Archive for the ‘virtual teams’ Category

Last week I was doing some consulting work here in Dallas and attended a strategy and planning meeting for an upcoming event. While the majority of people attending the meeting were Dallas locals, two individuals had flown in from out of state for a 3-hour meeting.

As the meeting concluded, one of the executives commented that it was nice having the out-of-towners fly in to attend the meeting in person. Then they exchanged comments about hating conference calls and meeting over the phone, complaining how it just wasn’t the same. This my friend, is Sludge.

Sure, virtual meetings aren’t quite the same as face-to-face contact, but I couldn’t help but wonder, when are we going to let go of our old, outdated beliefs about how work happens?! Consider the expense and the environmental impact of flying people into town, renting a car, staying overnight at a hotel for a 3-hour meeting. And did I mention the other consultants and I had to fight rush-hour traffic, sitting on the highway for about an hour each way to commute into Dallas?

This may sound harsh, but meetings aren’t about enjoying the company of your coworkers in person and they aren’t about using your preferred communication method. Meetings are—or at least should be—about accomplishing a specific result. There should be a clear outcome for each meeting you attend and the meeting should be accomplished in the medium (in-person, conference call, webinar, etc) that makes the most sense. And p.s. a status update doesn’t warrant a meeting.

In our meeting last week we had specific outcomes and results we needed to answer by the end of the meeting. And we did. But we could have reached the same conclusions by meeting virtually, saving everyone time, money, and lessening our impact on the environment.

What do you think? Are in-person meetings essential? If so, when? What difference would it make in your life and your organization if you attended fewer in-person meetings?

I’ve been thinking lately about how you onboard a virtual team member or a team member in a results-only work environment (ROWE). Onboarding, for those of you not familiar with the term, is the process of bringing on new employees with the purpose of quickly and successfully integrating them into the organization. Most traditional organizations don’t onboard new hires very well, so when we add a virtual workforce into the equation, things are bound to get a bit dicey.

When done well, onboarding can be a strategic process that improves your bottom line—the more quickly you get a new hire up to speed, the more quickly they start producing. Onboarding also improves productivity, performance, retention, engagement, satisfaction, and loyalty. Research and experience show us it’s a good thing.

As a new employee, you have a lot to learn: job requirements and expectations, how your role fits into the team and the company, industry information, company information, who you’ll be working with, the ins and outs of the company culture, etc. So how do you do this effectively if you’re telecommuting, working on a virtual team, or joining a team that’s working a variety of hours from different locations?

This past spring over at the GirlScoutsGoneROWE.com blog, Daniel Malyszka, Director of Human Resources for the Girl Scouts of San Gorgonio Council, talked about their challenge with ROWE and new employees. He worried that new employees may see ROWE as an opportunity to slack off and shared his thoughts on a potential solution: stricter rules during the initial training period.

I’m not sure I agree with “stricter rules,” but I do believe you absolutely must have a detailed, thought-through onboarding plan in place for new employees. And the “result” they are responsible for achieving the first few weeks working in a ROWE or on a virtual team, is to accomplish all of the onboarding activities listed in their training plan.

Additionally, each new hire’s manager and team need to have a shared responsibility for helping the new employee accomplish all of those tasks. In the past when I’ve worked with clients to create custom onboarding solutions, at least 5 people have been held accountable to produce specific results during the onboarding process: the new hire, the manager, HR, IT, and a peer mentor. It’s built into each person’s job—additional responsibilities for which they are held accountable to complete and are evaluated on when performance reviews come around.

The same stuff you cover when the employee is physically present in traditional onboarding needs to be covered when doing virtual onboarding. However, in a virtual team or a ROWE, some of those activities move online. For example,

• Utilize a private blog or wiki to share information with new hires.
• Schedule Skype video calls with the new employee, his or her team members, and other important people in the organization.
• Provide the new employee with everyone’s IM and Twitter name and provide training on those platforms if needed.
• Use screen capturing software to explain how to walk through a routine task and show the new hire where to find the information on the corporate website.

