I read this Harvard Business Review article “Why WFH Isn’t Necessarily Good for Women” a while ago and I was struck a little bit by my own experiences working from home for the last 10 years. About 5 years ago, I interviewed with someone who told me that project managers couldn’t be effective in their jobs without being present in the office everyday. Needless to say, I wasn’t the right fit for that job, and my interviewer now runs a fully remote company. The pandemic has definitely pushed companies past their comfort zone, being forced to embrace a fully remote environment at a minimum, a fully engaged and remote culture as the ideal.

I attribute some of my success working from home to a fundamental understanding that you are at a disadvantage and need to ensure you really communicate, even over-communicate to some extent. As a manager, this means that I leave my lines of communication open and meet my team members where-ever they need to be. As an employee and project manager, this means I am constantly sharing information and establishing a baseline for my communication, so that when I need to escalate or talk through something, I get treated with the urgency I need.

My current team is primarily compiled with the majority located in one geographic area, a smaller group in another and multiple team members, including myself remote to either location. The primary location was the base of operations for our key customers, with an open door policy that encouraged them to stop by. There were definitely missed conversations and opportunities, that remote team members needed to overcome. But there were also some downsides to the office community, we have identified since work from home has been implemented.

1. The sense of community provided quite a bit of distraction – In anonymous surveys of team members, and analysis of the numbers, all accounts show that the entire team is more productive. They feel more productive and the numbers show dramatic increases in productivity since the start of the pandemic. Even the most extroverted have taken note and are refocusing their energy to impact their goals, and driving growth for the team.
2. Boundaries are key– Everyone’s family and home situation is unique, and it’s imperative that each person set boundaries, and the rest of the team abides them. Further, it’s imperative that you communicate these rules to your stakeholders as well. We all need the flexibility to work through a shared workspace, or kids in remote school, or loved ones who got sick miles away. Having an open door policy to discuss each person’s needs allows them to share as much or as little as they feel comfortable, but allows you to provide individual support.
3. Don’t assume, ask – We did a few anonymous surveys of the team to figure out where we were succeeding and where we needed to improve. We also had did skip level 1:1 meetings across the entire team. This allowed team members to be heard, and for us to continue to figure out how best to support.

There are still some downsides that we need to navigate: including a sense of loneliness, a shift towards too much work in the work/life equation, and figuring out how to retain those connections with customers and our team members as we bring new ones on, or as we navigate how to open the office and balance everyone’s new found enjoyment in working remote with needing to have some presence in the office as a haven for our customers.