21st Century Work Life

A shorter number of longer sections for today, including an extended featured interview looking at some of the difficulties behind the kind of working we love best. Don't forget to tell us what YOU love best, by tweeting @VirtualTeamW0rk, or visiting virtualnotdistant.com.  04.28 The Voice Behind The Blog : Gant Laborde Today’s “voice” is Gant Laborde, author of an article entitled  5 Things that Suck about Remote Work - The Pitfalls of Remote Work + Proposed Solutions https://shift.infinite.red/5-things-that-suck-about-remote-work-506b98dd38f9 We often celebrate all that we love about remote and flexible working, but it’s important to reflect on the challenges. Some of them come from other people and their attitudes and expectations…  and their lack of respect for your boundaries, especially when you’re first transitioning and figuring things out. Gant has some good suggestions for tackling this, and for talking about how you work to those who don’t get it. Other challenges come from ‘office only’ things you might miss out on, because everyone else’s grass is greener sometimes. Our interview discusses some ways of bringing the sociability of working life back into remote working, and dealing with temporal disconnects – which don’t only come from being in different time-zones, but have cultural and lifestyle roots as well, and bring additional challenges to internal and external meetings. An ‘open source’ mindset, with an eye on the future and evergreen value, really helps in making effective communications – and the extra effort of this additional thinking and planning adds compounded value down the line.  The same goes for using tools smartly, combining different modes of communication, and mixing up synchronous and asynchronous messaging… But we need to remember that written words can be misinterpreted when removed from their non-verbal context. Humour can be misjudged… and what is that silence supposed to mean..? Try an emoji or two, to put that emotion back in, and close the loop. And don’t forget to find ways to celebrate the ‘wins’ as well  - large and the small. Every remote team needs to think about this, create the right channels and opportunities –you can’t leave it to chance (as we keep saying). There’s an interesting backstory to the branding of Gant’s business and blog too; enjoy the interview. http://gantlaborde.com/ @gantlaborde https://infinite.red/   39.25 Recommended Tool: Retrium retrium.com A tool for retrospectives or review sessions, Retrium is also useful for idea generation – we talked to one of the co-founders of Retrium back in episode 129: https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts/retrium-distributed-business. Pilar uses it in retro-style meetings, as it’s purpose-built to take you through the phases – starting with individual idea generation, (with others ideas masked), then ‘big reveal’, where you see everyone else’s contributions and start to collaborate together.   43.14 Wellbeing: Communications addiction Alerts and notifications are cleverly designed to feed our deep psychological needs - we all crave that little rush of dopamine when someone ‘likes’ your content or sends you a message.  It’s creeping from the social space into the workplace though, and we need to be aware of its addictive potential. Remember you can control your notifications, rather than having them control you. Have a listen to: ReWork podcast https://rework.fm/dont-like-this/ , and also our own blog post https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/blog/notifications-settings.  And to think people worry about lack of social contact, when they transition to remote!  

Fickle Friday episodes include a mini-rant by Pilar. Today's episode is all about adapting generic advice to your context, and why I'm starting the "unmuting movement". 

