How to Build a Happy and Productive Remote Team

Interview with Ben Congleton, Olark.com CEO and Co-Founder

Last week I received an amazing set of responses from readers like you on the topic of Handling the Anxiety that Accompanies Ambition. Don’t worry I will continue to write more on the topic!

I appreciate those of you who opened up by emailing me and leaving comments about what you had been through. Supporting each other definitely helps, and is a necessary component to staying creative and innovative!

Yesterday I shot a live pilot episode of FemgineerTV on: How to Build a Happy and Productive Remote Team. My guest was Ben Congleton, the CEO and Founder of Olark.

Ben shared how he and his co-founders have built an amazing remote team of 30-people, which spans San Francisco to Europe.

It ain’t about the Benjamins baby…

While a lot of people talk about the financial benefits of a remote team, that’s actually NOT the reason why Ben and his team decided to build a remote team. You’ve probably also heard over and over again the importance of company culture, but Ben actually breaks down what him and his team at Olark do to build a strong company culture!

During the show we covered the following 3 misconceptions people have about remote working:

1. Employees won’t be as productive and progress will stagnate2. Communication between employees and teams will break down3. A remote team will be devoid of culture

In the pilot episode of FemgineerTV Ben and I tackled each of these misconceptions.

One of my favorite takeaways from this episode was Ben sharing how the Olark team puts into practice its core values of assume good faith and practice empathy:

If there’s something you want to talk about, you should talk about it. You shouldn’t feel bad, you shouldn’t feel judged. Also it’s on the listener to practice empathy, and really try to understand what someone is saying. Finally, if you’re having doubts about the motivation behind something that was said, assuming good faith is a really good way of framing things in your mind.

What was your favorite takeaway? Let me know in the comments!

Learn more about the process for recruiting and managing a remote technical team How to Transform Ideas into Software Products. It will give you a step-by-step process for validating your ideas and bringing them to life, plus save you the agony of having to learn it all on your own! Sign up here to receive more information and samples from the book.