There’s a lot of shit out there about working at home. Popular companies have adopted the concept and used it in their recruiting strategies. It’s even a premise of a great book – The Four Hour Work Week. It won’t work if you’re trying to achieve true greatness.
Even while working [at work], big boss men vie for offices where they can ‘have privacy’ or meet with people or whatever. Screw all that: collaborate.
We’ve all worked in Joint Ops Centers (JOCs). Remember the magic and synergy that comes from everyone being locked up together? Think about what comes from the organization’s focus strewn up on screens around you while everyone that has the answers, inputs, insights, or perspectives you need working is in the same room…in the same room, coffee breath close.
Stop dreaming about not brushing your teeth, gaining 30 extra pounds while lounging around in your pajamas all day “working” from home. Get rid of the idea of a secluded office with all your past accomplishments tacked up on the wall. Break down walls and work with your people. Create a free and open environment where everyone can make comment, crack jokes, and add essential input into the topic of the day. Collaborate by being present, together. Learn to love the smell of your coworkers, ’cause that smell means you are working together. Get your organization to create a JOC like environment or just do it with your crew.
The myths? I need to have private meetings. Yep, I walk to a private place. I need to have private phone calls. Yep, I walk to a private place but you’ll be amazed by the useful insight your team gains from listening to your calls. I need time to think, away from it all. I do that too, at the pull up bars or I go somewhere I can think separately. My biggest challenge is not getting involved in the detailed shit that doesn’t require my involvement. A little discipline here goes a long way.
Work from home? Great, if you work alone. It’s 2017, no one successful works alone and organizations don’t excel on the merit of disconnected individuals. Read this too– article in the Atlantic that discusses the pitfalls of working from home.
