Thomas MacIsaac
Striving to be the best
High Performance Virtual Teams
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by Thomas
in Leadership
Much has already been written about working with virtual teams. The CEO of Yahoo recently touched off a firestorm with her recent edict that telecommuters must abandon their homes and get to an office or risk losing their jobs. Since I haven’t walked a mile in her shoes, I can’t comment as to whether or not this move was necessary, but I can say that managing a remote workforce does pose a number of challenges. My experience is that with a little forethought, and the right tools, telecommuters can be as productive (if not more) than their office coworkers.
1. The Right Tools Are Essential – If telecommuters don’t have the following equipment then they (and you) are in trouble. In my opinion, the “must have’s” are:
- Laptop or Computer
- Business Application Software
- Camera & Microphone
- Headset
- Telephone or Cell Phone
- Conference Bridge
- Printer & Scanner
- High Speed Internet Connection
- Web Collaboration Tools – Instant Messenger
- Access to the Employee Directory
You may be wondering, is all that really necessary? Well, actually yes. Essentially, if an employee has all of the same access to physical resources that they would enjoy in the office, then they won’t be constrained. In fact, it’s extremely wise to ask someone who is considering telecommunicating whether or not they are equipped for success.
2. Leadership – Having a clear chain of command regarding where telecommuters can turn to for help is essential. Leaders have to be accessible to telecommuters at a moment’s notice. Why? Well telecommuters don’t have the luxury of sitting outside your office, or catching you as you walk by the photo copier.
3. Coordination – Telecommuters should be provided with a clear understanding of the overall goal. Moreover, each team member must know what they are expected to contribute, understand the timelines, and know the detailed plan for given tasks.
4. Communication – Everyone should be updated regularly regarding status – Get the group together for brief conference calls, E-mails, Instant Messaging, etc. With proper communication – telecommuters will feel like they are just as connected as their office- going peers and their bosses will not need to question their productivity!
5. Perks – About the only time telecommuters really feel disconnected from the rest of the company is around social activities. Since they aren’t available to go out to lunch with co-workers, or have a drink after work they miss out on some important bonding. Therefore, I suggest that you sponsor a weekly office lunch, and let telecommuters expense their lunch as well. And, put the speakerphone on wherever you are gather so that they can be a part of the social interaction. Be sure to avoid discussing work, but have thoughtful questions for the group, so as to keep everyone engaged. Some examples would be; 1. What hobbies have you had that people might not know about?, 2. Where have you vacationed that you most enjoyed and why? etc.
If you follow this advice, you’ll have a very productive, and connected telecommuting workforce.
© 2013, Thomas MacIsaac. All rights reserved. On Republishing this post you must provide link to original post.
Win A Nexus 7 – Just for following me on Twitter
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by Thomas
in Uncategorized
Here is the deal. I want to get my Twitter followers up to 5,000 and I’m willing to give away a Nexus 7 to do it. If I accomplish this goal then I’ll select a follower at random to win this wonderful device – and I’ll even pay the shipping cost!
Why would I do this? Well, I’ve been working pretty hard developing an online presence and following, but it’s been slow going, and I would like to accelerate things a lot. So, I’m hoping to accomplish two things from this exercise: 1. I’m curious to discover first-hand the power of viral marketing and 2. I want to really expand my network by May. Since every good marketing program has a name, I’m calling this “Drive2Five”. On 5/5/13 (again with the 5) if I’ve reached a minimum of 5,000 followers, I’ll pick a name at random, notify the winner, and send them this brand spanking new Nexus 7. I’ll also post the name of the winner on my site – My only request is that the lucky winner send a picture of themselves holding the device so I can post it as a follow-up on this blog.
Here’s the one and only catch – if I don’t get to a minimum of 5,000 followers by May 1st, I won’t give it away. Ha, ha, it’s a trick you say? Actually it’s not. If I didn’t set that condition then there wouldn’t be ANY incentive to spread the word – in fact, it would be an incentive to do just the opposite. So please spread the word and help me get to 5,000 followers: Tweet, Retweet, Repost, Like on FB, E-mail, etc. and this very cool Nexus 7 could be yours.
Thanks for your help and good luck…
Please take this quick step and follow me now for your chance to win: Follow @thomasmacisaac
© 2013, Thomas MacIsaac. All rights reserved. On Republishing this post you must provide link to original post.
Don’t Jump the Shark
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by Thomas
in Uncategorized
The other day I was reading an article that quoted an Apple Executive who mentioned that Instagram had “Jumped the Shark”. Perplexed by what this meant, I did a quick Google and found a Wikipedia reference to the term. In summary, the saying is derived from the 70′s hit Sitcom “Happy Days”. The show was a smash hit for many consecutive years, but the writers eventually ran out of creative ideas for the show, so rather than coming up with innovative stories and dialogue (i.e. Innovation) they instead resorted to stunts to keep audiences attention. In one episode they had “Fonzie” water skiing wearing his trademark leather jacket jumped over a penned in shark. That episode was the beginning of the end for Happy Days.
Just a few weeks ago in Australia, RIM – maker of the once dominant Blackberry devices, also Jumped the Shark. For many years, RIM was the 800lb Gorilla of smart wireless devices. Their Blackberry Enterprise Server set the standard for e-mail and calendar integration. Blackberry was completely caught off guard by Apple and Google Android phones, and their attempts at innovation lacked originality and they never quite regain their footing, and they find themselves slipping further and further behind. Someone in their marketing department thought it would be a brilliant idea to send a busload of protesters to an Apple store in Sydney holding “Wake Up” signs. This stunt was designed to create a viral buzz, and get everyone wondering “what” we are supposed to wake up to? Almost everyone believed that Samsung was behind the stunt, since they’ve been innovating like crazy. But Apple, quickly got to the bottom of things and found out that RIM was behind the whole affair. Why? To promote their new operating system 10 – Yawn. They haven’t quite figured out that customers want fast, snazzy phones, with powerful software and application choices – not just an operating system.
If you are in marketing, resist the temptation to take desperate measures in lieu of real innovation – it won’t work and the tragedy is that you will likely only tarnish your brand further. On the other hand, if you aren’t in a position to influence marketing and your company resorts to Jumping the Shark type stunts instead of focusing on Real Innovation – that should be your wake up call to Jump Ship, before you get bitten.
© 2012, Thomas MacIsaac. All rights reserved. On Republishing this post you must provide link to original post.
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