I read recently that we currently have about 34 million Americans that are working at least occasionally from home. By 2016 it’s estimated that 63 million people are going to be working from home; that’s 29 million more telecommuters entering the remote work force in the coming years and that number doesn’t even include all the people who work in some type of flexible work arrangement. I don’t have all the answers, but I do believe it’s important for us to start thinking and talking about how to onboard virtual team members quickly and effectively.

What are your thoughts? Leave a comment and let me know what challenges you’ve faced onboarding a new team member in a virtual work environment or in a ROWE. What have you done or seen that’s been successful?

Wondering if a flexible work arrangement is right for you? Whether you’re interested in flexible hours, telecommuting, working from a satellite office, coworking, or participating in a ROWE, flexible work isn’t a good fit for everyone.

Here are 10 characteristics you must have—or develop—to thrive in a flexible work environment:

1. Strong Work Ethic

Flexible work is all about the results. Do you have a strong enough work ethic to consistently produce results without the structure and stability of a job in a traditional work environment?

2. Knows It’s NOT About Sleeping In & Wearing Your PJs All Day

You may want to telecommute or work from home so you can sleep in and wear your pajamas all day. Truthfully, there are days I do this, but it’s not the norm. If your primary reason for wanting flexible work is to work in your pajamas, see items number one and three.

3. Disciplined

Working flexible hours isn’t necessarily about working less—it’s about working differently. You still have a job to do, clients to please, team members to support and everything must be done in a timely manner. The self-discipline to get up, get to work, and get your job done is essential.

4. Self-Motivated

If you need your coworkers or your boss to constantly motivate you, flexible work may not be right for you. Self-motivated individuals thrive in a hands-off work environment and are motivated by freedom of choice. Complete control to decide how, when, and where you work should be motivation enough.

5. Proactive

Successful flex workers are proactive. They don’t procrastinate and put off doing their work. They accomplish their work quickly and efficiently so they can benefit from control over their time. When a problem comes up, telecommuters or virtual team members do whatever they can to resolve it immediately. They know problems will quickly get worse in an unstructured environment.

6. Flexible

Yes, flexible work requires being flexible. Brilliant, I know. But if you receive flexibility from your employer, you should be willing to be flexible with them as well. It goes two ways—you do what you need to do to make the arrangement a success for both parties.

7. Willing to Learn

Changing your work environment from a traditional office to a virtual or remote office may require some learning on your part. Learn new technologies, techniques, and skills quickly and be willing to teach your team and colleagues what works.

8. Willing to Change

More and more people are telecommuting and moving into flexible work arrangements and virtual teams. The workplace is changing and flexible workers are willing and able to quickly adapt and change. They welcome new ideas, technologies, and innovative ways to collaborate. They are quick to leave the old, limiting beliefs of the traditional workplace behind and replace those beliefs with a new flexible alternative.

9. Focused

Speaking from experience, it’s easy to get distracted at home—especially when you don’t have set office hours. I may take a break for lunch, realize we don’t have enough milk for my afternoon coffee, head to the grocery store, and by the time I get back I’ve lost the whole afternoon. Flexible workers that do well are focused every day on the results they must produce as well as project timelines and deadlines. They actively work to make things happen by putting on blinders and avoiding outside distractions.

10. Organized

You must be organized when you work flexibly. Do you have access to all the files, information, and contacts you need to do your job? Can you collaborate with team members and clients effortlessly? Do you have a dedicated office space that isn’t part of the kid’s playroom? Take the time you need to set up an organized space for you work and make sure you have easy access to all the tools and information you need to do your job.

This list is just a few of the characteristics you need to excel in a flexible work environment. What other traits or characteristics do you possess that have made you a successful flexible worker?

During our fourth and final call in the Flexible Work Summit, Blake Leath of The Blake Leath Group, Ryan Healy, co-founder of Brazen Careerist, and Kyra Cavanaugh, owner of Life Meets Work, shared “Strategies for Stretching Leaders and Teams.”

