“Trust” is perhaps our most important value, and in any case elementary if we want to work successfully. Employees working remotely need to trust each other, they need to trust management, they need to trust our network of specialists.

For us, trust begins with our internal training, in which we invest a lot of time. Independent, autonomous work is only possible if the team is given various projects and tasks with responsibility.
In addition to day-to-day project management, the core team also takes on business-related tasks, such as parts of accounting, data protection, and for example, VAST CLASS, our customer training and retention program.

Trust is built by being there for each other, even at a distance, by being accessible, and by being responsive to ever-changing issues.

To achieve our very own level of trust we for example establish presence through our permanent team chat – our communication and trust backbone – but also through our tandem structure, our buddy program for more personal bonding, and through various ritualized team-meetups like co-working sessions and the many lunch&learns for exchanging ideas.

In other words, a lot of communication, regularity and rituals, transparency and shared tasks are the foundation for building the level of trust we need to establish.

And we enrich our professional trust level even outside of work: We practice weekly mindfulness workshops and in yoga classes together, wecompete in sports events remotely via smartwatch – and since 2020, our sustainability initiative VAST GREEN, which is driven by the core team in sprints.

What does the focus on trust really mean to us as a team – and to Vast Forward as a company?

Let’s see some examples:

• Trust means success in our projects: when working remotely, mutual trust strengthens understanding for each other, for the common project goals, for clearer briefings, and in general for efficient communication.
• Working remotely can be challenging – our trust in each other helps us to identify and overcome these challenges together.
• Overall, our daily work routine is just more fun – an important step in enjoying what we do!

Trust, just like the “love” for the job, creates safety and stability through a special bonding in our team – a simple image would be the comparison of our collaboration with a personal long-distance relationship: a successful relationship requires mainly trust – always in addition to a fundamental ‘yes’ to the joint (here: job) relationship.

So, the answer to the question “how can Vast Forward be successful?” above all is trust.

Or as we put it: “It’s Trust Baby, Not Control!”