21st Century Work Life

This episode is dedicated to Coworking, specifically, to the Impact Hub in King's Cross, London. I speak to Maria Trindade, Will Cardy and Letizia Custodero from Impact Hub and to Luca Turconi, from Accelerance. 00:30 Pilar's introduction. Reflections on her attempt at a Writing/Work Holiday. (Pilar mentions Episode 1, on Work Holidays.) Why coworking spaces can help with motivation. (Self-determination theory.) Deskmag's 3rd Global Co-working survey. www.deskmag.com/en/1st-results-of-the-3rd-global-coworking-survey-2012 08:30 Impact Hub.  www.impacthub.net and Impact Hub King's Cross. 13:57 A tour with Maria Trindade, General Manager of Impact Hub King's Cross. 19:25 The story and ethos of Impact Hub. 21:20 A chat about the membership with Will Cardy, Communications Manager. 23:45 Letizia Custodero, Operations Manager, talks about the different events organised and hosted by Impact Hub King's Cross. 29:30 Pilar talks to one of the members, Luca Turconi, founder of Accelerance. Luca describes his organisation and shares how coming together for a couple of days has helped his global team. 41:10 The new Virtual, not Distant online course for managers and leaders of virtual teams.

Today's episode is made up solely of a Virtual Coffee with Lisette. Lisette Sutherland and I have a long conversation covering the main problems of working in teams across nations. Have you got anything to add? (If you're interested in leading global teams, you can also listen to this previous episode with Mariano Tufró, on leading global teams.) 01:29 Lisette gives us a very quick update of what she's up to. 02:22 Pilar gives us a longer update, talking about the UCExpo she visited in Olympia, London. (Unified Communications and Collaboration Event) Marianne Calder, CISCO. "Value, People, Process." We've maximised individual productivity and now we're onto maximising team productivity. We talk about an article in the Wall Street Journal "This Startup's Bold Experiment Failed and They're a Better Company for It". 14:40 The dangers of hyper-connectivity. Lisette talks about The Circle a scary book... "'Collaboration' does not mean using a collaboration tool." 18:50 Kahootz, a company providing online workspaces, working mainly with the UK's public bodies. The UK's government approach to cloud security. 23:10 Becoming a digital citizen in Estonia. "Life in a networked society." Lisette refers to this video, it's embedded below. 25:30 We finally come to the topic of Working Globally and Culture. A definition of "culture". Pilar refers back again to Yael Zofi's A Manager's Guide to Virtual Teams. Culture: "The shared mental programmes that conditions individual's responses to their environment." 27:15 How conscious are we of our assumptions about other people? Countries, industries, companies, sectors... 33:34 Off-shoring and near-shoring. Do we need different strategies to deal with people from countries near to us and those very far away from us? 37:47 Breaking down the differences between us as people, and differences between cultures. 42:08 The "us" vs "them" mentality. Beware the Us vs Them mentality... 47:25 "Assume positive intent." 53:10 How to introduce changes without it looking like you're imposing from the top down and other "pro tips" from Lisette.

For more on 21st Century Work Life and working in virtual teams, visit www.virtualnotdistant.com00:30 Pilar talks about her own experience running a theatre company and how she ended up helping virtual teams. (You can check out Theatrefolk's podcast where todays guest, Lindsay Price interviews Pilar. http://www.theatrefolk.com/podcast/devising-physical-theatre/)08:45 Lindsay Price, Partner at Theatrefolk, talks about how and why the company was set up and how they built a global business. www.theatrefolk.com14:40 How Theatrefolk works and how they provide support to drama teachers, especially those isolated. 17:00 The importance of not remaining anonymous in an online business. How Theatrefolk communicates with its community. 20:00 The Theatrefolk podcast. http://www.theatrefolk.com/podcast/ 22:25 The Drama Teacher Academy. www.dramateacheracademy.com 28:50 Lindsay shares those projects that didn't work out. The importance of failing and making time to rest. 32:18 The future of Theatrefolk and Lindsay's own writing. 34:00 Lindsay's thoughts on how the new way of doing business presents many opportunities for artists to make a living from their craft. 36:06 Pilar shares her thoughts on writing on paper and gives a short overview of the course on managing virtual teams VirtualnotDistant.net http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/feb/23/reading-writing-on-paper-better-for-brain-concentration   Do send your feedback and connect via Twitter @PilarOrti

