet our industrial-era mindset prevents many business leaders from throwing away the fancy access cards that dock an employee's pay if they haven't put in nine hours at work. Instead, servant leaders make sure they do everything in their power to make it easier for high-quality teams to work seamlessly and collaborate across centres. And their teams love them for it.
The writer is co-founder of Founding Fuel, a digitally led media and learning platform aimed at the entrepreneurial community
Disclaimer: These are personal views of the writer. They do not necessarily reflect the opinion of www.business-standard.com or the Business Standard newspaper
