When it comes to how people work, 2020 was a fantastic experiment, demonstrating that millions of professionals in myriad roles, across a plethora of company sectors and sizes, around the world, can successfully work remotely. Behavioral scientists have never managed to pull-off such a huge, work-related experiment. A tiny, terrible virus made it possible.
As employees, we can tick off the benefits of work from home (WFH) that we most appreciated: Adding back hours in our day that had been spent commuting, saving money by not commuting, having more time with family, overall more flexibility. There were also unexpected disadvantages of mandatory WFH such as overwork, little separation between work and home, “Zoom fatigue,” more meetings than ever, and lost camaraderie with colleagues.
Companies are now planning how and when their workforces will return to the office, and if we have a choice, a lot of us are thinking, ‘What should I do?’ Go back? Stay fully remote? Partially remote? Continuing to work remote is a dream come true for many, and one that was often unattainable in the past due to policy hurdles or leadership philosophy. And it could remain a great work situation – for some.
What I want to pitch to you here is the need to carefully consider the potential risk to your career of remaining remote – in your specific role, at your career stage, in your department (with the departmental leadership such as it is), at your company.
While a lot of leaders have finally wrapped their heads around WFH as being viable, they may not truly believe, in their heart of hearts, that the person working remotely is contributing as fully as those seen in the office each day.
Some years back I read an article in the Wall Street Journal about expatriate assignments when it was “common knowledge” that a stint in an expat role would put you on the fast track. The writer of the article pointed to numerous cases where, in fact, those who remained working in the corporate headquarters got the plum promotions. Summing up, he wrote, “Absence may make the heart grow fonder but it can also make the memory grow dimmer.” There is a reasonable parallel here when thinking about whether to continue working remote.
An IT program manager at a brand-name tech company was telling me about the highs and lows of WFH over the past year. While he loved being home with his young kids, he also noted that for anything new – new role, new team, new initiative, new program – hitting the mark was really hard. “It’s tough to get closer than 60% of the way there.”
Talking with a number of people who have started new roles while working remote, the takeaway is the same. New managers have told me that getting to know their teams and building cohesive esprit de corps has been hard. New staffers have commented that it has not been as easy to get feedback from their bosses on how they are doing. Seasoned leaders rebuilding a team or rebranding a function have told me that the number of meetings required to see real progress has been daunting.
The value of human interaction has never been as fully underscored as it has been by the enforced isolation of the pandemic.
Human behavior is fundamental to the art and practice of IT audit, cybersecurity and IT GRC. Diagnosing the root cause, and outwitting the bad actors, often comes down to a fine-tuned understanding of people and clueing into the systems and processes they are using or abusing. This is the basis for leadership often wanting their teams onsite, interacting across the enterprise as well as with each other.
An op/ed in the New York Times brought up a parallel in doctoring as telemedicine is being looked at as an ongoing service (and revenue stream) by health providers as a result of its increased use during the pandemic. “There is still real value in being in the same room, in touch, in the laying on of hands,” Dr. Peter Pronovost said. The articles noted that “Studies show that such interactions build trust, increasing the likelihood that patients will comply with treatment.”
As you assess your WFH vs. work-from-office decision, carefully evaluate your career goals. An overarching consideration is the value of mentoring, visibility and seeing role models in action, in person. This is particularly true if you are in a staff role still learning how to do your job well within the context of your company, if you are a new manager learning the art of management, if you are spearheading a new initiative, and finally, if you are looking to win a promotion at any level or stage in your career.
Because of the way we are hard-wired as humans and the power of social learning, the subtleties of how to successfully perform in complex roles such as IT audit, IT GRC and cybersecurity are more readily understood and absorbed when we work in close proximity with leaders, teams and stakeholders. And those who matter, and who play a crucial part in your success, will be able to directly observe that you got the memo.