If your organization is transitioning from the traditional to the virtual workplace or if you  simply want your virtual team to be more successful, you should check out Kevin Sheridan’s book, The Virtual Manager.   Sheridan’s book offers practical, no-nonsense advice for business leaders, leaders of virtual teams, and virtual team members.

In today’s work environment, it can be confusing to classify employees as telecommuters, teleworkers, remote workers or employees with flexible work arrangements.  Sheridan broadly classifies all of these employees as virtual workers and then quickly covers the benefits of a more mobile, virtual workforce.  Thankfully, Sheridan doesn’t spend too much time discussing the business case for having a virtual staff (much of this has been covered ad nauseam over the past few years).  Instead, he jumps right into recommendations for solving current problems leaders face, such as building trust in virtual teams, selecting the right virtual managers and employees, increasing employee engagement, and managing virtual workers.       

Virtual team leaders may want to earmark Chapter 2 and 3, “Building Trust in Virtual Teams” and “Qualities of Top Virtual Employees,” to build cohesive, high-performing teams.  The latter half of the book is of particular interest to organizational leaders that are interested in deploying any type of teleworking or mobility strategy.  Later chapters address everything from top employee engagement drivers to diversity to training and development to performance monitoring and evaluation.  Even HR professionals would benefit from Chapter 3 where Sheridan writes about proper job descriptions and interviewing questions for potential virtual employees.  The bottom line is that there is a ton of information packed into this short, easy to read book.

Although Sheridan highlights much of his advice with real-world case studies, what I liked most about The Virtual Manager is that it’s really more of a handbook or how-to guide for leaders.  Much of the information presented can easily be used as a checklist to building a successful virtual team or workforce.  I highly recommend it as a book you should keep on the corner of your desk and referenced often.

 -Jason

Book Info:

The Virtual Manager: Cutting-Edge Solutions for Hiring, Managing, Motivating, and Engaging Mobile Employees (paperback)

by Kevin Sheridan

224 pages

Publisher:  Career Press (January 2012)

$15.99

Follow Career Press on Twitter: @CareerPressInc or click here.

Check out the Facebook page for Career Press, click here.

Many telework proponents tout the benefits of telework, such as reducing costs or increasing employee satisfaction and retention, but not enough attention is given to the benefits of teleworking for business continuity.  All organizations have a need to protect their essential operations from natural disasters, pandemics, or man-made threats.  However, not all organizations make telework a key component of their disaster recovery or business continuity strategy.  Consider a few examples of organizations that survived terrible events due to their ability to work virtually:

• Headquarters for The Wall Street Journal was located feet from the collapse of Tower 2 during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.  The newspaper used an editor’s home, freelance journalists, and basic technology, such as email and publishing software, to ensure an issue  went out on September 12^th, the day after the attacks.  It’s been  over 100 years since the WSJ missed a publishing date.
• Tulane University experienced tremendous physical damage during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.  Students, faculty, and staff dispersed.  Scott Cowen, Tulane’s president, established an emergency response team that relocated to Houston, Texas.  Located several hundred miles from his traditional office in New Orleans, Cowen led a virtual crisis response plan and strategic rebuilding plan virtually via email, cell phones, and common website platform utilization.  Additionally, several universities hundreds of miles away from Tulane offered online credit programs so that displaced students would not fall behind in their coursework.
• A supply chain company based in Orlando, Florida, had to quickly react in 2009 when an employee was diagnosed with the H1N1 virus.  Although the employees worked in a traditional, office-bound environment, most of the employees had laptops and access to the company via VPN.   Leaders were quickly able to put together a plan to keep operations running as a majority of employees worked from home.       

The learning point is two-fold.  First, leaders should assess their organization to determine their essential operations, the people that perform the work, and existing technology infrastructure.  Then, they can determine how the work can be done virtually if needed.  Second, and perhaps more importantly, organizations need to practice.  You can’t expect your contingency plans to work well if you wait until disaster strikes before testing it out.  Telework can be done as an emergency preparation drill and practiced throughout the year.  In the process, leaders of employees in traditional work assignments may discover the benefits of teleworking extend beyond continuity of operations planning. 

Regardless of Mayan visions or predictions from tabloid psychics about the disasters coming in 2012, one thing is for sure: all organizations need to prepare for the ‘what-if’ scenarios.  So while you’re stocking water and ammunition in your homemade bunker and wondering if you can stomach several months of beef jerky and freeze-dried fruit, you may want to give some thought to teleworking.   

