Introduction to Successful Remote Teamwork

1. 00:00OK, Salim.So now I've been talking a lot about all these
2. 00:05tools that you can use but I guess it is
3. 00:08not only kind of good stuff there's also some that
4. 00:12have to be some challenges it can't be that kind of it's just
5. 00:15like super easy and everything is just go? True, your tools
6. 00:19I must say they are necessary without these tools we will not
7. 00:21be able to work but there is something that definitely
8. 00:24we need to address and is the coordination
9. 00:27the coordination of a team working remotely it is really one
10. 00:30of the key parts of the success of the remote work
11. 00:33not just because people are working outside it means that
12. 00:36they will be inspired or be more creative and more productive
13. 00:39no, if you do not coordinate that team you will have
14. 00:43definitely several issues and some of them
15. 00:46let us start in the coordination let us start with selecting
16. 00:49the people who should be working at home, who should be working remotely
17. 00:53who should be working in a different
18. 00:55part of the world normally you have already organization
19. 00:59and you want to let say, to virtualize to make it remote
20. 01:03you need to select a team not necessarily the volunteers,
21. 01:06volunteers they have a need, a will
22. 01:10but you need to see the need from your organization.
23. 01:13Let's say if you have a team a big team
24. 01:15let's say fifty people in one organization in one part of your business
25. 01:19let's take five to ten, five ten people that they want
26. 01:24also don't move, don't push them too, you have to go out now
27. 01:27let them go and in this small team
28. 01:31take some of them who are team leaders who are the leading part
29. 01:35bring outside just the people and someone who can lead them
30. 01:39because of the reason, they will need still to see
31. 01:42or to hear from his or her leader
32. 01:45and second because we also need the leader
33. 01:48to have experience there..... So that they know what
34. 01:53what is the whole about.... what the team is experiencing.... Exactly
35. 01:56because if you have the people outside and the team leader
36. 01:59is sitting at the office he doesn't know or she doesn't know
37. 02:01what is going on out there this is very very very important.
38. 02:05And also try to have those people, the first try, to have
39. 02:08the people from the same unit if possible that they know what
40. 02:11are they doing people that already have experience.
41. 02:15Don't try to put their people that you just hire
42. 02:17because they don't know the rhythm of the
43. 02:20organization and this is really really a something really important
44. 02:24and please do not exclude women or men, mix them
45. 02:28we have in our researches we have found
46. 02:31the capacity of women for leading in the remote structure
47. 02:35it is fantastic, it is great also man they have their capabilities
48. 02:38but it is I want to make sure that we had not make any discrimination
49. 02:43here because it is a fantastic performance
50. 02:45of mixed teams it brings a dynamic definitely a dynamic.
51. 02:50When you also bring this team outside you have to make sure
52. 02:54that you know exactly what are the targets and you communicate
53. 02:58them clearly if you bring people outside but you're not saying
54. 03:01what are you really expecting from them
55. 03:03they will not deliver anything, they will deliver
56. 03:06something that is not what you expect and this is a really
57. 03:09really big mistake we have seen in the past in some organizations.
58. 03:12Yeah we want to achieve this, no it's not just the final target
59. 03:16we want a progressive achievement of this... So you need
60. 03:19a path how to get to the final exactly.... and when you say that
61. 03:23you just say to the team and you also say a new in this team
62. 03:26you are responsible this part you are responsible of this part
63. 03:29and you're responsible if you have an issue
64. 03:31at the office then you run to the other office and say well
65. 03:33what is that, when you are in a virtual structure in a remote
66. 03:36structure is a bit more difficult even you have
67. 03:39the tools you presented now but still there is a coordination
68. 03:42but if you have that information already it's by far better
69. 03:46therefore it is definitely necessary to make sure that you
70. 03:49communicate the targets to achieve and who is achieving what
71. 03:52and when, because if you make a target to be delivered in two
72. 03:56weeks but you don't coordinate the sub-tasks, then you will not have anything
73. 04:00it's like a normal project but with the complexity let's say
74. 04:02let's say complexity that people are not just facing each other, sitting together
75. 04:05Yeah and there is another part that is really important
76. 04:11is that a in this target defined you need to define something
77. 04:15that can be measured not something that is
78. 04:18probably we achieve this will be no. On that day I want to
79. 04:22achieve this, and then you can verify it was achieved or it
80. 04:25was not achieved otherwise it would really
81. 04:28not realistic and the practice is that we will
82. 04:34need to consider is relatively necessary because it's
83. 04:37a combination of the technologies also the combination of the
84. 04:41responsibilities and also the task if you coordinate this and
85. 04:44i'm talking right now mainly for the leaders or for the managers
86. 04:48if you leave this to happen just like that
87. 04:51it won't work it won't work you need to make a full up constantly
88. 04:55and making a follow up means to have a chat to have a meeting
89. 04:58coordinated your tools you should just before
90. 05:00you can have a video meeting and then you will see each other
91. 05:03the expression of everything will be by
92. 05:06far more rich, this is something that it is necessary to consider
93. 05:10this is something that we will need to take into account
94. 05:14otherwise if you don't have coordination your done.
