How Distributed Work Can Unlock Your Potential | Avani Prabhakar | TED

翻译人员: 璐Lu 王WANG 校对人员: Bruce Wang

Like many of you, I am an introvert.

我和你们许多人一样，是个内向的人

And I know it sounds ironic

我知道这听起来很讽刺，

because I'm the chief people officer of a large tech company.

因为我是一家大型科技公司的 首席人事官。

But I've never been the loudest in the room.

但我从来都不是房间里 声音最响亮的那个。

In fact, I've never been the first,

事实上，我从来都不是第一个、

second or even third to offer my opinion.

第二个、甚至第三个表达观点的人。

I've always listened more than I speak.

比起表达我更常倾听

And in a world where most dominant voices are often seen as leaders,

在这个主导话语权的人 经常被看作领导者的世界

I've had an uphill battle at work.

我艰苦地奋斗。

Until distributed work changed my life

直到分布式办公改变了

and many others.

我和其他许多人的生活。

I have always had what I call a grinder’s mentality,

我一直有 我所谓的百炼成钢思想

and it was shaped early on in my life.

这是在我早年养成的。

I was born in a tier-two city called Indore in India,

我出生在印度一个 叫印多尔的二线城市，

a country that still favors boys.

印度至今偏爱男孩。

I was the youngest of three sisters.

我是三个姐妹中最小的一个。

But my parents were very progressive

但是我的父母非常进步开明，

and they expected me to excel both at sports and academics.

他们希望我在体育和学术方面 都能出类拔萃。

Hindi is my first language, not English.

我的第一语言是印地语，不是英语

And for those where English is not your first language,

对于那些母语不是英语的人来说，

you may understand that it's one thing to be fluent at English

你应该能理解说一口流利的英语是一回事，

and it's another to argue your point in it.

而用英语为自己的观点争辩是另一回事

Well, with all of that prep, when I joined the workforce,

尽管有所准备，当我入职时

it got further amplified

这种现象更显著了

because corporate environments expect you

因为企业环境期待你

to show up in a certain way.

以某种方式展现自己。

For you to be successful, you have to be articulate,

要想取得成功， 你必须能说会道，

you have to be the first one to speak,

你必须是第一个发言的人，

you should be able to hold the space in the room

你要能控场

and the list goes on.

这样的例子不胜枚举。

Well, I was putting a lot of energy in showing up in a certain way,

我在展示自己这方面花了不少精力

and it was really affecting my life outside of work.

这也确实影响了 我的工作之余的生活。

I would come home exhausted

我回家时筋疲力尽

and all I could think of was,

我唯一能想到的就是

how quickly can I retreat to my room for the night?

我什么时候才能回家休息？

Well, 2020, fast forward,

快进到2020年

as we all know, we became remote workers overnight.

众所周知，我们一夜之间变成了 远程工作者。

And the future of work was here.

而工作的未来就在这里。

Since that day,

从那天起，

my company went fully distributed,

我的公司实现了全员分布式办公，

meaning every single employee could choose every single day

这意味着每位员工 每天都可以选择

where they work from.

他们的工作地点。

We have over 12,000 employees

我们拥有超过 12,000 名员工

working across 3,000 cities and locations

在14个国家的

in 14 countries.

3,000 个城市和地点工作。

But we are not a remote company.

但是我们不是一家远程公司。

We are distributed.

我们是分布式的。

We have over 12 physical offices

我们有超过12个实体办公室，

which many of our employees choose to work from.

我们的许多员工 选择在这些办公室工作。

But there is no return to office mandate,

但是我们不强制让员工返回办公室，

no compulsory days, just choice.

没有强制的日期，只有员工自己的选择。

We moved to team anywhere and when we were doing that,

我们转为不限地域的团队工作， 而这么做的时候，

we had to really get focused in terms of how we work,

我们必须专注于如何工作，

because where we work is one variable of the equation,

因为在哪儿工作 仅仅是公式中的变量之一，

but how we work is the most important variable.

而如何工作才是最重要的那个变量。

And there is a spoiler alert for all of you,

这里先给大家剧透一下，

that we had to get really, really good at collaborating.

我们必须非常非常擅于合作。

First, we had to move to asynchronous ways of working,

首先，我们必须转变为异步工作，

meaning work happens in its own time.

这就是说在各自的时间工作

So meetings are not the default.

因此，开会不再是必经环节。

Meetings are the last resort.