During today’s call we talked about ways to successfully implement change within your organization, how Generation Y is changing work and leadership, and tips for managing flexible performance. Here are a few of my personal notes from the call:

• Resilience is paramount in a changing work environment and can show up 4 different ways: in individuals, in behaviors (e.g., it can be practiced and learned; meaning & engagement are important), in experiences (e.g., emotional echoes), and in leadership (be engaged, accessible, and get some wins).
• The One Degree Assessment: Look for the right one degree of difference—one thing you could change and do really well, that would make a world of difference within your organization.
• Gen Y employees, despite the common perception that they are disloyal job hoppers, are actually extremely loyal to their team.
• When leading Millennial employees, take extra time to provide clear direction, fully explain expectations, and provide plenty of feedback. It’s also important to provide opportunities for leaders to emerge from groups and teams.
• Want to start a flex work policy in your organization? Take first steps by co-creating a flexible work agreement with your employees. Lay out all the expectations and set a time to revisit and revise after a trial period.
• Which side of the management style continuum are you on? Controlling or Trusting? 
• Work-life balance doesn’t have to be perceived as a “soft” benefit. You can, and should, tie flexibility to profits and productivity—especially in this economy.

If you’d like access to the full recording of the fourth session, head over to www.FlexibleWorkSummit.com and register for the entire teleseminar series (the recording is available until Friday afternoon). 

If you missed any part of the Flexible Work Summit and want to grab the recordings, transcripts, and action guides for the entire series, you can do so here. There is a Home Study version with binder and CDs, as well as a Digital Version with MP3s and PDFs. These packages are available at a discounted price for the next few days.

Finally, I’m offering $100 off of the upcoming Flexible Work Bootcamp until Friday, May 22nd. As a member of the Bootcamp you’ll receive 12-week s of in-depth and personalized training and coaching, along with a lot of extra resources to help you implement flexibility within your organization. We’re keeping the size of the group small so you and your team can get the personal attention you need to implement a customized flexible work solution within your organization. You can find the full details about the program and reserve your spot at the discounted rate at www.FlexibleWorkBootcamp.com.

During our second call in the Flexible Work Summit, Chip Kohrman, founder of Telesaur.com, Brad Garland, CEO of The Garland Group, and Phil Montero, creator of YouCanWorkFromAnywhere.com shared some amazing “Strategies for Stretching WHERE You Work.”

The focus of today’s call was telecommuting, virtual teams, and how to use technology to revolutionize your business. Here are a few of my personal notes and biggest takeaways from the call:

• During the recession, consider alternatives to layoffs. Telecommuting has been proven to increase productivity, boost morale, and decrease costs.
• By getting clear on results and communicating expectations effectively, you can “get rid of the drama” as Brad Garland says in many work environments.
• Purposefully look at the type of communication that needs to happen internally and externally and create a plan to accomplish your goals. Tip: Look at needs for instant communication, transfer of knowledge, and collaborative efficiency.
• Informal communication is still important for virtual work. Even though there’s no physical water cooler, create opportunities for team members to connect. As Phil shared, virtual work is still a human process—we need to know, like, and trust our coworkers and clients—even if we’re never physically in the same place.

If you’d like access to the full recording of the second session, head over to www.FlexibleWorkSummit.com and register for the entire teleseminar series. During tomorrow’s session we’ll be talking about Strategies for Stretching HOW You Work, and will be discussing results-only work environments (ROWEs), SMART goals, and sharing tips for increasing performance and driving results.

If you have any questions you’d like addressed during the Summit, leave me a comment below.

Today was the first call in the Flexible Work Summit featuring Leanne Chase from CareerLifeConnection.com, Mike Owcarz from Main Sequence Technologies, Karen Corday from the Sloan Work & Family Research Network, and Phyllis Mufson, Coach & Career Consultant.

