Ah the holidays. Time for family, for food and giving and a few days off to relax, unwind and send people to your out-of-office auto replies. It's also a time when many people travel and have to adjust to a changing schedule for workshifting, fitness and eating.

My Christmas weekend was no different. Over in Daytona with my wife's family we enjoyed an amazing Florida holiday weekend filled with fun, family and food. Over the last two months I have been working hard to work out, fighting to get back into shape (that seems to have escaped me after those high school baseball days) so that I can stay healthy working long days on a laptop. With a new sleep pattern, a full house and some rain, it made working out a little more difficult. Luckily I had a built in personal trainer on site.

My brother in law, Barry Heyden, is the former strength coach for the NY Mets and came well prepared to keep me on my holiday schedule. During the 4 days I had the opportunity to learn to use things that are available and also time allotments to get the most of my workouts. No one wants to spend 45 minutes to an hour on vacation getting sweaty by themselves and no one wants to carry a portable gym on an airplane (plus I'm sure TSA wouldn't be too happy about that!). Barry had the solution that I am going to share with you today that really any traveler can use to get the most of their traveling adventures and still feel like they are in the hometown gym or running a few miles around the neighborhood.

It's All About The Core

The core as in the midsection where all the turkey, pasta and sweets have taken over (though it was so tasty to eat).

When putting together a quick holiday exercise plan the focus was on working the core and building heart rate quickly. We performed a slew of exercises from push-ups with some bicycle kicks in between each rep to leg lifts with the bike kicks. All with a high intensity and short rest time. This got the blood pressure to rise and the lungs to begin to strengthen.

Multitask

The next best suggestion from Barry was to work as many muscles with each exercise as possible. Remember that we are working in a short window of time. Maybe 20 minutes before breakfast, or a quick break in the action in the afternoon. The more you can accomplish with one group of exercises the better.

We started with a squat to shoulder press. No lie, but this was tough. We started with arms in the air with a broom stick. Then we went down to squat, bringing the bar down. Before we attempted to stand up, we raised the bar and then came back into the start position. Doing a set of 15 really whipped us into a quick sweat, working the legs, core and shoulders with one quick minute long exercise.

When you are creating your hotel workout, look for similar activities to work many areas of the body. There are plenty of add-on exercises and motions that can turn single muscle exercises into multiple with a little creativity and thought.

Hydrate With Water

Whether on the road workshifting or having fun on the holidays it is very easy to pick up a cola, beer or loaded fruit juice. Barry said this was a huge mistake that many of the Mets players also had. Keep replenishing yourself with water and your body will cool down and recover faster. Adding sugars will only slow the growth process. Also look for a quick healthy snack after going through a quick training. Carrot sticks or apple slices are easy ones and they can even be picked up at the hotel convenience store or local grocery store.

Above All Else, Shoot For High Intensity

I know as good as anyone how easy it is to relax, throw the feet up and say I'll get back to it when I get home.

Going hard for 20 minutes can be the best thing you do all day as it gets not only your body but your mind stimulated and ready for a rocking day. Whether that be meetings, presenting or giving superior attention to the family. The key here is to have a quick plan of action to keep yourself in a high intensity physical mind frame for 15-20 minutes. The number of reps or sets is irrelevant. Going quickly and with full focus from pushups to lunges to laptop curls will ensure that you keep yourself in a ready and mobile state. Above all else it will allow you to survive the equivalent of the freshman 15.

What are your holiday and hotel workshifting fitness tips? I'd love to hear what gets you going on the road (even if it's just to get away from the crazy in-laws for a few minutes!).

Photos by: ex.libris & Playtime Fitness

Today we have a guest post from Sean Ryan.  Sean is a research analyst with IDC focused on mobile enterprise software.

Things get a bit tricky when it comes to helpdesk support for mobile and remote workers. Organizations don't typically have their own Geek Squad to race out to employee homes and resolve computer issues. Trying to resolve software problems solely over the phone can be cumbersome, time-consuming, and could ultimately lead to other issues if the employee misunderstands some part of the instructions given.

For these reasons, helpdesk technicians need tools to let them provide remote support to an employee's computer in order to directly troubleshoot and resolve the problem. With a growing variety of devices needing support, it's preferable that such solutions be clientless, hosted solutions. Such tools are becoming even more essential for helpdesks to invest in as the business landscape continues to favor an increase in the number of mobile and remote workers.


Below are 5 reasons why organizations must prepare to support a growing mobile workforce:

• Changes in business culture are enabling a growing number of knowledge-based business professionals to work from home one day a week or more. Companies are doing this to promote work/life balance for families, to retain good people by rewarding them with flexibility, to enable employees to extend business hours or work on the weekends from home to meet deadlines, and to allow employees with longer commutes to be more productive.
  
