Work From Anywhere: The Essential Guide to Becoming a World-class Hybrid Team

By Alison Hill and Darren Hill

Bring out the best in your hybrid team with this invaluable resource

Work from Anywhere delivers practical strategies and actionable guidance on how to develop a high performing team and business in a remote and distributed environment. Accomplished authors, behavioural experts, and fast-growth business leaders, Alison and Darren Hill, show you how to craft business and culture strategies to bring out the best in your hybrid and remote team members by focusing on both performance and people.

You'll learn how to:

• Understand the unique psychology, methodology, and technology that makes hybrid teams excel
• Develop strategies for embedding high performance across your team, no matter where they're located
• Create rhythms and rituals to keep your team highly motivated and on task, and avoid disengagement

The ability to work from anywhere is no longer just a HR conversation, it is an Executive conversation. Perfect for business leaders working with hybrid teams, Work from Anywhere is also ideal for organizational development executives, cultural transition leaders, business leaders, and entrepreneurs who are responsible for ensuring that employees consistently perform at their best, regardless of location.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wiley
• Release date: Mar 30, 2021
• ISBN: 9780730390886

Alison Hill

Alison Hill is a writer and poet specialising in the arts and heritage. She was awarded an Arts Council grant to support her third poetry collection, Sisters in Spitfires, which celebrates the lives and flights of the women pilots of the Air Transport Auxiliary. Her previous publications are Slate Rising, Lyrical Beats and Fifty Ways to Fly (ed.), which featured a poem by Pauline Gower and was sold in support of the British Women Pilots’ Association. Alison is an RSA Fellow and a member of the Spitfire Society.

Book preview

Work from Anywhere

The essential guide to becoming

A WORLD-CLASS HYBRID TEAM

ALISON HILL & DARREN HILL

First published in 2021 by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd

42 McDougall St, Milton Qld 4064

Office also in Melbourne

Typeset in Museo Slab 9.5pt/13pt

© John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd 2021

The moral rights of the authors have been asserted

ISBN: 978‐0‐730‐39087‐9

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (for example, a fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review), no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, communicated or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission. All inquiries should be made to the publisher at the address above.

Cover design by Wiley

Disclaimer

The material in this publication is of the nature of general comment only, and does not represent professional advice. It is not intended to provide specific guidance for particular circumstances and it should not be relied on as the basis for any decision to take action or not take action on any matter which it covers. Readers should obtain professional advice where appropriate, before making any such decision. To the maximum extent permitted by law, the authors and publisher disclaim all responsibility and liability to any person, arising directly or indirectly from any person taking or not taking action based on the information in this publication.

To those who make our work and world extraordinary (looking at you PT Crew)

PROLOGUE

You don't need to be told about the ripple effect or chaos theory; how a butterfly flapping its wings on one side of the planet can cause a hurricane on the other. You know how globally connected we all are and how one event thousands of kilometres away can sweep the whole world, affecting every person and business. We all understand this now — in our bones — because we all experienced this via the extraordinary events of 2020 …

Bracketed by the mighty Yangtze and Han rivers, the pulsing city of Wuhan is home to over 11 million people. In late December 2019, this Chinese provincial powerhouse had a thriving economy and grand history; however, it would soon be known worldwide for something else entirely. Wuhan would become ‘ground zero’ for the most contagious and lethal virus the planet had known in 100 years.

At first, the ripples were barely noticeable. A small but significant increase in pneumonia cases raised concern among the local doctors and healthcare workers in Wuhan. The Wuhan Municipal Health Commission reported this worrying cluster of viral pneumonia cases on its website, and the World Health Organization started to track events. Barely a fortnight after the early identification of this extremely serious respiratory virus, experts confirmed a novel coronavirus (or COVID‐19, as it would soon be known across the world) had been identified. The first reported death due to this strain of coronavirus was reported on 11 January 2020 and, from there, it would march its way not just through immune systems but also across land, sea and air to tragically claim the lives of well over a million souls (and counting) in its first 12 months, bringing the global economy to its knees along the way, and changing workplaces around the world forever more.

Originating in the subtropical corner of South‐East Queensland, Australia, Pragmatic Thinking (PT)¹ is something of a rarity, both by profession and by perspiration. Founded in 2008, it has achieved what very few businesses get to do — keep its doors open for over a decade, and reach revenue well beyond seven figures. Pragmatic Thinking is a behaviour and motivation strategy company supporting organisations with leadership development and culture change; the people stuff.

Fewer than 0.06 per cent of businesses ever achieve these combined feats, so you might think that would be a chance for all involved to sit back and indulge in a little self‐congratulation. But survival was never the primary objective for anyone at PT.

It was to be magnificent.

So alongside existing for over a decade, the PT Crew also achieved excellence — as evidenced by many measures, including being named in the Australian Financial Review's Fast 100 across three consecutive annual lists, and being one of Asia–Pacific's fastest growing companies.

It was an exciting business, with an exciting story, working with exciting clients.

