Two business researchers have a study coming out that suggests that many workers are afraid to speak out lest they be mocked by their peers and bosses. According to an HBR blog post, "we relentlessly work to avoid 'image risks,' ... In an analysis of responses from 425 employees in a variety of U.S. businesses, Yuan and Woodman found that worries about image risk significantly diminish employees' innovativeness."

In other words, people think shutting up is smarter than speaking out. And, in their workplaces, they may be right--which underscores the need for a broad culture shift to ignite innovation.

Can workshifters form the vanguard of this new movement?

This isn't an idle question. I was working on my own long before workshifting was a word and telecommuting was an acceptable business practice. I've found that workshifters innovate every day by trial and error, from testing new markets to tweaking our bookkeeping systems to something as mundane (but critically important) as figuring out the best way to recharge multiple devices on the go.

And we have one more big thing in common: we dare to be different.

Does workshifting make you fearless? If so, why?


Photo Credit: Man's Pic

Like most of you, I travel ... A TON.  Last year, Melissa and I traveled about 55% of the year.   I absolutely adore traveling! We purposefully built our business this way.  However, one of the very difficult elements about traveling so often is being able to effectively manage your bookkeeping while on the road.  During the course of our travels last year, we became very serious about finding the best online tools to help us with this incredibly annoying problem. 

On Saturday, we are departing for a very long 62 day workshifting trip that will take us through three continents.  I thought it might be helpful to post a little video on what we use to keep our accounting in order while we are on the road.

If you can't view this video, head over to my Vimeo channel.

The three applications that I discussed during the video are:

• Shoeboxed
• LessAccounting
• FreshBooks

Are there other apps that you use?  What are some of your favorites?

Photo Credit: The Shifted Librarian

This is a guest post from Deb Brown, an internet workshifter and small business owner of www.debworks.com

An Internet Workshifter in the Hinterlands

In my county of 10,000 people, I'm a workshifter.  I bring my business to you.  I teach small businesses how to determine a social media plan that works for them, then I help them get it started and we work together to grow it. 

I meet in the local coffee shop with a client, determine what kind of assistance they are looking for, work with them to match my services with their needs and make the appointment for our first on site visit.  The coffee shop does not have internet service.  It does have a group of local people that show up there regularly for coffee.  We all know each other and believe in supporting our local businesses.  

My client wants to know how to use social media.  Should they blog?  Or create a Facebook account and reach out to the community?  We've devised a plan based on what they need, and what they can commit too.  They are not sure what kind of computer they have, but are pretty sure they have cable.  (There's my first clue.)

Are You Ready for the Surprises?

I show up on time at their office or store, with my lovely Dell Inspiron, ready to hook up to their router system.  Except they don't have one.  They have a desktop running Windows 98 in the back office.  The desktop hooks up to the phone line.  That would be dial up.  You know what internet service they use - yup, AOL.

You know the desktop has no real memory, moves slower than molasses in January in Iowa and is not equipped to work with photos, doesn't have Word - and was only really designed to be used to read email and maybe look at a site or two.  Mac?  That's the cousin who lives in Missouri.  Not a known animal in the hinterlands. 

This happens.  If you're not smart, it will happen to you a lot.  Don't give up on these rural small businesses.  They have been doing the best they know how to do with what they have.  It's YOUR job, local workshifter, to show them the way. 

Listen, Really Listen

I learned quickly to start interviewing my clients before making any kind of agreement for work. I ask a lot of questions.  I listen to the answers.    I know when I walk into that office or store exactly what kind of computer, what kind of internet service, what kind of hook up they have.  I keep The Computer Guy on speed dial.  That's our local man that provides computer repair service, new hook up service and new computers for sale.  He can be at my location within 20 minutes - ready to service the client.  He will also bill them and work with them on payment.  Who does that?  We do that in a small community.
 

A Commitment to the Community

Workershifters in a rural community have a great challenge.  We are asked to bring our friends and families into this century.  We choose to do it, because it needs to be done.  We have stepped up to the plate and expect to hit the ball out of the park.  Because that is what people in rural America do - we help each other.
 