  
• The need for business continuity in light of unforeseen disruptions such as poor weather conditions or concern over the spread of a flu pandemic means that helpdesks need to be able to support employees regardless of employee location and regardless of their own location.
  
  
• Due to current economic conditions and the ever-increasing need of enterprises to trim costs, IT helpdesks face resource constraints, with fewer helpdesk personnel responsible for supporting more workers. In some cases, the helpdesk technician may need to be on call to support employees outside normal business hours and at a variety of locations.
  
  
• Mobile workers (those who travel frequently for business) are often executives, outside sales people, and others critical to the success of an organization. It's imperative that helpdesks have the right tools in place to effectively support these individuals.
  
  
• A growing number of devices and connectivity options are enhancing productivity -- but are also adding complexity for the enterprise. Beyond PCs and laptops, helpdesk technicians must now also contend with BlackBerrys, iPhones, and netbooks running over WIFI, WIMAX, 3G, and the like. They must be outfitted with the right software tools to effectively support such a variety of devices, and across a vast territory as mobile workers are the ones using these devices and connectivity options.
  

The market for clientless remote support software (remote support software that's hosted and does not require a native client installed on the end device) is one that IDC has been tracking for some time. For the reasons above, as well as others, we expect the adoption of these solutions to grow by a compound annual growth rate of 22.6% over the next five years.

Yet, this is not to say that clientless remote support software can solve all ills; hardware issues such as a hard drive crashing still would require the remote worker to go into the office or to ship the device to the helpdesk, or would require support from a local third-party provider contracted by the organization. By and large, however, such tools can reduce the amount of downtime for mobile workers, reduce resolution times for the helpdesk, provide IT with greater controls and visibility, and extend support across locations and device types.

Does workshifting spell the demise of society as we know it? Are virtual companies an invitation to sweatshops and child labor violations? Will the rise in outsourcing, freelancing, and cloud labor lead to dirty bombs and political repression? Will the pay-per-click mentality become the basis for all human interaction?

No, I haven't been drinking the Kool Aid--but based on an article in Newsweek last week, I think someone there has. In an article titled Work in the New Digital Sweatshops, the author, Johanthan Zittrain (a Harvard University law professor), all but accuses Elance and LiveOps (a 16,000 person all-virtual call center) of using the workshifting model to exploit workers:

"...online contracting circumvents a range of labor laws and practices, found in most developed countries, that govern worker protections, minimum wage, health and retirement benefits, child labor, and so forth."

He asserts that Amazon's Mechanical Turk project could lead to all manner of evil:

"People can also be enlisted to do work without any idea for whom they're working or why. You might synthesize a new chemical that winds up being used as a poison or in a bomb. Iran's leaders could ask Turkers to cross-reference the faces of the nation's 72 million citizens with those of photographed demonstrators. Based on Mechanical Turk's current rates, Repression 2.0 would cost a mere $17,000 per protester."

And he conjectures that the growth of the web will mean the demise of honest human relationships:

"If labor can be summoned and directed from afar, fewer and fewer interactions will remain untainted by those seeking to influence their outcomes. I see a park of the future, its visitors staring into small screens, clicking or talking away. One puts the finishing touches on a $10,000 challenge answer. Another casually asks three friends to see a movie with him that evening, not because he wants to, but because he'll earn a $10 commission. A third is picking up a penny for counting how many others are there, not sure why or to whom it matters. We might miss the days when we went to the park just to have fun."

I suppose the man's entitled to his opinion. Who knows, maybe the chicken-little slant was the product of the editorial process. But if Newsweek is going to drag the names of innovative companies like LiveOps, Amazon, CrowdFlower, Elance, and InnoCentive through the mud, they ought to offer a bit more than just made-up scenarios. Through my workshifting research, I've come to know two of the accused quite well and the article's accusations couldn't be farther from the truth.

If employment conditions are so oppressive, why is LiveOps inundated with job applicants--hiring only one in a hundred of those who apply? Why do over 100,000 freelancers use Elance? Because virtual jobs allow people to work when and how much they want. In fact, two-thirds of Americans say they want to work from home and over a third would happily take a pay cut to do so.

Far from the doomsday prognostications offered by the article, virtual employment offers a relatively simple, inexpensive solution to some of the world's most vexing problems. It reduces greenhouse gases and fuel usage. It improves work-life balance. It saves companies and individuals money. It helps address the special needs of disabled workers, rural residents, retirees, and military families. It reduces traffic and the strain on our transportation infrastructure. And it helps ensure continuity of operations in the event of a disaster or pandemic.

