Il mondo è il mio ufficio.

The world is my office.

As we are planning our next visit to our teams in India, I was reminded on how much the world of work has expanded. It used to be that working together meant sharing a physical space with your colleagues – working around the same flipchart, getting coffee together. 

That is still important - and our horizons have definitely broadened!

While driving change projects at EY, I have the privilege of working with quite some great people across Europe and India. With many of them, we look back close to a decade of rowing in the same boat. 

As projects become increasingly complex, it is clear that we need a wide range of skills and perspectives.

This means the best person for the job might not be located nearby anymore. 

Many of us are managing the challenges of coordinating with teams across continents. 

We struggle with time zones, and finding ways to build trust across different cultures and languages.

Since we all think differently and understand things in our own way, we learnt to get everyone on the same page about expectations right from the start.

In the past 3-4 years we also learnt, that we can run the full project with team members even when we are not in the same place.  

We started using online meetings and shared files more, and we figured out how to build relationships with people even though we were only seeing them on our screens.

And while technology is great, I have learned that it can't replace actually being with other people.  It's a privilege to be together in person, brainstorming, laughing, and working things out - best ideas and solutions come afterwards!

That is why I am so excited to meet up with everyone soon in April, to learn and grow together, and to deal with our biggest opportunities and challenges side-by-side.

Do you work with remote team members?

PS: Remembering good times Vidhi, Jassimran, Madhu, Amit, Deepti, Nikhil et all! Will be missing you Benedicte and Thelma.

#change #incredibleindia #india #teaming

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