Score.org gives these statistics for small businesses in the rural economy:
 

• Since 1969, the number of self-employed persons in rural America has increased over 240 percent to 5.3 million.
• There are more than 1.2 million rural, small businesses. 
• In the rural economy, small business comprises almost two-thirds of jobs and 90 percent of rural establishments.
• In the service sector, rural firms are particularly important where they account for 64 percent of rural jobs and 89 percent of rural establishments.
• It is estimated that by 2015, one in three persons in rural America will be self-employed in some capacity.
  

We have a commitment to the community.  This workshifter is determined to work with the small businesses where she lives to keep our community vibrant, exciting and growing.

Photo Credit: David Michael Morris

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.

Although slowed by the recession, executives are still watching closely the trends in the workshifting world. As we rebound many executives are being asked to answer the following question: How will we come out of the recession strong and how does flexible working play into our changing workforce definitions?

Clearly the demand for workshifting has been around for a while from the employee's perspective but the following 4 things are making it impossible for business executives to ignore the workshifting movement.

1. Womenomics
   
   I had the pleasure of speaking on a Webinar with Katty Kay, Washington Correspondent for BBC World News America. One of her newest projects with Claire Shipman is the book Womenomics which talks about the fact that women are demanding more flexibility in their work. Kay and Shipman go on to argue that women have more power than ever to demand this control over their schedules because companies that have proportionately more woman managers are also more profitable. Women want to work but gone are the days of 60 hour work weeks in the office, scrambling to find childcare and skipping the leisure time. The book offers many examples of how woman are leading this economy and to stay competitive and profitable, companies will need to offer woman the flexibility they are beginning to require.
   
   Katty and I cover this topic in a lot more detail in this Webinar recording.
   
   
2. Big Company Adoption
   
   Have you heard of ROWE? ROWE stands for "results-only work environment" and is Best Buy's workshifting program that says employees can work wherever they want, whenever they want, as long as they get their work done. This article in BusinessWeek does a great job of highlighting other big company's results from ROWE-type initiatives.
   
   IBM has about 40% of their workforce with not official corporate office and Sun Microsystems Inc. estimates that they save $400 million over six years in real estate costs by letting employees work from anywhere. The biggest driver for these large organizations out the gate is usually the facilities cost when they don't have to dedicate corporate space to each individual employee. But after rolling flexible working arrangements out, companies see the increased results because of higher job satisfaction.
   
   ROWE programs not only reduce costs but make for a more productive organization.
   
   
3. Gen Y
   
   I've talked about this before in a previous post so I'll just highlight briefly what's getting attention here. Whatever you choose to call the newest generation (Gen Y, Millenials, Screenagers, etc.), they all grew up with the internet. They're more comfortable with technology and less accepting of corporate norms like 9-5 or suit and ties. Gen Y has been struggling at the hands of this economy but coming on the rebound companies will have to employ flexible working arrangements in order to acquire and motivate this growing segment of the workforce. I'd also like to thank all of those who commented on my previous Gen Y post saying that this was an overall workforce trend (not just Gen Y). I agree that this demand comes from all the generations as technology becomes more intertwined with how we do business.
   
   
4. Social Media
   
   The power and growth of social media over the last couple years is astounding. Here's a fun little video showing the insane adoption and usage of social media from Socialnomics:
   
   
   
   
   The fact that so many of us are going to the Web to communicate and do business makes executives questions our traditional ways of doing business. We trust Wikipedia for information and use social media sites like Twitter to communicate as part of our jobs. This trend is only increasing and shows our acceptance of social media as a business communication tool.
   

So I'm not saying that all companies are going to have formal flexible working programs tomorrow. What I am saying is that the 4 items above are getting executive attention and companies will have to address workshifting in their workforce plans for the next 3 years. What else is getting executive attention from the workshifting world?