Is life different because of workshifting? Of course it is, but I think it's a change for the better. How about you? What has workshifting done for your relationships? opportunities? working conditions?

Photo by: adinarvaez

When I was younger, my family moved around a lot. By the time I was 16, we had lived in 10 different cities around Germany and England. This meant new schools, new friends, new houses, new customs - you get the idea.

For me, what made these transitions easier were the things that remained constant. My family, was one. But there were also the less obvious elements - our furniture, for example, or our artwork. My parents have these two paintings of an Alpine landscape that they always hung over our washer and dryer. There was something about seeing those paintings in the laundry room that made any place feel like home.

I look at workshifting in much of the same way. Setting up shop in a different location every day or every week is akin to moving. Your environment is completely different, yet you have to adapt or you won't continue to function. In my opinion, it's the constants in our workshifting lives that let us do that.

What are your constants? Here are a few of the things that help me remain productive despite a location change:

• My routine in the morning. We all have a certain routine that gets us into the work mindset when we turn on our laptops every morning. Whatever it is for you, chances are those habits stay the same regardless of where you're working that day. I usually start my day with a quick look at my emails to determine if there are any immediate fires that need to be put out. Next, I head over to Twitter and Facebook to catch up, and after that I log on to my Netvibes account to spend some time reading blog posts and news sites.
  
  
• To-do lists. Despite all the online tools available these days, I still operate best with a handwritten to-do list. I take the list with me wherever I go, which helps me determine what projects need the most attention.
  
  
• A clean inbox. I'll admit that I'm slightly obsessed with keeping my inbox organized. I only keep the emails that require follow up from me in my inbox, and move everything else into folders or delete it. This helps me stay focused when I'm on the road.
  
  
• A clutter-free Blackberry. I take a similar approach to emails on my Blackberry. Every morning I delete all emails from the previous day. For me, this makes emails easier to manage from the road.
  
  
• Time entry. Since I work in an agency setting, I wrap up my day by entering my time into our tracking software and updating my to-do list. This gives me a sense of accomplishment for the work done throughout the day.
  

Whatever your constants may be, identifying them will help you become more effective in entering into that work mindset when everything around you is different.

Photo by: dustin

Recently, I've spent some time hanging out at a couple of our clients' offices and I realized something.  Workshifting is not only beneficial for the worker, but also for the organization.  Working in a traditional office setting definitely has some inherent benefits, including centralization and camaraderie.  However, it also has what I believe are elemental detriments. 

In this video, I outline three issues that I feel organizations should consider when deciding whether a virtual working arrangement might behoove them.

Ok, that title may alienate a few folks, but sometimes instead of "holiday", I just want to say Christmas!  Ok, I feel better.

As Christmas gets near I need to mentally prepare for in-laws, distant cousins, intoxicated relatives, long drives, delayed planes and a lot of general pain associated with getting to loved ones.  Once i'm finally in the mix, I find that I need to disconnect from the festive crowd, sit down and log-on.  I look to workshifting as break from all the human connectivity.  I need to interact with my online community, maybe check-in at Foursquare (wish it worked better on the iPod Touch), Facebook, read some blog posts and if I'm really feeling uptight, check work email.

It's exactly what I'm trying to escape when I'm on vacation, and yet I find it so comforting when I need to disconnect...from my vacation.  Weird, I wonder if some of you feel the same way?
I don't think this is a bad thing.  Many of us workshifters love what we do.  I happen to be one of those people.  Logging into work or joining an online meeting is sometimes just what the doctor ordered during the holidays.  So if you do it, don't feel bad. 

Many people will be doing the same.  Watch for this type of behavior:  Someone will be nodding their head like they are listening to you intently, slowly they will be backing up towards the hallway but being sure to grab a champagne cocktail on the way, then quietly dipping into an office.  They will sit down to the warm glow of the monitor and then a certain sense of calm will wash over them.  Ahhh.....

Is that you?  How do you workshift during the holidays?

Merry Christmas!

Photo by: dejahthoris

As someone who's been workshifting for more than 15 years, and also as someone who during that time has managed workshifters for a number of organizations, I've seen the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to successfully supporting remote employees. Here, a few suggestions and observations from the trenches:

• Workshifting isn't for everyone. Although most companies will see significant benefits from allowing employees to work from home and/or the road as needed or desired, some employees simply aren't cut out for the independence and discipline such a set-up requires. Many people (especially mature adults who've been in the workforce for a while) know that about themselves--given the choice, they will opt to go into an office everyday for the companionship, sense of purpose, or even just because they don't trust themselves to be productive at home. Other employees may want to workshift but are clearly ready to do so. It's a manager's job to recognize when an employee shouldn't work from anywhere but the office, and support any employees who fit that group.  Alternatively, you could know what traits you're looking for ahead of time and hire for those workshifting qualities.
  