 Happy prepping,

- Jason

In part 1 last week, I described a check request process involving several approvers and a manual workflow that relied on the company’s intra-company mail.  With employees no longer co-located in the same office building, a virtual process needs to be created.  The old process is shown below (I have spared you my bad drawing and used Microsoft Visio to create the workflow this time).

The natural tendency is to jump right into solution mode and start building a better process.  Try to resist this temptation.  Before getting to that point, try one more quick process mapping exercise.   This time we’ll take a step back and think of a high-level view of the basic steps or things that need to happen (sometimes referred to as a ‘functional’ process map).  I’ve also included who’s responsible for each of these basic steps and the inputs needed for that activity to occur. 

With these 2 views,  the team should have a good understanding of what’s really happening versus what needs to happen.  Let’s assume that the team has also discovered in Part 1 that an e-signature or some electronic approval doesn’t violate any company policy, audit requirements, or government regulations but the approval process (thresholds and who has to approve) is mandated by corporate policy.  Now the team is ready to begin brainstorming how to accomplish the basic functions described above given what’s needed for each step (inputs), who is doing the work, and the constraints on the process (i.e. policy on approvals). 

Basic brainstorming techniques should apply.  The team should generate a number of alternatives that should accomplish the basic activities and improve the key metrics identified in Part 1.  Once the alternatives are detailed, the team can evaluate each alternative based on scope, budget, and timing.  Perhaps the team comes up with an idea of creating a web-based interface with an automated workflow that ensures the request is valid prior to being submitted.  Or, the team may opt for a more cost effective option of an electronic form that can be emailed to approvers instead of relying on the company’s snail mail.  Once an alternative is selected, the team can begin mapping out the new process (yes, more mapping!).

Of course, the team will have to get approval from management before implementing.  It’s a good idea to also pilot the new process before formalizing and implementing enterprise wide.  Also, leaders should communicate and socialize the new process to ensure all impacted groups are aware and understand the new process.  If done correctly, the new process should improve organizational metrics, eliminate non value added work, make the lives of employees easier, and support virtual working. 

 Happy mapping!

- Jason

Organizations implement telework programs for various reasons, from saving real estate costs to improving employee satisfaction.  However, very few think about how processes may be affected once employees are dispersed or working from home.  There’s an opportunity to leverage the virtual environment to improve old processes and make things more efficient and effective if leaders take the time to understand what is really going on in their business and search for ways to do things better.

Let’s take a quick example.  I used to work for an organization that had a very manual check request process.  An employee had a need for money, say to reimburse a job candidate that recently came in for an interview.  The requester had to fill out a paper form then get several signatures on it for approval before accounts payable would print and send the check.  Simple, right?  Now imagine what happens if everyone is working from home or remotely and a requester can’t walk through the process or get physical signatures.  This could severely slow down the process.   How do you prevent this?

 First, understand all the steps of the process.  If the process is not already documented, map the process in detail, including all the steps (even the rework loops and steps that don’t add any value).  Process aficionados will no doubt be familiar with process mapping software like Microsoft Visio but I have created it below using pen and paper to illustrate how easy this is (and yes, I do know how bad my drawing  is).

A couple of quick notes about the process map: I have created a cross-functional process map, or “swim lanes,” to show the major players involved and the handoffs between them.  I have also annotated the manual workflow (the envelope icons) and where we might have metrics or policy issues (more on that later).

When you map the process you may be surprised at how many steps and people are actually involved.   Just going through this exercise can be beneficial because it teaches you a lot about what’s really happening.   The paper form needs 2 to 3 approvals, it travels 3 to 4 times through company mail (if everything goes right), and there are 4 opportunities for rework or for the form to get kicked back to the requester. 

Next, measure the process.  You may have existing metrics or identify where you would like to collect some data (annotated by the “M” on the map).  You may be interested in things such as the average number of check requests, the overall cycle time of the entire process, the number of times a request is rejected at each approval, and/or the quality of check requests (number of requests forms filled out correctly vs. what’s rejected by accounts payable).  Once you know how the process is performing you can set targets or goals once the process goes virtual.    

Third, look at your organization’s policies or industry regulations.  This will provide potential constraints or limitations on the new process design once you begin to build it.  On the process map above, I have highlighted some areas with the letter “P” to investigate further.  For example, is there a policy or regulation requiring a hand signature or would an e-signature suffice?  What are the thresholds (i.e. check amounts)  that require additional approval?  In other words, do I need this many people to approve a check??

A word of caution: don’t rush this discovery process.  The more you know about the process can save you lots of time when you build the new, improved version.  In Part 2 next week, I will cover how to take the next step by using what you learn to create the virtual process.