Today we return to our regular format, and bring you a featured interview with Alison Jones, a wellbeing segment, a handy tool, and our thought-piece “oh no, my team’s gone remote!” If you have an interest in remote and flexible working, there’ still time to sign up to Virtual Team Talk’s “Internal Affair” – where you’ll also get a little free taste of Virtual Not Distant team coaching activities too.  And visit us at VirtualNotDistant.com soon. 05:27 Featured Interview: Alison Jones, Director of Practical Inspiration Publishing. Alison is a publishing partner for businesses with something to say. She specialises in helping experts and business leaders channel their knowledge into book format, making it easier to send ideas out into the world. Her book ‘This book means business: clever ways to plan and write a book that works harder for your business’ helps people do this, along with her specialist coaching skills and publishing and marketing background. Alison helps people create the whole platform and infrastructure around the book as a smart marketing tool for the business it reflects, and to gain maximum personal and professional development benefit from the intense creative process of giving birth to their book. She offers a range of services from online advice, mentorship, coaching through to full traditional publishing services.  She successfully blends a range of remote collaboration and communication techniques to connect with her writers and bring them together online, to help them create their unique publications, and works with her fully remote team in the same way. Pilar took Alison’s “10 day business book proposal challenge” last year, and the result will be hitting book stores very soon in the form of “Online Meetings that ROCK” – so if there is a book brewing in your subconscious, this could be your moment. Connect with Alison on Twitter @bookstothesky, and via her websites Alisonjones.com, Practicalinspiration.com and Extraordinarybusinessbooks.com   22.21 Wellbeing: Homeworker’s Bum! A humorous but real affliction, not just for homeworkers but anyone who spends too long sitting in an office chair. If your rear end is taking on the shape and rigidity of your furniture, you need to get up and MOVE! When you transition to office-optional working, make sure you don’t lose the built-in opportunities for physical movement.  Try quantifying it with a device or app, and if you aren’t moving enough then you need to consciously plan to stand up, make your day more dynamic.   29.02 Oh no my teams gone remote: and I don’t know how to deal with the silence! Communication changes when you move away from a centralized office space, and becomes more asynchronous. This can mean waiting for a response. How are you, when it comes to dealing with silence? Do you find it unsettling? Do you project your expectations and uncertainties into it – when it could be that someone simply hasn’t seen your comment yet, or is considering their reply. Silence is only uncomfortable when we are unsure what it means.  You might just need a clearer agreement about expectations and how you communicate.    36:48 Tool: Canva Making graphic designers out of all of us – content needs pictures to go with the words, and you can make them simply and easily in a browser app.  Web banners, twitter cards, thank you messages  - they’re all straightforward to create in Canva. Be careful, as it’s quite fun, you can get carried away if you like visual things and experimenting! You can share designs and collaborate with colleagues too. The paid team version is quite an investment, but you can do a great deal with the free tool. We’ll see you again in two weeks, and meanwhile we’d love to hear what you think of our content – get in touch, or tweet us @Virtualteamw0rk

These are some of the questions we didn't get to answer during a recent webinar on Leading Remote Teams.  How do you cope with different cultures when working remotely - eg. a team I'm working with has people in Germany, Switzerland and India and can have a clash of cultures which are difficult to express remotely. What about cultures reluctant/not familiar sharing about their opinions on private/professional stuff? How do I manage the time different in collaborating with a virtual working in diff time zones? Sometimes, outcomes don't come out as planned and then things start getting quite negative, how can we build trust among remote team members? How can a manager develop trust and make employees feel trust too? (managers don't know whether the members are slacking or work really hard yet get stuck) Can you talk about HOW teams can "bump into each other" when working remotely across many locations? My insight from this is that there are a lot different type communication needs: performance review, informal, strategy. My experience is that my remote team use one meeting to update on all and as a result they are un-structured and always over run. How many types would you define? Any tips on encouraging participation during online/web meetings? How do you cope with negative reactions/responses to feedback and support plans being offered, which can be evidenced? In a multi-jurisdictional virtual team not all will necessarily have access to the same degree of technology - how best to lead. We use Office365 in our company, however we do not use the share document facility. this is a great idea. Will look to implement this and I can see great value in the way Pilar described this. How does Trello fit in with GDPR? How can you connect to remote team members at private level when you do not have the opportunity to get to know them privately (for Business trips freeze or other  reasons)? Can you remind me what the sharks are? To see the sharks, head over to www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts/questions-leading-remote-teams