  
• Sometimes, a transition period is needed. Letting people work from home one or two days a week is a good way to trial the new way of working, and make sure that it's a good fit for everyone--not just the workshifting employee, but also his or her manager and colleagues. However, for the transition to succeed, workshifters must be given the technology and business model support they would get if they were workshifting full time.
  
  
• Speaking of which, make sure you give workshifters the technology they need to work from somewhere other than a corporate office. These will likely include a notebook PC, mobile phone, access to IM and conferencing tools, and a headset.  Ensure that you have a remote support option in place to help them at a distance.
  
  
• Shift your reward system to focus on results, not time spent on any given project, or any given workday. Workshifters get used to the freedom to work anytime and from anywhere pretty quickly; as long as they're getting the job done, don't stress about how or when they're doing it. (That said, if part of their job is meeting with clients or participating in conference calls, you should expect them to be available at the necessary times to do so.)
  
  
• Assign workshifters to small working teams whenever a project supports collaborative work--and make sure you mix up the players often. Working with one or two colleagues on a specific task ensures remote employees get to know one another better--and having a solid relationship will help the team be more collaborative and engaged even when they're not working together on anything specific. Audio, video and web conferencing can help small teams work effectively across physical and cultural boundaries.
  
  
• Leverage social networking tools to keep people connected from afar. This, too, will help far-flung employees get to know each other better, and stay in touch even when they're not actively working on a project together. That reaps rewards when the time comes for favors, support and collaboration.
  
  
• When possible, meet in person. If you can't afford to bring an entire group together on a regular basis, encourage team members to meet live in small groups whenever they happen to be in the same place--at conferences, on client calls, etc. This will help people get even more out of their virtual meetings during the rest of the year.

What are some of your tips that you have found useful for managing workshifters?

Photo by: joelogon

You may have begun noticing a few changes around here over the past couple weeks.  But, in case you hadn't noticed the changes, or you only check us out through an RSS reader, I thought I'd take a few minutes to point out the updates we've been making.

Removal of Ad Blocks

We made a decision to remove the ad blocks that were located in the right sidebar, for now.  The blog is still powered by Citrix Online and managed by myself and my team at New Marketing Labs.  But, we thought the ad blocks were getting boring and taking up precious sidebar space that we could use to add some more engaging content to.

Content Widget

To make up for the empty space left by the removal of the ad blocks, we have added a tabbed content widget at the top.  The content widget features the newest posts, favorites, our favorites and the top posts tagged "workshifting".  If you haven't done so already, take a few minutes to check out of a couple of the posts that are being featured there such as:

• Measuring Productivity on Adding Value vs Wasting Time
• From the Trenches: Poor Management
• 5 Mental Workshifting Triggers
• Churchill and The Importance of Routine
• Clearing the Air on Employee Background Checks
  

Streamlined About Page

We have cleaned up the About page and added photos and bios for all of our phenomenal contributors.  Many of them have been with the team since the May 2009 launch however the About page was never fully updated.  Now you can learn more about your favorite workshifting.com contributor.

Workshifting.com Goes Mobile

Probably the most requested feature update from the community was for us to create a mobile version of the website.  After all, if you're workshifting then you're probably reading this from a mobile device.  Well, we're proud to announce a mobile optimized version of the blog section of the website.  For this round of updates we have created a mobile optimized version only for the blog.  However, over time we do plan on adding other sections of the website.

To check it out, you can go to workshifting.com/m/ or just head over to the blog from your mobile device and the redirect should forward you to the mobile version immediately.

Opened Comments

A frequent request we received was to open up the Comments section so that you didn't have to log-in.  Initially we required you to log-in to leave a comment to help control spam on a fast growing website.  However, we have decided to deal with the spam where it pops up and open up comments.  Now you no longer need to log-in.  Since this update we have already seen a 2x increase in commenting and hope that you will add to that by leaving a comment on a post from time to time.

We have several other updates planned over the next coming weeks and months including several back-end improvements.  Our goal is to continue to be the single resource for all of your workshifting needs.  Therefore, what would YOU like to see updated, improved or created that would be useful to you?  Let us known in the comment section below.  We'll keep track of all requests and try to implement as many as possible especially those that will be helpful to the overall community.

As always, thank you for the continued support of workshifting.com!

