BONUS: Our Course Navigating Asynchronous Communication is out
21st Century Work Life and leading remote teams
Release Date: 01/25/2024
21st Century Work Life and leading remote teams
We’ve struggled this month to create a collection around remote work, so we’ve gone a bit “around the edges” - but it’s still all relevant to our audience. There is much content around hybrid work at the moment, and it tends to have more of a “how to” angle to it , so we often give it a miss. So, please send through anything you think we might add in future episodes. Coffee Break Articles 05.00 MINS Via Sketchplanations via Skift via Human Resource Management Journal (Wiley) Grabbed from profile on previously-known-as-Twitter. via Wired.com Article +...
info_outline WLP355 Career Pivots, Team Connections and Work Life Identity21st Century Work Life and leading remote teams
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 . Check out For a summary blog post, head over to
info_outline WLP354 What's Going On: Experiments in Networking21st Century Work Life and leading remote teams
Maya and Pilar discuss some of the ways in which remote workers are networking. And very special guest Matt Ballantine shares his experiment “100 coffees”. Recorded on 21 March 2024. To get in touch, head over to Maya shares a recent event she ran as part of , with Ali Meehan on “speed networking”. Someone else organising networking-type events is Lisette Sutherland from Collaboration Superpowers, who is running virtual coworking sessions: Maybe this kind of event is something organisations could run, instead of assuming the best way for people to connect is through face to...
info_outline WLP353 Promises and Perils of Generative AI in Software Development21st Century Work Life and leading remote teams
In today’s episode, tech journalist Jennifer Riggins talks about the impact of generative AI on the world of software development, focusing on the challenges faced by DevSecOps teams in keeping up with the accelerated pace of code creation enabled by GenAI tools. She raises important questions about the potential risks posed by generative AI, such as the introduction of vulnerabilities and intellectual property issues, and emphasises the need for organizations to establish clear AI governance policies to mitigate these risks. You can read the full summary and show notes (created by...
info_outline WLP352 The Impact of Remote Work on Culture and Collaboration21st Century Work Life and leading remote teams
Today’s guest is Linda Redell, Head of Talents and Culture at the hybrid company . With a diverse workforce spread across multiple countries, Linda and her team are responsible for maintaining the company culture and employee well-being. The shift to remote work has brought challenges and opportunities, with a focus on creating spaces for physical interaction, revamping onboarding, and fostering engagement. Connect with Find our more about Homelike nd what it’s like working there: For a summary of the conversation, check out
info_outline WLP351 Laying Yourself Off as a Manager and Reading and Listening Recommendations March 202421st Century Work Life and leading remote teams
Today’s post is the audio companion to the Virtual not Distant monthly newsletter, which you can Every month, Pilar shares with readers articles she’s come across on the web, books she’s read (or is reading) and podcast episodes she’s listened to. And today, she’s joined by who is an Engineering Leader specialising in virtual leadership.| Marcus is back on this show, this time talking about his recent professional transition: laying himself off from his job as Head of Engineering. This has been a very difficult decision to take, but he’s followed his own principles, and stayed...
info_outline WLP350 Being a Freelancer in Film and Theatre Production Design21st Century Work Life and leading remote teams
In this episode, Production Designer Kate Rance shares her diverse career spanning theatre and film. She compares design approaches across industries, her affinity for hands-on craft versus managing teams, and learning new skills through her eclectic projects. Kate and Pilar used to work together on theatre productions (many years ago!) and Kate has designed www.virtualnotdistant.com , as well as Check out Kate's website, For detailed show notes, head over to www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts/film-production
info_outline WLP349 What's Going On: Digital Culture21st Century Work Life and leading remote teams
Maya and Pilar tackle the topic of "digital culture" in organisations, with this article as a springboard: "What is digital culture? The teams best prepared for change use modern digital communication tools, feel comfortable learning new ones and continually adapt how they work." By the team at Slack, 29th July 2022 Pilar mentions the book "The Rise of the Frontline Worker" 35.00 mins In other news… City.com 17 Sept 2023 39.00mins Personal updates: Remote Work Europe keeps growing, with new countries joining: Belgium, Cyprus and Turkey now have their own groups,...
