21st Century Work Life

In today's episode, Pilar and Lisette talk about how Virtual Team Talk was born and why it's so important to have a space to interact with your competitors. (Yes, you heard right.) Introduction Episode with Izabela Russell: http://virtualnotdistant.com/new-media-europe/ Episode with Mike Russell: http://virtualnotdistant.com/new-media/ Our appearance with Izabela on the New Media Europe podcast http://newmediaeurope.com/2016/virtual-team-talk-pilar-orti-lisette-sutherland/ Link to webinars in June, from office-based to virtual team: http://virtualnotdistant.com/office-based-virtual-team-webinar/ Virtual not Distant Bitesize - why it's important not to take part in every conversation in Slack or other team communication platforms. sponsored by Saros Research If you would like to share your opinions on products and get paid for it, then head over to https://www.sarosresearch.com/participate/join-saros-research/?id=100243   Check out the blog post: The Dangers of Working Out Loud http://virtualnotdistant.com/the-dangers-of-working-out-loud/   Virtual Coffee with Lisette: Virtual Team Talk, a space where competitors can collaborate 10.00mins Our updates: Lisette is selling loads of supercards! Check them out! http://virtualnotdistant.com/greatmeetings/ Our Blab on 6 June 7pm BST on Remote Productivity Habits: http://bit.ly/e-productivity Link to the team audit, for managers and leaders of virtual teams http://virtualnotdistant.com/teamaudit/ 18.00mins Pilar and Lisette rehearse their talk for New Media Europe, telling the story of how they met and how Virtual Team Talk is evolving. Why did two competitors start working together? The challenge is finding something that people can do together. The importance of creating experiences together. Creating the opportunity for spontaneous interactions. Finding ways of getting to know how people work before going into full-blown, high stakes collaboration. If you want to join Virtual Team Talk, join us, get in touch!

In this episode, Pilar talks to Julian Wilson, CEO of Matt Black Systems, about how the company made the transition to self-management. The journey was worth it, but also a bit painful... 1hr 07 mins - long, but worth the listen. visit www.virtualnotdistant.com for your 7-part email series on leading virtual teams.  Introduction A brief one, seriously! Pilar recommends some books and podcasts, and you can find the links below... If you would like to find out more about the Buurtzorg model, why not check out these slides. http://www.kingsfund.org.uk/sites/files/kf/media/jos-de-blok-buurtzorg-home-healthcare-nov13.pdf If you're making the transition to virtual, check out our new webinar: http://virtualnotdistant.com/office-based-virtual-team-webinar/   Today's episode, as always, is sponsored by Saros Research. If you're based in the UK, how about giving your opinions and getting paid for it? Click here and swiftly register: https://www.sarosresearch.com/participate/join-saros-research/?id=100243   The Conversation with Julian Wilson, from Matt Black Systems 08:10mins As "Management" has been given a bad name by the terrible (but very visible) bad managers out there, companies and people are turning to self-management as a way to improve companies and worklife. But should we be pursuing self-management as an end in itself? In this episode, Pilar talks to Julian Wilson, CEO of Matt Black Systems, (a design and manufacturing company in the aerospace sector) who, in the journey to improve the company, ended up with a self-managed business. Yes, if this is the right structure for your company, this system will bring all kinds of tangible and intangible joys, but we prepared for some pain along the way... It's 2003 and the company is in trouble... "We measured the machines and the processes but we didn't measure the people." Lean manufacturing didn't quite work. The problem didn't lie with the tool, but with the culture. How do you change the culture? Micromanaging didn't work, standardising operation procedures didn't work. Julian gives us a specific example of how they made savings in Purchasing. How the company cut down on administrative staff. Should you give admin tasks to people who don't like doing them, so that they get done faster?! "I wouldn't do it like this again." Changing culture is difficult; you're changing habits. Why are we not trusted at work to do things and make decisions like those we take in our personal lives? When you trust people and de-centralise, you will come up across some problems. Recruitment - who stays, who goes and who is recruited? Do businesses need to grow? Julian is setting up a new organisation, based on the Buurtzorg model.   Further reading and listening: How to Become a Soulful Organisation - RSA  https://www.thersa.org/events/2015/01/how-to-become-a-soulful-organisation Global Business podcast: Companies Without Managers http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02nrwfk/episodes/downloads The Story Behind Morning Star's Success https://thefutureorganization.com/self-management-the-story-behind-morningstars-success/