The focus of today’s call was about work-life balance and how the desire for flexibility in the workplace isn’t just about mommies—it’s actually a cross-generational, gender-neutral desire. Here are a few of my personal notes from the call:

• Tools for making flexibility easier: VoIP, online access to email, web-based collaboration software, a disciplined schedule (especially if working from home).
• A huge driver of Generation Y engagement is access to flexibility.
• ROI: 73% of employees with high flexibility plan to stay with their employers for the next year (less turnover, decreased cost of training new employees).
• Research shows flexibility has a positive effect on reaching business goals.
• Just having flexible work policies isn’t enough – organizations must create a culture that’s supportive of flexibility, encourages it, and doesn’t punish those opting to work flexibly.
• Companies like Home Depot and Borders are offering great alternatives for Boomer’s not quite ready for full retirement: work part of the year in your home town, then work the winter in Florida—it’s the Snowbird program.
• During negotiation, remember that flexibility isn’t all about you. It’s a two way street and you need to highlight the benefits of flexible work for the organization as well.
• If your boss is skeptical or uncertain, propose a trial period with a definite end date to evaluate results.
• Business size can make a big difference. Negotiating flexibility may not be as difficult in a small business, but as the number of employees grows, consider finding like-minded individuals that all want flexible work and take your request to HR together.

If you’d like access to the full recording of the first session, head over to www.FlexibleWorkSummit.com and register for the entire teleseminar series. During tomorrow’s session we’ll be talking about Strategies for Stretching WHERE You Work, and will be discussing telecommuting, virtual teams, and how to use technology to revolutionize your business. 

If you have any questions you’d like addressed during the Summit, leave me a comment below.

As work increasingly becomes something you do, not somewhere you go, you won’t be able to count on all of your employees, colleagues, or clients working in the same place or at the same time. One big challenge we’ll face as the workplace becomes more virtual is tracking people, projects, and client work in a simple new way. 

One way technology is increasing workplace flexibility is by offering us a variety of online collaboration tools. An online collaboration tool, also known as group collaboration software, “provides tools for groups of people or organizations to share information and coordinate activities” (Wikipedia). The key word being “online,” so that any employee, anywhere in the world, can access the system at any time of day and be connected with the latest and most current business information.

There are many different types of online collaboration tools and today I want to focus on those that help with project management. What can you do with these online project management tools? 

• Project planning and coordination
• Task management
• Document and file sharing
• Contact management
• Communicate with your team
• Create reports
• Send notifications
• Sync calendars

Here are 5 group collaboration tools worth checking out. In addition to the many features listed above, I’ve included some unique capabilities, along with pricing, below:

1.  

• Additional features: Manage multiple projects at a time with to-do lists, file sharing, chatting, messages, calendars, and time tracking. This is an offering from 37Signals and integrates with their other great services. There are a ton of add-ons and extras that integrate with BaseCamp as well.  
• Cost: 30-day free trial; Monthly plans range from $24-$149/month.

2. 

• Additional features: Sales and project collaboration, internal discussion forums, and a file repository.
• Cost: 30-day free trial; Price based on users: 1-3 users free; 4+ users $150 and up/month. 

3.  

• Additional features: Internal and private team blog, Twitter-like status updates, i-cal integration, project templates, and more. 
• Cost: Manage up to 3 projects for free; Monthly plans range from $10-$99/month. 
• Behind the scenes video tour of DeskAway.com: I recently recorded a video sharing a behind the scenes look at my DeskAway account so you can see all of the features for yourself. You can check it out here: DeskAway Video 

4.

• Additional features: Consists of a set of intuitive tools designed for optimizing collaboration on projects involving internal and external resources; to-do list, project planning, document sharing, and a wiki.
• Cost: 30-day free trial and free plan for 5 users; Monthly plans range from $13-$80+/month. 

5.

• Additional features: Manage private and shared tasks, turn emails into tasks, attach files and Google Docs to tasks and projects, integrates with Google calendar.
• Cost: Free

This is just a small sampling of what’s available, but it should help you get started. If you’re using another online collaboration tool that works well for managing your virtual team, let us know. 

And if you want to learn more about how technology can improve the flexibility of your workplace, join us next week at the Flexible Work Summit, where we have 3 amazing speakers lined up on Tuesday, May 12th to address Strategies for Stretching WHERE You Work. They’ll be discussing telecommuting, virtual teams, and how to harness the power of technology to revolutionize your business. Register for your free pass today!