This episode includes Virtual Coffee with Lisette. 00:30 Pilar's introduction. She recommends Pocket, UCExpo15. (For the script visit, www.virtualnotdistant.com/results.) 07:01 A story about the different reasons why people might be underperforming. 10:45 Lisette shares how her focusing time working on her book is going and the power of reaching out. The "being-busy syndrome" and when it's way too much. 16:00 Pilar mentions the UC Expo 2015 and the London Management 3.0 Meetup Group. 17:00 The importance of tracking progress and results. Why do we collect metrics, why do we need to track? 20:50 Defining how success looks like. The importance of multiple perspectives. Pilar mentions Yael Zofi's A Manager's Guide to Virtual Teams23:20 Organisation's objectives and personal objectives. 26:36 Who's role is it to stay on top of these tracking systems? Motivation. 31:22 Visualising data. 37:20 Progress, problems and plans. 40:55 Start with the basics and make sure your metrics evolve. The team should be involved in looking at metrics and deciding how we're tracking. 46:51 "Don't shoot the messenger!" Or the perils of reporting bad results.

00:30 Pilar talks a bit about how online communities have helped her build relationships and how many businesses are now relying on communities to sell their products. 07:30 Sally describes what Tripbod is and how the company evolved. 12:25 The role of trust and building the Tripbod community. The Responsible Tourism Networking group. 21:00 How Tripbod has changed as a result of becoming part of TripAdvisor and how Sally's role has changed. Here is the article Sally wrote for Tnooz about her experience of selling Tripbod to Tripadvisor. www.tnooz.com/article/startup-biggest-travel-brands-planet/ 24:05 Two new products: find out more about Neighborhoods and TripAdvisor Travel Guides - check out this Madrid travel guide: www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Travel_Guide-g187514-Madrid.html 29:18 How is the travel industry changing. 32:55 How Sally's own way of working has evolved. 35:00 Becoming a Tripbod.

Please visit www.virtualnotdistant.com/blessing00:30 Pilar's short intro. 04:55 Lisette's off-piste adventures and her next speaking event. 11:20 We begin our conversation. How organisations are becoming more networked, less hierarchical. 13:30 The curse of "being always on". How technology is helping people taking charge of their own development. (Check out the episode on Yammer, 42:03). The origins of Working Out Loud. 17:40 Pilar mentions the book The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking (affiliate link.) 18:55 Prioritising. 19:45 Work-life balance, work-life fusion and choosing the location where you want to live, not where you want to work. Feeling "boxed in". The down-side of non-location specific, the freelance aspect. Pilar mentions a "housing crisis in London" - it's actually in the UK. Here's an article about it Article in The Guardian. 27:30 The curses. Is communication more difficult or easier when we're working with others remotely? What to do when you get stuck. Lisette mentions the podcast Entrepreneur on Fire and the book Borrowing Brilliance: The Six Steps to Business Innovation by Building on the Ideas of Others (affiliate link)35:40 How Lisette has created her own feedback loop. OKRs in teams and accountability partners. Lisette mentions this meetup in Holland: http://www.meetup.com/Het-Nieuwe-Werken-Meetup/46:55 Lisette's interview with Teo Haren.54:10 Pilar mentions an episode from The Bottom Line on Going Global 12 March 2015. This is the Zapier article Pilar talked about: How to Avoid Burnout in a Remote Team.Lisette mentions Cocoon Projects in Italy

00:30 Pilar introduces the podcast, talking a bit about her own experience dubbing e-learning and corporate videos. She has a few tips for you if you're creating products/training to reach your global employees. (For script visit www.virtualnotdistant.com/language-localisation) If you're interested in the world of voiceovers, you should listen to Episode 16 Mike Russell and Music Media Creative and if you're interested in expanding your business globally, listen to The Bottom Line episode on Global Business. 12.50 David welcomes Pilar into the studio and we go on a short tour, including meeting Adrian, one of the engineers. 15:50 David tells us his story, how and why he set up Golocalise. 23:10 Does a good demo always mean the voiceover talent is good? 26:00 What is localisation and how is it different to translation? 29:50 The different clients and products that Golocalise works with and how their services have developed. 32:35 Corporate learning and localisation. Some tips towards succesful localisation. 41:30 The benefits of bringing the voiceovers into the studio. 43:45 What's next for Golocalise? David shares some of the ways in which he's marketing his business: content marketing and building your marketing funnel.

