21st Century Work Life

00:30 Pilar is thinking of creating an episode about the podcasts she listens to. For now, she recommends this episode from the Fizzle show. How to Deal With a Job You Loathe.04:45 Teambuilding as a process and how the VIRTUAL not Distant model supports teambuilding in virtual teams. 11:18 Pilar talks about the new course on leading virtual teams. (Skip this part if you're not interested.)18:05 How to get in touch with LIsette and Pilar. 18:30 Pilar and Lisette talk about the weather - can you believe it? 19:40 Lisette talks about her Work Together Anywhere Learning Camp in Stockholm with Knowit. 23:05 What do we mean by teambuilding? It's not just a one-off activity but an ongoing process.

Is it easier to find time to spend time together online, in virtual teams than organising quality face to face time in colocated ones?

29:20 Making room for teambuilding - for intuition and things that happen organically in the co-located space.

Knowing how to talk to each other when we have a problem.

Sometimes it's sharing vulnerability that it allows us to get to know each other better.

Sharing personal information vs being personable and allow yourself to be known.

35:26 Virtual team building activities: Lisette talks

Have a group chat tool. Have a channel for non-work related conversations - check out the episode on Onboarding. Have a social network, like Yammer, if you want have longer and multiple conversations. Create Personal Maps and revisit them after you update them, every few months. Revisit your teambuilding activities and tools when the team changes, eg when someone joins.

Your team dynamics will change depending on the work arrangements in your team.

Try tools out but don't overburden your team.

Can we use moaning to build our team?

48:55 Lisette's experience with a great virtual manager.

Who's responsible for teambuilding? Everyone!

53: 40 Value stories - values in virtual teams drive how we make decisions together. Lisette tells a great Jurgen story. Leading by example.

Teambuilding is also about paying attention to the individual and building connections between individuals.

Has the word "teambuilding" lost its meaning?

Lisette talks about some activities to accelerate teambuilding. What's the point of doing them?

Online meetings are an opportunity for teambuilding.

01:09:35 The End! It was a long one...

In today's podcast, Pilar talks to Matt Rogish, CEO of Reactive Opps, the consulting arm of RailsMachine. We talk about how he works with a distributed team and we chat about Results Only Work Environment (ROWE).

00:30 Pilar talks about the episode of Podcasters Roundtable on she took part in, on Co-hosting and the parallels with co-hosting a podcast and other collaboration ventures.

04:40 Should we still be paying people per hour, instead of per job done? The ongoing dilemma... How do we know whether people are working? Do more hours mean better work? She mentions her blog post Virtual Work is Already Broken

10:02 Contact links and Virtual not Distant the course for managers and leaders of virtual teams is now endorsed by the Institute of Leadership and Management in the UK

Most companies are now distributed in practice.

11:55 Pilar talks to Matt Rogish, who explains what his company does: "High touch outsource" - breaking down the barriers between the team and their clients.

My job as CEO is mainly to support the team.

21:05 Matt talks about how his team works. T-shaped people.

23:30 Ruby on Rails. Pilar was curious to learn more about what this.

28:00 Creating the right work environment. How Matt is creating this for his team.

32:40 "Hiring the best people wherever they happen to be and building systems that facilitate efficient communications.Results Only Work Environment. ROWE.

"Managing by side-effect" as opposed to focusing on results, which is not always easy.

42:45 Pilar and Matt talk about what could have been behind Best Buy ditching ROWE, which evolved in that company.

Why Best Buy abandoned ROWE

Goodbye to flexible work at Best Buy (HBR)

"Everything around you that you call life, was built by people who are no smarter than you". Steve Jobs.

47:20 Why Matt does public speaking and what he speaks about.

Don't forget to visit www.virtualnotdistant.com

00:30 A very short intro from Pilar today as our virtual coffee is quite long...

02:20 What happens when not everyone speaks English? We talk a bit about his on Lisette's return from the Happy Melly Learning 3.0 camp. When language is a barrier to communication.

