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In this episode, hosts Tim Burgess and Pilar Orti talk about the dangers of being a perfectionist when managing a team, and why it's different to being a perfectionist individual contributor. (And you'll hear for yourself how neither Tim nor Pilar are perfectionists...)
Hosts Tim Burgess and Pilar Orti have a good chat about the nature of loyalty, who we should be loyal to at work and what happens when we get the balance wrong.
On this episode of Work From Home Forever, Pilar Orti, a writer, podcaster, and the founder of Virtual Not Distant joins us on the show. Pilar shared her journey into remote work, which began in 2011, driven by her need to travel frequently to visit family. Initially trained as an actress, Pilar transitioned to remote work, finding comfort in working from home and utilizing coworking spaces when necessary. Pilar discussed her experience with coworking spaces, noting the practical challenges such as commuting time, costs, and temperature discomfort. She ultimately found working from home more comfortable and convenient. Pilar has set up a cozy home office with a standing desk and plenty of natural light, sharing the space with her husband, who prefers coworking spaces. Pilar emphasized the importance of maintaining work-life balance, avoiding work apps on her mobile phone, and setting boundaries with clients regarding availability. She highlighted the need for understanding individual work preferences and creating a work environment that supports personal well-being. In founding Virtual Not Distant, Pilar aimed to support remote teams and small businesses in utilizing online spaces for effective collaboration. She underscored the growing acceptance of remote work and the importance of flexibility in today's work environment. Pilar's approach to work-life balance and her commitment to creating a supportive remote work culture are central to her philosophy and the success of Virtual Not Distant. Connect with Pilar: Website: Virtual Not Distant LinkedIn: Pilar Orti Listen to this episode from Pilar's podcast, Adventures in Podcasting, where I was her guest and we talked about my start in podcasting. ________________________ Do you love the show? Check out our official merch page on Etsy and support the show! ________________________
Listener Richard de Villiers reached out to host Pilar Orti after hearing the episode on the 3 A's of Connection. He has plenty to say on the subject of connection in remote teams, and many different frameworks to share to help other listeners think through change programmes and their own leadership. Connect with Richard on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richarddevilliers/ For detailed show notes, head over to https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts /connection-frameworks
In this episode, host Pilar Orti interviews Andreea Gătin an event and community manager who is organising a unique experience for digital nomad and remote workers in Romania. Andreea discusses her goals for the experience, which include showcasing Romania as a destination for digital nomads and fostering a sense of community among participants. It's happening in March 2025, so check it out! Find an episode summary over at www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts/experience-romania Find out more about Andreea and the experience she's creating: Information and Registration Form Connect with Andreea Ioana Gătin on LinkedIn
Who knew that talking about pessimism could be so much fun... even if most of the laughter is self-deprecating. In today's episode, hosts Tim Burgess and Pilar Orti talk about what happens when we let our "inner pessimist" come through. For more information, visit www.managementcafepodcast.com
In this episode, host Pilar Orti talks to Sagar Chandni, who describes himself as a distributed work practitioner and a strategy leader with a heart. We talk about the nuances of these terms and the evolving nature of work, particularly in India where Sagar is based. Sagar discusses his work with startups and the challenges and opportunities they face, and shares his approach to informed leadership, ethical business strategies, and workplace inclusiveness, as well as the importance of embracing a mindset shift and approaching work in a way that fosters meaningful connections and positive impact both personally and professionally. He also gives us a view of the startup landscape in India. Yes, we cover a lot in this episode! Find out more about Sagar and his work: Connect with Sagar on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sagarchandni/ Check out his LinkedIn show Virtual Global Leadership Podcast Subscribe to his newsletter: https://strivewithsagarchandni.substack.com/ For a written summary check out https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts/leader-with-heart
As co-hosts Tim Burgess and Pilar Orti wrap up the Manager Emotions series, they explain why they're moving onto mindset, and how this is different from cognitivie tendencies (and why they might well be mixing the two up!). Plus, some feedback on our episode on Emotional Contagion, and Pilar shares an episode from Workplace Geeks where one of her connections talks about living with long-covid and how this affects her work life. https://www.audiem.io/podcasts/work-life-and-long-covid Get in touch with Pilar and Tim through the https://managementcafepodcast.com/contact/
In this episode, host Pilar Orti shares her new framework showing how we connect at work, and talks about some of her other projects. If you'd like to be alerted when the Remotely Shakespeare wall calendar comes out, head over to remotelyshakespeare.com For more information check out www.virtualnotdistant.com
Our hosts Tim Burgess and Pilar Orti talk about the many times they've been confused, the difficulties in feeling the emotion as individual and manager, and what happens when a team member becomes confused.
A special episode to celebrate the launch of the revised edition of The Long-Distance Leader, written by Kevin Eikenberry and Wayne Turmel, who returns to the show with another conversation that made host Pilar Orti laugh plenty of times. The conversation takes a critical look at the “hybrid” workplace - is it a compromise, a hostage negotiation? Or is the problem that we're all transitioning to a new era of knowledge work, and are uncomfortable with uncertainty? Wayne also covers the role of trust, building a culture fit for hybrid and proximity bias. Summary blog post: https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts/challenges-of-hybrid Find out more about the book here: kevineikenberry.com/products/the-long-distance-leader Check out Wayne's website too: wayneturmel.com And if you'd like to hear more from the authors, listen to Wayne in episode 238 or hear from Kevin Eikenberry in episode 181.
For the sixth episode of our series on manager emotions, Tim Burgess and Pilar Orti talk about Compassion. Good leaders don't just remove obstacles and show their people the way forward. People also need to know that their leaders will support them in the hard times. And importantly, they need leaders to demonstrate compassion when they are in difficulty. This is distinct from sympathy - where the leader might acknowledge someone is suffering but not do anything to help or even really align with their emotions. Empathy is closer - it helps when leaders can demonstrate that they understand and relate to their employee's feelings. But compassion is, in effect, a more active form of empathy. It requires the further step of wanting to reduce the other person's suffering. This can be very nuanced for managers. It does not necessarily require them to solve the problem, support can manifest in many different forms. It might be stepping in and solving the problem. Or coaching the person through it. Or even just offering companionship. Compassion is not just something for managers to demonstrate to others. It's also important to be compassionate to ourselves. The Management Café often talks of the isolation that manager's experience. Our hosts are grateful that their management journey was made easier by the support and care of compassionate people within their teams. 01:30 mins We open with a definition of Compassion from Greater Good: "Compassion literally means 'to suffer together.' Among emotion researchers, it is defined as the feeling that arises when you are confronted with another's suffering and feel motivated to relieve that suffering. Compassion is not the same as empathy or altruism, though the concepts are related. While empathy refers more generally to our ability to take the perspective of and feel the emotions of another person, compassion is when those feelings and thoughts include the desire to help. Altruism, in turn, is the kind, selfless behaviour often prompted by feelings of compassion, though one can feel compassion without acting on it, and altruism isn't always motivated by compassion." 2:30 Sympathy expresses caring for the other person but it also maintains some separation from the person and their emotion. Empathy means we share the other person's emotion. Compassion means we see from the person's perspective but also adds another element, we want to help them. Compassion and sympathy are tied to the other person's suffering or discomfort, whereas empathy is not. 4:00 Compassion is an important attribute for leaders who want to build trust. People want to know that their leader will support and help them during hard times. 5:30 Compassion is not offering solution after solution. It is saying "This is hard. I know how you are feeling. What do you need? How can I help? I'm here for you." 7:00 This requires a high level of self-awareness and knowledge of our team members so that attempted compassion doesn't backfire and lead to helplessness. 7:30 If a solution is offered without empathy it can actually just demonstrate how little the manager understands about the situation and the other person's emotions. 8:00 We also need to be careful that we're solving their problem instead of our problem - where we offer help just so we don't have to deal with their suffering anymore. 8:45 Tim experiences this often, especially early in his leadership journey, where he gets into problem solving mode and tries to fix issues as quickly as possible. Often before the person has really had a chance to share their experience and needs. When he doesn't act with compassion and jumps to solutions, the other person becomes defensive and closes down. Tim is not creating the sort of safe space the other person needs in order to open up and receive support. 9:50 When managers demonstrate compassion it helps people to be honest about what's happening and how they are feeling and what they need. And this environment of psychological safety encourages better performance. 10:45 Empathy is companionship without support. Compassion is companionship with support. 11:00 We need to also show compassion to ourselves. If we are compassionate to ourselves it helps us be compassionate to others and also to receive compassion from others. How can we expect people to be compassionate towards us if we're not even compassionate to ourselves? 12:15 It is important how we talk to ourselves and how we frame our internal dialogue. If we have a compassionate mindset internally it will naturally extend into our way of being and how we express ourselves. 13:30 Management can be lonely. But having a compassionate team around you can be an enormous benefit. Compassion doesn't require them to take on your problem or even experience the exact emotional state that you're in. But it does mean that they care and they try to help. Tim and Pilar have been blessed to work with some very compassionate people and it helped enormously. What about you, dear listener? Do you think compassion is an important attribute for good leadership? We'd love to hear from you! Get in touch through our Contact Form https://managementcafepodcast.com/contact/
Welcome to the fifth episode of our series on manager emotions, where hosts Tim Burgess and Pilar Orti talk about Pride. We want to see good work, both in ourselves as managers and also in the teams that we lead. Pride creates a virtuous cycle that rewards and encourages healthy achievement. Do a good thing -> share this achievement with others -> receive recognition -> feel proud -> do more good things. But pride can be a tricky emotion in the workplace. Excessive displays of pride can turn people off. Pride can also clash with other attributes, most notably humility. Humility is a much valued characteristic which dictates that we don't draw attention to our own achievements. Pride can even become arrogance if we use our achievements to assert superiority over others. And to make it even more complex, we must be conscious that people might misinterpret or devalue our emotions. Many of us have had the jarring experience of expressing pride only to have our accomplishment criticised or be accused of self-importance. How then do we navigate pride at work? As leaders when can we express pride in a safe and helpful way? And how do we encourage this in those we manage? Join Pilar and Tim for coffee in the Management Café... 00:45 mins Pride is the feeling that you've done something good which you want to share with others and receive recognition. It can sometimes be confused with arrogance, but arrogance is about dominance. Arrogance says "I know more" or "I did better" and that makes me superior to you. It's the difference between wanting to share vs wanting to dominate. 1:45 When someone wants to "Blow their own trumpet" are they trying to share beautiful music or blast their horn in our ears? 2:45 Claude AI shared this definition of pride: "Pride is a complex emotion that can be defined as a feeling of deep pleasure, satisfaction, or self-respect derived from one's own achievements, qualities, or possessions, or those of someone with whom one is closely associated. Pride is often accompanied by a sense of accomplishment, confidence, and self-worth." 3:30 Tim used to deflect or downplay on the odd occasion people said something nice to him. But to receive recognition and feel proud... it feels amazing. It is very motivating. So he's tried to become more comfortable accepting compliments. But perhaps you, dear reader, could help him practice by sending a little love to https://managementcafepodcast.com/contact/ ? 4:30 Pride is a sharing emotion. And it tells others what we value. 5:30 We can be proud and not share it. There is a difference between feeling proud and expressing our pride to others, they don't have to be done together. And this distinction is especially important in the workplace. 7:00 It is generally safe for managers to express pride in the achievements of their team or the individuals that they manage. This means those individuals don't have to go seeking recognition and their manager is giving them license to be proud of themselves. 8:30 When a manager feels proud in their own work how do they express it? Tim thinks this is better to do amongst peers or up the organisational chart. 10:00 It is good to role model healthy pride to those we manage. 11:30 Humility is generally a more socially acceptable emotion than pride. When we feel pride but express humility there is a disconnect. 13:20 Praising others gives them license to express pride in their work. Similarly we are safer to express pride with people that have given us praise. 14:20 Expressing pride to the wrong audience can be risky. Tim shares a time when he was left totally deflated by someone's response. 16:20 Pilar poses the question: what to do when someone is proud of something that wasn't actually that good? Tim proposes serving up the much maligned feedback sandwich. 18:30 Pilar points out that we can acknowledge their pride now and give the feedback about some aspects of the work later. It's critical that we don't squash their pride in the moment. Their pride comes with vulnerability because they are showing what they care about and they are seeking validation or affirmation. We should also be mindful of the fact that when someone shares their pride with us. they are signalling that they view us as a person who will treat their pride appropriately. What about you, dear listener? How do you feel and express pride at work? We'd love to hear from you! Get in touch through our Contact Form https://managementcafepodcast.com/contact/
In today's episode, host Pilar Orti catches up with Frédérique Lloyd Bougreau, about how she transformed her career and lifestyle by setting up a Pilates studio in rural France. They talk about cultural adaptation, building a business in a new environment and the Importance of movement and exercise as we progress through life. Frédérique's contact details are over at her website: https://www.pilatesbienetre.com/contact.html As always, you can find Pilar over at www.virtualnotdistant.com
We are joined by regular guest Theresa Hollema who has been doing some thinking with host Pilar Orti on the topic of Bonding within remote teams, versus Bridging, where team members create bonds with other parts of the organisation. Plus, Theresa has her own reading and listening recommendations to add to Pilar's. You can connect with Theresa on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theresasigillitohollema/ And check out the resources on her website: https://virtualacrosscultures.com/ Let us know what you thought of the episode over at www.virtualnotdistant.com/contact You can find an summary of the first part, plus all the links we refer to here: ww.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts/bridging-remote-teams
We continue with our Manager Emotions series. Today's episode is all about joy. We remind ourselves of what it feels like, but we also wonder whether it's always ok to express it. Join Tim Burgess and Pilar Orti for coffee - or tea! For full show notes head over to www.managementcafepodcast.com
A new player has entered the field in the world of work: generative AI. As remote teams increasingly rely on asynchronous communication, have AI chatbots become go-to resources for quick answers and idea validation? What does this mean for our workplace relationships and social skills? Maya Middlemiss and Pilar Orti discuss! For more detailed show notes head over to www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts/chatbots You can message Pilar through the Virtual not Distant website: https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/contact-us and get hold of Maya over at Remote Work Europe: https://www.remoteworkeurope.eu/ .
