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Workshifting Trust and Communication

By Keith Burtis on July 29, 2010 3:10 PM | Comments | No TrackBacks
262165233_06c049fad9_m.jpgRecently I polled some fellow workshifters on the twitter network asking about what some of their biggest challenges were when working out of the home office. It was an interesting find because quite a few folks said that the biggest challenges included trust and communications. After having been a professional workshifter for the past three years I can honestly say that I concur with this challenge. So how do we deal with them? I've created a few methodologies in which I live by on a daily basis. I hope these help. Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments. Would love to get your take.

1. Always be honest. Recently I fell ill to a nasty flu bug and needed to take a couple days off to recover. I was very open and honest with my team and did everything I could to minimize the impact on the team for those two days. Look, people will see right through a lie. I've always found that being honest whether it's for a sick day, a family event, or anything really is the best policy.

2. Keep Good Logs. I keep logs of everything I do on a daily basis. For me this happens in two places. I use Evernote for my digital logs and a yellow note pad for quick notes and a second hard copy of my daily logs. Evernote is an application that runs in the cloud. You have access to these notes on any computer with the app installed as well as the majority of all mobile devices. I am an iPhone user and absolutely love it!

3. Don't flood the email. I have found that throughout my career it's best not to flood coworkers email. This is inefficient and wastes a lot of time. If I have questions I try to note them on my pad and send one email with all the items if possible. As workshifters I know there often feels like there is a disconnect between you and the main office so email is a great way to let everyone know you're busy. Resist the temptation and be conscientious of others time.

4. Clarity in Communications. make sure that you are clear on the methods of communications used by your team. Maybe they use Google docs and spreadsheets, maybe they are heavy users of GoToMeeting and Citrix products. there are many ways to communicate but be sure to find clarity there. If your organization has no clear communications system or methodology it might be time for you to do some research and lay out a plan!

5. Do Amazing Work. This one is obvious right? It's really hard for your boss to come down on you with fury if your work exceeds expectations. This is the number one way to build trust and make sure you are always in the communications loop!
 
What do you think?


Photo Credit: Assbach

7 Lessons on Building a Community

By David Baeza on July 16, 2010 2:13 PM | Comments | No TrackBacks
40727794_d95dc73ecb_m.jpgWe started this blog with the goal of building a community by providing content and resource material that was tailored for workshifters. The community was not built based on promoting products or services, although the occasional promotion is ok (just don't be "that guy"), it's based on fulfilling the need for information and the desire of sharing a common interest.

Over the past year I've watched as solo-preneurs chat with large enterprise companies about a wide range of topics.  It's less about what they are talking about, and more about the fact that they are talking, discovering and to enabling. Many of the questions and conversations are fielded and managed by the community.  One of the biggest lessons learned, is that once the community takes off, the community is in control. However, their desire for a consistent diet of rich and tasty content only grows with the community. So stay on it.

Another lesson learned is that your services are talked about alongside competing services.  Gasp!  I know it's hard to swallow, but your services are not right for everyone.  At my company, we absolutely love our products, but we know one size does not fit all.  We hope we attract customers that are a perfect fit.  Sometimes we don't and we definitely hear about it.  If you're going to build a community you need to be ok with that, because much of the conversation extends beyond the blog and takes place on Twitter, Facebook and other community blogs.  

What's really fun is watching the conversations that have little or nothing to do with technology. Common topics include comfortable office chairs, pets, marriage, diet, travel and about everything in-between. This is a nice lead in to one of, what seems to be, the hardest areas in managing a community and that's being REAL.

You could also replace REAL with HUMAN, HONEST, TRANSPARENT, etc. The point is it must come from the heart. You really and truly need to care. The community has low tolerance for corporate speak and canned responses. If you do more listening than talking, it will start to come naturally.

Online communities are not the exclusive domain of companies. We all belong to communities, online and in the real world. There is your Facebook community which you maintain, monitor and contribute to. In this day and age, it will become most people's first experience with a community. Then you may be belong to a car club, or cooking group and neither of which are online.  

As workshifters we often build a community around our co-working locations. You probably know the person that works the espresso machine, a few of the regulars, etc. This real world community probably extends to the web in the form of check-ins on Foursquare (who doesn't want to by mayor of their joint?), photo uploads to Flickr and messages in Twitter. If you're thinking about starting an online community blog, take that same casual demeanor and move it online. Be consistent, be transparent, be real.

My top 7 lessons:

1.  The community is in control
2.  Be the best electronic version of yourself
3.  Listen more than you talk
4.  Keep it really interesting
5.  Monitor and contribute daily
6.  Don't let questions or comments go unanswered for more than 24 hours
7.  If you don't genuinely care, don't do it

These lessons aren't particularly earth shattering, and you may read similar advice on other blogs. What's important is the application of the lessons. Much like when you read a book on a topic that's important to you. The reading of the book is not the measurement of success.  You are not striving to be an excellent book buyer. What matters is the practical application of the advice.  

