Welcome to the final part of our ‘connection and disconnection’ series with ShieldGEO, brought to you by Virtual Not Distant. Today we look back at these episodes and what we’ve learned from them, during an unexpectedly transitional time for the remote work space. For today we share a round-table discussion, featuring Pilar and Maya from Virtual Not Distant     , as well as Tim Burgess from ShieldGEO. Please see https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts/reflection-connection-disconnection for the full shownotes and links.

This show is brought to you by Virtual Not Distant, a London-based consultancy offering support to remote teams worldwide.  Please see https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts/flexible-communication for full show notes What’s Going On (this topical segment was recorded on 6th May 2020) A recent article from Workplacesless What Happens to HR When Everyone is Suddenly Remote? takes an in-depth look at the ‘emotional labour’ that people-people do and how that has changed, on top of the logistical challenges and uncertainties they’re dealing with. It’s a good tie-in with our special ‘connection and disconnection’ series underway with ShieldGEO, and we shouldn’t forget that HR professionals are at the forefront of supporting coping with these issues for everyone. Looking ahead to what the workplace of the future might look like, we start with this one from Buro Happold Social distancing in the workplace: the new norm. We’ve never had an opportunity like this to truly rethink how we want to re-create the workplace we want - where we feel safe and effective and productive.  Mapping the way people move and looking at the tech we use (see also Maya’s recent article about Crestron’s thoughts on this) will help, but there will surely be new stress-producing factors and things to constrain spontaneity. We’re going to have think differently about what face-to-face time means, and consciously make the most of it, whatever tech we use to control the environment.  And here’s a prescient article Pilar wrote 4 years ago… proving that it’s always a good time to think holistically and creatively about what your workplace could look like, while considering what unique needs it fulfils for you. There’s even some research emerging now from Global Workplace Analytics suggesting that many workers do want to continue to work from home post-crisis, and they want flexibility and choice more than they want a fixed spot assigned to them in the office. This article about Tata in India suggests the same, a big corporation already deciding that a growing proportion of their workforce will work regularly from home permanently. All of these environmental shifts remind us that we’re going to have to change the way we work too, becoming more agile and resilient and flexible as an organisation, perhaps less hierarchical, to cope with the new world of work - and whatever changes are coming our way in future. Which further connects with the important subject of well-being, and we liked this article Simon Deeley (do contact him if you want to learn more about his mentoring app) shared with us, about 9 Steps to Maintaining Your Work/life Boundaries - we get hung up on the physical boundaries but there are so many more things to think about, which can make a difference in your life.   And finally, we loved this statement on LinkedIn from Adam Weber from Emplify that as a company they’ve decided they’re not working Fridays in May - to recognise the additional burdens and stresses on their employees. This is one great example of an organisation helping individuals maintain some boundaries.

This podcast is brought to you by Virtual Not Distant Ltd, a London-based consultancy helping teams transition to happy and productive office-optional working. In the 6th episode of this special “connection and disconnection in remote teams” series in association with ShieldGEO, we explore what we can do individually, to strengthen feelings of connection with our remote colleagues. After looking at the manager’s role previously, we need to remember we can all do our part, to support our own well-being and that of our teammates. Our series host Bree Cagiatti and guests new and old explore this topic and its implications. Please visit https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts/self-help-connection for full shownotes.

An organisational change is the perfect time to give employees the option to work remotely. In this episode, our two guests talk about the challenges of introducing remote work in an organisation, as well as introducing a new digital collaboration ecosystem. For more detailed show notes and to get in touch, head over to www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts/adopting-a-new-mindset-remote

This podcast is brought to you by Virtual Not Distant Ltd, a London-based consultancy helping teams transition to happy and productive office-optional working. Today we return to our special series in association with ShieldGEO on connection and disconnection in remote teams, and into this 5th episode we explore the role of the manager or employer in ensuring their team members remain connected when working remotely. Please see full shownotes at https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts/connection-disconnection-manager for all the links and details of our wonderful guests featured in this episode.