I'm back!(Hi, I'm Pilar Orti if we've never met before.)In this episode I talk about:01.36 minsThe new type of episodes I've come up with for the 21st Century Work Life podcast06.29 mins The new season for Management Café09.25minsDifferent ways of running an interview. Contrast:Always Take Notes 19 March 2024#182: Nicholas Shakespeare, novelist and biographer with Kevin Tumlison in the Writers, Ink PodcastEpisode 246 with Carol LaHines, 10 June 202413.05 minsWhat happens when your guest decides to interview you!Check out my episode 360 from the 21st Century Work Life podcast for an example. (13 June 2024)Do get in touch with your comments and questions:https://www.adventuresinpodcasting.com/contact/ If you're thinking of starting your own podcasting adventure, I recommend Buzzsprout as host - click here for my affiliate link, which also gets you a little discount, and Riverside FM for recording, which you can access through this other affiliate link.
Hosts Tim Burgess and Pilar Orti talk about why they think they procrastinate - even though they're not sure what is procrastination and what isn't... If you're reading this near the time of publishing you might notice the show notes are missing... this wasn't the result of procrastination, but due to holiday schedules. The notes will be up soon on the blog, and hopefully, here too. https://managementcafepodcast.com
In today's episode, Pilar Orti welcomes regular guest Mark Kilby onto the show, to find out how he's using generative AI. They share their personal experiences, preferences, and cautionary tales surrounding various AI tools. Plus, they have plenty of reading, listening and tool recommendations for you this month! Recorded on 24 April 2024, so some of the tools have evolved since then. For the show notes, check out: https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts/may-recommendations You can connect with Mark Kilby on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/mkilby/ Or message him through his website: www.markkilby.com And if you'd like to keep up with his thoughts and work, subscribe to Differability https://differability.works/ Connect with Pilar over at https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/contact-us
A theme we keep coming back to in the Management Café is the importance of context. In each situation there are many variables that influence what happens. For example the company culture, our manager, our team, the particular task and our own capability. Sometimes we have to accept that the current context is not good one for us and we're not going to perform at our best. This can be hard to reconcile, many of us have an expectation that we can handle all challenges. But this realisation, that the context isn't right for us, also brings opportunity. The opportunity to be patient and understanding of ourselves (or others). The opportunity to change the context. Or the opportunity to save ourselves the wasted effort and pain from trying something that will never succeed in that context. So... how do you identify the context that works for you? And can we make progress even from the situations which don't work? Join hosts Tim Burgess and Pilar Orti for coffee and find out! 00:15 mins In episode #74 Pilar shared a story of how a change of context, in this case working with a different team, improved her performance delivering training. 3:30 Acknowledging that the context isn't right for us can open the door to trying something different. 4:30 Tim had an experience recently with a colleague who decided that the organisational culture wasn't a good match. And so they made the decision to leave. This freed the person, and the organisation, to move forward. Pilar references Laszlo Bock's book "Work Rules" and how he incorporated this into the culture at Google. If someone wasn't performing well, then you could work with them directly but also change the context - maybe a different part of the organisation. Or maybe they were best suited to a different organisation. 6:25 Unfortunately companies and employees can sometimes misrepresent or misinterpret their preferred context during the hiring process. Ideally we'd be aware of what environments work best for us and aim for companies and roles that can accommodate us. 7:45 Things can also be quite different to how they appear on the surface. Pilar talks about a case study of a distributed company with a very flat leadership structure. However this organisation had an unofficial hierarchy and a founder dynamic that meant employees struggled to be heard. 10:00 How to identify the context that works for you? It's a big question, especially early in your career. Tim suggests that even a process of elimination, a trial and error process of identifying what doesn't work, is still good progress. 11:15 This is hard to recognise in the moment. But with hindsight we can make sense of what was or wasn't helpful to us. 12:50 We can save ourselves a lot of pain and wasted effort by understanding what will and won't succeed within our context. Pilar shares an anecdote of someone who tried to apply a productivity initiative within an organisation only to violate a cultural norm. This can be one of the big indicators that a context isn't right, when our vision of change is vastly different to the organisation's. We might need to find a new place to work! 16:20 Tim remembers a time when he badly misread the culture of his workplace because his manager had done such a great job of shielding him. A painful lesson which resulted in him being out of a job within 6 weeks of his manager leaving. 17:30 Nini Fritz of The Work Happiness Project shared something that helps her identify when it's worth applying efforts to bring about organisational change. When we see people share our desire for the outcome but they are struggling with implementation, we have the best chance to improve the context. What about you, dear listener? Is this something you think about? How can you tell when the context is right or wrong for you? We'd love to hear from you! Get in touch through our Contact Form https://managementcafepodcast.com/contact/
Today's show notes are a little bit different. We'd like to keep Jack's story in his own words as much as possible, so we're sharing a polished version of the transcript over at: https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts /jack-nilles-telework Talking to our host Pilar Orti, Jack takes us on a journey through the very early days of telecommuting, sharing the challenges and triumphs he experienced while pioneering this new concept. From convincing skeptical companies to adopt telework to exploring the societal benefits of reduced traffic congestion and pollution, Jack's story is a fascinating glimpse into the birth of a movement that continues to shape our world today. LINKS: Get in touch with Jack through his website (you can email him from there) https://www.jala.com/ Jack's blog: https://www.jalahq.com/blog/ WORK DIFFERENT, the documentary https://www.nfb.ca/film/work-different/ You can connect with Pilar on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/pilarorti/ Or message her through https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/contact-us
Step into the Management Café with your hosts Tim Burgess and Pilar Orti. This conversation was inspired by an article Pilar read in Organizational Dynamics: "How managers can help employees navigate tough decisions without burning out by Andrew Molinsky and Laura Noval. They describe a specific type of burnout, that which arises from having to continuously perform challenging tasks. This is different from the burnout that comes from chronic overwork or being under prolonged stress. And it requires different solutions. An employee might have a low overall workload, might be exercising and getting enough sleep and ticking all the boxes for managing "overwork burnout". Yet these if they are required to perform challenging tasks beyond their capacity to cope... they will burn out. So how can we support employees in this situation? The article's authors propose several ways organisations can help employees prepare, carry out and recover from challenging tasks. Managers play a key role in guiding employees through difficult work. Firstly in recognising that a particular task is a "necessary evil" and will take a toll on the person who performs it. Then by acknowledging this impact to the employee and supporting them. This can reduce the emotional burden on the employee and help them avoid burnout. 01:45 mins The article talks about the type of burnout that comes when the employee is required to do things that are particularly challenging. The authors call these tasks "necessary evils". To quote directly from the article "Burnout happens when an employee continuously performs tasks that cause emotional, material or physical harm to another person (also known as ‘necessary evils'). Disciplining others or delivering bad news are examples of necessary evils. It requires an employee to be focused and self-controlled, which at times can cause significant stress and impaired task performance." 4:20 One of the examples of a "necessary evil" task comes from an employee in a drug recovery programme who is required to remove someone from the programme because they violated the rules. This is a tough decision but, in a way, it is the right thing to do. It's easy to see how performing this task would take it's toll on the employee, particularly if the task must be done regularly or without support. 5:00 Pilar shares a story of someone working at an educational institution where their role requires them to tell students that they need to pay for an additional service. And the students can have a big, emotional reaction. If the employee has to deal with this situation repeatedly, it will lead to burnout. 6:30 With this type of burnout you might not have a large overall volume of work, you might be getting enough sleep and doing all the right things. But too much of the necessary evils still leads to burnout. 7:00 The article lists two types of challenging tasks. A competence challenge is a task which is technically challenging - requiring the employee to work at or beyond their capability. A character challenge conflicts with their sense of who they are as a person. Tim would add a third element of capacity. An employee might be able to have one challenging conversation each day, but not have the capacity to do ten of those conversations. And Pilar adds another dimension of expectation: sometimes we can get overloaded even when the volume is not that high, but our expectations turn it into overwhelm. 8:15 It can be good to go into a competency or capacity challenge as long as it isn't for a sustained period. Tim shares a story about challenging work at Shield GEO. They asked a simple question at the end of each day to a team that was under stress: "Could you do another day like this tomorrow?" Asking this simple question was much less intrusive than a time and motion study. People's answers helped identify what tasks were causing overload - but they also helped people understand that they weren't in a constant state of stress. The hard days didn't happen forever. 10:30 Pilar likes the question "could you do another day tomorrow like you had today?". It helps the manager see how sustainable people's work is and gives the employee an opportunity to reflect on whether their own situation is sustainable. Is a hard day a challenge? Or is it unbearable? 11:30 The article talks about managing the psychological experience in three phases. What to do before, what to do during and what to do after. 12:30 The first phase can be training or preparation. Maybe writing a script. Or mentally preparing by rationalising why the task is important. Even to take a box of tissues into a meeting. 13:45 One way that Tim prepares himself for challenging tasks, especially if it is an interaction with another person, is to prepare emotionally. He thinks through what the other person (or he) might feel, how he wants them to feel and how he doesn't want them to feel. If the interaction becomes emotionally fraught, he's prepared for that possibility and also helps him guide the emotional tone of the conversation. 16:00 Tim refers back to episode #74 and the story of how Mikhail Gorbachev was able to change the course of a critical conversation with Margaret Thatcher. As part of this he took stock of both of their emotional states and then redirected in a more productive direction. 17:30 Part of preparation might be assigning extra resources to the employee to help them. So one of the solutions proposed in the article is to pair people up during challenging tasks, especially during a competence challenge. e.g. line managers taking an experienced HR person into discussions with employees about severance. 19:50 Another part of preparation can be scheduling down time for the employee before and after the task. It might be rest, it might be an outlet like exercise or even just some alone time to cry. This is important on several levels. Firstly it helps the employee release their stress and recover. Secondly the organisation is acknowledging it's a hard task and making appropriate concessions to the employee, and that acknowledgement matters. And thirdly the organisation is making that recovery part of work itself - as opposed to expecting the employee to recover from workplace stress during their personal time. 21:00 Pilar avoids scheduling draining tasks on a Mondays because they interfere with her Sundays. 23:00 Reflecting back on the task is also helpful. Are there learnings which can help if the task comes up again in the future? 24:00 Pilar appreciates that the article talks about emotional regulation, which suggests understanding and managing or decreasing our emotions in the moment, but not eliminating them. It's ok and healthy for us to have an emotional response to difficult tasks. Reflecting back to episode ##76 on Manager Regrets, being conscious of the weight of our actions and the impact of them upon people is an important element of perform our work mindfully. What about you, dear listener? How do you help your team members through challenging tasks? We'd love to hear from you! Get in touch through our Contact Form https://managementcafepodcast.com/contact/
In today's episode, Pilar Orti interviews Amale Ghalbouni, a former executive strategy director turned coach. Amale shares her experiences navigating career pivots, rediscovering purpose, and helping individuals and teams foster deep human connections. They talk about the changing nature of work, and the importance of preventing burnout. Find out more about Amale on her website. Connect with her on LinkedIn. Check out The Brick Coach website For a summary blog post, head over to https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts /coaching-and-burnout
Imagine having the blueprint to excel in the remote work landscape, one that balances discipline with flexibility. That's exactly what Pilar Orti, a trailblazer in the world of virtual work and my trusted mentor, brings to the table in this episode. We take a trip down memory lane, revisiting our collaborative beginnings and exploring Pilar's trajectory from a freelance maverick to the founder of Virtual Not Distant. Her latest book, "The Remote Worker's Guide to Time Management," serves as a cornerstone for our discussion, offering listeners strategies to conquer the unique challenges of remote work, from crafting a personal structure to balancing collaborative and solitary tasks.The secret to remote productivity might be hiding in plain sight within your own self-awareness. Through a candid exchange, Pilar and I dissect the often-overlooked link between self-knowledge and time management. We discuss the myth of multitasking and share personal anecdotes about our battles with procrastination. Our conversation also tackles the concept of location-agnostic productivity — mastering work habits across diverse settings to boost effectiveness, whether you're at home, in a cafe, or bouncing between co-working spaces.The final piece of the remote work puzzle? Relationships. The episode further examines the nuanced relationship between connection and time management, along with -thought-provoking insights on the integrator-separator spectrum, a pre-pandemic study on collaboration stress, and the art of balancing work passion with personal time.We even dive into the world of AI and its role in our creative processes, including Pilar's editorial associate "Sam" - reflecting on how technology shapes our collaborative writing endeavours. We also discuss the significance of asynchronous communication in an ever-more digital world - do check out Pilar's unique and fascinating audio-only course, to learn more about that!Support the show
The professional landscape is constantly evolving, and for many, the pandemic accelerated this change. Pilar Orti's journey to remote work (which began way before the pandemic) is a testament to adaptability and foresight. As an actress turned remote work innovator and podcasting forerunner, her story is not just fascinating—it's educational. Pilar's transition from acting to leading Virtual Not Distant, a company that helps teams adapt to remote work, is a narrative that resonates with the current global work environment. Today's episode is a masterclass in embracing change and juggling professional and business commitments with the demands of caring for family.The excitement of a multinational life is relatable to anyone who's found themselves at the crossroads of personal and professional commitments. You'll hear firsthand how embracing virtual collaboration and co-working can lead to unexpected opportunities and why the adage of 'location, location, location' may no longer hold true for today's businesses.You can find out more about Pilar via the following links:Virtual Not DistantPilar's LinkedIn pageSUBSCRIBE__________________________Apple PodcastsSpotify Podcasts Click here remoteworklife.io to get a free list of > 100 businesses that hire remote talent.SOCIALS ___________Subscribe On YouTubeConnect on LinkedIn
How do you go from teaching leaders how to lead to hosting a popular podcast about remote work? That's the fascinating story of Pilar Orti, the founder and host of “21st Century Work Life,” a show that explores the trends and challenges of working in the digital age. Pilar opens up about her diverse and dynamic podcasting journey. Pilar reveals how she experimented with different formats, topics, and co-hosts, and how she learned from her hits and misses. She also shares her insights on how to manage multiple podcasts, how to collaborate with co-hosts, and how to keep up with the changing podcasting landscape, especially with the emergence of generative AI. This episode is not only a showcase of Pilar's versatility and passion for podcasting, but also a treasure trove of tips and tricks for aspiring podcasters who want to create their own unique shows. Listen and learn how Pilar Orti mastered the many faces of podcasting.Chapters:00:00:00 Introduction - Welcoming listeners and introducing Pilar Orti.00:01:10 Launch of '21st Century Work Life' - Insight into the podcast's inception focusing on remote work.00:03:28 Mastering the Podcast Craft - Exploring the creative and technical sides of podcasting.00:06:49 Balancing Multiple Projects - The complexities and rewards of running several podcasts.00:15:33 AI's Impact on Podcasting - Reflections on generative AI and future possibilities.00:18:25 Keys to Podcasting Success - Pilar shares her secret ingredients for a successful podcast.00:19:35 Wrapping Up - Concluding thoughts and farewellLinks And Resources:Pilar Orti on LinkedInPilar's BooksAdventures in PodcastingVirtual Not DistantHector Santiesteban LinkedInHector Santiesteban TwitterThanks so much for joining us this week. Want to subscribe to Marketing Your Podcast? Have some feedback you'd like to share? Connect with us on iTunes and leave us a review!