That's my opinion, what's yours?


Photo Credit: Niall Kennedy

The Journey of Being First

By Jennifer Newton on May 28, 2010 1:16 PM | Comments | No TrackBacks
lewisnclark.jpgFirst and last is just fine when you're renting an apartment, but not when you are a company's first full-time workshifter. Someone has to be first, of course. You just don't want to mess things up so badly that you are also the company's last full-time remote employee.

I know the thrill of being first. It's exhilarating. It's liberating. It's what I'd been dreaming of for years. In the interest of full disclosure, I wasn't completely green at workshifting. I won't speak for all writers, but I've always had the ability to work (and sleep, incidentally) anywhere. I'd enjoyed project-based freelance writing gigs for years. Full-time workshifting was a first for me though. And a first for my company.

It just so happened that the year I relocated 2,000 miles across the country to embark on a new journey, the country was celebrating the 200th anniversary of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The parallels between the famous expedition and my own lesser known one were not lost on me. I felt like an explorer for my company--breaking out of the traditional office to see what was beyond the four walls I'd painted industrial green to encourage productivity.

Being first also made me nervous because I knew the task ahead of me was more than just doing my job remotely. I was setting out to prove that workshifting full-time could actually be done and that it could be beneficial for both me and my company. The journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition document important discoveries made along the way. Similarly, I knew that decision-makers at my company were documenting discoveries made during my workshifting journey. If I failed, it meant that colleagues would likely not be able to workshift full-time in the future. It was an enormous responsibility, and I took it very seriously.

Here are a few lessons that stood out for me during my transition to full-time workshifting:

Stay calm during emergencies. I lose composure and my grasp on reality when I encounter a technical problem. Out of necessity, I've learned a few basic troubleshooting tricks over the years. But that doesn't prevent the immediate rise in blood pressure, creative strings of profanity and general mayhem that ensues when a glitch arises. This was especially true in my first few months 2,000 miles away from IT. As a workshifter, I learned how to take a deep breath, communicate problems better and recognize that the world was not ending. The use of remote-support technology helped me to let go and let IT do what it does best.

Get out of the house. Occasional workshifters might think that full-time workshifters experience that I'm-not-in-my-office-and-yet-I'm-working euphoria every single day. The novelty wears off after a while. And that's perfectly fine. Full-time workshifting means that day in and day out, workshifters workshift. I set up shop in my home office and became freakishly uptight about noise volume inside the house and also on the street. On more than one occasion, I hissed in my sleep: "SHHHH! I'm WORKING!" And with no official end-of-day departure after work, the lines of time blurred. A day of not leaving the house turned into a string of three days inside the house. Upon realizing this, I promptly left the house with no destination in mind except out.

Play by the rules. Being my company's first full-time workshifter made me feel like the official steward for all things workshifting. I was devoted to ensuring the stage was set properly for future workshifters. Soon after I went remote full-time, a few other employees were granted similar privileges. One colleague in particular drew my ire because she showed a complete disregard for the critical relationship between workshifter and HQ. She was difficult to track down during business hours, missed remote meetings, turned projects in late and was, generally speaking, a complete flake. Her unprofessional behavior wasn't just affecting her reputation at the company--it threatened to reflect poorly on her small tribe of fellow workshifters.

Deal with the 24/7 expectation. Truth be told, I was available 24/7, but that's not the point. It's just the way I'm wired. Inspiration strikes writers at unpredictable times. I was used to scribbling ideas at 3:25 AM in a bedside notebook. I had no qualms about working on the weekend. I longed for work while on vacation. But workshifting full-time wasn't about me as much as it was about nurturing a balanced relationship between me and my company. Every healthy relationship has boundaries. I had to guard my personal time carefully. I made sure colleagues knew my hours of availability and every possible way to contact me. I promptly answered email, IM and phone calls. To offset a two-hour time difference, I adjusted my workday to cover HQ's business hours.

Grieve a little. Even though I was already comfortable working alone, I missed my coworkers who were now 2,000 miles away. I also pined for the seaweedy smell of the air and dangerously close mountain views back at HQ. At first, it was hard to be so far away from everything I was used to seeing on a daily basis. (And to be honest, I shed a few tears on the company's dime.) I worked with some truly talented, fun folks who were also my friends. Not bumping into them in the kitchen, grabbing a quick lunch or staring at them across a conference table made for a difficult transition. The upside is that I also no longer saw the one or two folks who I considered, ahem, a tad challenging. Sure, I still worked with them, but I no longer had to endure the awkward chitchat in the HQ hallway.

