WLP293 Crafting the Role of Head of Remote

21st Century Work Life and leading remote teams

In this episode, Pilar speaks to Chase Warrington, Head of Remote at Doist. Chase shares how he is challenging how remote work is approached at his organisation, and what he has learnt in his new position that can be used to improve the business and its people.

You can find the show notes below, and there's a transcript over at https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts/head-of-remote-doist

Chase discusses his new position as Head of Remote and talks about how as a community we can help each other learn and grow, and figure out what is the best way to overcome the challenges remote teams face.

24.36 mins

Chase discusses the importance of bringing a team of people from different departments together to socialise and work on a new project, to help overcome feelings of isolation, loneliness, disconnection and disengagement.

Working remotely does have its own set of challenges to overcome, not in the way of changing the entire system, more so that we have systems in place to implement when facing these challenges. Having a social calendar can benefit remote work as there can be a time set at the end of each month for people to come together and connect. However there are ways to make these gatherings more impactful. (You can read Chase’s article “How to Build Human Connections in an Async Workplace” from Doist’s website.)

Chase has created a “social crew” to have these gatherings be more structured,create innovative ideas and have a sense of leadership. Having a place where individuals can come together to connect can be beneficial to not only the members involved but to the business as a whole. With these social crews there has to be intention behind the crews and the intention has to come from being connected at work, but not in the sense of being in the same departments. There are other factors that can connect people in the workplace, even when it is remotely.

Connecting members from different departments to work on a project each month can help prevent feelings of isolation and disconnection. The most important aspect of the crews is to create this feeling of connection and get members of the business outside of their “bubbles'', to make them get to know each other under a common goal.

45.45 mins

Chase hosts the About Abroad podcast separately from his work at Doist, and it’s the result of him being an American expat in Spain. During his travels he’s met many other expats and digital nomads facing similar challenges to him. So he’s created the About Abroad podcast to discuss these various challenges, help other expats, or people travelling outside of their country for the first time.

The podcast was originally set up to discuss living, travelling, and working abroad, but as his travels and discussions with people grew, the topic of remote work came into the discussion as well, as many expats do work remotely. There are a multitude of people from around the world who come on to the podcast and tell their own amazing stories, from building a community of nomads, to what it is like living in the South Pole.

42.57 mins

As for Twist: Future of Work, this is a video series that promotes the use of various products and services that can help with the future of work. Twist is one of the products that Chase encourages listeners to use (it’s part of Doist, of course!)but there are numerous products and services out there that seek to benefit the future of businesses. They have creators behind those products and services as well, and Chase is keen to feature them. Another aspect of this podcast series is to bring in founders of companies and discuss the ethics of the company, why they chose to start their own companies and any personal stories they want to share about the company and product.

51.55 mins

Finally, Chase coversthe Estonia E-residency, which gives entrepreneurs and freelancers an opportunity to set up their own business in Estonia, and do business with other EU companies as well. Estonia E -residency does allow individuals to work remotely as an individual can live in another part of the world, for instance in Hungary, but they are seeking to do business in Estonia, they now have the means to accomplish this.

Working remotely does have its own set of challenges, however there are advantages to it as well and ways to overcome these challenges. If there are any questions that remote workers, entrepreneurs, and freelancers have regarding remote work there are ways to find the answers to them.You can connect with Chase on LinkedIn, and listen to About Abroad on all podcast apps, or from the show’s website.