How to Make the Most of Virtual Teams – The Globe and Mail

I came across this article on Canada’s The Globe and Mail newspaper’s site. The writer makes some excellent points about the ‘naturalness’ of electronic communication – and how collaboration across distance becomes easier and more productive as we grow accustomed to these new modes of communication.

via How to make the most of virtual teams – The Globe and Mail.

But I mostly wanted to share this because they are holding an online event at noon ET Friday that appears to be free to register for. The event is billed as a chat with Dr. Andrew Gaudes, an associate professor of business at the University of New Brunswick, about the new far-flung workplace.

There is a registration form on the page linked above.

5 Situations Where Remote Workers are at a Disadvantage

Melanie Slaugh, a reader of our blog and host of MyISPFinder, recently published a great article examining some of the real challenges of telecommuting or working remotely from the office.
Being aware that issues like this exist allows you to plan for how to address them. It is also important that remote workers and their managers and principles are able to have open communication about how and where they are struggling so that the distributed work or virtual team process can be improved and refined over time.

5 Situations Where Remote Workers are at a Disadvantage.

Are there other universal disadvantages any one else has experienced while working remotely? Leave your comments below.

Fundamentals for Effective Management of Virtual Teams

I came across this article recently talking about some of the fundamentals of being the leader of a successful and productive virtual team: Effective management of virtual teams.

What I really liked about this is how it talks about the shift from the departmental mindset that most companies used to have to the ability to collaborate and work with global virtual teams. The post states:

When organisations got out of the department mindset, it became possible to work with the best of global talent.

This ability to work with the best people regardless of location is one of the key strategic benefits of The Anywhere Office. One that I feel many businesses overlook when considering how virtual to be.

There is no doubt there can be challenges with how to instill a sense of belonging and trust among virtual team members. It’s just these challenges we show you how to overcome in our on-demand workshop – The Art of Virtual Leadership.

Working on dispersed teams across time and distance is not some vision of the future – it has become commonplace.  Almost all of us collaborate with others virtually almost every day – the question is are you managing it properly?

Share your thoughts about leading virtual teams and managing remotely in the comments below:

The True Cost of Commuting (Infographic)

The infographic below shows the cost of commuting in both finances and time – then extrapolates the cost over a 10 year period for an eye-opening revelation. Thanks to Jessica Anderson for sharing this infographic she helped to create.

The numbers on this graphic remind me of a lightbulb moment I had many years ago while sitting in traffic during my daily commute to my job in New Jersey. I, also, took a moment to do the math and realized how much time I was losing just getting back and forth to my physical office.

That realization was the proverbial “straw that broke the camel’s back” which has led to over 18 years of me helping people be more mobile and work in The Anywhere Office.

Take a look and be prepared for a shock:

 Click image to enlarge

Via: Streamline Refinance

A bit sickening when you think about it, huh?  Amazing that so many companies still insist on having everyone in a central office when it really isn’t necessary considering these costs.

Post a comment below and share your thoughts!

3 Secrets to Turning Your Office Into The Anywhere Office – webinar replay & follow-up Q&A post

Late last year, I had the pleasure of presenting a webinar for Cisco where I shared my three secrets for turning your office into The Anywhere Office®. In the presentation I discussed how the world of work has changed and that whether you’re a freelancer, entrepreneur, telecommuter or remote worker, there are smart ways to work without an office.

In case you missed it – you can watch the replay of  3 Secrets to Turning Your Office Into The Anywhere Office®. In this webinar I share three secrets to mobilize your workstyle and make your business and projects more flexible. These simple steps will allow you to work wherever and whenever you want.

We had a lot of questions during the webinar and not all were answered, so I answered the bulk of them in a 2 part guest blog post I did for the WebEx blog. There were some excellent questions – here are the links so you can check it out:

The Anywhere Office: Collaborating While Working Remotely (Part 1)

In this post I answer these questions:

• How can you stay connected with workmates and interact with your team in a virtual office while avoiding feeling isolated?
• What is the best way to convince ‘old school’ management that this will better for yourself and the company?
• How do you keep the team spirit and consistency in the quality of work when everyone is working from home?
• How do you convince a customer to trust in remote management of his/her data?

If you’re currently a mobile worker, or you’re starting to get more involved with virtual teamwork and remote collaboration the tools and strategies I discuss in this Q&A will help. The key to success is embracing the change about what defines work and taking the time to really think about how business gets done.

So check out the webinar and part 1 and part 2 of my Q&A blogpost on the Webex blog.

If you have further questions, you can post them as comments below or over at the webex blog and I’ll answer them there.

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