INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Jaspreet Singh
Contributor
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Jaspreet Singh is the founder and CEO of
Druva, the industry first data protection and management solution built for the cloud era.
More posts by this contributor
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Future Of Enterprise Storage Is Probably Not Storage
Nearly every startup begins as a lean, scrappy team that works closely in a
central hub — it an interesting time when each team member is wearing multiple hats, likely working across several different job titles
and is hands on with all aspects of the business
But as your company grows, you&ll quickly discover that scaling has a unique set of challenges, from hiring those who are the right fit, to
transitioning a multi-functional team into specialty areas, to expanding offices cross-country or overseas
I&ve found the latter is a particular challenge for most.
There are numerous benefits to building a team across varying offices and
locations — drawing from a larger talent pool being number one
Tapping into major markets across the world opens your startup up to more potential applicants and in turn, helps gain the talent you need
to grow.
But these benefits also come with potential challenges, including overcoming communication and language barriers, time zone
differences or lack of alignment, just to name a few
Some employees may feel they&re out of sight and out of mind, which can quickly impact culture across the company, particularly if the
newer, smaller offices feel like headquarters is dictating the terms.
My co-founders and I have worked through these very same challenges as
we&ve scaled our company and have put a lot of thought into how we can best approach office expansion and integration to alleviate these
issues and ensure our employees feel seen and connected to the company & whether they&re based ten feet or thousands of miles away.
Create
opportunities for team members to connect in person
I can&t stress enough how important it is to invest in face-to-face time, enabling your
employees to get to know the people behind the online and phone personas that they work with.
You can do this in numerous ways, whether that
bringing everyone together once a year or throughout the year for special projects _ face-to-face time gives your employees an opportunity
to build a connection and understand one another interests, work style and strengths on a deeper level
While this is achievable to a certain degree via email or phone, meeting face-to-face expedites this process significantly
In fact, research has shown that face-to-face meetings are 34x more successful than email thanks in large part to the boost from non-verbal
cues (which are lost in phone and email interactions).
While Druva is headquartered in Silicon Valley, the majority of our employeesa are
across the globe — with 300 employees in the U.S., and more than 500 spread across APAC and EMEA
What more, each region houses a variety of workstreams, so we&ve found it best to tailor our approach to each team:
Hosting an annual
kick-off: At the start of every fiscal year, we bring our global sales and product teams together for a multi-day meeting near our
headquarters in Sunnyvale, CA
This gives us an opportunity to not only ensure that everyone is aligned on the company strategy and objectives, it also helps create a
These are teams that work across the globe and as a result, often communicate over email
Being able to meet in person or meet other members of the team builds connections that are vital for a healthy organization.
Setting aside
budget for site visits: It not always practical for employees to travel to other offices regularly — whether that due to tight travel
budgets or personal commitments — but I encourage every company to allocate travel budget for office visits that empower both headquarter
and remote employees to travel and get to know team members
Whether it flying someone to London to meet with their new team lead or sponsoring an extra night stay so an employee on personal travel can
visit another office while they&re in the city, encouraging team members to take the opportunity to meet face-to-face — outside of annual
events or product launches — not only creates a greater culture but fosters collaboration, which can lead to greater productivity
