In this virtual briefing, Greg Williams, Editor of WIRED, and Adrienne Gormley, Head of EMEA and VP of Global Customer Experience at Dropbox explore how the outbreak of COVID-19 will change how we collaborate, motivate and communicate with remote teams.
Gormley - whose team had worked remotely within a distributed work model for years before the coronavirus pandemic hit - discusses her thoughts on how managers can navigate through this rapid transition from office space to working from home.
In addition to the support of proper technology and software, one of the major shifts for managers will be to move away from "presentee-ism", and instead offer trust and freedom to team members so that they can collectively focus on productivity and achieving goals.
"Saying I need to see John at nine a.m. and that he's there til five would be a very traditional way of monitoring somebody and work," Gormley says. "I would much rather see that people start to really understand, okay we set goals. [...] If I don't see you or if I do, we're still working towards that goal and giving people freedom will be important."
Watch the full video, recorded on May 26, 2020, above or on YouTube here.
Adrienne Gormley is responsible for developing Dropbox’s vision and strategy for the EMEA region, driving pan-EMEA initiatives and advocating for its customers. Adrienne also leads the Global Customer Experience team, who work towards creating a frictionless Dropbox experience for all users and customers. Adrienne joined Dropbox in 2014 from Google where she led international teams across a range of functions, including Sales, Google Maps and Localisation. She is currently on the boards of the American Chamber of Commerce and Dropbox International, and is a regular keynote speaker on topics such as diversity, creativity, innovation, women in tech, and the future of work.
Designed as an extension of WIRED’s long-running live conference portfolio, WIRED virtual briefings are punchy, deliberate and engaging sessions that reflect the same high calibre of speakers and programming featured at a WIRED event. Part of the WIRED Foresight series, curated by WIRED Editor, Greg Williams.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
