{"id":538,"date":"2020-09-30T13:32:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-30T10:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arc.dev\/employer-blog\/?p=538"},"modified":"2025-06-11T12:59:03","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T04:59:03","slug":"how-to-transition-to-remote-chris-winn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arc.dev\/employer-blog\/how-to-transition-to-remote-chris-winn\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Transition to 100% Remote With Creative Market CEO Chris Winn"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Company culture change is hard, and doing it right is even harder. But how do you do it within an all-remote team?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Creative Market\u00a0CEO Chris Winn sat down with Arc\u2019s Head of Marketing Christine Orchard to chat about\u00a0transitioning to a fully-remote company<\/a>\u00a0and how meaningful work ties together a remote team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About Chris and Creative Market:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Creative Market is a marketplace for design assets, and Chris began his journey with the company as an engineer. From this beginning, Chris moved his way up to CTO, and then into his current position as CEO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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How To Transition A Company to All-Remote<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

At this stage, the company was already primarily remote: only some team members were still in an office. In his first week as CEO, Chris made a big call: to take the company all-remote. Christine and Chris discussed the implications of this decision for the team, both from a\u00a0retention and culture perspective<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were just honest with the team. We said that this is the decision we’ve made. This is why we’ve made it. This is what it means for you. And we were really open. We said: \u201cThis is not gonna work for everyone. That’s okay. Come talk to us.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Chris\u2019 reasoning for this choice was that in-office and remote teams are not the same, and it\u2019s not possible to make them equal. Trying to have both types of teams at the same time can create disadvantages for certain team members in certain situations. So he decided to go all-in on having a remote team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Changing Remote Culture For Success And Growth<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One of the things that needed to be addressed while taking the team remote was evolving the culture. One of these changes was that the team adopted a new set of core values. Chris discussed the fact that core values actually have to\u00a0mean something<\/em>\u00a0to not just the team, but also the organization\u2019s leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Something companies miss, sometimes, is: core values have to really mean something. It has to mean something to you as a leader, as the author of the values. The next step? Actually live those values.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

You’ve got to live it. You’ve got to live it and you have to model it. One of the reasons \u201csay the thing\u201d is a value of ours is because it’s a value of mine.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

(\u201cSay the thing\u201d is Creative Market\u2019s core value of being honest, direct, and open \u2014 but without being mean.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, major changes can mean that people are impacted in different ways. For Creative Market, the decision to go all-remote and change the team\u2019s culture meant that some team members decided to leave the company. As long as this is handled in an open and respectful way, with the team members\u2019 contributions celebrated, Chris thinks this is a positive thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If people opt out of that, that’s not a bad thing. It’s so long as everyone feels mutual respect in that process, that it’s not a scary topic that you can talk openly about it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

As a leader, Chris talked about getting comfortable with change, and being honest about the fact that change is unavoidable. If the company has a strong culture, and is prepared to accept change in a positive way without overreacting, people\u2019s departures can be celebrated, and the company can move forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read More<\/strong>: How to Create a Remote Work Culture That\u2019s Supportive, Positive & Fun<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How To Hire For Remote Teams<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Know the Problem You\u2019re Hiring to Solve<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The foundation for posting a job role is company need<\/em>. As Chris mentioned in the episode, making the links between the company\u2019s goals, the candidate\u2019s skillset, and the challenge ahead explicit is a good thing:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s why we do what we do, here’s our challenge. The reason why we need this role is because we have this really big challenge in front of us. And then the third part is, here’s why you are uniquely qualified to help us overcome that challenge. And we need you.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Before pitching strongly to a candidate at the end of the hiring process, managers should run through this thought process first<\/strong>. Is the need to hire there? Is the candidate a good fit for the role? Make sure you want and need this person to avoid creating a negative candidate experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vet the Relationship as Much as the Skillset<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Chris isn\u2019t looking for team members who just put their headphones on and work all day. To succeed at Creative Market, you need to hire intentional over-communicators. How?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chris spoke about favoring a consistent interview framework. But the questions themselves, according to Chris, are less important than looking into why<\/em> the candidate is answering the way they are. What\u2019s motivating their response? As he put it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are some skill requirements that matter for a given role, but otherwise what you’re really doing is: you’re vetting the relationship.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

To Chris, the relationship is the foundation; everything else can grow from that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read More<\/strong>: Developer Retention: How to Keep Your Software Developers Happy<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Check They Have the Soft Skills Your Team Needs<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

What makes an attractive candidate at Creative Market? Chris listed out a few of the qualities that they look for in their new team members:<\/p>\n\n\n\n