January 2020 saw the team gather for a two‐day offsite to map an ambitious and invigorating journey for 2020 and beyond. This was a regular cultural kick‐starter the team looked forward to each year, outlining new goals, new plans, and new hope.

With a focus on accelerating marketing and new product development, the crew at PT had ambitions, goals and energy to make the start to a new decade an energetic and prosperous one. All that came to a crashing halt, however, on 13 March 2020.

Sitting glued to the news briefings with most of Australia, aghast as Prime Minister Scott Morrison outlined the initial isolation and shutdown measures being undertaken to stop the community transmission of COVID‐19 across the country, the team at PT were genuinely fearful for the future.

While the team had plenty of strings to its bow, delivering services in training, consultancy and internal communications, the vast majority of those services relied on a face‐to‐face delivery model. Across the next week, the business lost upwards of 90 per cent of its projected revenue streams. Along with live events and tourism, the education and training sector was among the most significantly affected.

On top of this, the team and culture that they had created was in keeping with this high‐touch approach. The PT vibe pre‐COVID was one of hugs and fist‐bumps; it laughingly could've been described as an introvert's minefield, in all the right ways. But clearly that all had to change.

It's not an overstatement to say that unless a radical rethink could be achieved in a short space of time by everyone at PT, complete failure was imminent.

Fast‐forward 12 months and the bleak future faced back in March 2020 was replaced with a vibrant, exciting new direction. The PT Crew switched, almost overnight, from a traditional (but very cool) co‐located team in two funky offices to making its way as a separately located team, with an uncertain future, to finally building excellence in functioning as a hybrid team with a commitment to performance as strong as since its inception.

Commitment to this type of reinvention and the action required is not a common tale; however, it is certainly an achievable one for any business that has entered into being a distributed or hybrid team.

The ripple originating in mainland China that turned into a worldwide tsunami: a global pandemic worse than any other in living memory crashes into businesses, having severe and sudden economic impacts on them and the teams within them.

Sadly, this collision had impacts some businesses have not — and will not — recover from. But for others, the chance for radical reshaping might just be the making of them in a new era.

Occasionally, the world engineers a moment in time that's so big, we're compelled to make change to stay relevant. For all of us, 2020 and the events within it was that moment.

A moment when work from anywhere moved from being a fringe business practice to mainstream business as usual. A moment when every team on the planet had to re‐think how teams operate.

Note

¹ You're welcome to do a little cyber-stalking at www.pragmaticthinking.com

INTRODUCTION

Having teams operate in a ‘distributed’ or work from anywhere (WFA) fashion is not new, and nor was it solely born from the global pandemic. For years and even decades, many teams have managed to facilitate a functioning work environment remotely; some spectacularly well.

A few rare companies with valuations now in the billions have been distributed for decades, or at least since the advent of the internet. Yet the sheer impact of COVID‐19 and the overnight call to remote and distributed work practices reshaped workplace behaviour and standards so significantly that, in time, we may speak historically about the events of 2020 as being as disruptive for workforces as the invention of the printing press and the personal computer.

Exacerbating this significant change is the sheer speed of change. The suddenness of overnight isolation‐based crisis responses from organisations left many leaders, teams and businesses floundering; many are still battling with leadership and cultural skills that were built on face‐to‐face connection rather than virtual. But help is here.

Regardless of whether you're still struggling to adapt, you've had some wins but feel a lot of unrealised potential is still there to tap into, or you're flying and just looking for a few handy tips to take your game to an elite level, this book will make for enlightening reading. Be assured, the framework and methodology that underpin this book are grounded not only in behavioural and psychological sciences, but also in lived experience.

Why WFA is here to stay

Co‐located workplaces will undoubtedly continue, and will likely be a considerable construct of workplace teams into the future. Certainly, some industry types and job occupations simply demand that teams be located under the one roof. Manufacturing, bricks and mortar retail, healthcare and hospitality are all industries where it seems natural to have many teams working together closely and, in some cases, in front of and face to face with their customers.

But the ripples of COVID‐19 will continue to move through all businesses long after a new normal is established.

Put simply, the requirement of organisations to offer and adapt to WFA practices as a regular option is now here forever.

Companies including Twitter, Facebook, UBS, Shopify and many others have instigated permanent WFA policies. Reports have found the surprising results that, having ditched the commute, workers are reporting increased productivity, lowered stress levels, and improved reconnection to a healthier lifestyle. How work–life balance is considered has changed permanently.

If you're still a dissenter, believing this whole hybrid/remote/distributed team stuff is simply a holding pattern until everything ‘gets back to normal’, let's take a look at some factors that give us the confidence to make these statements.

Continued globalisation

One of the huge economic megatrends that has been catalysed further by the internet revolution is globalisation — and not just for the gargantuan organisations. ‘Business without borders’ has also been the place for mid‐tier businesses. The ability for an organisation to set up shop in geographically diverse areas across the globe with a small, inexpensive footprint has radically reshaped expansion plans compared to two decades ago.

A small team (or even individuals) can provide an opportunity to prototype offerings to marketplaces, at low costs. With the rise and rise of functional distributed team work, these outlier employees can still have a connected and impactful presence within the larger organisation.

