“How to Build a Remote Team”- Interview with Ben Congleton, Olark.com CEO and CoFounder
Last week I received an amazing set of responses from readers like you on the topic of Handling the Anxiety that Accompanies Ambition. Don’t worry I will continue to write more on the topic!
I appreciate those of you who opened up by emailing me and leaving comments about what you had been through. Supporting each other definitely helps, and is a necessary component to staying creative and innovative!
Yesterday I shot a live pilot episode of FemgineerTV on: How to Build a Happy and Productive Remote Team. My guest was Ben Congleton, the CEO and Founder of Olark.
Ben shared how he and his co-founders have built an amazing remote team of 30-people, which spans San Francisco to Europe.
It ain’t about the Benjamins baby…
While a lot of people talk about the financial benefits of a remote team, that’s actually NOT the reason why Ben and his team decided to build a remote team. You’ve probably also heard over and over again the importance of company culture, but Ben actually breaks down what him and his team at Olark do to build a strong company culture!
During the show we covered the following 3 misconceptions people have about remote working:
1. Employees won’t be as productive and progress will stagnate
2. Communication between employees and teams will break down
3. A remote team will be devoid of culture
In the pilot episode of FemgineerTV Ben and I tackled each of these misconceptions.
One of my favorite takeaways from this episode was Ben sharing how the Olark team puts into practice its core values of assume good faith and practice empathy:
“If there’s something you want to talk about, you should talk about it. You shouldn’t feel bad, you shouldn’t feel judged. Also it’s on the listener to practice empathy, and really try to understand what someone is saying. Finally, if you’re having doubts about the motivation behind something that was said, assuming good faith is a really good way of framing things in your mind.” – Ben Congleton, CEO & Co-Founder of Olark
If you’re keen on building a remote team, and want a step-by-step process, I highly recommend checking out this guide from from Hubstaff on called Remote Work is the Future.
Finally, what was your favorite takeaway from the episode? Let me know in the comments below!
Hey Poornima, great episode. Very well thought out and of great value. I totally agree with Ben when he says how you use the tools is more important than the choice of the tool like jira, trello and others.
My favorite takeaway in this was- he said he has built into the budget for the team to meet up and using coworking spaces if needed to keep them motivated. It was not all about saving costs but the idea was to make this a solution that works for Ben and his employees.
Looking forward to the next episode. Keep them coming!
Hi Sujata! Great to hear from you 🙂
Yeah those are great takeaways!
1. Process over tools.
2. Remote isn’t about cost-savings, it’s about the opportunity to hire the best technical talent wherever they maybe located in the world. Once Ben hires someone, his goal is to retain the best, by giving them what they need to stay motivated and productive like a co-working budget.
Are you currently working on a remote team?
The next episode airs in March!
Hi Poornima, I am not working on a remote team right now. However, I want to be open to the idea we may hire talent from a remote location. Yet another cool takeout was to hire within a small timezone difference like 5.
Good to hear you’re thinking ahead 🙂 Yeah timezones can often be painful, but keeping it to about 5 is manageable. However, I do hire people who are often 12 hours ahead. When I do, I have them work on projects that are not mission critical.
Great article. What I like is the mention of empathy as a key factor in managing remote teams. It’s a topic that I have written and spoken about for the past couple of years. I hadn’t found anyone else that talks about empathy. I think with empathy, you can accept the cultural differences and organize around it. Empathy also enables us to understand the other’s company culture, products and users better. And I definetely agree that you can actively build a culture in a remote team > it may take some extra effort that you don’t need to take when your whole team is in 1 place.
I have written a couple of books about this topic of managing remote teams, maybe interesting to read for you: http://www.ekipa.co/ebooks