Today’s Office: Tribe Global’s David Balfour on slowly returning to normality in Dubai
Lightblue co-founder and newly appointed Tribe Global chair David Balfour returned to his Dubai office back in June. But the lessons he learned from his time in lockdown have changed the way he looks at the working day.
A view of the garden isn’t so idyllic when you’re jealous of your neighbor sunbathing and BBQing
In March 2020, after rushing back from our recently opened LA office before Mr Trump could lock us in with travel bans, I landed in Dubai and pretty much straight into lockdown shock. Like most people, we were sorting out rooms for the kids to study and a place for me to work, which sadly was our bedroom with a view over our garden and pool. Sounds idyllic, with Dubai’s great weather, but not when you can see the neighbor out sunbathing and BBQing most days with his brothers! Not jealous…
Long days on back-to-back Zoom calls planning for what was coming were broken up only by frequent trips to the fridge, much to the displeasure of my wife. For someone who exercised six times a week, the increasing size of my Covid belly was tough to come to terms with! I had to change and thankfully our social team created a step challenge for a charity. So I took my 9am team calls on the go, walking 3km each morning followed by lunchtime boxing on my newly purchased aqua bag in the garden.
Thankfully we have been in the office since June last year – well, four of us to start, but that has been gradually increasing in line with government guidelines, although it’s still not quite at 100%. We are slowly trying to bring normality back with our breakfast club back running as of January and I hosted our first hybrid company Tiny Little Quiz.
But even when our kitchens, bedrooms and living rooms became our new creative hubs, I wasn’t left disappointed. What I’m seeing is nothing short of the best work we’ve produced in our 13-year history. This is all down to the desire and the passion the team have not to drop our standards; it’s a culture the team have created. We all came into this together and we’ll get out the other side together.
Individually, what’s keeping me going and keeping me motivated is the launch of our new LA office at the start of 2020, and our soon-to-open Saudi office which was delayed due to Covid-19. Plus, my new role as chair of Tribe Global is keeping me inspired and I’m blessed to have such amazing humans by my side.
Working virtually and digitally really hasn’t been that difficult for us as we’ve always played that game. In actual fact, I believe we have got closer to our clients through lockdown, not only on a work level but personally, which has helped build better delivery of projects and the understanding of their requirements. We have been (virtually) invited into their homes and lives, we have met their families, pets and housemates – this is pretty special. Don’t get me wrong though, the very first chance to meet a client without a fist bump but with a handshake or a hug will mean so much more to both, that’s for sure.
I have now changed the way I look at my days. I start much earlier than I did in the past with 6am gym sessions, listening to podcasts or Clubhouse on the way, and I’m back home before the kids head to school so I have more time with them, which is obviously great. Then I’m in the office early catching up with LA or Tribe Global work, followed by team calls for most of the morning and a lot more night calls with the LA team, US clients and board calls with the Tribe due to time zones and lack of travel – I do miss travel, but I don’t miss jet leg!
The working week and weekends now just blur into one these days, even more so than before, but creating a better family time has been key to keeping it balanced – doing simple things together, like walking our dogs Maggie and Betsy as a family, park time after work rather than a glass of Malbec, and more family movie nights.