Create a new routine. Within a few weeks, I found my rhythm. I worked through the separation anxiety. I adapted to my new surroundings. But most important, I was patient with myself and also my colleagues back at the office. We all came to the table (figuratively, of course) with a unique set of experiences and expectations about the working life. I wasn't the only one learning new ways of working--everyone back at the office was exploring new ways of interacting, collaborating and working with me, a full-time workshifter.

These days, occasional workshifting is commonplace and full-time workshifting is gaining ground quickly. Fewer people stare blankly at me when I explain what it is that I do and how I do it. We've all seen the IDC predictions about the mobile workforce. In case you haven't, here it is: "The world's mobile worker population will pass the one billion mark this year and grow to nearly 1.2 billion people - more than a third of the world's workforce - by 2013." (IDC) That's a whole lot of workshifters workshifting. I'd like to think I had some influence over the numbers, thanks to my efforts in setting the stage as the first full-time workshifter at my company, but that's just silly. The way we work has shifted. And I, for one, couldn't be happier to take part.


Photo Credit: Bob Travis

Interview with Brett Caine: Driven to Simplicity

By David Baeza on April 28, 2010 10:38 AM | Comments | No TrackBacks
I sat down with the President of Citrix Online, Brett Caine.  It was fun to sit informally and chat about collaboration, culture, the need for simplicity and much more.  He even fields a few questions from the Twitterverse about tools he can't live without and his favorite Workshifting location.



What makes this interview interesting is that it is completely unscripted and unrehearsed.  I whipped out my Flip camera and we just rolled with it.  A company's willingness to do this speaks volumes about their commitment to transparency and to their community.  I'm a trust agent in my organization so I have credible chops which allows me access.

Being a trust agent or trusted advisor is how you gain access to thought leaders. The lesson is that your social credibility and that of your company is at the fingertips of anyone with a keyboard and a browser.  Be mindful of your reputation and the digital crumbs you leave behind.  Don't feel intimidated to ask the thought leaders for their opinions.  If you're kind and thoughtful in your approach, you'll not only be heard, but you'll be invited back.

What do you think?

The Kettle Boils Whether You Watch It or Not

By Eric Bensley on July 9, 2009 9:59 AM | Comment | No TrackBacks
boilingkettle.jpgWhat does business productivity have to do with kettles boiling? Bear with me and you'll find out. 

At Citrix we talk about what business productivity means all the time. The overall theme throughout it all is that productivity is what you produce, not how you produce it. Every time I say this in a Webinar I get this response without fail, 100% of the time: "A results-based work environment makes sense to me but people on my management team think employees need to be in the office to stay productive. How do I change their minds?"
 

First, notice that it's never the person asking the question who has an issue with flexible working, it's their boss or someone on the management team. Anyways, addressing this question forces us to question two factors: Trust and the Illusion of Corporate Productivity.

Trust is #1. If you don't trust your employees you should reconsider your hiring criteria. Unless you're overseeing the assembly line at a manufacturing plant, you need to trust that your employees will do their job without you watching. You should hire trustworthy people and allow them to strengthen the trust over time. 

The only way to build the trust over time is to have clear results and deliverables that are agreed upon by both parties. If results are clear and agreed upon then trust is a product of the employee continually meeting their goals. If the goals are not clear, mutually agreed upon and measurable then you have a management problem, not a trust problem.

The Illusion of Corporate Productivity, as I like to a call it, is the idea that someone is productive because they're sitting in a particular seat for a given period of time Monday through Friday. 

The question I like to ask to dispel this illusion is "How do you know your employees are productive when they're sitting in the same corporate office as you?" Most managers will not answer that they sit behind the employee and monitor their computer screens. The Illusion that some managers have is that "in the office" means "control of productivity." This is akin to thinking that the tea kettle won't boil unless you watch it. So the best way to address this challenge is to ask management "What do you do now to monitor my productivity while I'm in the office that you won't be able do while I'm remote?" Some answers like "I can watch you" should be immediately followed by new job searching. Anything like "I clearly understand all the work you're doing" should be addressed with better, clearer goals. And communication challenges can usually be addressed with technology like Web conferencing, email, IM, Skype, etc.

The short answer to the question of how do we transition to a more flexible, mobile, remote work program starts with building a company culture based on trust and results...not how long employees sit on the corporate thrones.

If you're looking for more examples of results-only work environments, pick up Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It: No Schedules, No Meetings, No Joke by Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson.  Cali and Jody share their story of how they created a result-only work environment at Best Buy and how you can do it too.  It's an excellent read and will give you tons of info to use in your organization.

Does your company function in a results-only work environment?

Photo by: ralphunden

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