Making Remote Less Distant
Like almost everyone, I am dealing with more stress and uncertainty now from all corners. Waking up to a new reality each day and adjusting approach relative to family, work, friends, and personal routines. What’s the best way for us to “flatten the curve” as a family? As a business? How do we care for our employees, hundreds of whom are facing unprecedented challenges with kids now home from school? How do we balance that with minimizing service disruption to existing clients and their customers, and what about the new firms calling for help?
And social responsibility aside, are we really that safe personally? Call me crazy, but we wiped down the groceries yesterday after shopping and now sterilize all deliveries before bringing them into the house.
I am also struggling with the fact that, as a company that specializes in work-from-home solutions, we should be shouting from the rooftops about the myriad ways in which we can help. On the other hand, we don’t want to come across as opportunistic ambulance-chasers. It’s not who we are.
All this is happening while simultaneously working remotely full-time, for the first time ever. As a 99% remote company this feels odd to admit, but it’s a disconcerting feeling to be at home during such a crisis – physically distant from HQ while still having a hand on the tiller as we navigate rough waters.
Amid this chaos, two strong emotions presented themselves to me yesterday.
- We have the team we need for this. BP is a tight-knit family of exceptionally caring, hard-working, and talented people that are incredible to work with and know how to get the job done. We kind of have “crisis management” stamped into our DNA through a 10-year legacy of tackling high-urgency projects for clients. This is a different but also very familiar situation.
- Our technology kicks ass. Being able to glance over and see everyone working throughout the day in their homes gave me this palpable sense of “we are in this together”. Video meetings are great, but the wall of big talking heads and mirror effect always make it difficult to get 100% comfortable. Our Bhive approach is certainly not for everyone, but it’s fundamental to our culture and we stay more connected to each other because of it.
If those sound like shameless plugs, so be it. Pride has that effect on people!
