WLP220 The Unexpected Risks Facing Remote Teams
In today’s show we explore some of the unexpected risks facing remote teams, the unforeseen consequences which can impact on anyone making the transition to new ways of working.
But first of all:
02:48 What’s going on?
What are the trends for Human Resources in 2020? Here are 20 of them, covered in breadth rather than depth - we could group some of them under themes of transparency, collaboration (“Slack” is a trend now apparently!), and making work visible. Interestingly this is not a list specifically aimed at remote teams, but that’s not immediately obvious.
Good news for collaboration tool deployment: How Zoom Better Enables Patient Care, Employee Development at Moffitt Cancer Center and London Ambulance trials phone video stream platform It’s fantastic to see online meeting tools making a difference - even saving lives - in diverse settings which are so far removed from our knowledge-worker bubble, and here are two great examples from the world of medicine.
Templates in MS Teams - now for medical and all sorts of other organisations and teams there are prebuilt templates, again reflecting the differentiation in use of these platforms, and the need for rapid onboarding and integration of increasingly complex tools for niche uses.
Top 100 Companies with Remote Jobs in 2020 - some surprising ‘stealth remote’ employers in this list, including some very large organisations, and a variety of industries are also reflected. Do you work remotely for one of them? We’d love to hear from you!
Study: 64% Of Comms Leaders Would Use A Virtual PR Agency - A reminder perhaps of how early in adoption we are, with the corollary that apparently 36% of clients think this option is still inferior, and the distinction of a ‘virtual agency’ being a qualitatively different thing is evident. We still have work to do…
Professional Development & Networking for Remote… but Maya was happily back in the ‘remote work bubble’ at this online networking event with Workplaceless recently, discussing the challenges of hybrid teams and transitioning - it’s well worth exploring their upcoming events, and certification programme.
Don’t forget to share with us ‘what’s going on’ for you, and there’s more news, of course, in our newsletter.
(This topical segment was recorded 22nd January 2020)
24:49 Virtual Not Distant news and feedback
Our next published episode will be the first in our new series in partnership with Shield GEO, “Connection and Disconnection in Remote Teams”. We’re delighted with this great collaboration, and we’re sure you’re going to enjoy it.
Listener Grace got in touch to share how remote work helped her find a different working culture and context, without having to relocate or change roles, and this resonated with the thoughts of recent guest (Ep 214) Eva Rimbau-Gilabert - who recently shared this paper about whether or not remote work increases productivity.
Danny Page enjoyed the recent interviews with Marcus and Laila (see the bonus episodes released over the Christmas break), and we were also glad to hear from listener Craig seeking to go remote, so he can move to Europe without changing his job.
And we loved hearing how Chris Coladonato is using our work on visible teamwork to support change in their own team and start the discussion internally, as well as Elise Keith reflecting on the role of purpose in motivation, as discussed in our recent blog post. Don’t forget that you can keep up with us on our business LinkedIn page, as well as connecting with Pilar and Maya directly.
35.18 Unexpected Risks Facing Remote Teams
Tools come and go
As the remote work space matures we find the honeymoon period passing and some reality checks setting in, and Maya has been writing for UC Today about some recent layoffs in the collaboration platform space - which is hard for those employees, but also for any teams and organisations who ‘live’ online within those tools. Thingyboard, which Pilar recently signed up for, is also closing down.
Perhaps some consolidation is inevitable in such an exploding space, and with Bluejeans and Fuze making severe cutbacks, maybe others will follow - as the big players add features and functionality to replace their specialisms. The scalability of software as a service does bring this risk, that it can be withdrawn at any time - so we need to be very clear about what we need from our digital workspaces, why we chose them in the first place, in case we need to replicate them fast elsewhere.
Data loss risks with video
As legislation tightens, highly regulated industries in particular have to pay special attention to the risks inherent in using the latest communication tools - such as video calls - simply because of the multitude of ways that data could be incorrectly shared (deliberately or accidentally).
Maya has written recently about some new tools for auditing this type of interaction, which use AI to monitor 100% of call recording, and rapidly surface any breaches or negligence. So that means even people dealing in high-compliance conversations can use multimedia tools, without breaching their own risk standards.
But the emergence of these tools reminds us that as monitoring gets more ubiquitous and straightforward, there are risks of unnecessary surveillance - and what this could do to trust. As always it’s important to ensure we’re using the available technology in ways which support the way we want to work, and seize the positive benefits (such as opening up new opportunities for remote work and roles in formerly-excluded industries).
Blame the tool for the culture?
Reflecting on a sad story which broke just before Christmas: Away's CEO Resigned Over a Toxic Workplace Due in Part to the Company's Use of Slack and in more depth at Former Away employees describe a toxic work environment at the luggage company The first link is to an article on Inc which connects the use of Slack to the breakdown of a company’s culture due to leadership problems, whereas we’d contend that it was the use of a collaboration platform which really helped to shed light on the difficulties, and document the harassment which was occurring.
Lots of warning signs were there early, including the leadership’s attempts to control the use of private channels or any private conversations, and abuse of the idea of transparency to deliver negative feedback very publicly. But their use of Slack meant a clear audit trail was available, to prove what had taken place.
So many lessons here we discuss, but above all it is good reminder for us all to think hard about HOW we use our chosen communication tools - what kinds of behaviour and interaction they encourage and reward within our teams.
The technology is neutral - but humans act with intent.
And do keep your feedback coming, we really enjoy it - please contact us, or you can tweet Virtual Not Distant, or Pilar and Maya directly, with any of your thoughts and ideas.
If you like the podcast, you'll love our monthly round-up of inspirational content and ideas: