Work From Anywhere: My Experience Working Remote in Google Offices
During the 13+ years I worked at Google, my manager and I never sat in the same location. I spent over a decade on video-conferences and on planes. Much of that time, I also did not have teammates in my office. I navigated relationship building, managing up, and team building remotely. I loved it.
As an Organizational Psychologist, I’ve spent my career focused on individual and group dynamics that contribute to effectiveness and engagement. As a coach, I’ve spent hundreds of hours actively listening and partnering with leaders on how to invest in themselves and their teams for fulfilling work.
What I know, because of published research and validated from my own experience, is working remotely allows for autonomy, creative problem-solving, and flexibility. All things I value.
Working outside of Google headquarters, I flew to Silicon Valley 3–5 times a year. I visited 25 offices around the world. I accepted an assignment in Shanghai. I cultivated cross-cultural understanding from onboarding Brasileiros, to late night calls for project work with teammates in Singapore, to being able to navigate the streets of Zürich (I still can tell you the best places to eat). All because my location, of where I physically sat, had little to do with my ability to be successful.
In 2014, after living in NYC for 9 years, I initiated a change. I wanted to move to Atlanta. Many things were happening in my personal life that brought me “back to The South.” Convincing my boss to allow the move wasn’t easy. The Google perception at that time was that it was hard enough to be successful in NYC (instead of the Googleplex), let alone at some small, remote office. I negotiated. I had tough conversations. I stayed true to my values of what I wanted for my life. I was lucky to have the support of an Engineering leader who knew I could be successful anywhere and finally made the move.
I got promoted twice. Twice while I was in Atlanta y’all!
For years, (years I tell ya) I’ve been an advocate of “remote working.” My remote working experience is an example that location does not matter in accomplishing your personal, team, and organizational goals. I advocated and negotiated for myself because my well-being was much more important than the grind of the Valley commute and unaffordable living. It still wasn’t easy. Atlanta wasn’t a top tier market. I took a pay cut. The pressure to move to the Bay Area was always there.
For those who are still adapting to remote work and making it a more permanent lifestyle, I’ve shared small experiments for individuals and managers below.
And now, the world has changed. And here we are. Many companies are going remote indefinitely, so you can literally “work-from-anywhere.” I smirked when I heard Google announced work-from-home extends to 2021 because external forces catalyzed a change. I am optimistic for the opportunity organizational leaders now have to focus on individual motivations rather than the idea that location matters to do good work. I’m very happy for my former colleagues, especially the ones who are leaving the big cities for a different type of life. A life away from the grind of High Tech’s definition of success because one should not be defined by the office/city you work in but for the quality of your accomplishments.
Individuals: Proactively Manage Up & Across
No one gave me a playbook on distributed/remote ways of working. In 2005, it wasn’t common. I failed a lot. “Lack of visibility” was an overused piece of feedback during my performance reviews. I didn’t feel comfortable bragging about my work. I held the assumption that my work would speak for itself. It doesn’t. More meetings doesn’t solve this either.
Instead, be proactive and initiate an upfront conversation with your manager/teammates. “Help your manager help you” became a mantra.
Ask How can I best share my work with you for you to be my advocate?
What forum would be best? Weekly email, weekly 1:1, monthly check-in
Would it be ok to forward you emails as an “FYI — no action needed” in order for you to have continued context? If not, what might help you stay engaged with my accomplishments/wins/challenges?
Share I’ve been reflecting on a few things that might help in our new way of working…
I need support from you by _.
I contribute my best when _.
One secret to working well with me is_.
Schedule informal coffee chats with peers. These don’t have to be weekly. Maybe even monthly. No agenda. Simply a catch-up around what you are working on and what you are most excited about.
And, consider your current challenges. How can I solve these independently? What help do I need from others? What is one roadblock my manager can help remove?
Managers: This is an opportunity to re-establish trust & psychological safety with your employees.
Don’t you dare micro-manage while working remotely. I hear you. But what are they doing? How will I know when I can’t see them every day? What do I tell my boss when they ask about my team? Your role as a manager is to coach, actively listen, and remove roadblocks.
One of the biggest risks you have right now is employee retention, motivation, and engagement (e.g. parents multitasking). If you aren’t familiar with Project Aristotle, I’d recommend a quick overview of why trust is even more important to the dependability of your direct reports, your team, and your goals. The research says,
“Colocation of teammates (sitting together in the same office) was not significantly connected with team effectiveness.”
The best managers I’ve had believed I would get my work done, empowered me, nudged me when I veered off the path. I also had a manager who told me I needed to have my butt in seat at 9am, because “I’m working at 6am so I expect you to be.” (She was based in California) Which manager do you think I would work for again in a heartbeat?
Refer to the questions in the section above. You too can proactively share your answers and ask these questions. I’ve done this with every new team/group I’ve managed.
Commit to 1:1s whether they are weekly or every other week. When I say commit, I mean show up. Do not reschedule. Your team needs you now more than ever. If you must reschedule, share with them your why and the compromise you need to make with deadlines being asked of you. Then ask, “What can I do to support you this week?”
Start team meetings with a non-work-related check-in. One example of “how” is a structure I created for my previous team. We rotated roles weekly between a Facilitator, a Note-Taker, and a Devil’s-Advocate. That’s right. As a manager, I did not lead every meeting because I wanted to create empowered voices and a feeling of contribution. This is extremely important in building trust with a distributed workforce. The Devil’s-Advocate is the contrarian voice to compassionately challenge. The Facilitator is tasked to curate agenda items, keep us on track, and each week come up with a new icebreaker question to answer during the first 5 minutes. My favorites:
What is something you have on you right now, jewelry/in your wallet/on your phone, that is meaningful to you? Please share.
If you were famous, what would you like to be known for?
If you had all the money in the world, what would you do?
(This structure is inspired by the wonderful Sally Anderson)
These small shifts create resonate trust in addition to other ideas like virtual team happy hours, care packages, informal coffee chats, etc.
Bonus! Don’t forget to look to the experts. I’ve been inspired by Zapier (fully remote since 2012), as they offer a “Competitive salary (we don’t use remote as an excuse to pay less)” and other benefits that allow for collaborative, value-based, effective ways of remote working.
Meghan Shakar is an Organizational Psychologist, a values-based Leadership Coach, and Start-up Advisor. She spent 13+ years in global People Operations roles at Google. Most recently, she was the Global Head of People Experience at Kabbage, a SoftBank funded FinTech company based in Atlanta. Meghan now coaches and consults with leaders on organizational strategy, executive team building, culture transformation, along with other HR best practices. Her expertise is helping leaders through transition, conflict, and culture transformation.
Meghan is a founding board member of The Lola, a womxn club & community, and a co-founder of Atlanta’s House of Genius chapter. Meghan holds a MA in Organization & Leadership from Columbia University and is a certified Co-Active Coach (CPCC). She lives with her husband and dog in Atlanta (ITP). Find out more via LinkedIn or www.verandi.co.