WLP260: What's Going On: Mindset and Technology
Welcome to our first recording of 2021! In today’s “What’s Going On?” section, Pilar and Maya find fewer substantive publications to discuss given the time of year, but nevertheless enjoy some interesting discussions.
Episode 260 of the 21st Century Work Life podcast. Headshots of hosts Pilar Orti and Maya Middlemiss.
2.39 View from Central America
We share a message from a new connection in Guatemala, who got in touch through LinkedIn. Francisco Corzo’s message was an important reminder of just how narrow our experiences are, of working from home in developed economies, and how much we take for granted, even when we worry about non-ideal environments and infrastructure.
His words brought home to us how diverse people’s experiences are of working from home, both around the world and within organisations, and some simple ways we can connect and try to bridge those gaps.
He also touched on the idea of local co-working and satellite offices as a way forward longer term, to replace the distant commutes forever, and potentially revitalise some areas which desperately need it - please do connect with Francisco if you have ideas to develop these kind of projects, and remember to contact us to share your own perspectives on the remote revolution, from wherever you are in the world.
10.09 Tech round-up
Hopefully a distant memory now, but remember towards the end of last year when various apps went down? Not for long, but even hours without the likes of Slack, Trello, even at one point Google docs, is a real remote work nightmare.
We didn’t get a lot of explanation from the big cloud software providers who had wobbles in December, but we can use this as a learning experience - 2020 after all should remind us all to be resilient and plan for business continuity, not least as cyberattacks are on the rise, as are opportunists everywhere keen to exploit new vulnerabilities.
So, always have local backups, and a plan B, for your assets and communications! And hope you never need it…
In other tech news the Basecamp guys have launched their email service ‘Hey’ in a for-work version, proving (just like Slack’s acquisition by Salesforce) that you don’t have to rely on the vast huge behemoths of cloud software, there are alternatives to consider, and having some diversity in your tech stack could also give you resilience in a crisis. Check out the Basecamp podcast (8th December) for more on Hey for work, and also an interesting discussion about privacy in corporate communications.
Some online communications need to become less exclusive however, and Pilar reflected on an interesting conversation with a Deaf friend, regarding the limitations of video calling - when sign language is really a whole body experience, and reading lips means reading so much more, particularly in a group.
Microsoft Teams has some interesting updates too and their live captioning gets better and better, which is great for hearing impaired users and lots of others. Additional changes, include customisable presence messaging - which could be either systematic, or playful, but provides very frictionless useful communications. It includes an ‘offline’ mode too, for those who need to stay inside of Teams to access workplace tools, without being contactable.
24.22 Communications and Collaboration in 2021
If “Zoom fatigue” was the big mass media story of remote work last year, we hope that more people can experience the depth and richness of async collaboration in 2021. Here’s a list of trends from Management Futures which really highlights this among other things to look out for, including automation and inclusivity.
Another lovely trends piece from Nick Hedderman on LinkedIn (from Microsoft, and brought to our attention by podcasting friend Justin Morris, also now at Microsoft). This article reflects on the options for different digital communication types and what situations they’re suitable for, with a superb visualisation, and recognition that the issue of synchronicity is a spectrum, with lots of points on it - for example, if you don’t need to share screens or visuals, why not have an audio-only meeting, and highlight that in advance so participants can plan to incorporate a walk during that time.
36.10 News from our community
Our friends at Minds at Work have been focusing on mental/emotional health for founders/leaders of SMEs, and are launching a private community experience to explore sleep, nutrition, exercise and relaxation in a facilitated but peer-owned environment - which is great news and we look forward to hearing more about this soon.
Podcasting for connection is another way to help tackle fears of disconnectedness, and also helps teams remain connected across the organisation - a potential gap when we move to remote. Audio may not solve everything, but it can fill a gap and add to the richness of our communications matrix, particularly in cross-functional communications. Let us know if you’d like to discuss what this new service could do for your organisation.
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