Everyone is feeling the impact of Screen Time with Cynthia Watson, Virtira

We've all had enough of staring at screens and Cynthia Watson of Virtira decided to find out what impact this was having on the workforce.  We recently shared an press release on the data that has been acquired from Virtira and wanted to glean further information and insight so we invited to speak on this podcast.  Listen in on the conversation that Melanie Boylan and Cynthia Watson had.

Cynthia Watson was never cut out to work in an office. She grew up in a small town on Vancouver Island in Canada, and while her business school classmates were finding jobs in downtown cubicles, she happily worked her way through university in the BC Parks Branch and on fishing boats. She wrote her master’s thesis on telecommuting while working with global tech companies. Upon the completion of her MBA in 1993, she vowed never to work in an office again –– and has kept that promise ever since.

Having worked remotely for so many years, Cynthia knows how being in remote locations can affect virtual workers. And with 25 years of experience leading complex projects with countless virtual teams around the world, she found behaviors, habits, and communication patterns that hold teams back from achieving peak performance. Taking those patterns and behaviors into account Cynthia worked with leading project managers to develop proprietary online methodologies and put them into action.

In 2011 she took over as the CEO of Virtira – a virtual company focused on helping virtual teams work more efficiently. Her consultants and team members are located globally, and while many of them work from very remote, rural areas, they are connecting and leading teams around the world.

Living a somewhat nomadic and “bi-coastal” lifestyle, she, her husband, and their two small dogs commute between Canada’s west and east coasts. Her most enduring passion has been providing opportunities for rural residents to have meaningful careers without leaving their communities, as well as helping clients achieve less stress via the ever-elusive work-life balance.