Photo by: AJ Leon

"Disturb us, Lord, when we are too pleased with ourselves, when our dreams have come true because we dreamed too little,when we arrived safely because we sailed too close to the shore." - Sir Francis Drake, 1577

"Should we be spending millions of dollars getting to Mars during a down economy?"  Recently a friend of mine tweeted out this question.  I answered in the affirmative, and was immediately challenged by good friend of mine in New York.  This tumulted into a regular 'ole 140 character style debate.  In summary, he appealed to the fact that so many in our country are unemployed and un-insured or under-insured.  This conversation got me thinking about the importance of poetry.  And particularly the importance of poetry in business.

(Let me just say, irrespective of your political thoughts on this issue, I assure you, my point is a philosophical one and not a political one.)

He's right.  Things are bad right now.  Maybe we should just shut down the whole freaking space program.  It's all a bunch of dweeby math geniuses with "Peter Pan" syndrome living out their Star Wars inspired childhood fantasies.  Isn't it?  I mean in times like these, there seems to be no pragmatic rationale that would lead us to look to the stars.  We have to fix the problems we have, we don't have time for that stuff. 

See what I did right there.  We always seem to relegate the idea of adventuring and pioneering and exploring to a subservient status.  They always have a seat somewhere, it's just never at the grown ups table.  But c'mon, they're noisy, they're messy, they're annoying, they're kinda weird and they don't understand the serious, the "real" issues.  The dreamers, the inventors, the explorers, the crazies...the poets... they still get to sit down of course, it's just at the clown shaped, water-colored kiddie table in the corner.  Until, that is, they discover America or turn on a light bulb or make men fly or help us easily connect with loved ones across the world in one click.

There is this false sense of maturity in business.  We can analyze, but we can't dream up something new, because that's a waste of time.  Especially during hard times.  During hard times, we're told to "hunker down" and "keep our nose to the grindstone" as if that will make it better.  As if focusing on the same problems will ever get us where we want to go.  As if the practicality of removing our eyes from the glitter of the horizon is somehow more sound and logical.  Someone has to keep dreaming, dammit!  Especially during the hard times.  I am completely cognizant that sometimes a storm may befall us and shift more of our focus on problems that need to be fixed now.  But if that's all we do, then we will never actually get anywhere.

No matter how tight your margins are now, no matter how close you get to missing your rent payment, no matter how slammed your back is against the wall NEVER underestimate the importance of conceptualizing new frameworks, anticipating new trends, exploring new methods, of dreaming and adventuring and pressing into the unknown and uncomfortable.  As workshifters, we have unique challenges, but in many ways, we are also pioneers.  We thought, "hmmm, maybe there is a different way to do this working thing", "maybe everyone else has been doing it wrong".  Keep doing that.  Keep questioning.  Keep challenging paradigms.  Yep, even in the hard times.

Recently, someone I desperately admire said, "this is business, there's no room for romance".  That is both incredibly disheartening and one of the dumbest things I have heard in all my life on this earth.  Business is not played in a vacuum, it isn't so damn special that it gets its own silo.  Exploring, adventuring, dreaming - that's all a part of life, and for most of us, its the part that makes it worth living.  Poetry is not only an element of business, it is the most important element.  

Since the beginning of time, the pragmatists have always laughed at the dreamers, at the poets, but for the most part, its the poets that inspire us and its the poets we remember.  Yes, we have to keep dreaming about Mars. Why? Because it's next.

Do you spend enough thinking about new ways to do old things?  Thinking about what the world will look like in 5 years, 2 years, 6 months and how you can prepare and capitalize on that?

Photo by: Diana Kimball

Recently I had two more team members that started workshifting full time.  One moved to San Francisco and the other to Oregon.  This can be a little bit like tearing off a Band-Aid.  The sting of reality can hit quickly.
 
The transition from a fully supported employee, with things such as a creative culture, big brain peers, office chatter and laughter, a gym, a kitchen, stellar IT support, etc., to a coffee shop or home office, can make for a rough landing.  As a manager, it's important that the person making the transition understand that it's not always as glamorous as it appears.
 
What I have found really helps is to team them up with other remote employees or at least make the introductions.  In the case of the San Francisco workshifter, she has a counterpart in the city and we happen to have an office there as well.  Based on her personality type, she should make a very easy transition.
 