After over 100 episodes spanning 4 years, Pilar Orti is stepping down from her role as co-host on the Facilitation Stories podcast. In this special episode, Pilar joins regular co-hosts Helene Jewell and Nikki Wilson to reflect on her time on the show and what comes next. How It All Began The idea for Facilitation Stories emerged organically at an in-person meetup hosted by the England and Wales chapter of the International Association of Facilitators (IAF) back in 2019. Pilar had given a talk on using podcasting to build community and connection in remote teams. Afterwards, some attendees suggested starting a podcast for the chapter. Pilar agreed to help get it off the ground. Along with Martin Gilbraith's support, Pilar worked with Helene and another co-host to produce the first 4 episodes and establish a regular cadence. After some early experimentation, they settled into releasing 1 episode per month. The organic, unstructured nature of those early days established the podcast's informal, conversational tone that continues today. Why Listeners Connect A big part of the podcast's appeal is its sense of community. As Pilar says, it feels like "listening to your friends." Most facilitation podcasts focus on tips, tutorials, and sales pitches. Facilitation Stories stands out for spotlighting members of the IAF England and Wales community sharing stories and learning from real life experiences. The hosts' genuine enthusiasm, warmth, and enjoyment comes across in every episode. According to Pilar, her favorite episodes are the unscripted conversations between two or more co-hosts. The rapport and natural interactions make listeners feel like they're right there in the room. Evolution of Facilitation During the Pandemic Pilar, Helene, and Nikki reflected on how facilitation has changed over the past few years, accelerated by the pandemic. Virtual facilitation has become more ubiquitous and accepted. More organizations recognize the need for facilitators to help guide productive online meetings and events. Hybrid events also present new challenges facilitators must adapt to. On a skills level, facilitators have had to expand their digital literacy and learn to facilitate exclusively through a screen. Soft skills like reading the virtual room, fostering connections, and keeping energy levels up become even more crucial. Co-facilitation partnerships have also blossomed as the complexity and demand increases. Facilitators increasingly team up with those outside the profession who bring complementary expertise. Key Takeaways A few key themes emerge from Pilar's time on Facilitation Stories: Start simple - When launching a new podcast, focus on consistent execution over production value. Get the first 10 episodes done to build momentum. Rotate roles - Swap hosting and production duties between team members. It keeps things dynamic while building everyone's skills. Personality matters - Let your authentic style and personality come through. This attracts the right listeners who connect with the content. Find your niche - Targeting a specific community makes it easier to grow an engaged audience, as demonstrated by the show's IAF focus. Value enjoyment - Do it because you find joy in the process and camaraderie. Passion shines through and makes it worthwhile. What Comes Next While sad to say goodbye to Facilitation Stories, Pilar is embarking on an exciting new chapter. She shared some of the creative pursuits and professional projects she'll be focusing on: Developing an audio course on asynchronous communication Exploring the comics medium and using visual storytelling Continuing fiction writing and other literary projects Building her podcasting expertise through new shows and helping others level up their podcasts Authoring books on topics like co-hosting or using Trello for podcast production After years of client work, training, and teaching, Pilar is ready to put more energy into generating original content and productions. She remains as passionate as ever about podcasting and plans to start new shows in addition to advising others. When asked if she had any parting wisdom, Pilar expressed full confidence that Helene and Nikki will continue taking the podcast to new heights. She may no longer be there, but the strong community built on Facilitation Stories will carry on
Welcome to Facilitation Stories, brought to you by the England and Wales chapter of the International Association of Facilitators, also known as IAF. In today's episode Pilar Orti talks about running circles (spaces for dialogue) with Jindi Mann, founder and facilitator of Leader Brother Son and coach and organizational consultant at The Selfish Leader. Jindy recently ran the Men at Work survey as part of his work with Leader Brother Son, where he works with groups of men. The work has the potential of benefiting mental health and diversity. The Men at Work survey in particular, was a way for them to gather some insights into the male experience at work. In particular, it highlighed what men find hardest to talk about at work and what can help them show up more fully at work. To explain the roots of his work, Jindy talks about his early life, growing up in a British Indian family, his two business degrees and masculine cultures in the business world. He came to realize that he had an opportunity to work with this, as he was seeing the same thing repeatedly: the idea of taking up this role of "man" without interrogating what that means. Alongside some other coaches, Jindy started offering free online groups two and a half years ago. They'll be starting their 10th group in early August. There is a short application process for joining the groups. Intersted participants first make an enquiry on the company's website, and this is followed by a short conversation to align expectations and understand the principles behind the sessions. There are typically, eight to twelve people in each group and at least two facilitators in each session. As the work comes from a personal space for Jindy, he often feels the tension between leading or guiding the group and just allowing the space to be what it is. Jindy and the other facilitators are not the ones who have the answers, they are not defining what a man should be or what Masculinity is, but they are holding the space by contributing and holding the principles and the shape of the conversation, rather than telling it where to go. Throughout this work, Jindy still feels that tension of when to take some sort of action as a facilitator or when to contribute or when to say anything. He uses the coaching acronym WAIT – why am I talking? Jindy has started to refer to himself more explicitly as a "facilitator" when starting doing this work with men, but he has used facilitation in different ways in his consulting career. As to how the work with the circles and his co-facilitation have evolved, Jendy shares that when the groups started they introduced specific topics for discussion, but soon they started to invite the group to say what it wanted to explore. He shares some of the theories and practises that have influenced him including the idea from Wilfred Bion of that there are thoughts present in the group, but they haven't yet found a thinker. It can sound almost mystical, but the unconscious is always present, is always active in a group. And collectively things can emerge in a group. (For more on this read any of Jung or Freud's work and Experiences in Groups by Wilfred Bion.) Jiindy has trained as a facilitator with Way of Council and in the conversation he shares his experience there and its overlap with psychodynamic theory. Jindy talks about his co-facilitators Aaron, Mark and Russell and how they met, and how they all bring something slightly different and have different influences. But that they have an important chemistry between them. The team are not taking their work into organisations. The work here will be different as the dynamics in organisations will be different than in an open group. People there will have assumptions about each other, and there will already be a sense of status and hierarchy. Jindy shares the pros and cons of doing these groups in person and online and about AI in coaching and wraps up with a couple of broad reflections: firstly, the conversation about men and masculinity is growing. Secondly, there is an increasing need for great dialogue and for great facilitated spaces for all of the things we're facing as a society. If you want to find out more about Jindy's work, you can go to Leaderbrotherson.com. And also you can also check out his other organization called The Selfish Leader. He is on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jindymann/ Men at Work Survey https://www.leaderbrotherson.com/resource/men-at-work-2023-survey Leader Brother Son https://www.leaderbrotherson.com/about You can connect with Pilar Orti on LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/pilarorti/ Listen to our podcasts: https://www.facilitationstories.com/ And connect with us on Twitter: @fac_stories
In this episode, Pilar talks to fellow podcast team members Helene and Nikki, along with Penny Walker and Shanaka Dias about a global, hybrid process they facilitated together, running over 4 days with multiple languages and timezones. They reflect on planning in advance, adapting in the moment and working well as a team. The full transcript is below. All of the team can be found on LinkedIn: Penny Walker: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pennywalker/ Shanaka Dias https://www.linkedin.com/in/shanaka-dias-8765b51/ Helene Jewell https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenejewell/ Nikki Wilson https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolawilson2/ Pilar Orti https://www.linkedin.com/in/pilarorti/ And you can find all of the links to IAF England and Wales on the Facilitation Stories website: https://www.facilitationstories.com/ SPEAKERS PO – Pilar Orti HJ – Helene Jewell NW – Nikki Wilson PW- Penny Walker SD – Shanaka Dias PO 00:03 Hello and welcome to Facilitation Stories brought to you by the England and Wales chapter of the International Association of facilitators also known as IAF. My name is Pilar Orti and I have the absolute pleasure of recording today with not one guest, not two, not three, but four. So first of all, let me introduce fellow co-hosts of the show Helene Jewell, hello, Helene. HJ 00:26 Hello, nice to see you. PO 00:30 Nikki Wilson. Hello, Nikki. NW Hello. PO 00:33 And I then like to welcome back to the show Penny Walker who first appeared in episode two of this show. So welcome back, Penny. PW 00:40 Thanks very much. It's lovely to be here. PO 00:43 And finally, first time guest and someone I've never chatted to before Shanaka Dias, welcome to the show. SD 00:50 Thank you. Thank you for having me. PO 00:52 So to have some proper introductions, I've asked each guest to prepare just two lines to introduce themselves. So we're going to say the same order in which I introduced you so that you'll know when it's coming. So Helene Jewell, we'd like to introduce yourself. HJ 01:06 Hello,I'm Helene. I'm a freelance facilitator based in Bristol, and I work cross sector with all kinds of clients and Yeah, mostly team organisational development and strategy stuff. PO 01:18 Excellent. Thanks, Helen and Nikki Wilson. NW 01:21 Hello, I'm Nikki, I'm based in Essex and I run a social purpose business focusing on facilitation, research and strategic support. And as a facilitator, I particularly enjoy working on Deliberative Public Eengagement projects and Action Learning. PO 01:39 Thank you. Thanks, Nikki and Penny Walker. PW 01:42 Thanks, Pilar. I'm Penny. I'm an independent facilitator based in North London, and my specialism, I suppose is working with clients to have more effective conversations about tricky things. Maybe because they're complicated or there's conflict, or there's multiple parties. And those conversations are mainly about sustainable development topics. It might be climate change, it might be biodiversity loss. It might be I don't know social enterprises coming together. So those kinds of conversations. Yeah. PO 02:14 Thanks, Penny, and Shanaka Dias. 02:17 Hello, I'm Shanaka. I'm based in London. I'm a freelancer. I work in the social sector with charities and foundations. And I guess my specialism is bringing people together to firstly have difficult conversations and to look at ways to come together around measure mission and vision and strategy. PO 02:40 Thank you Shanaka. Thank you very much. Right. So the reason we have you all together for this very special episode, and we're really testing the platform as well, is that you all facilitated a trilingual hybrid session back in January 2023. Is that correct? PW That's right. PO Yeah. So I'm going to be discovering what you did along with the listener and what your challenges were. So let's start with how did this collaboration start? And maybe Penny, you can kick us off? PW 03:12 Thanks. Yes. So I'm trained to use a particular process called the Organisational Mapping Tool, which is something that is promoted by the Ford Foundation, a philanthropic funder based in the US, and one of the grantee organisations needed to use this tool as part of the grant conditions, and because I'm on the list, they came to me and they said, could you run this for us? And they said it's a little bit complicated, because we're going to it's going to be hybrid, and we know this, and I was not very comfortable with that. And I said, “Well, that is you know, it's going to cost you more, we're going to need a bigger team. And you know”, they said y”es, that's fine, we're comfortable with hybrid£. And they said, “Oh, and by the way, we also need to do it in three languages. So and by the way, we would like to have other meetings going on, kind of with the people who are in the room together over the time”, so I knew that I needed a big team. Nikki has worked with me before using this particular process once so I thought that she would be my first kind of “go to” person and I know that Helene had a great time helping out make the IAF England and Wales conference hybrid a couple of years ago, so I thought, I wonder if Helene will be up for being on the team. And then I asked I asked them who else they knew who they thought might be up for it and Nikki recommended Shanaka so that was how we came to be working together. PO 04:42 Nice. Oh, I love that because of the you some of you have worked together there was a new elements into the into the four so I love it. Excellent. Nice and who were their participants then? If one of you feels like giving us just an overview of who they Were where they were located. And just a little bit of the logistics around the event. Helene. HJ 05:05 So the participants were the staff from this organisation. And they were based in several different countries. And I can't completely remember which countries they were based in, but we had probably, Penny may tell me, I'm wrong, half of them in the room, and another half in different countries over Zoom. And so yeah, it was bringing their different different staff members from within the organisation together. PO 05:34 And the people who were online, were they in their other countries together and online or