The Challenge of Remote Work

Scripture — Nehemiah 4:19-20 (NRSV)

And I said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, “The work is great and widely spread out, and we are separated far from one another on the wall. Rally to us wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet. Our God will fight for us.”

Devotion

In a few minutes, I’ll be pausing my writing to have lunch with one of my De Pree Center colleagues. I’m glad for the chance to spend some time with Ryan, catching up on life and work. I’m especially glad because I rarely hang out with my work colleagues anymore. It’s not that we don’t like each other. But the fact is that most of us live a long distance from our colleagues. Even those of us who live close to Fuller’s campus in Pasadena, California, work remotely most of the time. Thus, when we’re able to be together in person, it’s a treat.

Remote work became the norm for many during the COVID-19 pandemic. After we were finally free to work together in person, many of us remained remote. Working this way can save countless hours of commuting while also giving us the freedom to work in new ways.

Some folks love remote work. Some folks hate it. And many lie somewhere in between. Some companies love remote work. Increasingly, many companies appear to hate it. And many lie somewhere in between.

In this devotion, I won’t be able to offer much wisdom about working remotely. But I do think we can learn some valuable lessons from the example of Nehemiah and his Jewish coworkers. In their particular way, they were facing some challenges that come with working remotely.

The problem for the Jewish workers had to do with the distance between them as they were rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem. As Nehemiah observed, “The work is great and widely spread out, and we are separated far from one another on the wall” (4:19). If they were free simply to work on their section of the wall, this separation wouldn’t be a problem. But, as you may recall from yesterday’s Life for Leaders devotion, the Jews had been threatened by their enemies who plotted to attack Jerusalem (4:8). If an attack came in one section of the wall, those defending that section would be greatly outnumbered and unable to communicate with those who might support them. Of course, there were no cell phones, landlines, telegraphs, or anything like in the day of Nehemiah.

How did Nehemiah address this problem of workers being so far from each other that they couldn’t team up if they were attacked? He used an obvious, old-school, and completely analog solution . . . a trumpet. Nehemiah’s “trumpet plan” was simple. If people working on a section of the wall were attacked, they should blow a trumpet loudly. Those who heard the trumpet should rush to the place where it originated to join in the battle.

As far as we know from the book of Nehemiah, this trumpet plan was never needed. The enemies of the Jews did not attack while the wall was being rebuilt. It may well be that they became aware of Nehemiah’s “trumpet plan” and held off. But, at any rate, Nehemiah gave God credit for protecting the Jews and their work on the wall (5:20; 6:15).

You might wonder how any of this is relevant to remote work in a digital age. Don’t worry, I’m not suggesting you blast a trumpet every time you need to connect with a colleague. But I will suggest that, like Nehemiah, we need to come up with plans to maximize the benefits and minimize the detriments of working remotely. We need to use the technology available to us just as Nehemiah did. Yes, the trumpet was a technological innovation in the ancient world.

Let me offer an example of what I mean. When you work remotely, your meetings will be online via a platform like Zoom, Google Meet, or Facetime. Once you become comfortable with the technology, you can have a reasonably decent meeting with it. But, unlike meetings in person, online meetings tend not to provide an occasion for personal interaction. After an in-person meeting is over, for example, folks often chat a bit about life before they wander back to their offices. In a Zoom meeting, however, all participants tend to disappear immediately after the meeting is over. Spontaneous personal engagement happens poorly over Zoom.

But a creative leader can come up with new versions of Nehemiah’s trumpet. For example, in the De Pree Center where I work, we have always valued nurturing personal relationships as part of our workplace culture. When we went online for our meetings during COVID, our Executive Director, Michaela O’Donnell, instituted a practice of personal “check-ins.” At the beginning of our weekly staff meetings, one person asks a check-in question. It might be serious. It might be fun. No matter the details, the check-in questions give staff colleagues the chance to share a bit about themselves and to know each other better. Examples might be: When during your work experience have you felt the most joyful? What is your favorite personal or family Christmas tradition? What sports team (if any) do you root for and how passionate are you about your team?

I realize some folks might consider this practice a waste of time. Surely it wouldn’t work well in a very large meeting. And it won’t make sense in every corporate culture. But, given the culture of the De Pree Center and the fact that we who work there are remote, Michaela’s check-in plan works marvelously.

My point isn’t to promote one particular approach to dealing with remote work. Rather, I want you to be encouraged by the example of Nehemiah. Pay attention to the implications of remote work if it’s happening in your workplace. See what’s good and what’s not so good. Be creative as you enhance the positives and minimize the negatives. Discover what your trumpet plan should be and test it to see if it works. Continue to be creative as you lead a team where people work remotely.

Find all Life for Leaders devotions here.