This past summer, Melissa and I were gone on a Workshifting Road Trip across Europe.  We were gone for sixty days.  During that time, we had more staff miscommunication and misunderstanding than we had in the previous 10 months combined.  Shortly after, I realized why.  No matter how well we use technology to connect and collaborate, nothing will ever be able to replace "face to face" communication.  Having said that, "face to face" doesn't mean you actually have to be physically present with the person (although that would be ideal).  A quick 5 minute daily video call with your team can do the trick. 

In the video below, I discuss a few reasons I believe this is important and a few tools that might be helpful to you.

Do you think "face to face" communication is important?  How often do you video call with you team while you are traveling?

Photo by: oxmour

Many cubicle employees dream of being able to work from home, either for their current employer or through stretching out on their own as an entrepreneur - living the dream! In my own quest and through talking with other home bound warriors I have been thinking about some mental and psychological triggers and how that affects their performance and their growth.

Below are just some ideas around 5 Mental Workshifting Triggers that affect the way you work away from a traditional office.

Time Management

The first is a critical aspect to your success working from a non corporate office environment. How you spend your time dictates your success. Spend too much time on noncritical tasks and your paycheck, clients and output suffer. Spend too much time working on growing your business or working on tasks and you miss out of the benefits of location independent based working. There are plenty of sites and resources geared towards productivity.

This group includes:

To Do and Task Management - Remember the Milk, TaDa List, Prioritiz'd
Project Management - Bacecamp, Front Office Box
Life Hacking - Life Hacker, Zen Habits
Lifestyle Design - Four Hour Work Week, The Life Design Project, Rock Star Lifestyle Design Outsourcing - Source Control, eLance, Guru
Automation - TubeMogul, Ping.fm

Time management is something that many teach and few actually follow through. Personally I try one system every week only to play on Twitter and read RSS Feeds for hours and wake up and smell the deadlines. The best system I have found so far is the one that fits your goals and growth plans. Those that are ambitious and strive for excellence manage their time much differently than those with lackluster or passion driven goals (or those with no or undefined goals). Every person will manage their time differently from David Allen and the Getting Things Done system to the freelancer working a 9-5 and fitting in client projects with every waking minute, break and crack of free time in the day.

The end goal here is to find a system that fits within your values:

Step 1 - Define your values and goals.
Step 2 - Figure out what it will take to get there.
Step 3 - Manage your time to succeed.

Motivation

The second touch point is personal and professional motivation to perform the work. Seeing the body language and the amount of effort it takes to give and receive response, many home based workers have a tendency to be, for lack of a better synonym, lazy. Getting out of bed, putting on appropriate clothing and getting serious in your spare bedroom or makeshift office is a difficult task for many remote based workers.

How do we program ourselves to be motivated and excited to get out of bed 6 months, 12 months, 2 years after we begin working at home. The feeling you had the first week out of the office is now very distant and the same problems will begin to arise. Remember your first week on your own? Coffee was on at 6am, you ran a few miles before dawn and hopped out the shower with a crisp pair of jeans and even did your hair like you had a million dollar client meeting? Now it's 6 months down the road and the alarm snoozes till 8am. The run has turned into walking the dog to the "spot" and back and your basketball shorts and company picnic tee make your uniform look, well, you get the picture.

One of the keys to motivation is to always have something to be motivated about. If you are working from home just to get by, well, its going to be no different than mulling around in the office. If you started a company and became complacent with your clients and your income, well, then, get used to the groggy 8am wake up call. One piece of advice I got from John Jantsch (Duct Tape Marketing) is that we all need to be striving for the next thing. We all need to be treating our work like we are starting a business, the business of you. What I took from this is that we all need to be working towards "awesome" and whatever that is for you. For me it's a picture of an Audi R8 and some beach front property, right next to a picture of my wife. For me it's breaking free and living on my own terms and everyday I wake up, see these pictures, glance at my goals and get to work before the sun cracks the window.

Finding that motivation is going to be different for you and you will be inspired in different ways. The one thing I know if that we don't NEED Tony Robbins to whip us into shape, we need to find that fire deep down in ourselves and then seize the day!

Single Child Syndrome

One thing that many are not prepared for is the realization that you are working by yourself, in your home, alone. We attempt to supplement this with Twitter chat, Facebook and IM, but the fact is that human to human interaction is such a strong part of how we grow, learn and develop. Communication with people, like real, breathing people is something that helps me get through the day and can always give me a second to remember that no matter what business you are in its a people business.