individually online, NW 05:41 I think it was quite a mixture, mostly on their own. Some of them were in the same country, but not sitting in a location together. PO 05:50 Okay, so at least you had that and Penny can you do remember the countries of the participants? PW 05:59 So we had some, we were working across multiple time zones, which was another kind of design challenge. So we had some people in Sub Saharan Africa, we had some in South America. I'm not sure if the people who were in kind of Asia Pacific managed to join us. And the other interesting thing about it was that we had some people who started online, and then were able to join us in the room, and vice versa. So there was someone who tested positive for COVID, partway through who went from being in the room to online. So that changed, so we needed to have really good understanding of who our participants were. And each morning, we would sit down with our key kind of client liaison and find out who was going to be in the room and who was going to be online, and what languages they were comfortable speaking in so that we could think about how we might do breakout groups, I can see Helene is rubbing her eyes, even just at the memory of it. HJ 06:58 It's funny, because on the one hand, I sort of I remember, you know, I loved the challenge of being kind of quite, you know, think on our feet and all the rest of it. On the other hand, when I recall some of the elements, I think so “how did we do that?” PO 07:11 Wow. So over four days. So that's interesting. Before we go into maybe how you prepared for it? Does that mean that during the four days? Did that look like you ,were you meeting before each session together? How are you checking in with the client who wants to have a bash? Penny go for it. PW 07:32 So we, it was over four days, but each day, we only worked on this particular event for half of the day. So the people who were in the room had other side meetings when they weren't in session. And that helped us overcome some of the timezone difficulties. And the other thing about it that people will be interested to hear is that three of our team were in the room, so Helene and Shanaka, and me were with the client and Nikki actually did all her work online. So our check-ins were over Zoom, so that we could make sure that that Nikki was there. And it also meant that Nikki was able to give us a really good insight as to what the online experience was like, because try as you might if you're in the room, that's that's the thing that pulls you. And it's very easy to neglect or not have a proper understanding of what the online experience is like. NW 08:30 Yeah, I think sort of adding to that. The fact that I was purely online, and there was no temptation to even be in the room, I was in a completely different location made that a very pure experience as well. I think if we'd ended up swapping on and offline, it would have been, that would have been a bit more blurred. But it was very clear to me that I was experiencing it just as someone who was joining from anywhere else in the world apart from obviously, that English is my first language, so I didn't have that added layer, but I think that that really made it very focused on this is what the online experience is like. PO 09:07 Yeah. And did you have interpreters as well? Is that right? PW 09:11 Yeah. So the client tries to be, it's part of their push to be very inclusive and to make sure that they have for the work they're doing in country that it's with people who are from that country rather than, you know, white, Northern World kind of people parachuted in. So they they have quite a lot of experience of working in English, French and Spanish. And so they already had, not in-house, but they had interpreters who they have worked with a lot in the past and they taught us about Zoom's interpretation channel, which I don't think any of us had used before, so that was quite exciting. And they also were very comfortable using a translation software called Deepl, which I had not come across before, but does seem to be a kind of a really good bit of automatic translation software. So they were quite used as an organisation to at least trying to make that work. And that was something that I definitely felt I learned from the experience. PO 10:24 Wow very heavy tech. Helene, were you going to say something? HJ 10:27 No, I was just saying I had used the interpretation, software on Zoom before, but never, not with three different languages going on. And most certainly not with hybrid. So I think that the challenge was the sort of the added, you know, added bonus of not just one logistical challenge, which is working in three languages, but obviously, the hybrid element and making those two things work together. PO 10:51 So you had everything interpretation, timezones, online versus in person and, and going and people turning up switching, I've never come across that, like people switching between the two mediums. So let's talk a bit about how you prepared for it. Shanaka, I'm going to go to you. Because for me, it feels like you were the one that was coming into, these three people already knew each other, so how did the group preparation look like? And also, from your point of view, what are some of the things you remember from the beginning of the process? SD 11:26 I'm thinking back to it. So um, we had a quiet, a really structured plan. So Penny put together a really structured plan. But at the same time, we sort of knew we would have to be adaptable to that. So we tried as much as we could to look at the languages that people spoke, put them into groups, we tried to think about how we could mix up the group so that the same people speaking the same languages weren't only speaking to each other all the time. So we also tried to look at who was multilingual and mix up those groups, that had varying levels of success. And we also wanted to try and make sure that it wasn't just the people online speaking to each other, that they would be able to speak to people in the room as well. And that had varying levels of success as well. So we a lot of planning went into it. But then we had to adapt on the fly as things turned up, because there were a lot of moving parts. And I think the one thing that really stood out was just how well we managed to work together around that. And part of that was down to, I think, having clear roles. So we really defined what we were doing. We swapped out Helene and I swapped on the day because we were both in the room. So on each day, we would swap out what we're doing, and have a turn at it, but at the same time, even though we had clearly defined roles, we were flexible enough to help each other when different things started to happen. And that worked really, really well. The client, were really surprised that this was the first time that we were working together we were we got some great compliments off the back of that. PO 13:09 Nice. Anything else to add about that preparation? PW 13:13 Well, I think I, I wasn't really sure how to bring us together as a team and how to how to prepare for it. And I think I fell back on just trusting that if we got to know each other a little bit, that would be a really helpful platform. So our first kind of planning meetings when when we first kind of talked about it. Think I invested a bit of time in getting people just to say, kind of talk about their work and what they were interested in and what they were comfortable doing and not comfortable doing. And out of that emerged a little bit of what would be appropriate roles. And I think the team, let me know that if we did it, not that we necessarily would want to because it was very challenging. But if we did something like this, again, that the lead facilitator role in the room could be shared out a bit more than we did. I think I held on to that because I was anxious about, the thing that maybe hasn't come across so much in this conversation yet is how prescriptive the process was that we needed to go through using this Organisational Mapping Tool, which was a survey a whole staff survey of maybe, actually when you count them up individually, over 80 questions, and we needed to present the data and then get the group to kind of come to consensus around what the group score was based on the data and to have conversations about it. And there were glitches with the, with the form that was provided. So actually, some of the questions didn't properly record the data that people that, the responses that people put in Shanaka spent a lot of time between sessions combing through that manually and and brought a lot to that, and then so there was a lot of prescription in the process. And I kind of felt that I needed to make sure that we got through that, perhaps at the expense of the more interesting, creative, flexible kind of conversations that you might want to have when you bring all your staff together for for that amount of time. So I definitely felt some tensions. And it came. One of the things I thought about was the different kinds of compromises that we might need to make as a team. You know, we know we've got a compromise to make here. Are we going to favour this or that in the design and so on? PO 15:33 Helene did did want to add something go for it, Helene? HJ 15:36 Yeah, no, it was just the in that planning phase. So because Penny and Nikki had use this tool before, and were familiar with it, I think that was that was a really kind of interesting, but helpful dynamic, that they could bring their experience of having used it before. And I think that obviously informed the plan. But in that process, and in that, sort of uncovering the prescriptiveness as Penny's just said, I realised, one of the things I realised was that Shanaka in particular, is very good detail and I myself find very not a detailed person. So that I think then informed how we sort of played to our strengths when it actually came to working together because of the glitches and as Penny said, in the form, and the various things sort of to do with that detail of getting the data weren't quite as we wanted, Shanaka was able to sort of jump in and help. And then actually, as we, we did move on our feet throughout the process, it was that detailed kind of what I call Excel spreadsheet, nightmare stuff, I really didn't want to run away from that, but I realised he was really good at so that helped, you know, helped us work together to find and focus on a bit that we knew we were, you know, we could add to more PO 16:49 Thank you, Shanaka is there something you wanted to add? SD 16:54 Yes, actually, I was, I was gonna say, we, the overall feeling for me is we each held our space really well. So I was comfortable that Nikki was holding the space for the online group, so that I could let that go. And I could focus on the some of the detail and fixes that were needed. I was comfortable that Penny was holding the space in terms of the whole thing and giving us the space to work on some of the issues that we were having. And I was comfortable that Helene would be looking after the sort of people elements of it, and sort of providing that creative boost and the energy that was really, really needed. So that gave me the headspace to focus on dealing with some of the issues that we were having. And that was a very comfortable space to be in, even though all these things are happening at the same time. PO 17:46 Thank you, Nikki talking about the preparation, maybe that you had to do to be online? Do you feel there was anything that was different or similar? How was that how was preparing to be the person who was holding the online cohort? NW 18:05 Well, it was, it's very interesting, because I don't consider myself a techy person in particular at all. So having that as my kind of responsibility was quite interesting. So yeah, so that was quite interesting, I think particularly thinking about the multilingual aspects, the fact that they were going to be the interpreters who were joining online as well, and that they were sort of part of my cohort. But they were also supporting people in the room occasionally, was quite interesting. I think, as a person, I really like to plan everything. And so the kind of weekend before I was there, trying to arrange, you know, who would be in what breakout and how I could, and I had all these spreadsheets and lists and things. Of course, when it got into the room that went completely out of the window. And I had a notebook and a pen, and I was scribbling names down going, “well, this person's here today and that person isn't” and so I think, yeah, it was, it was probably quite a big lesson in thinking, well, you know, in many ways it does is not a use a good use of time to really spend lots of time preparing for those kinds of things. But I knew that for my own peace of mind, I needed to feel like I've done as much as I could to prepare for it. And then if I needed to wing it in the room, that was fine, because there was nothing more I could have done. So I think there was that aspect to it. I suppose just thinking about how we made sure that there felt like there was a level of equal space for online and in the room people and I think that's that's an ongoing challenge with an event like this, because there is no way that those experiences are the same. And I had some people who were joining at sort of 4am in the morning, and for some of them, it was the middle of the night, you know, their energies were different at different times a day and I couldn't really have anticipated that but I think we was just trying to be as conscious as possible that there were these kinds of two parallel experiences and that we were going to need to learn as we went as to how that worked. PO 20:11 Nice. Thank you. And just touching on that, I think, yeah, let's touch on that, on the, the experience of the people in the room and the online. So let's focus on the hybrid aspect. What were some of the things that you, you planned? And the ones that one were they what are some of the things that you did in order to, to keep it as one whole, like a feeling of sense of whole? PW 20:37 Well, I think it'd be lovely to hear from everybody on this, because I think we'll have different perspectives. But there was one thing that we did, that was I think it's fair to say that I was quite uptight at the beginning of the process, and by the time we got to maybe the beginning of day three, I felt able to kind of make jokes I'd be, I'd be a bit more relaxed. But we did a kind of an icebreaker, where we knew we couldn't get everyone because a very large group, we knew we couldn't get everyone to speak. But I asked some questions that were a bit like the kind of “the sun shines on” kind of process. So I asked “who is currently the, or who has been the furthest north in the world?”. And we got a story from people who thought they probably had been the furthest north, and then who's been the furthest south, and we got stories from people who thought they'd been further south, and then “who's, who's nearest the equator now?”