Remote Working Pyramid – Critical Success Factors for Remote organisations

BCG’s Remote Working Pyramid

In 2020, near the start of the global Covid outbreak, Boston Consulting Group issued a report detailing the things organisations need to take care of and think about if they are to succeed as remote organisations. The model pretty much speaks for itself and includes five core levels.

Levels and Components

The foundational level of this model is the technological infrastructure of an organisation. In here BCG include the need for modern data platforms as well as cyber resilience.

The next level up is an organisation’s technological solutions that are build upon their infrastructure. Here BCG include the organisation’s devices and workspaces, collaboration tools, performance management tools and their social and learning tools. Obviously, other tools are key as well, including those specifically supporting delivery and task completion.

Stepping up again BCG reference “enablers”. Here they include trust-based management, remote-working practices and the organisation’s leadership and culture. Obviously, this is the area we are most interested in.

Stepping up again the model focuses on remote working models. These include rotational dynamics so that staff know when and how they are working, and effective role-allocation.

Lastly, the BCG model focuses on vision and notes the importance of the organisation’s vision and principles.

Learning More

There’s a lot to learn about remote and agile working. You might enjoy this article on some history and this article on some basic agile working practices (sometimes remote and hybrid work was described as agile, before the pandemic).

We also have articles on how to think about productivity in a hybrid and remote world, and who is disadvantaged in a hybrid organisation.

We think hybrid and remote working brings a lot to organisations and that it is broadly here to stay. We also think that to be successful as remote or hybrid organisations, leaders have to do some work. This pyramid is a helpful little tool for thinking about what needs to be done, and a useful tool for starting conversations about the changes needed.