Trust communication & collaboration: How we manage a remote team - Behind the Screens #4

This week Nic and Nathalie sit down to talk about the challenges and benefits of working and managing a team remotely. Since starting CookiesHQ from a home office a decade ago, they’ve always embraced flexible remote working finding it crucial to have a separation between work and home - especially when there’s a newborn around!

Nic had imagined that CookiesHQ would at some point become a fully remote organisation, with the idea that this would allow you to hire the best people you can afford regardless of their location. But, having been forced into this scenario by Covid-19, he’s found himself re-evaluating that vision. 

They talk about the importance of trusting your employees to get the work done, even if it’s not necessarily done within 9-5 hours. Nic and Nathalie have worked hard to foster an open, honest and genuinely caring culture at Cookies so, despite Nic being a self confessed “recovering micro-manager”, you won’t find any monitoring software on our machines. They highlight the value in making an effort to communicate with employees on a personal level, keeping an eye out for signs of loneliness or burnout and injecting some fun into the working week with mini challenges and group coffee breaks.

Nic and Nathalie are both missing the office - there’s nothing that beats being in the same room with your employees, and it’s especially helpful when on-boarding new team members. But it’s not all about the employees. As an agency that places huge value on our relationships with clients, we see our office as the home of Cookies - a home that we welcome clients into for discovery sessions, meetings or even just a coffee, in the hope that they feel as though they are part of our team.

Ultimately, while Nic’s accepted that a fully remote operation isn’t going to work for CookiesHQ, they agree that flexibility around where and how we work is key for businesses and happy employees - during the Covid pandemic and beyond.

This is the fourth in a series of Behind the Screens episodes in which Nic and Nathalie will reflect on everything going on at CookiesHQ and look ahead to what’s on the horizon.

Join the conversation on the CookiesHQ Twitter. Head over to LinkedIn to find out more on Nic and Nat.

CookiesHQ is a technical partner for businesses with purpose. Find out more about CookiesHQ here.