不到万不得已不用开会。

We use tools such as Loom,

我们使用诸如Loom之类的工具，

which allows you to create shareable videos and content

它允许您创建可共享的视频或内容

which your teams can listen to,

您的团队可以在有空时收听、

look at it and react to in their own time.

查看并做出反应。

By using Loom, we have saved one of the dreaded thoughts,

通过使用 Loom，我们避免了一个可怕的想法，

which I’m sure some of us might have experienced sitting in a meeting,

我们当中肯定有些人在开会时遇到过,

which is "Oh my God, this could have been an email."

“天啊，一封邮件就能说清的事儿。”

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Like, "Why we're here?"

“我们为什么在这儿开会啊？”

By using Loom,

通过使用 Loom，

we have saved close to about half a million meetings.

我们避免了近50万次会议。

Second thing we had to focus on

我们需要关注的第二件事就是

was we got really deliberate about how we design our workday.

我们在制定工作日安排的时候要很慎重。

Today, 65 percent of knowledge workers

如今，65%的脑力劳动者觉得

think that it's more important to respond to a notification

响应一条通知

rather than moving actual work forward.

比推进实际工作更为重要。

So we get our teams to really design their day,

因此，我们让我们的团队 去真的设计他们的一天，

which is divided in three halves.

把一天分为三份。

One designated time for meeting.

一份是会议专用时间

There is designated work block to only do deep work and focused work,

一个指定的工作时段用于 深度工作和专注工作

and then there is allocated time to do project work with your teams.

还有一份和你的团队 一起完成项目

We've also realized that working across time zones can be a real challenge

我们还发现跨时区工作 对跨国公司来说可能是一项

for global companies,

真正的挑战，

so we make sure

所以我们要确保

that the work is not divided beyond two time zones

工作不会被划分到两个时区

to make sure there is four hours

要保证团队之间

of collaboration time between teams.

有四个小时的协作时间。

The third most important aspect

第三个重要因素就是

is how do you build real connection in a distributed world.

是如何在分布式的时代 建立真正的链接。

And let me tell you,

我来告诉你，

there is a myth that you build connection by sporadic office attendance.

有一个误区，就是你能通过 零星的办公室出勤来建立链接。

Like, you sitting with your mate next to each other,

比如，你和同事排排坐，

staring at your laptop,

盯着笔记本电脑，

you're not building any connection.

你没法建立任何链接。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

What we found out is that you build real connection

我们发现真正能建立链接的方式是

when you bring teams together

当你召集团队

to work on a problem or on a strategy,

共同研究问题或制定策略

ideate new things,

构思新事物，

but bring them together for a reason.

而不是强行把他们凑到一起

That's when you build intentional togetherness.

因为那是刻意地建立团结。

I also get asked,

我还被问到：

"So have you seen any drop in productivity?"

“那么你看到生产率下降了吗？”

And my answer is no.

我的答案是否定的。

Ninety-two percent of our employees say

92%的员工说

that they are doing [the] best work of their lives,

他们正在做 一生中最好的工作

and one third of them have seen improvement in focus.

三分之一的人发现 自己的注意力有所改善

Well, working this way, for me personally,

而这种方式工作，就我个人而言，

it really unlocked my potential almost immediately.

几乎是立即就释放了我的潜力。

We often argue that smart people think on their feet,

我们经常说，聪明的人会 急中生智，随机应变

and of course, many do.

当然，很多人是这样的。

But there are lots of super smart introverts

但是也有很多 超级聪明的内向者

who show their intelligence differently.

会用不同的方式表现自己的才智。

That has been my experience.

以上是我的经验。

I fundamentally believe that I've been able to accelerate my career faster

我深信分布式的时代 能更快地推进

in a distributed world.

我的职业发展

It has leveled the playing field for me

它为我创造了公平的竞争环境，

and created an environment

创造了一个不受地点限制的

where career growth was location-agnostic.

职业发展环境。

Today, the talent is not defined by whether you live close to an office

现如今，界定人才的标准不再是 你住在办公室附近

or a city.

还是城市附近。

You can be living in Atlanta or Albuquerque,

你可以住在 亚特兰大或阿尔伯克基，

and you can find the best talent in any of those locations.

你可以在任何地方 找到最优秀的人才。

So there are lots of benefits I can go on about distributed work.