Intro Today we look at working on the move - we have some great perspectives on this, from professional networks to remote conferences to Gig Teams. Look out for our new fortnightly schedule, as we continue to bring you information-packed magazine-style episodes. And there’s lots going on at Virtual Not Distant, so do come and visit us – virtualnotdistant.com, check out our range of specialist services and activities. And if you’re curious about or involved in the world of virtual and remote collaboration, why not join us for a free online event: Virtual Team Talk’s “Internal Affair” on 18th-19th June – find out more and register at virtualteamtealk.com. 03.54 Interview: Mike Jones – TAP International Mike is the co-founder and CEO of Tap International, who help professionals broaden their networks by spending time in remote locations on ‘talent development experiences’ of 1-3 months, where they enjoy professional development and networking in amazing places, whilst learning from cultural differences in a fully immersive way. Liberated by technology (and participants usually already have everything they need to maintain normal work patterns and flow), the Tap International vision is to fulfill the millennial dream of travel and experiential learning, by combining this with career development and networking. And the founders walk the talk, travelling with the groups and being truly location-independent, drawing on their professional networks to curate opportunities. Employers get to attract and retain the best talent, with enhanced social and professional skills – and their programme can be used as a hiring perk or performance reward. The whole team benefits from the experience gained by the lucky participant. Discover more, and start rummaging for your passport, at https://www.tapinternational.co/ https://www.instagram.com/tapinternational/ 27.20 Running Remote: Conference in Ubud, Bali Check out the podcast segment for a generous booking discount code, and don’t forget to send us a virtual postcard from the beach: https://runningremote.com/   29.19 Tools: Pocket A neat little clipping/read later service, which lets you capture anything you want to read, from any device – to read at any time. With offline access and stripping out of ads, it’s a very handy app, especially when you’re travelling and want to catch up on all your interesting reading. It’s also ideal for flexible freelancers or anyone who works on a range different projects and tends to come across important nuggets of information and learning when you’re in the middle of working on something else. You can follow people, tag and categorise, and share with other people – or use it as a very simple bookmarking service. But you do need to make time to read the things you have put in your Pocket! https://getpocket.com/   39.55  What do you mean by that? John Elston, author of ‘The Remote Revolution’, introduces us to the concept of gig teams Comprising a multifaceted group of individuals, a “gig team” is greater than the sum of its parts – a collective who recognise their synergy and complementary skills, and approach projects and freelance gigs together to offer a range of services to fulfill the diverse needs of their clients. They market themselves and apply their skills as a team, to tackle complex projects in a range of settings. A truly 21st Century work evolution, top gig teams can pick and choose assignments that motivate and inspire them. Colonising coffee-shops in a city near you, gig teams are travelling the world and setting it to rights, one gig at a time.  38.30 Oh No – My team’s gone remote! How can we continue learning together? Learning and growth as a team need not be compromised by working in a remote or flexible setting. Learning is about mindset, not location. With the right mindset, it’s a continual process, of acquiring new information and putting it into practice by changing what we do. So it’s important that we capture experiential learning points, and make time for the essential reflection stage in the learning cycle, where we integrate the learning points into our own behaviour. In the online space, that means allocating resources – time and attention – to ensure learning points are captured, and successfully cascaded through the organisation. Pilar suggests a range of options for structuring this, both on the practical level, and also in creating safety within the team to be vulnerable and accept input. Change can bring many benefits, but you need to make space to accommodate it. In our fast-moving world of work it can be hard to carve out time to learn and reflect – but these are the moments of greatest growth, wherever your team is located.  Whew, this has been one of our most packed podcasts ever – see you in two weeks time!

Lots going on at Virtual Not Distant right now! Don’t forget the upcoming webinar, there's still time to book for the 6th June – all about confident and successful leadership in remote teams https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/blog/webinar-remote-teams-how-to-lead-them-confidently-and-successfully Look out too for announcements about our in-house podcasting service, and also for Pilar’s podcast about podcasting – how meta is that? Imposing 'meaningful work' can lead to staff burnout https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170117140228.htm Maya and Pilar discuss the potential mismatch between organisational and individual motivation – you can’t tell people what is important to them. And you can’t generate intrinsic motivation with a flowery corporate values statement.  Long before you get burn-out and resignations, the phenomenon of ‘existential labour’ suggests a painful phase of faking it, in the face of an expectation that you should always be passionate about what you do.  But people find meaning in their lives in so many different ways, and there are many times people do work which pays the bills and is “fine” – why should they have to put on an act for their employers, that their behaviour is stemming from their values if it isn’t? Even to the point that the employee winds up feeling conflicted and confused, about what they really feel. Social determination theory suggests we should find plenty of meaning in autonomy competence and relatedness – and this could be quite enough to provide a wholly satisfactory working life, do we absolutely have to have purpose as well? Maybe we shouldn’t idealise work, the work which most of us do every day. We talk about ‘the lottery test’ – would you carry on working? Most of us say yes would – but let’s remember that this is a thought exercise, not a real-life test! What do you think? Motivation in Virtual Teams https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/blog/motivation-in-virtual-teams Giving this popular post a 4th birthday outing, this post digs in to the social determination theory we touched on in the media commentary.  And it’s interesting to see how whilst the tools we use at work can change so much over that time, the way they are used for different purposes as the software landscape evolves has changed too – and the way users adapt them to their own needs and preferences, which might not be what the developers intended!  As work changes, the ways we collaborate and connect changes too. And so does the way we give each other feedback, find our motivation, and receive validation for our work. But the fundamental principles of leadership haven’t changed. Helping people fulfil their needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness through their work, remains the best way to lead a healthy happy team.    Recommended Reading: Pilar reflects on Daniel Pink’s excellent book Drive, and his commentary on self determination theory. He talks about mastery rather than competence, which doesn’t reflect how motivating the journey can be – but purpose remains the most important of all. Purpose is truly an internal motivator, it can’t be dictated to you by a manager or mission statement