Some cures for the single child syndrome can include conferences and events. The number one reason people go to large seminars and events is to meet people and learn things. They want to exchange cards, talk about their business and learn about yours. There are conferences and large scale events for every niche, every industry and every hobby on the planet. Some of the best networking for me has come from events where not everyone was a marketer. I've gone to food and restaurant trade shows and events to meet restaurant owners to talk Social Media and online marketing and as one of the only marketing agencies there I had some great conversations that were interesting and a great time that led to great relationships and ultimately business in the long run.

Possibly the newest form of live bodies in a room is the Tweetup. Get on Twitter, find some locals and find a place to hang out. Cheap, effective and very powerful for local community building. Other great sources of finding live bodies (aka not Twilight'ian vampires) Upcoming - Yahoo crowdsourced directory of goings-on in your neighborhood Eventful - Events based on location Mashable's Guide To Events.

Rotating Office Chairs

The 4th trigger is your ever changing office chair, and I don't mean the seasonal upgrade at Ikea (although that would make for a great Christmas gift if anyone is thinking of sending one my way). What I mean is the ever changing office settings from coffee shops to Panera's to makeshift home workstations to buses, planes and waiting places. When you were working in an office or going to school, you were prepared for the everyday consistency. You knew your seat, the time to be there, the people that would surround you and you basically had a routine. Now that your boss gave you some freedom or you made it on your own, your environment is no longer consistent. Even in your local coffee shop your table or chair may change, the traffic flow can fluctuate, new distractions come into play and your routine is now a routine of adjusting to your surroundings.

While you may be thinking that the freedom of choosing your workspace is awesome (and personally I think it is), there are certain time and space constraints that need to come into consideration. I for one, create a great deal of videos for my membership sites and filming screen casts are not going to happen at Panera. Other limitations can include download and upload speeds (even your home connection may not be as strong as those T1's at the old office).

The key here again to to determine your needs and evaluate locations in your hometown that match your goals and workload. For me it's a combination of working at home and in some local spots that allow me to be comfortable and get in the zone to write, record and manage my day-to-day activities. I also plan my days to fit the times at these local spots when I can best utilize their environment. For me its the post breakfast time. I find that arriving at 9am is a great time to get in some culture, then find quiet and hit the zone before the lunch rush. At home, its early mornings before my wife wakes up. I'd love to learn more about your limitations with your rotating office chair. (Share in the comments below)

Communication

The last major factor that I have been studying is the communication piece. I have found that in my companies and in many others this is still a major barrier to growth and stability. While the tools may be there, the lack of follow through and discipline inside of organizations is extremely disappointing. This can include email overhaul at the top of the list. A booking agent friend of mine sees over 200 emails from artists, other agencies, venues and major players every single day. This doesn't include the social media requests and general email. That is 200 emails that typically need a response and posiibly need it with time sensativity (a band en route needing directions or confirmation on a show time). This makes his business awfully difficult to manage even though he can work from anywhere at anytime.

Interestingly enough we live in an information society that can have answers to complex problems in a matter of seconds yet have payments sent to wrong addresses, sent to wrong people in the wrong format or miss the ball with time zones for scheduling. Communication is the number one reason businesses fail and succeed. From hiring new employees, freelancers or outsourcing - the ability to send clear and concise directions can be a major challenge. For work at home employes, being able to communicate virtually and maintain the level of activity can be very challenging out of the gate.

The best resources are only as good as the pilots using them. For my love of tools like RTM or Basecamp, if the orgization or individual fail to use them, the tools ultimately fail (or the user does, depends on whose eyes you are looking from). For many people and entrepreneurs in particular, the idea of communication while workshifting needs to be a top priority as the other elements we have talked about today fall into line if there is routine and efficient communication.

Conclusion

Today I really wanted to share some ideas and concepts that have been brewing in my head over the last few weeks. These are challenges in my own business and in businesses that I have the pleasure of learning about or working for. They all tend to be different for every business but the same in nature and the way you go about setting triggers and responses to combat the situations.

The main theme is surrounding your business and your work with actionable goals that continue to help you grow. Once you have these goals it becomes much easier to develop communication strategies, adapt to work environments, work with teams or by yourself, get motivated and manage your time. Let's talk in the comments below and see how you manage and work with these problems.

Photo by: David R. Carroll

Many years ago, in a galaxy far far away, I used to work in a Big Four firm.  This was probably the worst time in my life, but that's another post for another day.  The Big Four are a prestigious set of assurance & consulting firms that have a four-way lock on the Fortune 500 Assurance market.  The corporate culture in these firms is an atrocity. 

