Our fifth post in the Telework Week 2012 series is from Seamus King, Country Leader for Australia, Citrix Online Services Division.

I was really pleased to hear that Australia has taken a major step towards embracing the benefits of a workshifting lifestyle with the Australian Federal Government finally announcing the first National Telework Week will take place in November 2012.

Senator Stephen Conroy - Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy - said that the opportunities presented by increased telework were exciting for both employers and employees. He also outlined how an increase in telework can lead to benefits across the economy and community, from big businesses to individual workers and families as well as the environment.

Increased teleworking is already one of the eight Digital Economy Goals that form part of the Australian AU20 National Digital Economy Strategy. By making telework a National Digital Economy Goal, the Australian Government has signalled its intention to bring Australia into line with international levels of telework.

Deployment of the long-awaited National Broadband Network is now underway and will enable us Australians to interact with our workplaces more easily remotely. The falling price of mobile devices and mobile broadband, in addition to the expected explosion of Android-based tablets in 2012, also means that more of us will have the tools needed to enjoy the benefits of a mobile lifestyle.

We're starting to see all the pieces fall into place. Australia is a country that is really embracing cloud technologies, and is recognized by analyst house Frost & Sullivan as the leading adopter of cloud technologies in the Asia Pacific region. While Australia went from lagging to leading the worldwide adoption of smartphones in just one year, the tablet market is also booming according to new research from tech analysts at Telsyte, which revealed more than 1.4 million devices were sold in 2011. This figure represents an annual growth of 330 percent over 2010 figures.

Telsyte expects the Australian tablet market to exceed 2 million units in 2012, with predictions to hit 5 million by 2016. If current trends continue, Telsyte forecasts that half the Australian population will be using media tablets by 2016. These forecasts tell a very compelling story and will mean that real-time collaboration services, such as video, audio, data and apps, are far more accessible and can help Australian workers stay in touch and work from wherever they are, hence driving higher and higher levels of productivity.

Senator Conroy has announced that Australia will be celebrating National Telework week during November 12-16, actively encouraging businesses to allow employees to work from home. One of the main reasons why teleworking has really taken off in the U.S. is the government has shown its support and actively promoted the benefits of working remotely.

With Australia now following suit, we're sure to see more businesses take this movement seriously and adopt their own form of flexible working. I for one am really looking forward to seeing more of us embrace some form of mobile work style, and we will continue to see the nature of work change - from no longer being a place we go, but a thing we do.

Photo credit: mugley

Our fourth post in the Telework Week 2012 series is a guest post from Mike Williams. Mike brings 22 years of diverse training, leadership, and organizational development, and his deep appreciation of the GTD® methodology to his new role as President and CEO of the David Allen Company. He has developed and motivated organizational talent in his work with both small public and private firms and large industry leaders.

Are you ready for the new world reality?

The world is shifting around us. Are the assumptions you made last year still valid? The morning news today talked about the price of gasoline rising to $5.00 per gallon. Where gas will be in another 3, 5, or 10 years? If you are an employee of a business, how will that impact the way you work? If you are a business leader, how will that impact your bottom line and your ability to attract and retain employees?

Add to this equation a world that is getting flatter with each passing day. Talented individuals, previously considered unavailable, are now all around us. This could be someone who lives in a remote part of the country, a stay-at-home parent or a person located anywhere in the world. has Anyone with an Internet connection has the potential to be your teammate, business partner or customer. Access to talented people worldwide has never been greater.

You know what that means? That "talented resource" that people want access to is you! You are the current and next-generation knowledge worker.

Are you ready to play a new game?

Let's shift gears now and get down to some essentials about work in today's environment:

1. The "make it" and "move it" jobs are decreasing.
2. The "make it up" and "make it happen" jobs are increasing.

If you agree with me here, then the key skill needed today is the ability to transform "stuff" (ideas, problems, opportunities) into "successful outcomes" (website built, product launched, person hired, business plan defined, telecommuting policy implemented, etc.). This is the work of knowledge workers - transforming "stuff" into reality.

As we think more about workshifting, we also need to think more about what we mean by the word "work." More fundamentally, how does work get done?

Step 1 - Outcome thinking

Do you have a crystal clear picture of your outcome? Is it vivid in your mind? If yes, you have completed a very important step that people often skip. Here are some common questions to experiment with that may bring clarity to your world:

• What is the successful outcome for this meeting?
• What is the successful outcome for this project?
• What is the successful outcome for this presentation?
• What is the successful outcome for this event?