We have a packed show for you today, looking at strategies and tactics for successfully “working out loud” – We hope you’re enjoying our new-style podcast format, we’d love to hear what you think, do tweet us @VirtualTeamW0rk, or just pay us a visit at https://virtualnotdistant.com And don’t forget, booking is open for our great FREE webinar in June, in collaboration with Trainingzone -   https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/blog/webinar-remote-teams-how-to-lead-them-confidently-and-successfully - helping your team transition to remote, and helping you as a team leader to transition from supervisor to ecosystem DJ or spider! All will be revealed in the webinar…  So secure your space today. And before our main interview, a point to ponder: If only we could do exit interviews before people decide to leave – maybe even instead of?  We could learn so much from a ‘pre-mortem’. A great conversation took place about this in https://virtualteamtalk.com, so do come and join us there if this kind of learning exploration interests you. 6.25 Featured interview: Jochen Lillich, Founder and CEO of Freistil IT. Our guest today is the voice behind this blog: https://blog.freistil.it/working-out-loud-doesnt-mean-being-noisy-c71010e0d236 - He manages the distributed team at Freistil IT, who are web hosting experts, large complex sites for needing active management. So they have to find ways to share and communicate effectively and continually. They use a lot of tools, especially Slack (see below), – but needed to find ways to manage the information overload and noise. Jochen blogs to build relationships and trust, to go beyond the transactional nature of business, but internally they use more real-time ways to communicate. Aside from daily standups, one of their most used tools is a Slack channel called DIRECT – which stands for Decisions, Insights, Results, Emotions, Contacts, Troubles – where they continuously share things which might affect either the team or the work. Jochen talks to us about being intentional about sharing on distributed teams, the fact that you need to do more of it, more consciously, than you might imagine. Enjoy the interview and the original blog post, and if you want to learn more about how the team at Freistil work together, their operating manual is freely available here:  https://runbook.freistil.it/   20.58 – Wellbeing: How do we “step away from the screen”? It isn’t easy, because screens are everywhere. How do we unplug, in a world of 24/7 connectivity? This is not just an issue for remote workers either. We can start by being more aware of it, and how our use of screens affects us. One strategy both Pilar and Maya use is to read on a dedicated non-backlit e-reader (you know the brand we’re talking about – but don’t forget you can email any document to it, it isn’t just for reading books bought from that same monopolistic retailer). It really is worth investing in a separate device for this even if you have the apps on your tablet or phone, and you’ll notice the difference in sleep quality when using it at night particularly. Or there is always that really strange static format of paper itself. Just from time to time, and do remember to recycle! How do you maintain healthy screen habits, and protect your eyes and your sleep? Tweet us at @VirtualTeamW0rk #remotewellbeing   26.28 Oh NO: My teams gone remote!  And our relationships will suffer if all we do is type... This is a valid concern. Typing might be great for introverts, and sometimes it’s good to think through what you want to express first... But the lack of real-time feedback has real drawbacks.  Remember we can use video and audio to add context and depth to our words, we don’t have to depersonalise all of our asynchronous conversation. There’s evidence that emotional or controversial topics are much better received in audio than written form, and this does support the way that online comment threads and email conversations can quickly deteriorate: https://www.inc.com/minda-zetlin/you-should-never-ever-argue-with-anyone-on-facebook-according-to-science.html Perhaps we should pick up the phone a little more often, when we’re shifting to a remote workplace. Especially if we need to have a difficult or emotion-laden conversation - it’s often far too quick and easy to fire off an email.  Of course this is more challenging across timezones, but with a bit of imagination there are solutions we can use. Written communication is best for concrete information sharing, but not for complex or loaded conversation.  Which is why, as a team, you also need to communicate about communications: come up with explicit agreements about how you connect and how you have different kinds of conversation. And as a leader, be sure to model the kind of behaviour you’d like your team to adopt – including a nice smiley profile picture to accompany your instant messaging chat. What do you think? We usually suggest you tweet or email us, but there is a phone number on our contact page! 33.28: Recommended tool: Slack (slack.com) Slack is an instant messaging app for business collaboration, for use in closed groups and teams. It’s easy to manage, with channels for different conversations, and very granular control over notifications. A lot of the functionality is free, and it’s straightforward to set up and use on multiple devices, from tiny teams to big communities. If you’d like to take your first steps with Slack in a safe and welcome team, and you share our passion for remote working and flexibility, check out Virtual Team Talk (link in intro). Maya recently discussed her history through the evolving world of online team chat in this blog post https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/blog/upgrade-tools