On 21 April, Pilar attended the E-Resilience Conference, organised by the Switched On Culture Research Group. In this podcast, she shares her thoughts. Short introduction, with reference to: RSA Fellow's Reinventing Work Network 24 May London: http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/rsa-fellows-reinventing-work-network-the-metrics-of-reinventing-work-tickets-24564810008?aff=eac2 Link to the blog post on how moving to virtual can change our identity: http://virtualnotdistant.com/virtual-challenges-identity/ If you're looking for the link to the Virtual not Distant ® 7 part email series, here it is: http://eepurl.com/bViJ85   Thank you to the organisers of the conference: Dr Christine Grant,Dr Almuth McDowall,Professor Gail Kinman,Dr Cristina Quiñones-García and thank you to Anna Meller for letting me know about it! Find out more: https://alwaysonculture.wordpress.com/ 07:20 mins Some of the things that Pilar found most "interesting": David D’Souza, Head of CIPD London. "The Future of Work." David talked about many things, including the question of why people, instead of growing at work, are becoming lesser beings than they are at home? Are we discriminating when we introduce "remote"? The question of ethics: "Just because we can, doesn't mean we should" Jean François Stitch, PhD Student at Lancaster University. "Virtual Interactions at Work, Wellbeing and Performance: The Importance of 'Person-Environment Fit’". The Person-Environment Fit with relation to email overload. Whether you feel overloaded by email or not really depends on how you view email overload. Interesting, eh? Dr Richard A. MacKinnon, Insight Director, The Future Work Centre. "Technology at Work: A Systems Perspective." Understanding your own preference is key: "General advice about the use of tech is pointless."   Alison Maitland, author of Future Work. "Leadership and Self-Leadership in the Digital Age." "The industrial age work model remains intact..." "Future work is a place where flexibility is the norm and not the exception and where autonomy replaces permission." Does it matter if our work eats into our personal life, if we don't experience work-life conflict? Advice to those leading virtual teams or teams with mobile working: Be open to change yourselves. Let go of control. Coach and support, rather than micromanage. Focus on relationships, not just tasks. Carve out time for individuals. Use the time in the workplace to build relationships. Work in different places to gain different perspectives. Take responsibility for each other's wellbeing. Find time away from your team members! (That's Pilar's advice...)   Dr Emma Russell, Kingston Business School. "Individual Differences in Dealing with Email at Work." Should countries bring in legislation to reduce email? How people under the different Big Five personalities react to checking email? The importance of self-awareness. "We should be given control about how to deal with our in-coming email because on size does not fit all." The 21st Century Work Life podcast is sponsored by Saros Research! https://www.sarosresearch.com/participate/join-saros-research/?id=100243 Join us for Virtual Team Talk! Use this contact form to tell us you'd like to join us. http://virtualnotdistant.com/contact-us/

Today's episode consists entirely of Pilar and Lisette's virtual coffee and they talk about the best things and the worst things about working in virtual teams.   We have a few updates, but not too many. We talk about our online co-working space Virtual Team Talk, Sqwiggle closing down, should you take photos, how Oleg Konovalov sent us his book Organisational Anatomy: A Manager's Guide to a Healthy Organisation (Towards the Twenty-First Century Organization) and Lisette is reading the biography Elon Musk: How the Billionaire CEO of SpaceX and Tesla is Shaping our Future, Lisette mentions this interview with the guys from RLoop. http://www.collaborationsuperpowers.com/83-a-self-organized-team-of-remote-redditors-competing-for-spacex-hyperloop/ You never know who's listening... To join Saros Research, use this link: https://www.sarosresearch.com/participate/join-saros-research/?id=100243   19:05 Updates seamlessly evolve into the main body of our conversation. We don't need permission to do a lot of stuff in virtual teams - we can self-organise, interact with people in other parts of the organisation... Flattening of the hierarchies. But this also has its down side... We tend to over-communicate. Our oh-so-different communication styles. Retrospective and reviewing our team process: the most important thing is to have the conversation. Rules?????? Freedom and cost - two ups! Freedom increases motivation. Pilar refers to this article Stop Motivating Your Employees! Tele-pressure and techno-stress! The pressures shift - from management to peers.