. And that was a way of making sure that we brought in at least, there was an opportunity for some of the people online who I knew would be geographically,we weren't very near the Equator in the UK, so there was that question and that worked quite well to, to bring in the people who were online, because we knew just by geography, that, that would be an opportunity for them to say something. We also asked about, who's got who thinks they've got the most unusual pet? And someone, actually, who was, who was joining online from their garden, picked up a tortoise and showed it to the camera. And we've got some other great kind of pet related stories. And then I also, at a different time, asked people to tell us about a local delicacy, that's a food that's special to your, to your kind of country or culture that you think other people won't have eaten. And we did get quite a good variety of, of stories. And I think that was the question that got the most engagement from people online. And also probably challenged the interpreters, poor things. But, but let's hear from some of the others , PO 22:36 That's great, for it, Helene. HJ 22:38 Yeah, so from a technical point of view, rather than a process point of view, necessarily. I know, one thing that we got good feedback on was the fact we had a participant cam, which was, so they weren't unused to having hybrid meetings, , but the way that I think they commonly did them was just, you know, they had one camera, and it was kind of less, you couldn't see the room necessarily couldn't see individuals speaking and we had a tablet that Shanaka, I took turns in sort of running around the room, if you like, taking the camera, the tablet camera up to a participant, so you could speak directly into it. And apparently, that was really appreciated. So although it was a bit of, room space wasn't as easy as it might have been, there were a few things to kind of, logistical challenges of moving around it, let's say, but actually, I'm pleased that we managed to sort of do that quite often, you know, all the time to sort of help people to kind of actually, you know, show when they were speaking each time. PO 23:39 And it's so nice when you have such a low tech process, like with an iPad, but that actually people see like you, you really are as a person making a genuine effort to include everyone. It's not just that you've got the best tech in the world, and you can do it. So anything else about what you did as a group, but also what you did personally maybe would be interesting. Nikki, Shanaka, if there is something so what else? SD 24:04 I think just one additional thing that popped into my mind is we had to think about the translators as well. And we did get feedback, at one point that people were, they were finding it a bit difficult to translate at the speed that they were talking to. So we had regular reminders, once we had that feedback to get people to slow down, and I think we had a picture of a tortoise on the wall that we drew as a reminder for people to slow down as well. So we had to take that into consideration too. PO 24:36 Wow, that dynamic you're trying to create all this energy and all this cohesion, but you've got to slow it down. That is like a real effort to keep the momentum while the speed can't go. Yeah, anything else NW 24:51 As a team as well, that that kind of very set space where we reflect it together online as a team really It was beneficial that we, you know, we, we invested quite a bit of time in kind of a debrief for kind of how did it go? What can we do tomorrow kind of thing. So I didn't ever feel like through the team in the room although I was aware they were doing things that I was not party to, we were still always checking in so that we sort of had that grounding together each day. And that I felt like we'd had actually walked through what to expect rather than just being sent a plan by email that the others had all discussed, I think there was that important aspect of feeling like a hybrid team as much as creating a hybrid event for the participants as well, from my perspective, at least that that really was important to me, because I could easily have felt like I was just there to press buttons, really. So it's really important. PO 25:52 Wow, from an inclusivity point of view, there's so many dimensions like you had okay, how do you feel as a team that you're all still together? How participants with the timezone aspect with the translators? Any anything about how you worked with the client, either anything you want to bring up either before, during, after Penny? PW 26:13 Yeah, so the client had used the venue a lot before and was very confident that it would be fine. But I felt that I couldn't just rely on that. So I actually went to visit the venue, even though it was, it was a long way to go I took a whole day to go and visit the venue. But I think I might have even built that into my costing. So I think I knew when I did the costing, that would be important. And fortunately, it was quite close to where Helene's based, so Helene was able to come along as well. So actually two of the team had been to visit the venue and we had a much better idea of its limitations. The room was very dark, for example. So that meant it was even more important that we make an effort with the participant cam so that people online could get some sense of who was there rather than everyone being in shadow. The venue also did have in theory, Wi Fi everywhere, but we we stumbled when we tried to set up a hybrid breakout group in one particular area of the venue where it just wasn't up to it. So that was that was a bit tricky. PO 27:25 And think about the client who are working through Yes. PW 27:29 Oh, sorry. Yes, that's that was the thing. So what that? Sorry, I forgot what your question was. So all of that was around, that meant that Helene, and I got to meet a couple of people from the client team, they were extremely responsive, and really, that lovely mixture that you sometimes get with a client of being really competent and capable, but also quite laid back and flexible. So I think that really helped us and we met with them, they came to help us set up a couple of hours before the first session. So we were doing things together, we were swapping out bits of equipment that belonged to the client organisation or that we had brought with us. And we also included them in different debriefs. And I think that worked. I think that worked really well. And there was a, there was a point at which which we might come on to a little bit later, where the group kind of told us that they didn't like the process. And I think that was that was a really useful thing for us to have already built a sense of trust with the with the kind of client team that actually we personally, I sometimes feel anxious that I you know, am I performing well enough for the client? Am I you know, am I giving good service? and that sometimes is an anxiety for me, which makes, which can lead to me being inflexible. But I think we've built up enough of a good relationship, that actually flexibility at that point didn't feel like an admission of failure, like, oh, I should have planned this better. It just felt like a really natural thing to do in response to the group. PO 29:04 Yeah, well, we will pick up on on that. Helene, anything else to add about working with a client? HJ 29:10 Yeah, I was just thinking about the fact that we went to visit the venue beforehand. And how we also looked at just because I think I had tech focus as my role, partly, one of the things we did was find out what equipment they commonly use, because they work internationally, having hybrid meetings is not something that is they're not used to. So I think, us finding out what they used and trying to work with it rather than coming along and saying, “No, we're not going to use that, we've got this special way of doing it, we're going to do it our way”. For me that felt quite important, that we built on what they had already, and tried to adapt it and add to it rather than just kind of you know, come in with our own system because I think then that helped make the setup a bit more a bit easier. PO 29:58 Thank you. So we will already started to hear and listeners, they're all nodding at each other I have to tell you, it's like everyone's like,” yeah”. So, you've already started to, to mention some of the things that didn't quite work as well, maybe or, or that that could have worked better that you found out, you needed to adjust. So Shanaka, I'm gonna go back to you when you were talking about one of the challenges was about mixing people who were more comfortable with one language than another. You mentioned this earlier, that one of the ways in which you prepared to bring everyone together was by mixing people with different first languages and that, but you said it didn't go as well as? Or that there were some problems or I don't know how you phrased it. Can you tell us a little bit about that, how that looked like, and what were the issues that came up? SD 30:48 Oh, I was more on the one of the responding party for this so there might be more detail coming from Nikki or Helen. Oh, great. PO 30:56 So you were an observer? SD 30:58 But yeah, yes, I think it was more. In particular, the one that comes to mind was when the Internet wasn't working properly. And we had a mixed group. And we'd planned how who would be in the groups, so we could swap them out. And we knew that we were quite careful to make sure that people could speak the right languages, and that people would feel supported both online and offline. But because the Internet didn't work, our groups weren't working. So they sort of came and ran to us and say, “This isn't working, we need to do something, can we like, join another group?”, which then threw our plans out of who was in what group. So then we were just having to respond to all of that. And we were able to, it was a bit touch and go. But yeah, the client had an idea of what they wanted to do, and to get around it. And we just supported them through that. But yeah, our original plan didn't work. So we just adapted around it. And then we needed to keep track of who was where. So a lot of moving parts. But the client seemed happy afterwards. So they were okay with it. We were just a little bit stressed and had a few more wrinkles PO 32:07 Oh the internet. And how about, yes, Nikki, we're going to say something. NW 32:12 There was this sort of this kind of mindset shift that we needed to do of kind of the ideal world of what a perfect hybrid would look like, and the reality of what was achievable, that what was practical and didn't involve so much kind of complication that it took away from the process, I think I was very conscious that there was one group that were online, who more or less work together throughout the same process. But that was partly because there are a number of people who only spoke French, so we couldn't swap them in and out. And although we could bring other people in, they needed to all be together all the time, because of the way that the translation interpretation worked. And the fact that they were all online, so we couldn't do this kind of hybrid with the room. So I think in the ideal world, we would have swapped them around. In reality, I'm not sure it really took away from the experience. And it was very clear that we planned differently, but that, you know, practical barriers were in the way. So I think even that ethos of kind of, we're gonna try our best to make this mixed and, you know, interactive, but at least if everybody has a discussion that they can participate in, and that we try our best to kind of bring people together in the plenary sessions to kind of interact, then, you know, it was that, as I say, it was that balance between pragmatism and the ideal world, really, that we needed to keep revisiting all the way through, HJ 33:41 I was thinking about the groups and the way, we had to kind of really keep an eye on the groups. And we did try and set up some mixed hybrid online and in person groups. And then we had, as I said, the different language groups, and we tried to mix them up at a fair bit. But in doing that, also, we, the bit that wasn't apparent to anybody online is that this venue had a number of different buildings. It wasn't just, it wasn't a hotel, let's say we've got, you know, shiny breakout rooms, it was spread over a little bit of a, an area. So Shanika, and I between us did spend a fair amount of time walking between buildings to check in the groups as well. So there was an added dimension of us having to actually, you know, physically go between different places and also work out which corners and which buildings have the right, the best Wi Fi. So there was there was another added level, if you like, running around trying to sort that out. PO 34:39 Yeah, go for it Penny. PW 34:41 So I'm just thinking, I can't believe we've got this far into the conversation and not mentioned the fact that we had a Miro board it was a place where we displayed the data, so the results the kind of responses to each question. And it was also the place where we expected groups to take, to write their kind of notes about, you know, that whatever discussion they'd had about the, the area of the survey that they'd been allocated. And it was also the place where we took notes in plenary of the conversations. And I'm not sure if we would make a different decision about how, I think we definitely needed a virtual space of some kind for written material. Some people found it, they were very unfamiliar with it, very unconfident using it. And there were also some particular aspects of Miro to do with whether you can pin things down, how movable things are on the board, whether things get lost. And also, if you type too much before clicking, somehow your text gets, there was one session where we had to basically remember afterwards, what had happened in the session for the plenary notes, because because we hadn't realised that Miro has a character limit, and everything had been written, but it somehow wasn't there. HJ 36:02 So yeah, so fess up, it was me who was typing merrily, So Shanaka, and I took it in turns to live type, plenary conversation. So there was, you know, great, groups were feeding back. Penny was facilitating Shanaka andI took it in turns to type up the notes. And so I was merrily typing in Miro, and then eventually realised that it wasn't, I was typing, but nothing was on the Miro board, because it does have this character limit. So we were really quickly able to recall what we needed to and put it in a Google Doc. And actually, I think it is a lesson that just choose something simple when you're doing something like that, like a Google Doc or whatever, to, you know, type all the stuff you need to and then we can put it back into the Miro board later, it would have been much less stressful. But that's yeah, lesson learned. PO 36:50 Listeners, they're all throwing their hands to their heads and nodding and smiling, and you can just feel the pain looking at them, Nikki? NW 36:59 Well, actually, I'm honestly not because I didn't know anything about that. So you've never told me that, which is really interesting. I had no idea it was all fixed by the morning. But we did it at the very end piece. We might be jumping ahead here. But we asked for a longer form bit of writing. And in the end, I think a number of them defaulted to doing a Google Doc or something and just sending it to us. And you