2nd Annual Telework Week March 5-9, 2012: Highlights in The Anywhere Office

Today marks the beginning of the second annual  Telework Week hosted by Telework Exchange. The goal is to encourage people and organizations to pledge to telework during this week in order to get a first hand account of just how flexible, simple, and economical it can be to work in this mode. Already, more than 64,000 pledges have signed up for Telework Week, collectively saving more than $4.7 million in commuting costs in just one week.

I thought this event was a great opportunity to look back on my own year and review what we have accomplished to champion telework here in The Anywhere Office. Early in the year we published a free white paper called, WORK UNCHAINED: Workshifting and the Competitive Edge of The Anywhere Office®‘- this 16 page special report details:

• Why workshifting provides a critical competitive edge
• Common mistakes to avoid when enabling a mobile workforce
• Best practices for evaluating your organization before implementing a workshifting strategy
• How to assess information, communication and collaboration needs
• Key tools to consider when implementing a workshifting program

Then I was fortunate to be included on a panel of  experts along with Jeff Zbar and Rachel Hastings to produce a teleseminar entitled, Telecommuting in the 21st Century: How to Implement or Improve Virtual Teams and Flexible Work in Your Organization which I turned into a free 13 part audio series. These 13 sessions comprise over an hour of informative content and will provide you with all the information you need to help you evaluate if telecommuting is a good fit for your business and how to get started or improve your virtual team work.

Finally, and perhaps most significantly for me, I redeveloped my virtual team leadership webinar –  The Art of Virtual Leadership. It now contains new and updated material and for the first time it’s available on-demand on any device that has Internet access. This 3-hour concise go-at-your-own pace course is packed with easy-to-understand overviews, key takeaways, action plans, checklists, tips, audio interviews, best practices, steps to take, proven strategies and more.

So, I’m proud of what we’ve created and contributed this year – and I hope you all can find some useful guidance and advice in this information. In order to celebrate Telework Week 2012 in the hopes that more organazations and individuals will realize the tremendous benefits of telecommuting, workshifting, and virtual teamwork, I am going to give away 2 FREE enrollments to The Art of Virtual Leadership webinar (registration is currently $157).

In order to enter the contest and be eligible to win your free enrollment you must do the following 2 steps:

1. Follow me on Twitter – @philmontero (I share information on telework, virtual teams, mobile technology, and tips on how to work in The Anywhere Office so I promise it’ll be worth it!)
2. Send out the following Tweet (you can copy and paste it into twitter or use the tweet button below):
   RT @philmontero: It’s #telework week – visit The Anywhere Office for free resources – win a $157 webinar. http://bit.ly/twk2012 #tlwk2012

To make it even easier simply click this tweet button Tweet
and you will be taken to your twitter page with the text already in place so you can just click SEND.

I am also offering a 20% discount to anyone who enrolls for The Art of Virtual Leadership during Telework Week 2012 (let’s say through Sunday March 11th). Use coupon code telework2012 in the shopping cart while registering for the webinar to receive an additional 20% off of the already discounted $197 registration fee.

Have a great Telework Week, let’s shoot for a telework MONTH next year…

Phil Montero
Founder of TheAnywhereOffice.com

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Links to Resources Mentioned Above:

Work Unchained Report: http://youcanworkfromanywhere.com/workunchained-specialreport.htm
Telecommuting in the 21st Century Audio: http://www.theanywhereoffice.com/telecommuting-in-the-21st-century
Art of Virtual Leadership Webinar: http://www.youcanworkfromanywhere.com/avl/

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!

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