I’m having lunch with a friend of mine, discussing work and lifestyle decisions. They are moving out of state to a city where they can enjoy the winter skiing. “It’s great that you have the mobility to move your business where you want to raise your family,” I said. “Yea,” he smiled, “…it gets even better than that….” Upon questioning he reveals that his spouse is being permitted to telecommute to work. “But I thought she was in a leadership position?” He smiles.
The company, it appears, is moving rapidly to a model of near total outsourcing. I had been watching while this major technology employer in my city had slowly divested itself, first of manufacturing plants then development activities. At each step, their footprint in our town has slowly shrunk. Where they were once building office buildings as quickly as the headcount grew, now many of these offices sit empty or nearly empty. Apparently the goal now is to outsource the work, but keep the management internal. Still, they push those remaining employees back into their homes.
I confirmed this with another friend. “Yes, the teams I direct are in India, China and Mexico. It makes it rather awkward to shout at the kids arguing over cereal during my 6AM teleconference. I went into the office the other day to meet with a coworker and found a sofa and coffee table. The coworker, it turns out, was a telecommuter and failed to tell me.”
I had heard that this company had challenges outsourcing development. Apparently they have compromised by having American and European managers driving the requirements and quality with outsourced teams.
Does this produce high quality results with lower costs? Time will tell. It certainly makes “grabbing lunch” with a coworker a more studied option…
Another entrepreneur I know has started his business with a virtual team. His office is in the Far East and his marketing, digital content are sourced in North America.
While this setup permits him to build an organization that is “best of breed,” there are challenges.
Part of an entrepreneur’s primary goal is to build a vision amongst the implementers. While he clearly has a vision, how does he corral this disparate talent pool toward a common goal and single manifestation of the product? This is a vital role of the leader.
While cloud based collaborative tools may help, there is little in the virtual world that can compare to a group of professionals sitting down with a beer and knocking ideas around. More importantly, the CEO sets the pace for productizing an idea. A teleconference and shared whiteboard are a poor substitute for the witnessing the fire and passion of a founder as he/she paints the vision.
Finely, I worry that the lack of physical interaction (of face to face meetings) tends to inhibit bonding and dedication. Can you really relate to letting someone down when you know nothing about them?
Is there such thing as a team without shared experiences? Does one really need a team to succeed?