11:40 We talk about this article http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-21/slacking-off-can-office-chartrooms-makes-us-more-productive-time-wasters-?

and about how the intranet reflects the culture of the company.

16:40 Introduction to the use of tools should form part of the onboarding process.

18:35 Who's role is it to look after the onboarding process?

19:25 Setting expectations, it starts with recruitment. We mention this other podcast on recruiting for virtual teams.

22:40 Create a team agreement: how are you going to communicate and share information?

Does anyone need training on some of the communication tools.29:45 Jeremy Stanton "You've got to fail people as fast as possible." (Lisette talks about this interview with Jeremy Stanton: www.collaborationsuperpowers.com/deliberate-onboarding-culture-jeremy-stanton/)

Giving extensive feedback at the beginning of the process.

38:30 Creating a sense of community.

40:00 Giving a personal welcome.

41:00 Personal maps. Pilar cringes at some of Lisette's suggestions for getting to know each other, but sometimes the simple, informal questions can get people who have problems with language engaged. Personal preferences vs what's good for the team.

51:44 Meet face to face.

Teambuilding needs to be ongoing, but especially important at the beginning.

56:10 Learning about the company. Alignment around goals. Ongoing feedback helps with alignment.

Keeping the onboarding plan alive and visible.

Time invested in onboarding increases the potential of your team flying!

Today's episode is dedicated to Cinter, a creative design and engineering company and consultancy, based in North London. We talk about why they've designed one of their latest products, XYZ, the importance of building a community around their products and business and how they work together.You can have a look at their products on the show notes: http://virtualnotdistant.com/cinter/ 00:30 Pilar introduces Cinter and this episode. (Script below.)07:20 Welcome to Cinter's offices. Clayton, Charlotte and Chris tell us about what they do, who they work with and a bit of their history.11:50 XYZ, one of their products, "an exciting construction experience taking the world of play to another level." Find out more on www.xyzbuilds.com/18:20 Chris talks about the packaging design for Julie's Gin.20:25 How Cinter uses 3D printing to help them "get to a design quicker".23:05 Cinter's connection to 3DHubs.26:30 Cinter's educational programme.31:30 How Chris, Charlotte and Clayton work together.

00:30 Pilar introduces the subject of engagement at work and brings up the difficult subject of dealing with mistakes at work.Pilar mentions this article which I don't think we touch on in the conversation: www.hrzone.com/engage/customers/interview-danielle-harmer-chief-people-officer-metro-bank

07:15 Lisette shares her updates, talking about the workshops she's delivering throughout the world!10:50 We start our "buzz word heavy episode", talking about Engagement. Lisette's most popular article to date has been Six Strategies to Increase Engagement and Retention www.lisettesutherland.com/2013/02/six-strategies-to-increase-engagement-and-retention/

What do we mean by "engagement"?

13:50 The locus of engagement, what aspect of the organisation do we connect with?Locus of Engament: understanding what employees connect with at work. www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/research/locus-engagement-understanding-connect.aspx

15:20 What Lisette has learned from communities built around rock bands. Definition of community: a group of people aligned around a topic or solving a specific problem.What can we learn from communities?

19:55 Playfulness. Building a safe and tolerant atmosphere where experimentation is encouraged.

The celebration grid. www.happymelly.com/celebrating-success-and-failure/

26:05 Sharing resources and spreading information. http://virtualnotdistant.com/trust/

Locus of engagement.What do individuals look for from companies to help them stay connected?

YouEarnedIt How the Cool Kids Attract and Retain Talent in 2015 youearnedit.com/blog/how-the-cool-kids-attract-and-retain-talent-in-2015/

33:10 Connectors. The importance of connecting people. 42:00 Give people equal attention. Know your people so that you can shape job descriptions around your people. Lisette mentions her interview with Ralph Van Roosmalen.www.collaborationsuperpowers.com/managing-remote-offices-3-places-ralph-van-roosmalen/47:55 Virtuosos in the group. Recognition.50:52 Office perks: care or control?

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.