For the Oregon workshifter, it's just the opposite.  No counterparts, no office.  In this case, it's worth it to take the time to let them know about the challenges people can face when they make the transition out of the nest.  The following withdrawal symptoms are fairly common:
 
1.  Lacking a sense of team and comradery
2.  Fear that the lack of "face time" will hinder their career
3.  Adjusting to conference call or web conferencing etiquette (inability to raise hand)
4.  Missing the corporate culture
5.  Lack of IT resources
 
To help with the transition, it always good to explain that the symptoms are normal and can vary depending on the person.  I know I sound like an advertisement for the latest anti-depressant, but it's true.  The best thing to do is to take the time to understand what type of person they are, and give them what they need.  It could be a call once a day or a regular video call so you can add a human element.  Scheduling regular visits to the office, even if they don't or can't make it, are very important.  It says to the workshifter that I value the relationship.
 
On that note, the importance of "face time" can't be underemphasized.  Depending on the person's level or job responsibility, it's good to visit the mother ship at least once a quarter.  If for nothing else, to reconnect with your peer group at a personal level.  Because at the end of the day, its all about trust, and the relationships that are being built.
 
What's your advice for someone about to leave the Corporate nest?

Photo by: biggertree
 

If you get paid to blog or you get free stuff and then blog about it, this applies to you.  The FTC revised their Endorsement and Testimonial Guides which take effect on December 1, 2009.  This also extends to all other forms of endorsement and social media.
 
First, I'm not a lawyer, but I am a marketer, blogger, vlogger, tweeter, and I work with a lot of influential bloggers (such as New Marketing Labs), podcasters and more.  So I really care about this stuff.
 
My personal take on this Ruling is fairly straight forward:
 
1.  If you act on behalf of an advertiser (you get paid), say so and be very obvious
2.  If you got something for free, and blogged a review, say so and be very obvious
3.  If your an advertiser you should be clear about your disclosure requirements, and monitor
4.  Be transparent and honest
5.  Read the Ruling, not complying could cost you $11,000 per violation
 
All in all it's common sense.  Disclosure is at the heart of credibility.  This is truly the media half of social media.  As our industry evolves and scales, it's no surprise that some regulation follows, and as far as disclosure is concerned, I think it's good for business.
 
AJ Leon has made Winston Churchill a popular reference on this blog, so I thought you'd enjoy the following quote
 
"We must take change by the hand or rest assuredly, change will take us by the throat."
 
If you want more information about the FTC Ruling, check out this article by Kelley Drye & Warren.

I would love to hear what you think about disclosure.  Is it good or bad for social media?  Does it represent a maturing of the industry?

Photo by: rversde23

As of October 2009, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) figures place national unemployment numbers at 9.8%. These numbers are that much more pronounced and dire for young people. BLS says the unemployment rate has increased among 20-24 year olds by 50% since August 2008. In August of this year, roughly 15% of people in that same age bracket and 10% of 25-34 year olds were out of work.

Indeed, Generation Y, also known as the "'Net Generation" or "Millennials," face the toughest job market in decades. That's a tough pill for a group of young people who were raised during boom times and for whom invincibility has been a common and cohesive feeling.

These 76 million Americans born between 1979 and 1995 tend to have distinctive attitudes toward work, including where and when it ought to be performed.

• Sixty-three percent of Gen Y women placed the highest importance on accomplishing personal goals; 23% who stated professional goals were tops.
  
  
• Fully one-fourth of these women indicated that they would prefer to have flex scheduling and the ability to set their own work hours in lieu of a 10% increase in salary.
  

While unemployment has hit this 'Net cohort harder than others, they may bounce back faster than older workers would; as technology is their native tongue, which allows them to work remotely, saving employers money on overhead, sick pay and losses related to traffic and weather-induced delays for traditional employees.

Some companies are jumping on the remote working and flex-time bandwagon, with a program called "ROWE," or "results only work environment." Businesses on board with ROWE included Best Buy and Gap Outlet headquarters, and the City of Minneapolis. Workers at these companies "work wherever they want whenever they want, as long as the work gets done."

