A panelist at the NICSA convention discussing the changing workplace and virtual teams
February 20, 2007 by Phil Montero · Leave a Comment
I arrived at the beautiful Doral Resort in Miami today (only a few hours South on the Florida Turnpike for me). It was a beautiful day in the mid 60’s and the sun was shining, so I really enjoyed the drive. I felt guilty guilty for a second getting ready this morning and watching the weather channel when I saw that it was -10 degrees with the wind chill in Boston today (the place I called home before moving to Florida). But only for a second . . . 😉
I’m speaking on a panel tomorrow at the annual NICSA convention. Our session is called Looking Forward/Looking Back: Changing Demographics in the Workplace of the 21st Century.
Our panel (which lasts an hour) will be discussing:
- How to get the best candidates
- How to integrate part-time and remote employees into the culture
- How do alternative work arrangements impact the bottom line in terms of cost savings and increased productivity?
I’m looking forward to an interesting discussion. I’ll post more on Wednesday with more info on how the panel went and a summary of best practices and lessons learned.
No more eyeball management – Best Buy’s shift in perspective about work
February 6, 2007 by Phil Montero · Leave a Comment
One of the main principles of working in The Anywhere Officeâ„¢ and having the flexibility to work where and when you want is a shift in perspective about what defines “work”. As the saying goes “work is something you do, not someplace you go”.
For managers of remote workers or virtual teams the shift away from eyeball management (knowing someone is working because you see them working) and learning to gauge employee productivity by measurable goals and objectives is often one of the most difficult parts of the transition. However the more fully you can embrace this philosophy, the greater the benefit you stand to derive from a flexible workplace.
For those who think “but how could we do this in our organization” take a look at what Best Buy is doing with their new program called ROWE.
The endeavor, called ROWE, for “results-only work environment,” seeks to demolish decades-old business dogma that equates physical presence with productivity. The goal at Best Buy is to judge performance on output instead of hours.
This is an excellent case study of this shift in perspective. I applaud their efforts and look forward to following this story as they expand this philosophy throughout their organization.
Best Buy smashes the clock – BusinessWeek Online – MSNBC.com
Speaking at the 2006 Document and Training Conference in Boston
October 4, 2006 by Phil Montero · Leave a Comment
Yesterday I had the pleasure of speaking at the Management Summit of the 2006 Documentation and Training conference in Boston. The conference centers around knowledge management, repurposing content, and the best ways to centralize and share information among knowledge workers, customers, and clients.
My presentation was on how to create Effective Virtual Teams. I shared many of the concepts and tools of The Anywhere Office we discuss in this blog and on the radio show regarding information, communcation, and collaboration.
I met some really nice people and got a peak at some new digital document technology coming out from a variety of vendors. Very interesting.
Many advantages to a virtual office and company
October 4, 2006 by Phil Montero · 7 Comments
I came across a great article in last Sunday’s Boston Globe called “Virtual Office is what you make it” talking about the trend of working in a virtual office and how for many entrepreneurs and startups they grow their businesses this way from the ground up.
“The future is likely to be the age of virtual businesses,” writes Anita Campbell, founder of Small Business Trends. “Forget three guys in a garage — that was your father’s startup. Today it’s three people spread out across the country or even across continents, each in their home offices or back porches with laptops, mobile phones, and WiFi.”
Check out the article for some interesting insight on virtual companies.
TAO Podcast – Virtual Team Tips
August 20, 2006 by Jason Montero · 8 Comments
This episode contains the Top 5 Tips segment from last week’s radio show. We discuss tools and strategies for virtual team success.
Visit www.TheAnywhereOffice.com and click archives to listen to the complete show. While you are there be sure to visit our blog and post comments and feedback as well.
TAO Podcast Theme Music – Begin by Andy Simon
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 11:01 — 0.0KB)
