Head of Remote
What is a head of remote?
The head of remote is a cross-functional job unlike any other. This role is highly collaborative, and the purpose is to serve as a future-focused consultant who advances strategy, communication, learning & development, knowledge management and technology necessary to adapt to the new ways of working.
The default for both hybrid and remote should be remote. Both are distributed workforces - the only difference is the frequency and location of in-person requirements. Frequent in-person is harder to manage long term because the office is a crutch for old habits.
Employee experience and wellness and change management are at the heart of the head of remote role. People come first. When people thrive, so does the company.
It’s an architect role - you are engineering change and creating guardrails for the path to the future of work. It’s a role for dreamers who know how to do.
What are the skills needed for a head of remote?
People with all different kinds of backgrounds can succeed as a head of remote. There is not one right path to the role, although it is really helpful to find someone with pre-pandemic experience working hybrid/remote. It is a role that requires someone to be extremely cross-functional, comfortable with ambiguity. The ability to paint the vision for the future also requires extensive, compelling storytelling.
What does a head of remote do?
Although this can be customized according to the intention of the organization, here are the bedrock responsibilities:
- audit and adapt culture, policies and workflows for remote-first
-advise executive leaders on hybrid/remote best practices
-offer change management advisory services re. unlearning old habits, learning new skills
-challenge the status quo with a future-focused approach
-develop new cultural norms
-shift the co-located mindset to virtual first
-research new opportunities presented by hybrid/remote
What are the essential skills?
Communication skills are top of the list, particularly writing. Remote-first means asynchronous work and documentation is the foundation of this. Listening with compassion and translating with empathy, storytelling is the fuel for this role.
Accountability. No head of remote will succeed until the senior leadership explicitly commits to a specific hybrid or remote strategy. However skilled you are at change management, challenging the status quo and storytelling, you are not being set up for success if leadership doesn’t believe. As head of remote, you need to hold people at all levels accountable for their commitments. It takes real skill to do this in a positive way, building relationships.
Curiosity and research. This role demands a learn-it-all, not a know-it-all. You need to ask the right questions, co-creating strategy as you go. The ability to network and learn from others internally and externally is important. Continually investing in upskilling, modelling this critical behaviour for others is critically important too.
This role is ever evolving and will be slightly different at every company.
Where do you find a head of remote in an org chart?
Well, it depends.
Ideally, it’s an executive role that demands respect in the hierarchy. It’s tied to organizational strategy and is completely validated by the CEO and other C Suite leaders. It’s an investment in the future. You can see this at Gitlab - Darren Murph is known as the oracle of remote work, the pioneer in the role.
Other companies place this role in HR, under the Chief People Officer or in communications, sometimes internal, sometimes external. In companies with a large investment in real estate, you will see a workplace transformation role - this is usually a role designed to support hybrid ways of working. Caution: if real estate valuation is the company priority, you are not setting this role up for success. The office is a tool, just like anything else.
This role is cross-functional and often the head of remote will be very visible to the public. Podcast interviews, media interviews and articles - sharing best practices and successes is a great way to build an employer brand and attract employees. Media training is essential for this role if sharing thought leadership is expected- who normally serves as the company spokesperson?
The title and the placement in the org chart indicate the primary intention and commitment to the changes the company wants to make. In larger enterprise organizations, a team will likely be required. Many of the organizations talking publicly about implementing a head of remote role are small - under 2500 employees. What does this look like when you have 40,000 employees?
The purpose of the head of remote is long-term behaviour change so it’s a good idea to build out the expectations for the role over 12-18 months, with a view to integration and permanent placement.
What alternatives exist?
Consultants are the alternative. You can either hire someone for 12-18 months to help you co-create solutions or you can hire a fractional head of remote. This is the type of work I do.
www.nolasimon.com