Increased adaptability and flexibility

The push for organisations to provide more flexibility in work practices has been a couple of decades in the making. The macro‐generational shifts of two full‐time working parents, and gen Y and millennial–led work teams have continued to shift the focus of teams to being more adaptable and flexible. Recent research suggests that, to be competitive in the talent marketplace, you need to have options available beyond the co‐located team. And these options need to be more than just a token, and no longer based on old ideas that staff need to be monitored and the office is where ‘real’ work happens. The concept of what work is and when work starts has shifted. Therefore, the ability to source talent from a broader geographical location is required for organisations of the future.

Cost savings

Chief financial officers around the world have celebrated the shift to WFA more than anyone, because of their connection to the numbers that drive the business. The reduced costs are varied, but the two big reductions are:

Reduced commercial rent: Fewer people at the office means fewer square metres of office space. With rent often one of the biggest fixed costs line items for businesses, even a one‐day‐per‐week WFA arrangement equates to a potential 20 per cent reduction in staff on premises, which can trickle to a significant reduction in required office space.

Reduced travel and accommodation expenses: With the business world becoming much more accepting of virtual discussions within teams and also in client contact, there have been massive reductions in air and land travel. Many business development and sales teams are reporting even more effective outcomes via virtual connection rather than playing calendar Tetris trying to arrange a face‐to‐face meeting. Of course, accommodation goes hand in hand with travel — you reduce travel, you reduce accommodation costs.

Habit formation

While the preceding points certainly provide a compelling business case for organisations and teams moving towards distributed work from a financial standpoint, we'd argue an even more powerful driver of distributed work staying as an ongoing way of work is simply the length of time many teams spent in COVID‐induced isolation.

While many theories posit how long it takes to form a new habit (with 28 days to two months being pretty common), right around the world lockdown periods have exceeded the vast majority of these accepted beliefs. Put simply, we've done enough reps for this way of work to now become deeply ingrained muscle memory.

What if WFA is actually the best way to work?

Before we throw ourselves headlong into the philosophy, structure and exploration of what you can do to achieve excellence as a distributed team, we want you to sit in this glorious question, filled with possibility. What if WFA is actually the best way to work?

We're curious.

How comfortable has that question left you?

Your gut feel?

What was your first intuitive response?

Let's rate that, shall we? Let's see where you're starting your journey from. Mark your response to the question on the following continuum.

What if work from anywhere is actually the best way to work?

Were you more aligned to the left side of the scale, or the right side?

Truthfully, we're ambivalent about your response. What we're much more interested in is your desire to shift to the right on this continuum.

The fact you're reading this book tells us you're searching for answers and looking to make WFA work better for you and your team.

Regardless of where you scored yourself, a useful belief to hold will be that embracing a WFA approach for your team could enrich the lives of your people and their work. To be super‐frank,¹ pining for the days of cohabitation is a waste of energy and your intelligence.

It's our belief that you can lead and thrive as a team working from anywhere, whether in a distributed form or as a hybrid team. The gifts from this are not just a flexible work environment but also a deeply autonomous one, built on the kind of performance standards and cultural togetherness that creates the very work engagement we've quested for. When we explore a new model and methodology (with new ways of working and connecting) the very things we've been craving from work become possible. That's a quest worth pursuing.

But let's check in for a second. We're not asking you to drink the Kool‐Aid. Nor are we encouraging you to join the WFA cult. We're just offering a simple exercise in shifting your perception. Holding the belief that when you make WFA work, well, it might just be the greatest work invention since the stand‐up desk (or Margie's brownies) is where we want to start this 200‐odd page journey together.

Because the alternative is pretty ordinary; if your belief is that WFA is the poor cousin of the office‐bound team, you'll likely create a self‐fulfilling prophecy. Your energy will be reflected and radiated throughout your team and you'll see problems instead of opportunities.

Let's not do that. Let's dare to create something special.

Using this book

In the coming pages, you'll see a carefully considered rhythm established within the first chapter, which we carry throughout the book: story, systems and science, and summary.

Story

Each chapter starts with an insight into Pragmatic Thinking's journey from a close‐knit, high‐touch, co‐located team to a high‐performing hybrid team. We'll tell this story through a classic method, following the time‐honoured meta‐plot structure of the ‘hero's journey’. Coined by academic Joseph Campbell in his seminal work The Hero with a Thousand Faces in 1949, the monomyth of the hero's journey is an enduring storyline that we tend to see replayed in the telling and retelling of an adventure.

We're unabashed fans of Campbell's work. The Hero with a Thousand Faces is one of our most referred to sources and while vigorous debate has occurred academically around the use of meta‐plots and their accuracy, more impactful voices on the constructs that drive mythology than Campbell's are hard to find.

Within his work, Campbell suggests that all great and enduring myths follow a similar storyline; whether it be a section of the Bible or Quran or the script from a Star Wars film, the elements are the same.

The lived experience of the transformation our business has undertaken — our quest,