Technology is at the heart of the work revolution. We wouldn't be talking so much about virtual teams if we couldn't easily access many, many tools to help us work with others many miles away. But, there are so many collaboration tools out there: how do you choose one for you and your team? Lisette and Pilar hope this episode will help you make a start.For the full show notes, visit www.virtualnotdistant.com/tools00:35 Pilar's very short introduction. 03:30 Lisette and I were quite chatty this week. We talked about:Happy Melly’s dance party and Muse cubes. 07:45 Hired an online personal trainer through FitOrbit. 11:30 Pilar got a nice message from one of her connections – podcasting with integrity. 13:45 Pilar is now listening to the Fizzle Show. Lisette enjoyed the Adam Corolla show, Entrepreneur on Fire, This American Life: Serial , Start Up 17:20 We finally get down to talking about collaboration tools.How the tool LIsette was using went bust overnight, a cautionary tale….  We start talking about tools, which Lisette divides into six categories. 22:50 Visualising and Brainstorming –  28:45 Project Management 36:40 Task Management 37:50 Knowledge-based Tools 44:20 File Storage 47:50 Informal Communication and Meetings 54:45 Best practices when using collaboration tools with your virtual team: 01:02:30 Pilar's afterthoughts

For more thoughts on this festival and to see the slides from the talk Virtual, not Distant, visit http://virtualnotdistant.com/no-pants-festival-reflections/

Today's guest covers a wide range of subjects: why he set up his blog The Couch Manager, why everyone should set up a blog for professional, personal and financial reasons and we even talk about failure. He's very recently (yesterday!) set up Ganttopia. Hassan Osman is an entrepreneur, author of the Amazon Kindle bestseller Influencing Virtual Teams: 17 Tactics That Get Things Done with Your Remote Employees and works as Senior Manager at Cisco. I've kept my introduction extremely short today because our conversation was very meaty and I had little to add on the subject. Here are the links and show notes. 00:30 Pilar's short intro. 04.20 The conversation starts. Hassan and Pilar catch up. 05:50 Hassan talks about why he set up his blog The Couch Manager where he blogs about virtual work and productivity. Do something small and just launch. Everything else will be easier after that. Hassan recommends David Allen's Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-free Productivity and Tim Ferriss' The 4-Hour Work Week 12:00 How the basics of working in virtual teams can be applied to corporations. 13:30 How we can now influence beyond our workplace. Growing your career as a start up. Hassan recommends The Start-up of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career and talks about being in "permanent beta". 16:00 Hassan explains why he believes every company is now virtual and why we should not lose the face-face connection. "The fact that you can hire someone virtually opens up a huge talent pool that you can pick from." 22:00 How virtual team working changed in the last four years. 25:30 How writing Influencing Virtual Teams came about and why everyone should start a blog from a professional, personal and financial perspective. (If you are interested in this, check out Mariano Tufro's interview, where he talks about raising your profile through social media.) 29:20 Hassan talks about the popularity of his blog post about how to design the ultimate home office encouraged him to start creating e-books and how he tests the potential of his new products. 35:00 "Making money is a muscle too" and, be ready to fail. Pilar mentions her blog post on "Think Like a Freak". 38:00 Using illustrations to present concepts. Hassan recommends Back of the Napkin: Solving problems and selling ideas with pictures. Check out his post on How to Create Hand Drawn Pictures to Explain Anything Even if You Don't Know How to Draw. 42:30 Ganttopia: Hassan's new project where he offers templates for gantt charts to project managers. And don't forget that Hassan has a very popular course on Udemy, full of video tutorials on managing virtual teams:  How to Manage and Influence Your Virtual Team.