Pilar talks to Mandy Garner, editor of workingmums.co.uk about howWorkingMums supports and spreads good practice regarding flexibleworking and other areas of work. http://virtualnotdistant.com/workingmums/ Introduction If you are making the transition from office-based to virtualteam or hybrid team, join Pilar for coffee over this short webinaron making the transition. http://virtualnotdistant.com/office-based-virtual-team-webinar/ Saros Virtual Team Practice 04:55 To give your opinions on products and get paid for it, usethis link to visit the Saros website. https://www.sarosresearch.com/participate/join-saros-research/?id=100243     The Conversation with Mandy Garner, editor ofWorkingMums.co.uk 12:45 mins Workingmums celebrates its tenth anniversary thisyear - Congratulations! The history of Workingmums - and how it's evolved over the lastten years! Who are the businesses receiving the Best Practice Awards? Thesector within which organisations are operating is taken intoaccount. Who champions flexible working within an organisation? How does shared parental leave work in the UK? The site Workingmums.co.uk goes beyondadvocating for mums to find flexible jobs, it's a site advocatingfor flexible working for everyone" mums, dads, people with caringresponsibilities, returners... Here are some articles you might want to check out: http://www.workingmums.co.uk/mums-divided-on-sharing-parental-leave/  http://www.workingmums.co.uk/creating-dementia-carer-friendly-workplaces/ Check out the 2016 Best Practice Report http://www.workingmums.co.uk/workingmums-co-uk-publishes-2016-best-practice-report/ Link to Workingmum's Advice and Support section: http://www.workingmums.co.uk/advice-and-support/ And you can now read Mandy's piece on the WorkingMums website: http://www.workingmums.co.uk/supporting-virtual-teams/ If you are making the transition from office-based tovirtual team or hybrid team, join Pilar for coffee over this shortwebinar on making the transition. http://virtualnotdistant.com/office-based-virtual-team-webinar/

We talk about using Sococo for online coworking, the exploration of behaviours and boundaries and why it works for us. We don't have many links to share with you today, just our guest's Twitter handles and an invitation to join Virtual Team Talk. Mark Kilby Twitter: @mkilby Darlene Pike Twitter: @darlenepike Lisette Sutherland Twitter:@lightling Pilar Orti Twitter: @PilarOrti Sign up to find out about our online coworking experiments: https://virtualteamtalk.com/    

Today's introduction is very, very brief, so there's not much to say here. If you would like to download the Work Foundation's "Working Anywhere" report, here's the link: http://www.theworkfoundation.com/Reports/398/Working-Anywhere Today's episode, is also sponsored by Saros Research. https://www.sarosresearch.com/participate/join-saros-research/?id=100243   Working Anywhere: A Winning Formula for Good Work? What is "mobile working"? How does the UK compare to other countries? Here's the link to the article in Forbes about what the numbers are like in the US. http://www.forbes.com/sites/laurashin/2016/03/31/at-these-125-companies-all-or-most-employees-work-remotely/#7c6c67cb4d94     “We believe from our work here that we are almost at a tipping point in mobile working and by sharing our findings we can enable a benefit-driven approach; a formula for good work while working from anywhere.” The benefits of mobile working in organisations. “Personal circumstances and the nature of the job determine the potential for individuals to work flexibly and or remotely”. The barriers to mobile working. “The most successful forms of mobile working will be achieved when the benefits to the organisation and the individual are aligned and enshrined in formal and agreed ways of working.” What is technostress? "A YouGov survey of UK business leaders for Vodafone found that 25 per cent “felt that their employees remained rooted to the concept of having their own desk space”, 23 per cent “felt flexibility led to employees taking advantage”, and yet 77 per cent “measure success by results rather than time spent in the office”38. There would seem to be a measure of disconnect here between leaders’ perceptions and their employees’ demands and indeed employee performance when mobile working is enabled. Reviewing successful (and unsuccessful) practice by senior staff will be important in enabling change." What do managers feel about mobile working? Does seniority affect adoption? What do we need to look out for when introducing flexible working? "Today in the UK, few working- age individuals don’t have a smart phone or equivalent mobile device through which they connect to their friends and family wherever they are and whenever they want, or need, to communicate. Why would they not demand the same flexibility in their working lives?"