关于分布式工作的优点 我还能继续说很多

Other thing I would like to say is,

还有一件我想说的是

you know, when we reduce the future of work

当我们把工作的未来降级为

to a conversation or an argument

讨论或争论

between working from office

在办公室办公和

and working from, you know, home,

居家办公的时候

we are thinking too small.

我们的格局就太小了。

Sweeping mandates of return to work is a very easy and a safe option.

全面返岗返工 是一个非常简单且安全的选择。

And a lot of organizations use it for whatever various reasons.

很多公司出于各种各样的原因都在这么做。

But having worked in the people's space,

但是在和人打交道的环境里工作

I can tell you,

我可以告诉你，

when you give people the choice of when and where they work,

当你让人们选择 工作时间和地点时，

you are giving them the key to accelerate their full potential.

你是在为他们提供 充分发挥潜力的钥匙。

For me, that is the future of work.

对我来说，这就是工作的未来。

Where we stop focusing on when and where the work gets done

我们不再关注 工作被完成的时间和地点，

and start focusing on the how.

而开始专注于如何完成工作。

A world where work works for everyone.

一个人人好办公的世界。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）

Rachell Morris: Thank you so much for that, Avani.

瑞切尔·莫里斯： 非常感谢你的演讲，阿瓦尼。

Stay with me for a minute.

请稍等片刻。

Before you leave us, I just want to ask a question.

在你下场前， 我想问一个问题。

You make a compelling case for distributed-first teams.

你为分布式优先团队 提供了一个很可信的案例。

How do you approach mentorship in a distributed workforce?

那么你是如何在分布式环境中 推行导师制的呢？

Avani Prabhakar: So like I said, when you make the choice,

阿瓦尼·普拉巴卡：像我刚才说的那样， 当你做选择的时候，

you have to build a lot of enablement in the organizations

你必须先在企业里建立强大的支持

in order to do that.

才能做到这一点。

Which means starting from entire life cycle of onboarding.

这意味着 从入职的整个周期就要开始。

So what we experienced, based on where you are in your career

所以我们希望 以你在你职业生涯和旅程的位置

and your journey,

作为基础

if you're a new grad or if you're a new hire,

无论你是应届毕业生 还是新员工，

you need more curated in-person experience to build that enablement upfront.

你都需要更多精心规划的面对面的交谈 来提前建立这种支持。

When it comes to the leaders,

而对于领导者

it's a very different skill

面对面的绩效谈话

to have a performance conversation in person

和远程的谈话

versus having it remote.

是截然不同的。

So you have to really switch your entire L and D muscle to build around that.

所以你必须让所有掌管学习和发展的细胞 都围绕着它来进行转换。

We also have seen that having bite-sized learning is much better

我们还发现 把知识掰开揉碎地学习会更好

You absorb better in a distributed fashion

你可以通过分布式的方式更好地吸收知识，

rather than sitting against like, you know,

而不是就坐在那里

online training and going through it.

接受在线培训并经历一切。

So there are various ways.

所以有很多的方法

RM: Fantastic.

RM：太棒了。

Well, if we've got people in organizations

那么，如果我们的企业里

that may be considering a move to a distributed-first working model,

有人正在考虑转变为 分布式优先的工作模式，

if they're concerned about the impacts on culture,

但他们担心 对企业文化产生影响

what advice would you give those folks?

你有什么建议可以给他们吗？

AP: I would say, when you're thinking about culture,

AP：我想说的是， 当你考虑企业文化时

and based on, you know, how distributed and how global your organization is,

基于你们企业分布式程度 以及全球化程度的不同

you have to get really nuanced about it.

你必须专注每一个细节。

So one size will not fit all.

没有放之四海而皆准的方法。

You have to cater to different cultures where probably coming together

你必须迎合不同的文化， 这些不同的文化背景的人

for a different reason makes more sense to build some connection.

出于不同的原因汇聚到一起 并且建立了连接。

So it has to be very, very nuanced when you're thinking about culture.

所以当你考虑企业文化时， 必须注重细枝末节。

And you also have to anchor yourself to two or three values,

而且，作为一家公司，

which you believe in as a company,

你还必须坚守两到三个价值观，

because that will help you make some decisions.

这将有助于你 做出一些决定。

Those will be your guiding principles on this journey.

这些将是 你在这段旅程中的指导原则。

RM: Fantastic, thank you so much.

RM：太棒了，非常感谢。

Another round of applause for Avani Prabhakar.

请再给阿瓦尼·普拉巴卡一些掌声。

AP: Thank you.

AP：谢谢。