95. 05:17Let me put this point which is really relevant mainly for coordination
96. 05:22and mainly for managers you have to stop managing the hot seat
97. 05:26and what it means exactly if people are not sitting there
98. 05:29they are not working this is the meaning this is our...
99. 05:32No, you need to start thinking differently
100. 05:35if you want to achieve something different you
101. 05:37need to start making doing things different
102. 05:39and this is the reason people are not sitting here in front
103. 05:43of you but you know they have a task because what we saw before
104. 05:46they have a task something to achieve with a timeline and
105. 05:50cooperation in the meantime will be happening.
106. 05:52It means if you stop managing the hot seat
107. 05:56it would be a huge huge improvement
108. 06:00this remote teamwork it is a culture it is not just a way of
109. 06:04working it's a culture where you are based on trust
110. 06:08your organization based on the trust of the employee
111. 06:11and of the manager both sides need to trust each other
112. 06:14and the communication must definitely be
113. 06:16open at all sides and there is one thing
114. 06:20we have some experience is already with this and you as manager
115. 06:25you also need to to get know about local laws and regulations.
116. 06:28Regulations let's say let me put an example what happened if
117. 06:31you're working remotely and you have an accident
118. 06:34who's gonna pay for that..... insurance issues? Exactly, is the insurance
119. 06:37of the organization or is your private insurance which
120. 06:40is gonna take care, then there are some things and in different countries
121. 06:42there are different conditions and this is definitely necessary
122. 06:45to evaluate. Also, there are some regulation, tax regulations
123. 06:49there in some countries there are some benefits
124. 06:52they are also called a green law
125. 06:56it means this green law they try to protect the environment
126. 06:59So because you spend less energy in commuting
127. 07:04Exactly, you need less coffee to go. For instance! Exactly and
128. 07:08then there are some benefits for organization that
129. 07:11implement such programs and just have a look to that because
130. 07:15it is necessary to consider. Now the last point but
131. 07:20it is probably one of the most important
132. 07:22is the IT whenever you're working remotely for any organization
133. 07:26you have to have technology and technologies involves internet
134. 07:30involves also the laptop the high resolution cameras, security
135. 07:34all this stuff but normally you have in your organization people
136. 07:37taking care of that, those are the IT teams, network managers all
137. 07:41the stuff...... and they really should be kind of
138. 07:44in the in the process when you start to do that?....... From the very first beginning.
139. 07:47Otherwise at the end, there will be people at
140. 07:51home or remotely will worried saying "I cannot access this", yeah of
141. 07:55course because IT didn't have any security consideration
142. 07:58about that and they closed all because is ok to close all access
143. 08:03from outside but if IT is involved from the very first beginning
144. 08:06defining which kind of accesses they can have which kind of
145. 08:10tools they can have and then you can build up your program
146. 08:13based on this capabilities what you have.
147. 08:15Another issue that can happen is kind of you
148. 08:17if you do not provide the tools for your employees if
149. 08:21they are working remotely most employers actually have
150. 08:27a tendency to try to get their work done
151. 08:30and they will kind of they will come up with solutions of their
152. 08:33own..... and this will be an issue this will be an issue because
153. 08:36in this part of the IT I want to mention this exactly is
154. 08:39because whenever you have the IT under your control
155. 08:43you can activate and also deactivate access at any time
156. 08:47therefore try to prevent that your team outside
157. 08:50is using different tools that the ones that you're allowing
158. 08:53at any time probably will need to cut some accesses
159. 08:56then it's better you to have control of those access
160. 08:59all the time, it's not just about the beginning
161. 09:01during the whole process it is necessary to have this
162. 09:04and therefore IT plays an enormous role, This remote organization
163. 09:08will work based on technology and you have to have this technology
164. 09:12under control. Well this is the part we wanted to introduce.
165. 09:17Yeah so again as always we would like to
166. 09:22invite you to contribute your own kind of
167. 09:28issues that you have particularly for now with the
168. 09:32regarding the coordination of virtual teams and if you have
169. 09:36any questions concerning this class topic or anything that
170. 09:40is interesting for you join a discussion and
171. 09:43bring yourself in..... will be great..... Thank you Tom.... Thank you Salim

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