Working from home with: Paul Pofcher, President at T3 Micro

This week we chatted with Paul Pofcher, President of the beauty award-winning hair tools brand T3 Micro. We are inspired by Paul’s vision to never take T3 Micro back to the way things “used to be” and the way his team as adapted.  Here are his best tips and insights.

What is your company’s work-from-home (WFH) policy now for COVID?

T3 is entirely WFH, aside from our technical labs. We made the move mid-March, and it is our new standard. Our intent is to continue working this way and develop an evolved hybrid office to balance remote and on-site down the road when it’s safe.

Did you have any WFH policies before COVID?

As a highly collaborative team, we wrote off WFH and never really considered it. We would, from time to time, accommodate certain special situations as they developed. People may have elected to move away for various reasons: family needs, partner’s work, LA tiredness…. so we would have made offers to WFH, depending on the role.

Any successes/insights that you’ve gained from the WFH switch?

We see this crisis as having accelerated change and providing an opportunity to reengineer our ways of working and evolving our culture. Who we are and what we value does not require an office. Our culture rules. It is based on social trust and solidarity of the team and trusting that the team can operate effectively.  That was a significant discovery and learning. Our emphasis now to is to adopt agility as a way of thinking by developing flexibility, strength and speed. Our focus is more on outcomes than activities and enabling the team’s ability to adapt and grow more autonomously. We are inspired to do better and not go back to how it used to be.

What are the major challenges you’ve had since switching to WFH and how did you overcome them?

The biggest challenge is to not revert to, how it “used to be,” and to drive the leadership teams to constantly recalibrate and continuously improve.  Additionally, developing the next level of digitalization in the name of agility has us adopting a variety of new platforms and technical applications – new ways to work, streamlining and simplifying our processes.

What does your typical WFH day look like now?

I have moved from the beach of Santa Monica to my home of many years in the mountains of Vermont. What a contrast! WFH provides the opportunity to balance the day’s activities and allow for time in the woods and mountains. It’s interesting to live where you want to be.  Ski season has begun, and I look forward to catching up on slope time.

You can find Paul on LinkedIn.