A previous colleague who worked with me at General Electric (GE) picked up on this approach by the way I ran my meetings; he started using these questions in his own meetings and it really changed their whole dynamic. It became clearer what the group wanted to accomplish and the up-front agreement on the successful outcome helped avoid problems down the line.

Step 2 - What is your next action?

What is the next physical visible action you need to take to make an incremental step toward that outcome? (For example, call Fred, schedule a teleconference meeting to brainstorm ideas with the team, etc.). If you step back and think about it, you get to your outcome by a accomplishing certain number of actions. The number of actions will vary by the size and scope of the project but you cannot escape the principle. You cannot "do" an outcome you can only do actions.

Step 3 - Who owns the next action?

Have you ever left a "great meeting" with lots of "great discussion?" Me, too. What was missing? You got it - owners for the actions to move this great thinking forward. A key best practice is to leave time at the end of every meeting (perhaps 20 minutes of time for a 60-minute meeting) to collect next actions and owners. This simple tip will save you time and emails after the meeting.

Are you ready to experiment?

Knowledge is great. Applying knowledge is even better. Try experimenting with the following questions this week:

1. What is the successful outcome for this activity?
2. What is the next physical visible action I need to take to move this forward (call, schedule, email, create a spreadsheet, etc.)?
3. Carve out 20 minutes to clarify who owns the actions at the end of a meeting.

And for bonus points: end your meetings when you've reached the outcome for the meeting. There is really no need to fill up the meeting time just because it is allocated. I've ended one-hour meetings in 15 minutes.

I'd love to hear how these tips work for you.

Sending my best wishes to you as we collectively embrace and become conscious to the benefits that workshifting can bring to you, your employees, your customers and our world.

Photo credit: philsnyder

USA Today recently reported on its top 2012 business trends. To my great surprise and overwhelming joy, the "death of the 9 to 5" was a prominent item on the list. Cited for obvious reasons - the proliferation of mobile devices, laptops and wireless connectivity - which a mainstream audience could comprehend, the report failed to underscore the true value of what it means to lay the traditional 9 to 5 to rest and what challenges may lay in its path.

Greater productivity, creativity and physical and mental well-being come to mind immediately; anyone who currently workshifts can certainly attest to one or all of these benefits. But I cannot help focusing on how the mainstream needs to change to make workshifting more commonplace.

For the most part, organizations are wary of workshifters. They save this "special arrangement" for unique situations, which, in my mind, only serves to exacerbate the bias. Instead, organizations who dare to allow some (if not all employees) to workshift should examine the methods, processes and upsides of the workshifting minority and slowly begin to infiltrate the practice and the technology into the greater employee population.

I recently worked on a proposal with a senior level manager at Citrix. We were able to arrange an off-site meeting on a day when he was - you guessed it - workshifting. By way of conversation, he shared with me that the practice of workshifting is not only encouraged but also enforced by the organization, ensuring that employees "walk the walk" and utilize the technology upon which the company's mission is built. Now, that makes sense since Citrix strongly supports "powering the virtual workforce" - their technology is available for all to adopt, collaborate and then transform their organizations with!

According to Citrix CEO, Mark Templeton, "Three simple words are changing the world: whatever, whenever, wherever." Amen to that and to the death of the 9 to 5.

Photo Credit: kitch

I think one of the biggest challenges every workshifter goes through when they transition from an office to a remote working environment is the feeling that you have lost access. Access to project updates. Access to people. And perhaps most critical to the workday - access to immediate answers.

This was a challenge for me when I started working remotely. There were many days when I felt like my productivity came to a grinding halt because I was missing some tiny (or not so tiny) nugget of information that made it impossible for me to finish what I was working on.

Looking back at it now I realize that in most instances I could have probably just figured it out myself and continued on. But more often than not I was still in that mental state where I felt like I needed to walk over to my colleague's desk and get an immediate answer to the "problem."

I think that one of the biggest things I've learned as a workshifter is the ability to work independently and take projects as far as possible without additional input.

When you're in the office it's tempting to just rely on other people to help you complete that thought and figure out the next steps. As a workshifter you mostly rely on technology to communicate with the mothership. Whether it's emails, phone calls or video chats, chances are that you're not always going to get an immediate response. Sooner or later, instead of waiting for the return phone call or email, you find a way to adapt to the new environment.

I believe this type of independent work ethic is a valuable quality in any employee - whether they work in an office or not. If you've found this to be a challenge in your working environment, perhaps consider mimicking a workshifting setting to help encourage your employees or team members to start taking this further themselves, instead of immediately demand answers.

What do you guys think? Does workshifting breed an independent workforce?

Photo Credit: Melissa Leon