We are continuing to mix things up with our new format, and today’s podcast also revisits some earlier recordings and articles - we have so much great content in the archives at https://virtualnotdistant.com, so don’t forget to visit us there soon! In the introduction, Pilar talks about podcasting with Richard McKinnon who we featured back in October 2017 when we talked about psychological flexibility. https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts/psychological-flexibility Pilar will shortly be hosting a webinar with him on this important subject - are our emotional states in control of us, or can we master them? And we’re pleased to announce that booking is now open for a free webinar in June in collaboration with Training Zone - we’re keen to ensure our podcast listeners get early access to this valuable resource, so you can learn more and register here: https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/blog/webinar-remote-teams-how-to-lead-them-confidently-and-successfully 10.25: Article discussion: Why Microsoft's new culture makes its stock a buy Pilar and Maya discuss this piece in Forbes https://www-forbes-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.forbes.com/sites/petercohan/2018/04/09/why-microsofts-new-culture-makes-its-stock-a-buy/amp/ about the change in culture at Microsoft in recent years. We often talk about culture at Virtual Not Distant, but it’s often hard to correlate such a qualitative phenomenon with impact on the bottom line. However, it appears that Nadella genuinely has made the difference, by driving a growth mindset and a shift in how customers are valued - during a time, in his 4 year tenure, of incredible change in the office software environment.   Pilar and Maya both have Nadella’s book, ‘Hit Refresh’, on their reading lists now, and you can learn more about that publication in two HBR Ideacasts, episode 596 Sept 28th 2017 and episode 585 July 13th 2017. 17.07 - Audio blog: Finding The Right Work-Environment Fit Pilar revisits the Work 2.0 Conference of 2017, where she first heard the term ‘shoulder-bag workers’. You can read the full blog post here https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/blog/four-cs-teamwork, where she explores in detail the how the work environment impacts on performance in both the physical and virtual space, and listen to Pilar’s event podcast here: https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts/work-2-conference. It’s good to reflect on what has changed over a year, and whether we’re still talking about the same issues.  

Welcome to our new format, magazine-style show!  We hope you like it, and don’t forget to visit https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/, for more great content, and information about our wide range of services for remote teams. Today’s episode is all about staying healthy, whilst working flexibly. 03.40: Feature interview: Paul Read, the Teapot Monk, Paul teaches TaiChi online at teapotmonk.com, and has a new course specifically aimed at addressing the health issues remote workers may experience. Listen to the interview to find out how to win a voucher to access the course for free.  learntaichi.online and Teapotmonk.comhttps://www.udemy.com/a-beginners-guide-to-managing-stress-with-tai-chi/ 27.15 "Oh no, my team's gone remote!" - and I’m starting to feel like I never switch off... In a world of push notification and multiple screens, how do we manage our boundaries, especially when managing others working remotely? 33.30 Recommended tool: Trello Based on the Kanban workflow, Trello's deceptively-simple app of 'virtual post-it notes' is very powerful and versatile - and it's definitely Pilar’s favourite. Find out how she uses it in every aspect of her work. We look forward to your feedback on our new format, and would love to hear about the subjects you'd like us to cover. *** Tweet @Pilarorti and @VirtualTeamW0rk with your thoughts ***

The last of our audio blogs, as next week we'll launch the new show format! In this article, we are reminded that people on remote teams also get sick, but that sick-leave might be more difficult to take.  These links might be of interest to you: https://fitforwork.org/ https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts/psychological-safety This is the audio version of one of our blog posts.  You can read the post here:  https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/blog/sickness-remote-teams