know, at the end of the day, they were able to read out some of the things that they'd said, and we didn't actually need all of the detail on the Miro board then and there. And we were able to capture it in a different way. So again, there's that is always that balance, isn't it between something that if it worked perfectly would be the ideal tool. And then there's the practical aspects of people needing to use it other people with that kind of tech when they haven't got great internet access, when they're not all as familiar with technology. And but yes, I can't believe that there was that issue that I had no idea about? Because you obviously were fixing it, probably late into the night when I was tucked up in my bed. But yeah, SD 38:08 I would say um, once again, that was that was in a way, that was a lovely moment as well, because I remember the stress of us realising the notes, were not there. A significant portion of notes were not there. And Penny, you just came in and held the space and said, Okay, let's prove, and let's look at what we can do. We've all worked, you know, we can start taking notes from what we remember. And then together, we sort of all brought it together. But it really helps having that calm space to do that, rather than everybody getting worried. So it worked quite well in the end. But it was a stressful moment. PO 38:41 Yeah, for you. It's great when you can say how much you learned from it, and how well it was handled? Yes, plenty. PW 38:50 So So I've experienced a funny sort of split personality at those sorts of moments, because I think about how terrible I would feel if if, if that were me, and and if I were about to get kind of told off for having made such a terrible mistake. And so I kind of feel that anxiety. And at the same time, I'm thinking like some other great facilitators who I've worked with where I've been part of the team and they've been the lead facilitator, you know, what would they have done at this moment, that would have been the perfect thing for me to be on the receiving end of and try to channel that. So being able to say, look, you know, nobody died. We can, we can only do what we can do, let's see what we remember, you know, we're all doing a fantastic job. And I felt it was really important to keep reminding myself and and the team I kind of felt that slight sense of team leader responsibility to remind us all of how great we were doing as it went along because different different ones of us had different moments. Whether it was beforehand, you know, Nikki's described worrying about what the grouping was going to be Like, or whether it was kind of partway through, you know, we can, we can do a better job if we're all just realising that we're already doing a great job, and that it's all fine. And that the whatever solution we come up with, you know, will be a good solution PO Thanks, Nikki NW 40:16 And I think this, this, again, might not be the right moment for this. But I think that, then what Penny said just had a particular resonance for me around this kind of team energy that actually having four of us in the team, that clearly this was a very intense process, it was quite tiring, even though I was sort of, I was really buzzing at the end, which is this, again, this weird kind of mix. But that we probably all had dips and peaks of energy at different times. And we were able to adapt to that and kind of carry each other through, you know, like somebody's having a difficult moment with something. And we were probably, even though we weren't all together, we were aware that someone was having to focus on fixing something or whatever, the rest of us could just go, alright, we'll deal with everything else. And it was sort of one of those things where probably we hadn't really engineered it, it just happened. And it was just really fortunate that as a group, we were able to work well in that way. Because we probably all have a slightly different energy about us, things that we bring to a space that the others don't. And so there was just this kind of really fortunate gelling of the team, which allowed us to kind of maintain a fairly consistent energy outwardly whilst having dips and peaks individually. So yeah. PO 41:40 That's a really nice point. So before we, before we start to wrap up and just ask you, I'm going to just ask you individually for some reflections, don't we'll just go around the four of you. But I did want to come back. Just just to touch on. Penny, you mentioned that at some point, the participants or the group said that they were not liking the process. Is that right? So what happened? PW 42:04 Well, there were two aspects of the process that people didn't like. One was how kind of laborious and time consuming going through the survey was. And I would say that they were right. It is boring and time consuming. And it's kind of a mandatory part of the process. And in a way, my strategy at that point was to was to be on their side and say, yeah, it is that but it's a funding requirement. So you know, let's, let's just make the let's make the best of it. The second bit was the bit where it got interesting from a participant conversation point of view was when they had been through the whole survey, and they had an opportunity to prioritise three aspects of all of the things that the survey covered it to look at it in more detail. And I proposed, I think, I think my proposal was that on day four, we would spend our time doing that deep dive using a kind of, I think I suggested a carrousel process. Or maybe we weren't divided into six groups to start with, do a kind of bit of a brainstorm on what good looks like for each of the three priorities. In fact, in the end, the group rebelled even more and had four priorities even though the process prescribes three. And that they would then I can't even remember what I proposed, it was either that they would do it as a carousel, or that they would just have to pick one. And just deep dive on that. And they said, “Actually, we don't want to do that we we want to give an opportunity for everybody talk about the thing that they're most interested in”. And I think because we had talked about it quite exhaustively as a team, because I was conscious that there wasn't actually a single perfect bit of process. We talked about, shall we do it this way? Shall we do it that way? Shall we carousel it? Shall we do it in three groups? Do people get to choose their groups? How important is it that all of the three priorities get kind of equal number of people talking about them? Because we had, because I changed my mind quite a lot and talked through some different options with the team. I felt like I was like, I had a kind of unwritten mandate from the rest of the team to basically say, okay, yeah, we there isn't a perfect process here. You know, I can see what the downsides are of your suggestion, which was that they divide into small groups and each group work on the one it's most interested in to start with, and then choose other ones and basically have an opportunity to work through up to four priorities. In the time that we had, I felt able to say, “ Okay, well, I can see that there are some downsides to this. And as long as you're happy to accept those potential downsides to accept those risks, then absolutely, you know, do it the way you want.” And we had a bit of conversation back and forth with the people in the room. I'm trying to remember whether anyone online actually got involved with that conversation. It's in my memory, it's very much an it was very much an in the room conversation. But I don't know whether anyone online got involved. Do you remember, NW 45:23 I don't think particularly because it was quite fast moving and dynamic. Obviously, we hadn't planned that, the conversation to go that way. And it was sort of bouncing around the room. And I suppose on reflection, perhaps kind of advocating more for having a small discussion with the online group might have at least felt like they'd contributed, even though I don't think anybody objected to the way it went, if you see what I mean. I don't think anybody online did but at the same time, it was probably two or three people in the room actually, that proposde something kind of adapted it a bit together, and everyone went, “Okay, that sounds reasonable”. And, you know, we needed to make fairly rapid decision because we only had whatever it was an hour or so left of the day to kind of put people in groups and have this discussion. It's important to note that this whole process is framed as a starting point, it's actually about opening up the discussion helping people to identify priorities, but it's never meant to kind of be conclusive. And that actually, we were just giving them space to” start teasing out some of the issues within those priorities. But making that clear, as well. And saying, Whatever you do now, is something that you can take away and build on,” we were able to let go of the kind of output of that discussion a little bit more and just go, you know, the value is the fact that this is an opportunity that you don't often have to all come together to discuss these things. And then what happens is your choosing really, so was that really, that helped, again, as well as the fact that Penny had some clear sort of options and parameters that we had considered to then say, you know, we can adapt to this, because we want the out output for you to be as valuable as it could be, you know, we're not hung up on what that looks like, necessarily. So PW 47:15 I think the other thing about the client organisation, and the group that we were working with, is that compared to most groups, they were quite process literate. I think they probably used quite a lot of participatory conversations of different kinds in their actual work as an organisation. So there were people who had the language and you know, had quite clear rationale for the views that they were expressing about the process that they should use. PO 47:47 Yeah, I suppose that's, I suppose that's quite unusual as well. Yeah. In such a big group as well. Great. Well, what a nice, I think this is a perfect place to to wrap up. So I'm going to just ask you for some quick reflections. Shanaka, we'll start with you. It could be something that you learned that you enjoy that you want to share with listeners, I'm just going to leave it open. So Shanaka some final words from you. Thank you, SD 48:12 I've taken a lot of what we've done then actually into other facilitation work. So a lot of learnings and that is very much about letting go of the process. Sometimes even though you can prepare, you can let go of the process and trust the participants to be able to do something, as well as bringing in a bit of humour and icebreakers just to create that bonding. That has worked really well. So yeah, I've taken that into further jobs. And it was just such a lovely team to work with. And that balance of energy, as Nikki said, us holding the space and getting us through the ups and downs just worked amazingly. So it was a great experience. Helene HJ 48:53 Yeah, I think like Shanaka that allowing for the process to go a little bit sideways. And and that sort of management of that, definitely, I've learnt from that. And I've actually had a client recently that I've, I've really been able to sort of take a step back with and let the participants say that actually, they don't want this. They want it to work a different way. And sort of reflecting on this experience thinking yeah, actually, that that's okay to do that. And I think the other thing is, is this sort of team dynamic as well, and Penny's kind of what I call gentle leadership, you know, we felt very much like a strong team. And I don't often, you know, I'll often facilitate with one other facilitator, but not a team like this and it was just such a rewarding and really positive experience. NW 49:38 Having done the process twice as well, that was a really interesting reflection, that the previous time that Penny and I had worked through this process, it was all online with it, even though that one in theory was much simpler. I felt that this one was had a much more kind of dynamic energy about it. And I really enjoyed the second one a lot more I think, partly because we felt a bit more able to let go of some of the process. And so there was that comfort in kind of knowing where we were trying to get to, but thinking actually, you know, we can be a bit more flexible with it, it's a kind of constant reminder, really, there's only so much planning you can do. And that, whilst that might give me comfort to feel I've done it. And you know that I do need to do that to feel like when I do need to be flexible, it's fine. You know, like, actually, this is just what's happening in the moment. It's a really a constant personal learning to keep applying that there's a bit that's planning. And there's a bit that just goes, I've planned for the fact that I would know I will need to adapt to this. And I don't know what's going to happen. And actually, that's part of the fun. Having a team alongside you to adapt with makes all the difference, though, because dealing with all of the challenges coming at you on your own is a completely different kettle of fish, I think for me to, to use an unusual phrase, but yeah. PO 51:00 Great, and Penny. PW 51:03 Well, so I think my closing reflections are a bit of a, an advert for getting involved in the IAF, whether you're a member or not, because actually, it's not just knowing somebody or having somebody kind of recommended to join part of a team, the fact that that Helene and I had kind of seen each other in action, if you like, at if events and experimented together at events, the fact that Nikki and I had worked together on teams that other people had brought together, there's nothing like feeling Yes, I've worked with that person, you know, albeit not in a client context. I've worked with them, I know that they're, you know, that they can bring something to a team. So anyone out there who's thinking, I don't know how I would bring together a team of additional people to do a piece of work, actually, you know, get involved, whether it's online or in person at some of those events. And, and that way, you know, you'll just have a much broader pool of people who when you need to bring together a team, you can think actually, yeah, I know. I know who I want to ask for this. PO 52:07 Excellent. Thank you. Thank you for that. It is a great resource. So remember, listeners, that Facilitation stories is brought to you by the England and Wales chapter of the International Association of facilitators, also known as IAF. Well, thank you very, very much listeners for staying with us. Thank you so much to our guests, Helene Jewell, Nikki Wilson, Shanaka Dias and Penny Walker. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, thank you. And that's the end of today's episode of Facilitation Stories. Make sure you're subscribed to the show on whatever podcast app you use. And if you would like to contribute to the show, you can get in touch via email podcast at IAF-EnglandWales.org Or you can get all the other links from our website Facilitation Stories.com. This has been Facilitation Stories brought to you by IAF England and Wales.