info_outline WLP348 Nurturing Team Growth through Conscious Leadership21st Century Work Life and leading remote teams
In this episode, Barbara Mutedzi describes conscious leadership and its role in transitioning to remote work, with particular reference to her work in Zimbabwe. Throughout the episode, Barbara advocates for the need for leaders to embrace self-awareness, adaptability, and empathy to create more resilient, inclusive, and effective work environments. Find Find out more about . For a summary of the episode head over to:
info_outline WLP347 Listening and Reading Recommendations February 202421st Century Work Life and leading remote teams
Today’s post is the audio companion to the Virtual not Distant monthly newsletter, and you can Every month, Pilar shares with readers articles she’s come across on the web, books she’s read (or is reading) and podcast episodes she’s listened to. The newsletter also has a digest of the Virtual not Distant content - but this podcast version has an update of Pilar’s own work. Coffee Break Articles: via Asynchronous Agile via Gallant CEO, based on a study in Nature via CNN Business via BBC UK (This month’s articles are all a bit dark, but it’s just a coincidence!) Book...
info_outlineHello dear listeners of the 21st Century Work Life podcast. This is a little bonus episode, what some would call, a piece of content marketing, as I’ve put it together to introduce you to our audio-first course, for managers and leaders of remote teams: Navigating Asynchronous Communication. And in this episode, I’ve selected three sections to share with you, to give you a flavour of the course - in case this is something for you, or your colleagues. If you want to check out the copy, head over to our website. https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/audio-first-course
I’ve talked about the format before - but in case you’re new to the show, it’s a course to help you lay down the foundations of asynchronous communication in your team, and it’s narrated by my colleague Simon Wilson and myself. It has nine modules, formal modules with title and everything, and some reflection questions at the end, and then it has three informal conversations between Simon and myself, like those you might find on this podcast.
Before I go into the content, I’m experimenting with the delivery of this course, as to how YOU access it. And at the moment, you can take the course in two ways: one is through an app, which is actually designed for Audiobooks. And you can mark the audio if you have favourite bits etc, and also, you get a the text version of the course and the transcripts of the conversations. That’s it. (And for those of you who are used to buying online products, that’s being delivered through Gumroad.)
Now, we’ve also got a more traditional way of laying out an online course, through the platform Thinkific. It’s still audio only, but everything looks more like an online course, and you have a few worksheets you can download and fill in in PDF form, plus some quizzes, which are a way of getting you to think through the material, although to be honest, they’re mainly for fun, because it’s difficult to create multiple choice quizzes that really test you.
But, for testing you, we do have a certificate option. And for that we have a choice of assessments that you can take, and then send to us for marking. This can be text, audio or video even. And all of that is explained in the course - but if you want more information on that, le me know.
Before I move onto the sections from the course, let me tell you some of the topics we cover.
Coffee Break Conversation 1: Introduction - to your tutors and the material
Module 1: Benefits and Drawbacks of Asynchronous Communication
Module 2: Foundations of Asynchronous Communication
Bonus: Psychological Safety in Asynchronous Communication
Module 3: Different Conversations at Work
Coffee Break Conversation 2: Why is Asynchronous Communication so Hard to Get Used to?
Module 4: Collaborating on Tasks Asynchronously
Module 5: Decision-making and Alignment
Module 6: Capturing Your Team's Knowledge
Module 7: Integrating Meetings into Our Process
Coffee Break Conversation 3: Working with External Parties
Module 8: The Technology and the Team Agreement
Module 9: Your Next Steps
Right, if you’re still with me, let’s move onto a section from module 2, foundations of async, a segment of the coffee covnersation about how hard async can be to get used to, and then, I’ve included most of the module on Capturing your team’s knowledge, as this is one part of remote teamwork that those relatively new to remote work miss.
Do get in touch if you need anything from me - thank you for listening.
https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/contact-us