Beyond the conventional cut throat, cubicle farm ideologies so indicative of the typical corporate aura, the management of these firms exude an embarrassingly obtuse comprehension of productivity.  What is their logical misstep you ask?  They directly correlate Time Spent with Value Added.  In other words, some preppy, clean shaven kiss ass who gets can sit intently in front of his computer for 15 hours a day during busy season and without thought or analysis, his Time Spent is made synonymous with Value Added.

Our idea of Productivity matters.  The amount of hours you spend with your face glued to your laptop screen is NOT indicative of your productivity.  At the Big Four, the street smart kids quickly realized this poignant reality.  The firm billed out on the basis of hours booked.  They made their money on the amount of Time Spent, not on Value Added.  So during "busy season" you were going to be sitting in the same room for 15 hours a day whether you actually did anything or not.  It is a vicious cycle of misplaced value association.  Most of us would sit there, laptops churning, looking attentive, tippity tapping at our keys all day, all the while 30 - 40% of the day, we'd be just be surfin the interwebs.  Why did we do this?  To satiate "face time" , of course.  Even if you work twice as efficient as your co-workers, you can't be the one to leave early, take a two hour break midday to get a second wind, or bill out less than your colleagues because if you do, you can kiss your bonus and your reputation bye-bye.

Here's some simple math for you: Time Spent does not equal Value Added.  

Oh, so you work until 2am everyday.  Congratu-freaking-lations!  You've just won a shiny gold watch.  Do you think that makes you productive? No. No, it doesn't.  In fact, it probably means you cannot manage time effectively and you spend a great deal of hours doing things at half speed because you're tired or busted.

Here's some difficult math for you: Value Added equals X

That's right, instead of taking your ques from Henry Ford and Ronald McDonald, you need to spend some time (and I mean serious time) figuring out what exactly would constitute adding value for your organization, team, small business or solo practice on a yearly, monthly, weekly and daily basis.  

Looking at time spent on things is the easy way out.  It's the Least Common Denominator and that's not you.  Or at least it shouldn't be.

If you manage staff, treat them like people and not like well paid cattle.  People are smart.  If your staff feels like they are being branded and evaluated based on the hours they sink into projects rather than the value they add, they'll give you exactly what you are asking for ... "empty calorie" hours.  You don't want that.  You want dense hours.  If your people are going to sit down to work, you want them to be as productive as possible while they do that, so they can enjoy their lives and not return tomorrow disgruntled and miserable, ruing the day of your conception.

Over the past year, we have hired four staff.  Want to know the first thing I said to all of them?  "I don't give a damn how many hours you work".  We sit down and collaboratively define what their role is and how value would be measured and use that as our barometer.

Honestly, its one of the reasons I heart workshifting. A "Value Added" paradigm is built into it.

How do you define productivity?  How do you value your staff's productivity?

Photo by: Menage a Moi

Today we have a guest post from Bevis England.  Bevis is the director of Telework New Zealand and facilitator for the Telework Australia initiative.  Bevis is also a member of Citrix Online's Worldwide Workplace Council. Since 1989 he has been assisting organisations assess and access the benefits of telework.

Fellow workshifters. We are the vanguard of the revolution.

And what is this revolution? Well, perhaps it's more of an evolution but when we look around we can see a battle going on, a battle between change and inertia.

Recently, the people of Samoa, Padang in Sumatra, and Bolivia have been affected by major earthquakes or tsunami. Australia is on the cusp of its bushfire season, with temperatures set to reach dangerous levels of 47 degrees Celsius in three states. The nation only just recovered from its Black Saturday fires - the worst bushfires in Australia's history.

We're only just beginning to recover from the impact of the debt crunch and the subsequent economic recession, terrorism is an ever-present threat, and I sense that another oil price shock is not far away.

My point is that we are faced with major change. We always have been but it seems to be becoming more severe, both in the number of events and in the impact they have. In the words of Robert Holden, we live in a white water world: a world dominated by change. But we workshifters are very well placed to cope with this.

Some change is unpredictable. It can be sudden and catastrophic, such as a natural disaster, power cuts, extreme financial market movements or terrorist attack, or it can be gradual and still have a profound impact, such as peak oil scenarios, climate change, spreading pandemics, or the impacts of recession.  Other change is predictable - weather trends, demographic shifts, or changes in government or legislation. But all such change is beyond our ability to control it. If we were a natural ecosystem we could only react, adapt and, if there's time, survive beyond the change by evolving. But we are not a natural ecosystem. We have the ability to dream and set objectives. And we have the ability to prepare.

Preparing for and responding to change has become critical for individuals, businesses, and communities. And this is the battle that I'd like to think that workshifting can overcome.