- Jason

I did manage to clean up my inbox after last year’s event (at least I could still see all my emails on one screen without spraining my finger to scroll down the list).  However, it has somehow managed to mushroom once again into an unwieldy virtual mess.  For me, it’s a reminder of my overreliance on email.  In fact, for many teleworkers and virtual workers, email is the primary means of communication. 

Is there a better way?  Yes, say anti-email advocates.

 Back in November, French tech firm Atos announced a “zero email” policy with a goal of eliminating internal emails within 18 months.  (This is why a friend of mine told me that “American companies are good, but French companies are civilized”).  Thierry Breton, CEO of Atos, told an ABC reporter that his employees receive about 200 internal emails a day with only about 10% containing useful information.  Middle managers spend up to 25% of their time sifting through their inbox and searching for information.  What will employees do without email?  Atos is hoping that they will find more useful ways to communicate, like wikis and social media.  

Atos is not alone in the quest to eliminate email.    Wired.com just ran a story last week about Luis Suarez of IBM who began to leave email behind in 2008.  Although he checks his emails daily, it only takes 2 minutes.  Two minutes a day!  Suarez replaced email with social media as his primary means of communicating.  What would you do with all the extra time if you weren’t staring at your inbox?

 As you clean out your inbox this week, think about the variety of mediums at your disposal whether it is instant messaging, social media, or video and see how you can reduce your email reliance.

 Happy cleaning,

Jason

In last week’s post I blogged about the sources of organizational resistance and some things you can do to overcome those barriers.  Continuing with the change management theme, managers and leaders can take several actions to help prepare their employees for change.  And when I mention “change,” I mean the kind of transformational change that tends to cause people anxiety.  You can use the simple mnemonic  C-TEST to help ensure you covering the basics when it comes to easing the anxiety your people may have when implementing something new.

Comfort:  We are all creatures of habit.  Once we get used to doing something in a certain way, even if it is slightly painful, it is often hard to adopt something new.  Our daily activities or processes quickly become our comfort zone.  When something is introduced that will disrupt our routine, we get uncomfortable and resist, even when we agree that the change is for our benefit.  Making sure everyone understands why the change is occurring is only half the battle for leaders.  Don’t get me wrong, leaders have to create awareness and understanding.  But, leaders also have to make employees feel comfortable with the change.  This can be done by letting employees experiment, giving them time to adjust, and rewarding the right behaviors.

Tools:  Employees may question whether or not they are capable to do what you are asking.  For example, if you implementing a telework program in which employees will be working from home, they might start asking about the equipment the organization is providing.   (True story:  a friend of mine worked for a large company that decided to reduce real estate costs by making employees work from home on a fulltime basis.  They made the announcement with minimal lead time via the company intranet.  My friend called me and asked, “Do you think I can take my ergonomically-correct chair home with me?  I don’t have a home office.”)  The moral of the story is that you need to consider all potential tools and equipment and what the organization will or will not provide.

Expectations:  Employees may also question how their role may change.  Ensure clear expectations are set for all employees.  Are their work hours fixed or flexible?   What turnaround time is expected?  What are their individual performance metrics by which you will measure them?  Make sure employees have clear line-of-sight to their responsibilities and priorities.

Skills:  Are your employees competent enough to succeed in the virtual workplace?  Conduct an assessment of their current strengths and weaknesses and what is required with the new work structure.   Think about the training, both formal and informal, and coaching you can provide to get people up to speed.

Teamwork:  Now that employees won’t always be face-to-face, are they able to effectively collaborate with one another?  This area usually takes the most time and some experimentation may be involved so people don’t automatically become “email lazy,” over relying on email is the primary and only means of communication.  Push people to interact in different ways from instant messaging to social media to desktop sharing applications to other cloud based apps.  It may be a little painful at first as you go through a trial and error period to find what works best, but you may end up with a communication process that is more effective and efficient than when your employees worked elbow to elbow.

- Jason

I’ve written a lot in previous posts about organizational change.  Implementing alternative work plans or telework always involves changing behavior, attitudes, and opinions, and therefore, is very difficult.  Change management, stakeholder management, communication, and training all become necessary elements when implementing a new work structure.  The goal is to move up the change curve (see below) from simple awareness to commitment. 

While moving through these phases, you are bound to encounter some resistance.  To overcome resistance, it is necessary to understand why people are resisting.  According to Rick Maurer in his excellent book, Beyond the Wall of Resistance, there are 3 sources of resistance.  Depending on the source, there are various actions you can take as a leader.