Under ROWE, "productivity isn't judged by how many hours someone puts in the chair but rather the quality and quantity of their work."  This attitude was echoed across all age groups in data from a survey conducted late last year by the polling company™, inc./WomanTrend for Citrix Online.  More than half (56%) of respondents revealed that they were never able to work remotely, also referred to as "Webcommuting," though nearly three-fourths (73%) of American employees wanted the ability to do so at their current or next job. Gen Y workers (those aged 18-29) were more likely than most to "never" be able to work from a location other than the office (60% vs. 56% overall).  In addition 18% of Gen Yers were willing to sacrifice up to 5% of their salary to work remotely, an astonishing figure considering the year-long economic downturn and bleak employment prospects for that age group.

Gen Y has grown up doing what they want from where they want, and being "forced" to commute and work from the same place at the same time each day belies both their flexibility and productivity.   However, in the aforementioned survey, 56% of 18-29 year olds said they were unable to work remotely as their "job functionality required them to be on site." This was the most of any age group. At the same time, 62% agreed, either "strongly" or "somewhat" with the statement "I would benefit from a fast and affordable way to meet over the Internet with colleagues located anywhere, and share our computer files, presentations and other information just as if we were in the same room." This indicates a strong desire to work from somewhere other than the office.

According to "career doctor" Randall S. Hansen, PhD , this newest crop of workers "has no interest whatsoever in working in a cubicle -- not because it is beneath them, but because they feel advances in technology should let them be able to choose to work from home, Starbucks, or anywhere there is a Wi-Fi connection."

Another tremendous advantage of shifting work from a traditional brick-and-mortar to an alternative and more convenient venue for the employee (if not the employer) is that talent can be recruited from around the world, not just around the corner. Additionally, there is evidence that the type of flexibility achieved through Webcommuting increases employee satisfaction and retention. With Generation Y remaining informed and entertained, communicating and transacting on the computer, working seems the next natural step.

Photo by: Justin Levy

Robin's story where she paid tribute to a great manager is exceptional, and I just don't have anything that quite measures up on the positive side of things. However, I do have my experiences from the trenches that challenge the assumptions that a lot of us make regarding the whole workshifting proposition.  

I think perhaps my worst experience was with "upper management" while managing a team at a startup. Start ups are never easy, and they require a whole lot of sweat and tears, and beyond all else - love. I remember during a particularly tenuous time, an executive making a blanket statement about there being team members leaving at 5pm. (Horror of all horrors, someone who observes the workday schedule). It was definitely made to sound as though the whole team was comprised of slackers, and that we weren't really giving it all that we had. It was one of the few times that I have had to excuse myself from a meeting - for fear of the things I might say if my mouth were to open.

This happens all the time, in lots of places, to tons of people. This is not a special or unique story, until you really start to look at the details. It was a fairly bleeding edge group of people that we were working with. The individual who was calling out the folks (really 1 person) who were leaving early was fully appraised of every possibility in terms of working with technology in order to work from anywhere. He was also one of the younger individuals on the executive team - not the oldster who stereotypically has the greatest challenge dealing with a lack of "face time." He also happened to have a very robust background in technology, and development, and that whole space where the typical workshifter can be found. The employee in question, who was conveniently providing a generalized "malaise" to be associated with the group was actually a gentleman who was going through some very rough times at home with his family. Through it all he was always available for calls, and always responded to emails promptly - even though not in the office. However, he had become the scapegoat and the mascot all in one go.

In the end, after reflecting on this situation- and learning about Robin's story - you realize that what it comes down to, in terms of being successful and working with people who respect you and your work despite location or time - is really a capacity for compassion, and open lines of communication. On both sides. It is also, in large part,  the capacity to recognize when you're in an environment, or on a team where workshifting just isn't going to be a sustainable solution and figuring out where to go from there.

I'm curious to know where your "in the trenches" stories fall when dealing with managers.  Great, good, indifferent or similar to the above?

Photo by: Mr.Tea