Workshifters are probably the best placed to lead the way, for a number of reasons:

• Workshifters recognise that action is needed now and that when change it happens it's already too late. Denial is not an option. We always have contingency plans and have prepared for change.
  
  
• Workshifters have also recognised that not all change is negative and that not all risk is a challenge. The move away from the static office (whether we were pushed out or not) might have been a major change but we've learnt to make the most of the positive advantages of the new ways of working.
  
  
• Workshifters are learning to do more with less: less money, less travel, fewer resources, and fewer 'qualified' staff on hand to help out. This is a vital skill when coping with and making the most out of change.
  
  
• We've learnt to be flexible and we have recognised that simplicity is a virtue. Some of us have even recognised that flexibility and simplicity together are much more important than mere efficiency. Just doing things faster is not as important as achieving the same ends flexibly and simply. (After all, efficiency is normally measured in incremental steps. Completing the task is more important, however we choose to do this.)
  
  
• We've recognised that we need to reduce our inertia if we are to react quickly. It's hard to run for a plane if you're carrying too much. And it's hard to change course quickly if you're burdened with outmoded ideas.
  
  
• Many workshifters have also recognised that, paraphrasing Einstein, we can't solve our problems with the thinking that created them. New ideas will be essential. New ways of working will be vital.
  
  
• Most importantly, we've recognised that we need to know our 'community' if we are to survive in a changing environment. Whether this is the location of the next coffee shop, the movements of our friends and colleagues, or the depth of our communication, our business and personal communities are important to us.
  

All of these lessons have been learnt by many, if not all, workshifters. That's what makes us the vanguard of the revolution. In the battle between change and inertia, we are well-equipped to survive.

At least, we should be...

Photo by: walkadog

Working on your own can be one of the most liberating feelings.  But it can also become very lonely when we leave the corporate nest.  We're humans dammit.  And although, as workshifters, we despise being consigned as cubicle farmers, we still need camaraderie; we still need interaction; and we still need water cooler banter about the season finale of Mad Men. 

As of a few months ago, I have the luxury of workshifting with my beautiful wife and business partner.  However, prior to that, I was all on my lonesome, sauntering the East Village for Coffee Shops that would bestow upon me a free outlet and a cold iced coffee.  After a few weeks, I realized something.  In the words of Dr. Tobias Funke: "There are dozens of us! DOZENS!!" (If you don't get that reference, stop reading this post and please rent this immediately).  There are tons of other workshifters out there!  If you are a power workshifter, you have to be social while workshifting. 

Here's a quick video with a few thoughts on why I think social workshifting is important:

Are you social while workshifting?  Any neat stories on people you've met while workshifting?

Photo by: thinkpublic

We have advertised on political talk shows, and with that comes some degree of risk associated with the content.  On occasion, a radio host will make outrageous or inflammatory comments that incite a political group.  Typically the "group" uses the outrageous comments to promote their agenda, and so the mud slinging begins.

Like many companies today, we use social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook to listen and engage with customers and the broader community.  Several months back something new happened, our web conferencing product became part of a trending topic on Twitter, but not in a positive way.   

We started seeing tweets about our brand with comments such as "boycott", not something you want to wake up to on a Monday.  Because of the sheer volume of noise around the controversy we decided to suspend our media.  Giving us the opportunity to gather our thoughts and determine next steps.

We decided that instead of using traditional PR tactics to address the controversy, we would release a single tweet from our branded Twitter account, and then listen.  The tweet had no links, and it read something to the effect, "...we have suspended our media and we will re-evaluate...".  As expected, the tweet was picked up quickly.  Over the next few weeks, we fielded some tweets from our personal and branded Twitter accounts, and eventually the controversy subsided.  Even though we carefully crafted our first tweet response, all the subsequent tweets weren't scripted.  Therefore, we didn't come across as cold and unsympathetic.  The communication was genuine and honest, and the community responded positively.

I am not suggesting that using a single tweet to manage adversity is always the best solution.  In some cases, public outreach via a press release with relevant links is needed.  However, in this case we felt the best solution was to speak to the community in the same voice and using the same tool from which it originated.  Speaking for myself, the lesson learned pertained to honesty and transparency, and the power of the tools on the social web. 

So what does this have to do with workshifting?  The method we used to resolve the conflict didn't require us to higher a PR firm, a consultant or use an expensive press release distribution tool.  The free tools are available to workshifters of any size.  The tools are not the exclusive domain of large, well funded companies.

So if you're starting a company founded upon workshifting, you have the ability to use the social media tools with the same level of scale and effectiveness as a large company can, and in many cases even better.

Have you used the tools to manage adversity?  I'd love to hear your stories.

Photo by: Matt Hamm