Introduction 25 April 6.45pm BST RSA April Reinventing Work Network: How are YOU Reinventing Work? https://blab.im/pilar-orti-rsa-reinventing-work-network-what-are-you-doing-to-reinvent-work Have you got any book recommendations? People at Work Summit https://www.peopleatworksummit.com/ Facilitator's Guide to Participatory Decision-Making The Participant Principle Webinars: April on Leadership and Motivation in Virtual Teams May: Coaching in Virtual Teams Follow this link to our Webinar page: http://virtualnotdistant.com/webinars/ Virtual not Distant Bitesize Today we look at How to generate ideas from your team when you already have a point of view. To join Saros, click here https://www.sarosresearch.com/participate/join-saros-research/?id=100243   Virtual Coffee with Lisette: What We Learned from Team of Teams Lisette's first chapter might be with us soon, "in the flesh"! Lisette's Supercards! They're super useful in a meeting! Check out the video, with Leila. http://virtualnotdistant.com/greatmeetings/ Get your free gala dinner at New Media Europe conference by using this link to book. (Bring your fancy pants!) We took part in the New Media Europe podcast and Izabela made us think loads! Join us in Virtual Team Talk. Pilar connected with someone immediately - by audio! She met Alex Hillman from the co-working  space IndyHall UK Podcasters Conference: https://blab.im/mike-russell-uk-podcasters-online-conference-ukpod-2016 We talk about Team of Teams! "Radical sharing of information with extreme decentralization of decision-making authority." Lisette heard about the author on Tim Ferriss' podcast. Lisette summarises Team of Teams. Adaptability, transparency and leadership. Transparency also has its dark side... "The role of senior leader was no longer that of a controlling puppet master but rather that of an empathetic crafter of culture." The relationship between transparency and experimentation. Pilar's blog post on Team of Teams: http://virtualnotdistant.com/team-of-teams/

In this episode, Pilar talks to Izabela Russell, co-founder of New Media Europe about what it takes to organise a conference and her search for the range of ingredients that make up entrepreneurs. 48:54mins  Introduction Twitter list for guests of the 21st Century Work Life podcast. https://twitter.com/PilarOrti/lists/guests-podcast Check out Sococo. https://www.sococo.com/ - the tool that brings proxemics into virtual relationships. People at Work Summit, Pilar will be speaking there on 22 April. https://www.peopleatworksummit.com/ She'll also take part in the UK Podcasters Blab marathon, also on 22 April! https://blab.im/mike-russell-uk-podcasters-online-conference-ukpod-2016 12th April Reinventing Work Network - Creative Gatherings Virtual not Distant Academy Leadership and Motivation in Virtual Teams - Webinar http://virtualnotdistant.com/leadership-and-motivation-in-virtual-teams-webinar/   Saros Virtual Team Practice @11:50 mins To give your opinion on products and get paid for it, follow this link to register for Saros. First of all, if you are in London over the weekend 18/19 June, join us for Virtual Team Talk at New Media Europe. If you use this link to book, you'll get free access to the dinner!   The Conversation with Izabela Russell, co-founder of New Media Europe @15:40mins. Episode 16 with Mike Russell (Izabela's husband) about New Media and Music Radio Creative. http://virtualnotdistant.com/new-media/ It all began with UKPodcasters... Link to the UKPodcasters website. http://ukpodcasters.com/ How do you market a conference? Connections! The structure of New Media Europe:Day #1 Inspiration (Lisette and I will inspire you!) , evening gala, New Media Europe awards and Day #2 Information and Practical advice. Who is the conference for? How did Izabela end up "doing this"? Organising a conference, the importance of connections. What is the New Media Europe Show podcast focusing on? The personality of entrepreneurs! http://newmediaeurope.com/2016/category/podcast/ (Lisette and Pilar will soon be on that podcast!) Izabela's Twitter @IzabelaRusell

We're taking a short break, but here's a virtual rhyme while you wait.    Productivity Hacks   Today I had a good day, I got my task list done; I made some phone calls, Cleared my desktop. (I almost had some fun!)   I made quite a good slideshow, I wrote a new proposal, Reviewed a pending budget And finished a report.   I did all this by lunch time, Still in my dressing gown. What made this day so brilliant? The internet was down.