17 years ago when Edoc Service was started, people looked at me strange with the description of a company made up solely with at home or remote workers. Now ‘telecommuting’ is the latest trend. It makes absolute sense. Workers today seek life balance, not just life at work! Most companies are starting to experiment with this concept. Now, we started as a virtual structure and the culture was built around it. Moving from ‘brick-and-mortar’ is more complex than just sending people home to work. This requires a new mindset and best practices in human capital of today and for the future. It starts with culture.

Taking down company walls opens enormous opportunities (I might also add essential) now and for future growth. Here’s the rub: The internal walls have to come down first! Going virtual does not work well if the company moves too quickly and starts remoting workers by sending them home to work without evaluating and revamping the company values beforehand. Going virtual begins by adopting the right principles including many facets of best business practices for today and getting past status quo. Do you ever wonder how some companies are genuinely recognized as “best places to work”? We’ll dissect this over the next few weeks.

Edoc has identified five pillars that we will review in this series.

The first essential is Forward Thinking Leaders.

If your company is led by ‘command and control’ oriented individuals unwilling to change, stop reading here. The virtual move for those old-fashioned souls can only result in sleepless nights, pessimism and frustrated staff.

What makes a Forward Thinking Leader?

A forward thinking leader sees him/herself as a business steward rather than a business owner or manager. All his/her resources belong to a higher power with a strong fiduciary responsibility toward the care and management of these resources beyond selfish intent.

Last year I received an invitation to join in a CEO Motorcycle Summit in Las Vegas. It sounded fun and interesting and I considered signing up. When I mentioned it to my wife however she commented that it would be inappropriate to use company funds for that adventure. I began making all the rationalized arguments: good networking, good bonding, good education, etc. She countered with the truth: “No you’re not, you are going for the ride!” I had to conclude that she is right. A fellow business owner tried to convince me otherwise stating that the company was mine and I should do what I want. Not true! We have a loyal, professional and hard-working staff dedicated to grow the company; not for the CEO to lark under of the guise of business benefit.

The FTL is also a Servant Leader. Our job is to serve our staff for their success as well as the company’s. This means that sometimes we lead and sometimes we follow. Give an important task to a staff member and occasionally ask, “how can I help?” Sometimes we work for them. Sometimes they leave to start their own company. You are teaching your staff to think and act like entrepreneurs, good job!

The FTL is willing to give up Status Quo. This can include a long list of policies and procedures adopted over time that are difficult to maintain in a virtual environment. They likely get in the way of growth for the company and individual staff anyway. At Edoc we have developed a recommended policy manual for companies we help move toward a virtual culture.

The FTL also embraces technology. I will admit that often it appears to be “the tail wagging the dog” with regard to business operations. Yet today’s technology makes it possible to take down the walls! Any leader adverse to technology advances must make time to learn and appreciate the new tools available or risk falling far behind competitors.

The FTL accepts the new generation of professional worker knowing they demand being allowed to do their jobs rather than being forced to do their jobs. And guess what? This generation even out-numbers us boomers!

Welcome to the better way.