Waking up this Sunday morning I find myself (again) reading another on-line article that (again) states why telecommuting is a mixed blessing. Yes, it states, the economic, productivity and environmental gains of smarter working and working from wherever you happen to be are now finally indisputable, but however, it goes on to quote so many experts who talk about how ‘magical’ it is being in the same place together all the time. Sorry guys, that’s not magic, that’s nostalgia. People (and through them organizations) that believe it is not possible to develop creative and productive remote teams are simply people and organizations that have not been successful at doing it.
The current leaders at these organizations have seen people bounce ideas off of each other at an office lunchroom or near the proverbial water cooler and simply don’t have the vision to imagine that those interactions can happen any other way. Regrettably, some organizations that once represented the leading edge have now become established and comfortable in their ways. Clearly they’re using a paradigm that works for them.