Brought to you by Virtual Not Distant, where we help managers and teams transition to an office-optional approach. For full show notes please see https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts/learning-and-sharing   What’s Going On  This topical segment was recorded on April 6th 2020 Maya experienced a meeting that was ‘Zoom-bombed’ - one of those new words 2020 will add to the lexicon. This phenomenon has attracted a lot of media coverage, and Zoom has taken steps to secure their own networks - so make sure you’re running the most up to date version of the app. A good example of why transitioning shouldn’t, in normal circumstances, happen without learning and planning… And Zoom is not the only meeting app out there! Google has rolled out free access to advanced Hangouts Meet video-conferencing capabilities to all G Suite customers globally, and we found this list of hundreds of other possibilities to choose from as well, with different properties and integrations for different industries. Among the plethora of remote work content, don’t overlook these fine words by Prof Dr. Emerita Gloria Ramsbottom-Lemieux. Surreality meets satire - but we need humour wherever we can find it these days. Pilar heard about a new co-working space which gives people black beads you can wear, if you want to signify you don’t want to be disturbed. A way to physically manifest an attention status in a visible way… A Slack emoji come to life?  Interesting how these shared signals and vocabulary emerge.  Research from HBR’s Idea Watch suggests that people would rather have their job taken by a robot than another human - maybe because we couldn’t be expected tocompete? But we’d rather work alongside a human replacement for any of our co-workers, if they get laid off. An article in The StartUp on Medium caught Maya’s eye, The Five Levels of Remote Work — and why you're probably at Level 2 - an insightful look at how to get beyond the meetings and chat and replication of the office, to an asynchronous nirvana. A good aspiratiomn for many teams who can work in this way and well worth a read. Remote Work Tree Rowena Hennigan and Robert Kropp in Spain have compiled Remote Work Tree:  As Robert explained, they wanted to ease the transition by bringing together the best events and resources to help people new to remote working and leadership. They’ve tried to predict a learning path and what users might need, to step through the rich resources they have curated, put together at top speed - to help you avoid content overload.

To counterpoint the wave of content to support people new to working from home, here at Virtual Not Distant we wanted to take time to reflect on the current state of knowledge work in the age of corona and the way things have changed already, and might continue to change in the future. (If you are new to this and looking for support in suddenly working from home, then we’d advise you to check out this short bonus episode in the first instance, as well as episode 60 of My Pocket Psych podcast. And contact us if we can help with anything specific to keep you going). While we’ll always advocate for working from home as an option in the mix, the world is short on options right now. Even for Pilar, doing voiceover work in studios is presently on complete hiatus, and work is changing at Virtual Not Distant with a surge in requests from work with Spanish companies - not traditionally keen to embrace ‘teletrabajo’ (see episode 214 for more on this) who are now looking towards long-term shifts in how they collaborate for the future). And today we talk in depth to 3 experts in remote work and long-term home-based working, all of whom will be familiar voices to regular listeners, and can help us think about the trends and shifts we’re identifying in the way we work together - wherever we are: Marcus Wermuth from Buffer -  connect on Twitter and via his website. Teresa Douglas, author and long-term remote employee - connection on Twitter and also her website. Maya Middlemiss - regular show co-host and Virtual Not Distant associate, connect on Twitter and LinkedIn. You'll find full shownotes at https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts/not-business-as-usual  

Welcome back to our special series in association with ShieldGEO on connection and disconnection in remote teams, which is receiving fascinating feedback. Today we examine the critical question of whose responsibility is it, to maintain connection and ensure people don’t drift and become demotivated? Please see full shownotes at: https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts/connection-disconnection-responsibilities  

In today's episode, we cover the concepts of Visible Teamwork, essential to working as a remote team, after Maya and Pilar talk about what's going on; and feedback from listeners. For full show notes, visit https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts/technostress-and-visible-teamwork 03.10 mins What’s going on… Coronavirus is going on 15.10mins In Non-Corona Related News… 35.10mins Listener feedback, and what’s coming up at Virtual Not Distant 43.26 mins Visible Teamwork  

This podcast is brought to you by Virtual Not Distant, helping businesses transition to successful remote working. Today we interview 6.07 Caitlin McDonald Dr Caitlin McDonald is a digital anthropologist at the Leading Edge Forum, an organisation which works with senior leaders to help them reconsider decisions and outcomes, through research, events, and advisory services.  Pilar participated in recent research for the Forum on Reconfiguring the collaborative workspace, which took a deep anthropological dive into workplace organisational structures and digital tools - in particular the ways we interact differently on and offline. Recent policy shifts in remote working and travel restrictions will affect many organisations for the first time, and Caitlin was keen to point out that ‘remote under duress’ is not a recipe for success, as we have discussed in this podcast previously. And in urban areas particularly, not everyone has a home environment suitable for work - it could be noisy, shared, unheated, etc. Asking employees to set up their own space doesn’t always work, people need support and resources from the organisation. We strongly recommend checking out the executive summary of Caitlin’s research here, and you can connect with her on twitter to continue the conversation. And do keep your feedback coming, we really enjoy it - please contact us, or you can tweet Virtual Not Distant, or Pilar and Maya directly, with any of your thoughts and ideas.