In this episode of Facilitation Stories Pilar is joined by Sue Bird, who is a European public affairs specialist and facilitator. Sue ran a session on facilitating for government at the recent IAF conference. She talks about how pleased she was to be able to attend the IAF England and Wales conference in Birmingham recently, and how it was great to be able to meet fellow facilitators and understand how they're running their business, how they do facilitation. She talks about how she does both European Public Affairs consultancy work AND facilitation. Sue reflects on a session she attended at IAF England and Wales about structuring your facilitation business. She set up her own business a year ago, following her 30 years work for the European Commission in a number of different policy areas, and in funding programme management. She wanted to set up a business that would play on these strengths and use the training she has received in the Art of Hosting and Participatory Leadership with the European Commission. She used this in her job to help in team building process, strategy development and other areas while employed with the Commission. She still helps them out in this way still as an “Active Senior”. On the topic of how well embedded facilitation is into the European Commission, Sue mentions that the tools they use at the European Commission are well known tools, such as the World Café. She thinks that facilitation is about marrying passion and profession. Sue talks about the very generous training offers in the European Commission and how she was attracted to facilitated meetings and realised that this was something she really wanted to get trained in. The Commission trained people to a good enough point to try them out as internal facilitators. Her facilitation work was in addition to her ordinary 40 hour week. Sue describes the different types of work that she is able to offer now and how facilitation links into the public affairs she gets involved in. Pilar asks how facilitation in government might be different to other sectors. Sue explains that there are political processes that affect these different organisations and that being involved in politics is a very human experience. She talks about how uncertainty can arise and how there is often pressure on public officials. She also talks about when there are changes in the working environment and how reorganisation of services can happen every now and then. When change is in the air, there is quite a bit of uncertainty and, as in all large organisations, people's opportunity to influence what they do is limited. All of this will affect how people show up to facilitated sessions and how a facilitator needs to manage this. Pilar asks whether when working with people in government, people might not be able to be as open. Sue says that there would probably be a minimum amount of openness but that it will be up to the procurer of the service to set the scene. The facilitator will need to build up a trusting relationship with the client. On the subject of working as a facilitator in an institution with people of different nationalities, Sue mentions the possible challenge of language. She will be soon facilitating a session in French, and although she is fluent, this will be harder work. International organizations tend to create a culture of their own, and there's a certain understanding that broadly facilitators need to accept that and work with it. Sue shares a little about her role with the IAF Belgum chapter and their 24 members. They have two different types of meeting each month. The focus of one of them is on sharing tools that educate, while the other is called a “Facilitators Studio”, where people can experiment. One recent topic has been different decision-making tools. To connect with Sue Bird on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sue-bird-037311129/ You can connect with Pilar Orti on Twitter https://twitter.com/PilarOrti Listen to our podcasts: https://www.facilitationstories.com/ And connect with us on Twitter: @fac_stories
Language podcaster Craig is from the UK but has been podcasting in Spain for many years. Alternatively business podcaster Pilar has the opposite geographical podcasting experience being from Spain and podcasting from the UK for a long time. And yet they found each other and created a podcast about the scene in Spain some years ago. In this conversation with Craig and Pilar we dig into what they learned about podcasting in these two countries, how the space has changed since their podcast was live and how indy podcasting differs from business podcasting. These two folks are knowledgeable and are tapped into the space in a passion led way so there's a lot to learn from them. Let's get to it!Pilar's podcast: Adventures in PodcastingCraig's podcast: InglespodcastTheir podcast on the Spanish podcasting space: https://enclavedepodcast.wordpress.com/
Language podcaster Craig is from the UK but has been podcasting in Spain for many years. Alternatively business podcaster Pilar has the opposite geographical podcasting experience being from Spain and podcasting from the UK for a long time. And yet they found each other and created a podcast about the scene in Spain some years ago. In this conversation with Craig and Pilar we dig into what they learned about podcasting in these two countries, how the space has changed since their podcast was live and how indy podcasting differs from business podcasting. These two folks are knowledgeable and are tapped into the space in a passion led way so there's a lot to learn from them. Let's get to it!Pilar's podcast: Adventures in PodcastingCraig's podcast: InglespodcastTheir podcast on the Spanish podcasting space: https://enclavedepodcast.wordpress.com/
Language podcaster Craig is from the UK but has been podcasting in Spain for many years. Alternatively business podcaster Pilar has the opposite geographical podcasting experience being from Spain and podcasting from the UK for a long time. And yet they found each other and created a podcast about the scene in Spain some years ago. In this conversation with Craig and Pilar we dig into what they learned about podcasting in these two countries, how the space has changed since their podcast was live and how indy podcasting differs from business podcasting. These two folks are knowledgeable and are tapped into the space in a passion led way so there's a lot to learn from them. Let's get to it!Pilar's podcast: Adventures in PodcastingCraig's podcast: InglespodcastTheir podcast on the Spanish podcasting space: https://enclavedepodcast.wordpress.com/
In this episode Pilar talks to Paul Kelly and Caroline Jessop about co-facilitation. Caroline is a facilitator based just outside Winchester. She describes herself as a creative facilitator and enjoys the things that leave people upbeat and energised. Paul is the founder of Pandek Group which is a Facilitation, Training and Coaching business based in the South West specialising in bridging the disconnect within organisations. He uses Lego Serious Play as one of his facilitation tools. Paul and Caroline have recently worked together on an away day that focused on the disconnect within teams in a professional organisation. They had already had a conversation about wanting to do some work together when this piece of work came up. Caroline describes herself as a born collaborator and how she and Paul have similar expertise but different styles. She felt this piece of work was quite serendipitous and had space in her diary to explore the “gritty” brief. It was also a learning opportunity for them each to experience someone else working and their different techniques. Challenging, questioning, evaluating and rationalising, and reflecting on their own practise. An example of this was in writing the plan and the level of detail, the order of the process. Paul's way of thinking about co-facilitation is that: You can get someone to support you and for example get materials ready. Or they can act as a backup if there is illness or emergency. You can have co-facilitation when you are taking turns to deliver even though there may be one person leading on contracting, delivery and design. Joint facilitation – includes everything that is co-facilitation but the design is done together too. Collaboration facilitation - All of the above including the contracting and even sourcing the work in the first place. You need to have an open and honest conversation about whose brand you are going under in the first place. Paul and Caroline's collaboration followed the following stages Meeting with the client to pitch together – this was quite organic, and they both asked questions to get a broader understanding of the brief than they might have done on their own. Putting together a headline plan – Caroline was keen to use a particular methodology that she included. This was followed by some tweaks and discussions with the client. Paul then took the lead on making it come to life and they used SessionLab to add structure to the plan. They were able to ask each other probing questions to check the plan. Prior to this piece of work, they were both on the IAF England and Wales conference planning team together and Paul also worked as part of a team of facilitators when Caroline brought in several facilitators for a piece of work. Caroline has co-created sessions with a number of people and says this broadens your perspective, and the diversity of experience teaches you things you didn't know that you didn't know. Creating the outline for them was okay but the client needed more detail and several iterations of the plan. It helped that two people were listening and gave clarity and confidence in what they were proposing. Caroline and Paul were on WhatsApp, behind the scenes during the meeting with their client and this created a good flow of conversation between them. Being listened to by multiple people by the client is always a good thing. They did the budget conversation live online with the client and they were able to use Whatsapp to do this. They had had a previous conversation about budgets and knew the suggested rate in advance. Throughout this project, Caroline and Paul learned that: You need a growth mindset if you are going to work in front of a peer and take the feedback. This is a good challenge to have. Balance of clarity over how you would do it and the benefit of doing it that way needs to be as ideal as it can be for the client and this can be tough to hear that someone else may do this differently. Because of the complexity of the piece of work it was important for them to have had a chance to recharge and share what they did and to discuss when it got really tricky. Here's some advice for someone who is going to co-facilitate or work with another facilitator for the first time: Do it – you are learning as you are doing. Listen with positivity – there are different ways of doing things it's your opportunity to share as well as experience them. Jump in and try it. Be mindful of what the client is asking for. Connect with Paul Kelly: Info@pandek.org - https://pandek.org/ Connect with Caroline Jessop: Caroline@clearmeetings.co.uk - https://clearmeetings.co.uk/ And you can connect with your host, Pilar Orti on Twitter. https://twitter.com/PilarOrti
Today's guest is Matt Gilhooly, host of the Life Shift Podcast, where he has “candid conversations with people about the pivotal moments that changed their lives forever."Full show notes here: https://www.adventuresinpodcasting.com/ep-35/Matt and Pilar want to thank Marisa Eikenberry for introducing them. (You can listen to Matt and Marisa talk on Matt's show , and she also appeared last year in Adventures in Podcasting, in episode 25. ) Connect with Matt on LinkedIn and on Twitter he is @thelifeshiftpodGet in touch if you would like to connect with Pilar Orti. If you want to support this show and are looking for a media host: I recommend Buzzsprout.If you're thinking of starting your own podcasting adventure, I recommend Buzzsprout as host - click here for my affiliate link, which also gets you a little discount, and Riverside FM for recording, which you can access through this other affiliate link.
We'll be back to our normal programme next week, but in case you're looking for something to listen to around leading remote teams, here's a conversation between Tim Burgess and Pilar Orti on tackling the challenges of the asynchronous environment as managers/leaders. This is episode 38 from Management Café, where the co-hosts talk about an aspect of management for about 20 minutes. Join them for this informal style every week! Search for Management Café in your favourite podcast app, or head over to the Management Café site for timecoded show notes. If you'd like to be a test listener for our new audio-first course on asynchronous communication, register here: https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/your-opinion Today's conversation: What happens for managers when work moves away from real time meeting focussed and more towards asynchronous? Communication and team interaction can be as unique and nuanced as each individual human. So how do we navigate management when our team are spending large parts of their time working async?
This week Simon and Lily look at loose ends in Congress, Stormy weather damage across the country and we chat to author Pilar Orti about the unusual ways Spain celebrates Christmas and the New Year. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week Simon and Lily look at loose ends in Congress, Stormy weather damage across the country and we chat to author Pilar Orti about the unusual ways Spain celebrates Christmas and the New Year. Do you know where the name Madrid comes from? Or what the longest word in the Spanish dictionary is? Well Patreon listeners will soon find out, because this week's bonus Spanter content sees Lily test Simon on his Spanish history and general knowledge. Hilarity ensues! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
We wrap up the year talking to three hosts of our Meetups to find out what's been going on in their regions: what common themes have emerged throughout the year and their plans for 2023. Join our Meetups in person, or online (you can join any region when you join online!). https://www.meetup.com/iaf-facilitators-and-friends/ 01.41mins Helene Jewell tells Pilar Orti what's been going on in the South West facilitators meetups. 12.38mins Megan Evans, co-host of the Wales/Cardiff meetup with Tanya Nash tells Nikki Wilson about what they've been up to. 15.46mins Adrian Ashton tells us all about what him and other facilitators have been up to in the "We are Northern" meetup - it involves plenty of zoom selfies that you can follow through #IAFMeetup. Connect with our guests on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenejewell/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/megan-evans-consultant/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanya-nash-7576b837/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrianashton/ And follow Facilitation Stories on Twitter @fac_stories Nikki Wilson is @NiksClicks on Twitter Pilar Orti is... @PilarOrti
Ada del Pilar Ortízis a plastic artist who works on painting, architecture, ceramics and more. Ada del Pilar Ortíz es una artista plástica que practica con pintura, arquitectura, cerámica y otros. FOLLOW Ada del Pilar Ortíz on SOCIAL MEDIA: https://www.instagram.com/ada.delpilar/ FOLLOW FEN on SOCIAL MEDIA: https://www.facebook.com/fencorrea/ https://www.instagram.com/fencorrea/ https://twitter.com/fencorrea https://fencorrea.weebly.com/blog https://www.tiktok.com/@fencorrea FIND FEN'S Books on Amazon/Spotify/YouTube/Bandcamp: https://www.amazon.com/Fernando-E.-E.-Correa-Gonz%C3%A1lez/e/B07221Q1FY/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1536059902&sr=8-1 https://open.spotify.com/artist/4dUtrVampVxlHJSXNVaTi9?si=i6kqQ3N_Sv-Rlesi48mHrw https://www.youtube.com/fencorrea https://fencorrea.bandcamp.com
Management Café is back... with a new co-host! Meet Tim Burgess, reconnect with Pilar Orti and find out what we are planning for the new season of Management Café.
