WLP351 Laying Yourself Off as a Manager and Reading and Listening Recommendations March 2024
Today’s post is the audio companion to the Virtual not Distant monthly newsletter, which you can sign up to here. Every month, Pilar shares with readers articles she’s come across on the web, books she’s read (or is reading) and podcast episodes she’s listened to. And today, she’s joined by Marcus Wermuth, who is an Engineering Leader specialising in virtual leadership, and previous guest in many episodes!
Marcus is back on this show, this time talking about his recent professional transition: laying himself off from his job as Head of Engineering. This has been a very difficult decision to take, but he’s followed his own principles, and stayed true to his identity as servant leader.
Coffee Break Articles:
First off, check out Marcus’ article on “laying himself off”,
If you are interested in hearing another conversation about how to strike the balance between transparency and discretion, check out episode 69 of the Management Café.
18.30 MINS
Deutsche Bank's 3-day-a-week return-to-office policy has been met with fierce criticism by staff who say there isn't enough space for everyone
via Business Insider
The title says it all, but worth looking at some of the detail to understand the risks of mandatory planning looks like.
Right to disconnect: Implementation and impact at company level
Recent research shows that having laws about the right to disconnect is not enough to prevent employees feeling like they have to be constantly available. Company culture and in-house companies are needed too.
10 Ways to Build Better Relationships Working Remotely
A blog post that could have been a short ebook. A thoughtful article with specific advice on how to build relationships .
Are Enterprise Social Platforms All Talk?
Past guest Wietske Van Osch has just released research into why enterprise social networks need to be run differently to the social networks employees might be used to, for employees and the organisation to get the most out of them.
Gifts and Greats for True Feedback
via Mark Kilby
A very useful post to guide us through formulating feedback on other people’s work, and how to structure it.
Listening Recommendations:
Podcast: The Rich Roll Podcast
Episode: #815 CHARLES DUHIGG: HOW TO UNLOCK THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF CONNECTION
Date: 22 February 2024
An interview with journalist/writer Charles Duhigg, talking about building strong relationships.
Podcast: Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin
Long-form Interviews with a range of guests, from a range of industries.
Podcast: Collaboration Superpowers
Episode: Agile Retrospectives 2.0 with Esther Derby, Diana Larsen & David Horowitz
Date: 5 March 2022
Lisette Sutherland talks to the authors of the new edition of Agile Retrospectives 2.0. Pilar hasn’t listened to it yet, but highly recommends it - she’s a great fan of David Horowitz, who guested on this show back in 2017, in episode 129 on Building a Distributed Business.
Podcast: Sliced Bread
Episode: Fitness Trackers (UK link, but look for it in your podcast app)
29 Feb 2023
Book Recommendations:
Scaling People: Tactics for Management and Company Building
by Claire Hughes Johnson
Collabor(h)ate: How to build incredible collaborative relationships at work (even if you’d rather work alone)
by Deb Mashek PhD
Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection
by Charles Duhigg
The Coming Wave
by Mustafa Suleyman
Can’t Hurt Me
by David Goggings
Make Your Art No Matter What
by Beth Pickens
You can connect with Marcus Wermuth on LinkedIn and check out his website: www.marcuswermuth.com
Other episodes with Marcus:
WLP291 Starting a New Role Remotely
WLP219 OnBoarding (or Integration) in Remote Teams and Organisations
WLP188 - From Maker to Manager in a Distributed Company
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