1. “I don’t get it.”   This is intellectual resistance.   People don’t understand why the organization is implementing the change or what is required of them.  A communication plan that includes time for employees to provide feedback or questions and training can help  increase employee understanding.
2. “I don’t like it.”  This is an emotional response to the change.  Employees, or even leaders, may understand what the organization is trying to accomplish, but don’t buy-in.  Building and communicating the business case/value proposition, developing specific strategies to manage certain stakeholders, and piloting the program can result in a more favorable response.
3. “I don’t like you.”  This source is personal.  Employees may lack trust and confidence in their leaders (or vice versa).   Managers may think their employees will goof off all day if they are not directly supervised.  Alternatively, employees may think their managers will hold it against them if they work remotely or work from home.    Obviously, this is the most difficult hurdle to overcome and takes much more time than the others.  Leaders can lead by example to show their commitment and publicly reward or recognize others that are demonstrating the right behaviors.  Good performance metrics can also help by removing any subjectivity of how people are measured. 

Whatever measures you take when implementing telework, remember that resistance is normal and to be expected.

Good luck!

 - Jason

Jack Niles first coined the term “telecommuting” in 1973 while at the University of Southern California.  That was long before the dawn of email, VoIP, instant messaging, desktop sharing applications, or telerpesence.  Consider that digital fax machines didn’t appear in offices until about 1976 (developed by Exxon of all companies!) .  Niles’s early research focused on workers at an insurance company using a satellite office and connecting to the head office mainframe using terminals (if you have memories of this, then you are obviously not part of Generation Y).  It’s interesting that over the years telecommuting has become synonymous with working from home.  That capability didn’t really exist when Niles first came up with the term. 

Since the 1990s, telework has become en vogue, replacing the term telecommute.   In Making Telework Work, I tried to define telework as the ability “to perform your job without the limits or boundaries of geography… or the need for physical presence.”  I thought of it as the umbrella term that would include telecommuting, working from home, remote office workers, etc.  Unfortunately, the term telework in many organizations has also become synonymous with employees working from home on a fulltime basis.  There are an estimated 20 -30 million teleworkers in the United States depending on which research study you read.  However, when we try to capture numbers around teleworkers, traditional workers that are working from home after hours or working while they are traveling are often left out of the equation.   And let’s face it, the term telework still has a lot of baggage associated with it.

As we kick off the new year, I encourage you to think about mobility.  Mobility may finally be the concept that gets us over the hurdle and beyond all the historical misperceptions of telecommuting and teleworking.   There are approximately 1 billion mobile workers worldwide and 1/3 of the workforce is expected to be mobile by 2013 according to IDC.  The issue of mobility is further amplified by the growing use of mobile devices, such as smart phones and tablets, in the workplace.  With smart phone adoption growing over 50% annually, there will be an influx of consumer devices whether or not they are supported by their local IT group. 

All of this is a good thing, I believe.  Organizational leaders and those advocating telework can continue to drive their telework agendas by thinking in  terms of mobility.  By developing a mobility strategy and creating a more mobile workforce they will by default create a work-anywhere environment, whether from a home office or remote location.

 - Jason

Here’s a quote I have often heard: “Approximately 70% of change efforts fail or are derailed. Failure of an organizational change can lead to major issues that cause unmet expectations, wasted time and money.” 

 Although I can’t verify the source of the quote, experience tells me it is probably accurate.  Implementing telework is often hard for many large organizations.  Like any other large scale initiative, it requires changes in thinking and behavior.  To avoid becoming a prisoner to traditional practices, leaders must utilize basic change management.  Most current models of change management are based on the work of leadership guru and Harvard Business School professor, John Kotter.  I highly recommend Kotter’s  book, Leading Change.   The following eight steps are based on his book.

Step 1: Create a Sense of Urgency

The first 3 steps can help prepare leaders to initiate telework.  First, leaders have to begin to tackle organizational inertia (the way things have been done in the past) by creating the reasons why telework has to happen and why it has to happen now.   

Things to think about:

• Is the current economic situation forcing your organization to cut costs?
• Are you endanger of losing top talent or having difficulty recruiting new talent?
• How can telework or mobility tie into and enhance your organization’s strategy?
• For federal government agencies, how are you complying with the Telework Enhancement Act?

Don’t be too quick to go through the first step before moving into the others.  Make sure you build the right business case.

Step 2: Form a Powerful Coalition

Kotter says that 75% of a company’s management needs to “buy into” the change for the change effort to be successful.  You will need key leaders to provide visible support.   Identify key stakeholders and bring them on early (see my September post on Stakeholder Analysis to help you).  Keep in mind that your coalition of influential people may not be just the heads of the hierarchy.  Influence comes from a number of sources based on status, tenure, or expertise.

