Monday, January 30, 2012

just a little out of focus

 “Tell us about the culture of distraction in your company”.  This is one of the things we like to ask our clients when they think about having people work remotely; and it usually perplexes them.  The intent of our question is to uncover how focused people can be when they come into the office, because then we can demonstrate the least appreciated aspect of the virtual model.  Predictably, the answer is normally something like “oh, our team is very focused, you have no idea”.  But are they really?  Are you? 

 

If you work in a traditional office environment, think about your workplace for moment.  What interrupts your ability to focus on accomplishing things?  How often do people interrupt your work by dropping by for “a real quick question”?  How likely are you to be summoned to someone else’s office “for a moment”?  How many meetings must you attend?  Do they start on time?  Are they really necessary?  And thinking about your personal habits: Do you keep e-mail open all the time?  If so, how often do you react when the new mail notification window pops-in, taking you away from the task you were on?  Does your office use chat or IM?  How frequently does it go off?  How rapidly are you expected to respond to notes, texts, or chats?  These are cultural factors of being in an office environment that most businesses turn a blind eye toward in the name of “responsiveness”, but they really diminish the focus. 

 

They are also conditions mitigated by working from home or working remotely.  Studies abound that show people working remotely are more productive than in an office environment.  Strangely enough, they usually cite things like time spent getting ready for work, time spent commuting, or other obvious things to make the case.  What they don’t typically discuss is focus; or the culture of distraction.  Therefore, we like to talk about it.  While managing e-mail notifications, internet peeks, chat sessions and text messages are up to the individual, we find that there is more than ample time each day for those things when the worker doesn’t have to contend with the time lost to the many pop-ins, the meeting assembly time, the hovering outside the boss’s office waiting, the phone ringing, the fire drills, or countless other things that ruin productive focus.  So think about your company’s culture of distraction.  Tell us about it on our sister company’s forum page: http://myvirtualwirks.com/community/viewthread/22/.  And focus on fixing it through virtual work.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

roamin’ holiday

Over the recent holiday season, I got to catch up on a good bit of reading.  Amidst the pieces I read, it was clear that there are several ways that people who work remotely are referred to.  Articles have called them the mobile workforce, teleworkers, telecommuters, at-home workers, homers (with a nod to The Simpsons perhaps) or a range of other titles.  One of the latest entries is “digital nomad”; and that one really got me thinking.  As a history fan, it made me wonder about the characteristics of nomads.  So I did a little research.  Nomads are known to be people who roam, pursue their basic needs from a variety of sources, and seek their long term growth by foraging and creating what they need.  Nomads are defined by their ability to respond to their environment, and move to places where it is optimal for their success.  One source said nomadic people are those that travel to practice their trade where it is best needed or best provided.  And the last one was what I was looking for.  That was the one that made me think that the term “digital nomad” is EXACTLY what a virtual worker is.

 

Responding to their environment?  Correct.  Foraging for what they need to be successful?  Right.  Practicing their trade where it is best provided?  Bingo!  And all of this is encouraging because as much as popular media may talk about virtual work being new, it is as old as the migratory civilizations of prior centuries.  As much as people may think it is a recent trait, it has roots in the human desire to explore, and make another path.  As much as virtual workers are thought of as being stand-alone or soloists, they really are finding ways to pursue what they need and practice it best. 

 

At virtualwirks, we’re all about those things and particularly that last part.  How to make the digital nomadic spirit best suit the worker, the business, the customer, and the culture.  To us it’s fun, it’s tapping into another frontier, and fulfilling the spirit and possibilities that lie within us.  And we have lots of ways to practice it best.  So let’s roam…together.