Back in February, I managed to miss the news that IBM was making more of its employees sit “shoulder to shoulder” with their colleagues. The corporation is limiting where employees work for the US Marketing Department to six of its offices. No more working from home; no more working in any of the other offices.
After reading the long-form article in Quartz, ‘IBM, remote-work pioneer, is calling thousands of employees back to the office’, I’ve found myself pondering about what widely-reported news like this one might mean for the future of work and our attitudes to work.
If we continue talking about "the office" when we look at working in a virtual environment, aren't we in danger of not letting go of our previous mindset?
Read MoreTransitioning to “remote” does not just involve learning how to use new technology to help us stay connected. It involves re-designing how we communicate as a team - and this includes how we ask for help. In this article, Pilar makes the case for sharing your questions and requests for help with your whole virtual team, instead of defaulting to the one-one conversation.
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Picture the scene. You are a manager who loves collaboration. But it’s difficult to nurture it, because you often find yourself coming up with many ideas. You feel that, while other people’s ideas often get picked apart and explored, yours tend to remain unchallenged.
Read More“Happiness at work” does not mean the same to everyone. In today’s post, Pilar reflects on the dangers of holding a narrow version of “happiness” in our heads and she lays down a number of ways in which people differ when they think of “happiness”.
Read MoreIn the first episode of Management Café, Ishare some research on the communication patterns of high performance teams.
Read More(You can download this handy PDF with the questions to guide you through your transition to a more flexible or virtual team by clicking here.)
Companies and teams that are “born virtual”, just get on with the work.
The world of work is indeed changing.
We are seeing more and more people working away from the office, from cafés, at home, in co-working spaces, on the train... (the list goes on...)
Read MoreYesterday I had the pleasure of attending the Audacious Salon on Distributed Agile at the Agile 2016 conference in Atlanta. The best part, I didn’t have to take a plane there all the way from London
Read MoreYou are part of a "buzzing" team.
You tend to have coffee breaks at the same time. On Fridays, you go out for lunch together.
Read MoreLooking for the team audit? Click here.
If you want to find out more about Virtual not Distant® , continue reading.
Teamwork.
Everyone talks about it, but what does "working well as a team" mean?
Read MoreGradually and unseemly, more of us are starting to rely on mobile working. We find ourselves working on our two hour train journeys, in airports, in the supermarket queues...
Read MoreI couldn't imagine that a book about the US Military would be such a joy to read. But during my virtual coffees with Lisette Sutherland, she kept recommending the book every time we spoke about the need for transparency in organisations and the dangers of security concerns creating a culture of mistrust which prevents people from collaborating, innovating and keeping up with change.
Read MoreThere is a lot we can learn from Nick and Michele’s story. They started working together from the same location and then progressed to becoming a virtual team.
Read MoreDon't be like Leila, use the cards for good. Click here to go to the Collaboration Supercards store. and enter the code SUPERPILAR at checkout to get 10% off the normal price $19.95.
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Is too much information making us over-reliant on each other and destroying autonomous decision-making? As more and more of us rely on online tools to check in with our colleagues, unexpected challenges are starting to emerge.
Read MoreToday's guest post is written by Leila Machiavelli, determined to make the world of work a hellish place.
She has un-advice for managers who are struggling to give feedback to their team members. Please consume at your own risk.
Before I start my musings on nurturing team creativity, I’d like to define what I mean by creativity. I’m not referring to “artistry” – or the creative industries. I’m referring to the ability to come up with new solutions to problems, to change the way in which we do things, to improve our processes… I’m talking about using our imagination to see things that are not already there.
Read MoreWe all know the importance of looking after people who have just joined our team, of guiding them through our processes, of showing them where to look for help. But often we overlook the fact that new people need our help beyond the obvious practicalities. One-one time is often lost when we go flexi or virtual.
Read MoreWhile eating at my favourite London Thai restaurant yesterday with a friend from school, my hands clenched into fists a few times. He was telling me how difficult it is for him to work from home. It doesn’t help that he’s completely uninspired by his current work, of course.
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