Things to think about:

• Who are the key stakeholders in your organization?
• Do they currently support or resist telework?
• What strategies can you employ to get emotional commitment from these stakeholders?

Step 3: Create a Vision for Change

Create a clear vision that can help everyone understand why the organization is implementing telework and what the end state should look like.  When people understand what the organization is trying to achieve, they are more likely to follow through with telework practices and policies. 

Things to think about:

• How do you expect people to behave differently once teleworking is adopted?  (Several US federal agencies have done a good job creating videos that show a “day in the life” of a teleworker, an example of their future state.  Check YouTube for more).
• What’s the strategy to execute the vision?
• Does your coalition (from Step 2 above) all agree on the vision?

Step 4: Communicate the Vision

The next 3 steps are for implementation.  Now that you’ve created the vision and have your stakeholders behind it, you need to communicate it to the organization. 

Things to think about:

• What different communication methods can you use? (i.e. email, intranet, blogs/wikis, video, road shows, in-person meetings, e-newsletters, online or live forums, etc.)
• How can be sure you are creating 2-way communication?  How can people voice their concerns and questions?
• Are leaders leading by example?  (This communicates a lot!)

Step 5: Remove Obstacles

As you begin to change the organization it is normal to face some level of resistance.  What are doing about it?  Continually look for barriers to change and remove any obstacles.

Things to think about:

• Are you updating the stakeholder analysis and identifying individuals or groups resisting change?
• Are recognizing and rewarding the right behaviors?
• Are metrics in place to highlight or measure correct/incorrect behavior?

Step 6: Create Short-Term Wins

Momentum for telework builds when you can show some early success.   To make new behaviors stick, you want to show some tangible results as quickly as possible.  You want to show how the change is working, and why the old ways won’t work. 

Things to think about:

• What are your short-term targets?
• Which parts of the organization are more receptive to telework and how are you targeting them early on?
• What metrics will be used to measure success?

Step 7: Build on the Change

According to John Kotter, many change projects fail because victory is declared too early.   Don’t make this mistake.  Make it stick. 

Things to think about:

• What additional things can be done to make telework stick?
• What evidence do you have that shows the organization truly supports telework?
• What is your process for identifying opportunities for continuous improvement?

Step 8: Embed the Change in Culture

Always remember that leaps into the future can slide back into the past.  Organizational culture is a very powerful force and takes a long time to truly change.  Constant effort is needed to make telework part of the culture so that eventually it is accepted as how people do their job versus a new, distinct initiative.

Things to think about:

• Are you communicating success stories?  (Storytelling is a powerful tool and can gain emotional commitment from employees).
• Is telework embedded into the recruiting, hiring, and onboarding processes?
• Do you have a plan to replace key stakeholders and get new ones on board?

Remember, change takes a lot of time, patience, and effort. 

Good luck!

-Jason

When people think about telework they often thing of workers based in a home office or remote location.  We tend to forget about the mobile workers, those that truly work from anywhere – from airports to hotels to a corner in Starbucks.  Road warriors, those mobile workers constantly on the go and zigzagging their way across the country, sometimes that coffeehouse bench is not good enough.  They need a real office, at least briefly.  Several websites have popped up to help frequent travelers (or even those that need to get out of their home office) find a temporary workspace. 

All of the sites are free to join, you pay based on the type of space you need and how long you need it (by the hour, day, week, or month).  Here’s a quick rundown of some available resources:

• LiquidSpace (www.liquidspace.com): This site is connected to available office space in a few dozen sites in the US and a few abroad.  Find everything from business centers to private meeting rooms to co-working sites.   Also has a nice mobile app for your phone.
• LooseCubes (www.loosecubes.com):  You can find a co-working space with LooseCubes or if you are a business with some space to share, lease out your vacant space to others needing a place to work.   The site shows pictures of the available spaces and the rates.  Search functionality lets narrow the list of locations based on your specific needs or availability (day, week month).
• OpenDesks (www.opendesks.com): Through this site you can find and book spaces to meet or work, as well as locate public spaces nearby (lobbies, cafes, etc.).   Similar to LooseCubes, you can share a space as well.  Global locations also shown.
• Regus (www.regus.com): According to their website, they are the largest provider of workspace solutions.  They operate in over 500 cities across 85 countries.  They also provide additional services such as Virtual Office and Virtual PA that provide dedicated business addresses, mail and call handling. 

Know of another similar site?  Let me know so I can add it to the list? 

See you on the road,

Jason