“Make connections, not transactions.”
CTO and Founder of Everest Engineering, Ranganathan Balashanmugam thinks autonomy comes hand-in-hand with empathy when it comes to remote working; shares what makes his remote-first team tick.
28 May 2022
Tell us about yourself and about Everest Engineering.
I’m Ranganathan Balashanmugam, I'm based out of Bangalore India. I'm the co-founder and also the CTO right now for Everest Engineering, a software engineering and technology solutions company based out of Australia and India.
Everest Engineering is remote-first– tell us how that came about and why it’s worked for you.
So first thing, we are not a factory. We are in software, and that's good because if you're (operating) a factory, you’ll have some limitations, unless you have enabled it to be remotely operated. So there’s some amount of control, and most things are done digitally.
At the same time, we have a really good set of people who are connecting with us and they wanted the flexibility from the beginning, and they went “Hey, I want to work from this particular place” and we couldn't put an office there at that point.
So what we’ve done is to reply “Work remotely wherever you want to, we have a base office here (in India) so you can check it out.”
Not only that, myself and Craig (Brown) being founders, we were already in different countries in itself, so we had to be remote by default.
So that's how it started but we’ve found that there are a lot of strategic advantages with working remote; we’re hiring really good people and giving that flexibility from the beginning.
What are some of the ways companies can make remote working work for them?
One of the great things that’s worked for us about being remote is that we operate by basically giving a lot of autonomy to our people; and autonomy means being very clear on the direction or the kind of work that we’re doing, and that’s very important for us. Now, if you don't do these things properly with being remote-first, you are going to end up micromanaging people, right?
Because you're not clearly giving out the task and that's so great. You need to delegate the outcome and then our people will do it the way they want to; with the clear understanding of an instruction set and that these are the behaviours and this is the way we work.
From the beginning, we were very clear on the outcomes that we are reaching for.
And in giving people autonomy, we also try to let them know that they are valuable, and tell them about the value that they’re generating. Second thing: try to drive feedback. That's important. The third thing. Don't make it transactional– make it relational, ask them about their day and give them space to talk and be open about what they are doing.
That being said, autonomy is different to different cultures and people. Autonomy can be quite an abstract term, in Japan perhaps autonomy is viewed differently than in the US. In Japan, perhaps working with a set of instructions in their own way is autonomy. But in Everest, employees can take their own leave days, they don’t need to ask for permission. In this way, it’s autonomy but the key thing here is accountability. They’re taking their own vacation, but that shouldn't affect the work, or the company's purpose.
We should get to know each other and take time to ask, “Hey, what are you going through? Are there any challenges that you are having today?”.
It’s about empathising and connecting.
What about the challenges? Isolation is one thing a lot of remote workers struggle with.
There are a fair amount of advantages with remote working if you're doing it right. But I also see that you need to create in-person connections, so that people know each other as individuals– you know, how they look, what their interests are.
Companies need to structure meetings to make sure their people have that chance for chitchats and other things, so that they know each other personally, so it’s not just being transactional, it’s being relational to create a balance.
You can't just come into your call, and say, this is all the things we have to do, let us finish these things and get these done– we cannot do that. As I’ve said, we have to build a relationship and we can't be completely transactional.
We should get to know each other and take time to ask, “Hey, what are you going through? Are there any challenges that you are having today?”.
It’s about empathising and connecting.
How so?
Well, say someone has been working remotely for a very long time and not had many personal connections. Say that someone is an introvert and they don't go out much– they probably have a mental load that perhaps they don’t even realise. So we connect, talk to them as a person – what are you going through, what problems are you facing? Is there anything I can help with, anything that isn’t clear?
And then you need to connect as a team. Is everything clear, is there an information blockage?
Think of a team like a big building with a lot of plumbing, and water pipes going through it. When you’re present physically, the pipes are above ground, and ‘transparent’-- you can see where the blockage is, and you can see what’s going on. When you’re remote, those pipes are underground, hidden.
So the idea is to conduct a ‘sonar test’, to detect what’s going on. Ask questions, what’re the issues, and is there something the company can do to help.