Today I'm interviewing the Founder and CEO of Volley, Josh Little. Josh's experience in sales and marketing at three Fortune 500 companies provided him with a strong foundation in leadership, storytelling, collaboration above all, communication. His newest company, Volley, was built upon that foundation. Volley helps teams communicate better and escape the problem of "Death by Meetings" by implementing asynchronous verbal conversations, which fill in the gap between text-based tools like Slack and video-chat apps like Zoom. Josh's work has been highlighted in TechCrunch, Mashable, Entrepreneur, Inc., and Forbes. Let me know what you think.... Want to learn about remote work from 60+ real-world remote work experts including?: Nick Francis, CEO Help Scout, Laurel Farrer, Co-Founder Distribute Consulting, Andy Tryba, CEO Crossover, Pilar Orti, Founder Virtual Not Distant, Darcy Boles, Dir Of Culture & Innovation TaxJar, Steli Efti, CEO - Close, Elaine Pofeldt, Freelance Writer, Sarah Park, President Meet Edgar, Alina Vandenberghe, Co-Founder Chili Piper, Derek Andersen, CEO Startup Grind, Michelle Dale, CEO Virtual Miss Friday Stitcher Google Podcast iTunes Spotify Please subscribe to the remote work life podcast and you'll learn how to: > get clarity on your career direction > master online and in-person job interviews > find unadvertised or hidden jobs > use LinkedIn to network with hiring managers > thrive in a remote work culture > stay connected and develop and support your remote teammates Let's connect: On Facebook On LinkedIn On Instagram On YouTube
This is the first part of the celebratory episode 300! Some of our guests return to the show to share how they see the world of remote work changing, how their own ways of working have changed and what they'd like this podcast to cover over the next 100 episodes (or is it next 300!). We'll hear from: Maya Middelmiss Dr Richard MacKinnon Mark Kilby Tim Burgess Simon Wilson Bree Cagiatti Eva Rimbau-Gilabert Theresa Sigilito Hollema Ross Winter Pinar Akkaya Anish Hindocha and your host, Pilar Orti 00.00 Pilar introduces the 3 parts and introduces the guests. 09.30 The guests start answering the question: What do you think is going to stay the same in remote work most knowledge workers for the next three years and what do you think it's going to change? Bree predicts lots of changes as people recover from the shock of being forced into working from home, and Simon has seen some organisations rushing back to the office, while some have embraced the possibility of working remotely. Theresa reckons the desire for flexibility at work will continue, while Maya says that this raised self-awareness is here to stay. 13.25 But there's also a less rosy view of what's going on. Anish gives us the devil advocate's answer (and what he's observing in the UK), Maya thinks many people are keen to have more “analog conversations” and some resistance to sustain the change, while Eva is seeing a reluctance in seriously adopting remote work in Spain. Mark has his doubts about whether hybrid is going to survive, while Simon has seen a polarisation in how organisations approach the ability to work in person and online. 19.00 What skills, mindset, behaviours will we need? Richard would like to see more sharing of what's working and what successful remote work looks like, Tim thinks collaboration, communication and burnout will still be a problem - as they are a fundamental part of work. Pinar reckons we have developed some of these digital skills we've been needed for a while, and improved our interpersonal skills. Theresa has seen micromanagers become more facilitative, and Simon reckons that the organisations that survive are those that will adopt asynchronous communication successfully. 28.00 Pilar does her usual rant about the need for understanding asynchronous communication. 30.40 Theresa specialises in global teams and is interested in nurturing cultural awareness and creating inclusion in global teams, and she shares how virtual teams have affected these. 36.45 Pilar reminds us of the “remote work for social change” conversation, which was lost during the pandemic. (But you can catch up with it in episode 212!) 37.00 What will be next on our minds? Maya reckons organisations and teams will consolidate their technology and apps, and look out for stuff like digital identity and blockchain. Meanwhile Ross, with an eye out on the parallels between social media and remote work, predicts a more decentralised way of working in many ways. Pinar reckons there will also be changes in talent acquisition and retention, while Theresa has seen an increase in interest in how to work better with international colleagues. We end the episode with a reminder about “subcultures” in organisations. Tune in for the second part, where our guests reflect on how their own ways of working have changed and how they view the world of work in relation to the rest of their lives - and what they're hearing is going on with others. https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts/300-part1
Pilar Orti, founder and director of Virtual Not Distant, meets with Wayne to discuss tips for new managers on a remote team, having conversations around how to use tools effectively, thinking about "remote-first", and how silence doesn't necessarily mean things are okay. Virtual Not Distant works with leaders, managers, and HR professionals to create a "remote-first" environment whether you're planning to stay remote or becoming a hybrid organization. Question of the Week: What is one pitfall managers need to be aware of? Additional Resources: Learn more about Virtual Not Distant Learn more about the 21st Century Worklife Podcast Connect with Pilar Orti on LinkedIn Learn more about Wayne Turmel Purchase a copy of The Long-Distance Leader Purchase a copy of The Long-Distance Teammate The Remote Leadership Institute The Kevin Eikenberry Group Want us to answer one of your questions? Contact us: https://longdistanceworklife.com/contact/ View the full transcript on https://longdistanceworklife.com/
In this episode, Maya and Pilar discuss the different communication rhythms that remote teams adopt. They also cover the concept of documentation, as something that can help slow down a team's rhythm, or at least help it towards "burstiness", a characteristic of successful teams. Plenty here to reflect on.Communication in an online team requires a different mindset to that of when you are collocated, and requires different ways of interacting which might feel unnatural, or even uncomfortable. It all started with this tweet:https://twitter.com/PilarOrti/status/1499370551596527617 “Over the last years, I've worked & collaborated with a wide range of people online. 1 thing that strikes me is that the rhythm of communication & the speed of the workflow become apparent. I've noticed when somebody's rhythm clashes with my own. Is this something you've noticed?”Saskie replied that she also noticed when it WAS in sync, and gave this metaphor: “Musing on your tweet brought to mind an image of 3 legged races as a child. Just agreeing to begin with the outer leg first was a winning tactic. It wasn't about running faster – just about not falling over ourselves!”As external people, we notice this when we come into a team, but the team might not be aware that there are different rhythms of communicating. There are teams which communicate constantly, either because the task requires it, or because they're used to it. So this presents itself like constant tagging, and many near real-time replies; on the other hand some teams barely tag anyone, just post messages at some point, and don't require as much synchronous communication, neither to do their work or to feel connected. We explain the terms “asynchronous communication”, “documentation” and “single source of truth”. For more on this, you might want to check out this newsletter from Remote Fabric: http://newsletter.remotefabric.com/issues/push-vs-pull-communication-issue-2-696532 Teams can start by pulling together different bits of information and gather them in one single space, so that it's accessible for everyone. Think of it as a key area in your online office. You can also adopt the principle, thinking, “is this conversation or document something we want to keep for future reference, could it help someone?” It's about making it easier to find where the expertise is in the company, so this is not only about content but also about knowing who can help you in the company. Could this be relevant to learning and development roles? Shifting the mindset from how to run “engaging online workshops” to how can we curate the information and knowledge in the company? Technology is making this easier by the year… (For more on this check out next week's episode on Knowledge Management in organisations.) 19.00 MINS DIfferent teams have different rhythms and they are influenced by the nature and progress of task and task interdependence, perception of and real hierarchy and level of autonomy to make decisions and social culture.We begin talking about the rhythm around tasks and how this is affected by the nature of the task, the progress, and if we're in a project, the stage of the project. Eg kick off and brainstorming at the beginning might require regular lots of exchanges, then a slower rhythm and less interactions as everyone “gets on with it”, and a faster pace. We can reflect as individuals and as a team whether the rhythm we have is useful to us. Also, don't forget about our wider context and how this might affect the rhythm in which we communicate. Task interdependence will also affect your communication cadence, as well as whether you have a space where you go to communicate your progress. (You can find out more about this in episode 239, or read the show notes.)By the way, creating documentation is all about creating the space for meaningful conversations, and conversing when it's the best way of getting things done together, not as the only way of getting things done together. It helps us avoid information being held in someone's head. Documentation is live, so that improvement to our processes can be communicated too. But none of this helps if we don't develop a culture of accessing documentation and other asynchronous communication. (We know, it can feel like a lot of extra work, but transitions are always difficult…) As team leaders, we need to change our mindset and focus on creating an ecosystem within which people can work rather than always being the main point of contact for information. It can be difficult to figure out which technology can help us best though… Another challenge… And of course, none of this works without psychological safety… 36.00 MINSThe sense of hierarchy and real hierarchy, as well as the ability and trust to make decisions on our own also can result in constant communication, as everyone feels like they need to check in. Presenteeism and the need to be seen as working really hard, can also result in lots of “push communication” when we complete the work – rather than the more calm cadence of making our workflow visible in an agreed way. If we don't have a system for communicating innovations and experiments, one person can end up in the receiving end of lots of information requests, rather than people going to a specific place to find out more about this. As team leaders, we can take the coaching approach and document some of the answers people might be looking for, so that they can access them on their own, rather than relying on you. Personality also plays a part in this, and the ability to figure out things on your own, or finding your way through information is a core skill for remote workers. 43.00 MINSFinally, let's look at culture.Is psychological safety as important in remote teams as in colocated? At least you have to know it's ok to bring things up. In teams where people have a need to feel connected physically or emotionally to each other throughout the day, we might also get fast paced communication. There was some research done on the rhythm of communication done a couple of years ago: Successful Remote Teams Communicate in Bursts by Christoph Riedl and Anita Williams Woolley, published on 28 October 2020 HBR online https://hbr.org/2020/10/successful-remote-teams-communicate-in-bursts Bursts of rapid-fire communication with longer periods of silence in between are characteristic of successful teams. Bursts help to focus energy, develop ideas, get closure on specific questions and condensing the synchronous time, can help those who really miss the ‘buzz' of face to face interactions. Find synchronous time together and define it, rather than suddenly move to synchronous communication. This does not need to be set in advance, but can be built on what's going on organically or can be emerging by sharing availability. From the article, “The bottom line: Worry less about sparking creativity and connection through watercooler-style interactions in the physical world, and focus more on facilitating bursty communication.” Let's not forget that artificial intelligence is making it easier for us to find information, including how real-time conversations are being recorded (in video, audio) and how they can be searched. We know none of this is easy – let us know if you need some help. 54.00 MINSWe'd like to share an article by our friend Jennifer Riggins which is both timely and evergreen: How to Support Teammates Living in Ukraine — or Any War Zone.The article offers examples of how to support people in crisis situations in both practical and emotional ways. It's very relevant to today's context, but can also help in the future. We hope you enjoyed the episode, feel free to send us some feedback or any other thoughts you would like to share with us and the listeners. Sign up for our monthly newsletter below as a way of keeping in touch, or join us over at LinkedIn.
In this episode of the Making Shift Happen Podcast, Jay and Anne sit down with Pilar Orti to chat about leadership in the new hybrid work environment. Pilar is the director of Virtual not Distant, which she set up in 2016. The company provides training for managers of remote teams, and is developing the programme Podcasting for Connection, to help employees stay connected together, regardless of where they're based. Find out more about Pilar's work: https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/about The Making Shift Happen podcast is written and produced by Jay Chopra, PhD (Managing Director) and Anne Mahler, PhD (Academy Lead and Consultant). Find out more about Making Shift Happen and our producers on our website and Linkedin, and follow us for regular episode updates: https://www.linkedin.com/company/making-shift-happen/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jay-chopra-phd-%F0%9F%87%AE%F0%9F%87%AA%F0%9F%87%AE%F0%9F%87%B3-6567496b/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/annemahler/ https://makingshifthappen.ie/
Ana Pérez, es una apasionada de RRHH, cuenta con 23 años de experiencia en Recursos Humanos, ha trabajado en diferentes empresas como J&J, GE y Hershey, recientemente fue nombrada Directora de Recursos Humanos para México en Nissan. Ana es Ingeniera Industrial con MBA especializado en Capital Humano por el Tecnológico de Monterrey y está Certificada Green Belt. Ana Pérez lleva promoviendo una cultura flexible y remoto desde hace 16 años en las organizaciones en las que ha colaborado y en este episodio nos cuenta la importancia de dejar de controlar los horarios de nuestros colaboradores y centrarnos más bien en el resultado del trabajo hecho, también nos cuenta que confiar y aprender a delegar en nuestros colaboradores son elementos críticos para que el Trabajo Remoto sea exitoso, además hablamos de: Algunos beneficios del trabajo remoto como: Para las Organizaciones: Acceso a contratar talento global. Ahorros económicos. Ayuda a la estrategia de retención de talento. Para los Colaboradores: Incrementa la productividad, aún más que cuando estábamos en el modo presencial. Mayor flexibilidad para atender temas personales. La importancia de tener una rutina en beneficio de tu productividad. Tendencias del Trabajo Remoto: Trabajaremos más cómo freelancers o consultores en las organizaciones. Se Romperán las barreras geográficas para la contratación del mejor talento. Además Ana nos recomienda: El Podcast: Distant Job El Libro: Thinking Remote: Inspiration for leaders of distributed teams, de Pilar Orti y Maya Middlemiss
What if you could revolutionize your leadership style and create a thriving remote work environment? This episode features Pilar Orti from Virtual, not Distant, whose journey through Amsterdam, Madrid, and London has made her a pioneer in remote work. Pilar's early passion for online management qualifications and webinars set her on a path to become an expert in virtual workspaces. Tune in to hear Pilar's invaluable insights on how UK businesses are reimagining leadership and technology to adapt to remote work, offering lessons that are essential for HR managers, team leaders, and remote work enthusiasts alike.Navigating the landscape of remote team management can be tricky. Pilar shares her theater and biology-inspired approach to creating comfortable and productive remote workspaces. Discover the nuances of transitioning from co-located to remote teams, and the importance of informal communication, visibility, and team advocacy. Learn the key strategies that remote managers must adopt, from acting as facilitators and coaches to setting up effective systems for seamless communication and resource access.Building strong support networks is crucial for remote teams, and Johan Lillich's DIRECT framework is a game-changer in this area. Pilar discusses how reducing large meetings, fostering focused discussions, and promoting asynchronous communication can enhance remote interactions. Get to know the essential tools like Trello, Zoom, and Skype that keep remote teams connected, and the significance of non-work-related interactions to maintain human connections. By understanding and adapting to diverse communication needs, you can create a remote work setup that is both efficient and personable.Refer a Remote Work Expert As a Guest On The ShowClick here remoteworklife.io to subscribe to my free newsletter Connect on LinkedIn
How trust is earned in the workplace, why it's most often missing, and what we can learn from coworking spaces to make better coworking spaces and more productive, innovative, powerful organizations.“Organizations have many examples of when people need to be working together in order to accomplish their goals, but they don't work together and in some cases, they work against each other.Then you have examples in coworking places when people don't need to work together, but they do.”Special thank you to Pilar Orti for allowing me to re-publish this episode from her show "21st Century Work Life". I had a ton of fun recording this episode.Let me know what you think!Save $10 on the Indy Hall Community Building AudiobookBefore I started Indy Hall, I had nothing. No experience. No money. Almost no network in my city.Today we've created a world-renowned community with hundreds of thriving members. But how?Find out: http://www.theindyhallway.com/ten/ and use the code "virtualnotdistant" at checkout to save $10.Subscribe to the show to get a new episode every MondaySubscribe in iTunesSubscribe in OvercastGet the RSS FeedSubscribe via emailAnd don't forget you can also follow me on Twitter http://twitter.com/alexhillman :) Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.