Work after crisis
After almost 12 months, we’re still trying to adjust to this new world of remote work, and to find the best ways to get things done. In this fireside chat with Jemima Kiss, Cal Henderson, co-founder and CTO at Slack, discussed key aspects of this reformed style of work, including how we can emerge stronger and with better methods of collaboration.
On new work modes & productivity
"I was a distributed world skeptic and we were really surprised how this worked out. As it has gotten on it became clear that it will really fundamentally change our way of working. If it would have been just a couple of weeks we would have gone back to normal work rather quickly. Employee productivity is much more about work output than working hours.
Move asynchronous work will be here for years to come."
Challenges in virtual work
"The question is: How can we take the way we work in an office and transport this to online communication to some kind of asynchronicity of work.
One thing that has been difficult to replace are the social soft relationship aspects in a distributed manner. That is a real area for innovation. We are trying virtual social activities. But the question s how to replace casual interactions rather than the team building activities."
On Slack usage
"The number of minutes obviously jumped, audio and video usage jumped. The question is how is the people’s relationship
Learnigns from the future of work study:
Only 12% want to fully move online, 72% want a distributed model.
Leadership & Remote Work
Going to work is going to change forever.
It is incredibly important to be vulnerable in leadership. Make yourself more available.
Overcommunicate the things that really matter and strive for clarity.