Given the push back I got on the August article for my newsletter, Careerzine, I decided to do a rewrite from the perspective of practical tips, suggestions and questions to ask and post it to my blog as a sort of update. A quick overview if you didn’t read the zine, Web 2.0 describes how the Internet has gone from static delivery of web pages and information to an interactive format wherein the user is an active participant in multiple types of collaborations, communities, and connections. Working 2.0 describes a corresponding, transformation of work from a group of people in a centralized location, to a global distributed, interconnected system of collaborating professionals.
Here are some rules of the road:
Time
Now with geographically remote teams in multiple time zones, a prerequisite for many jobs is to be able to keep very flexible hours.
Negotiate the flex hours up front when you are offered a position otherwise you may find yourself on the swing shift
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Be sensitive to colleagues talking to you when it’s 3 am their time. Though it may be a requirement of their position to keep those hours, it’s still 3am.
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Take advantage of the flexibility to make time for your personal life, don’t just add more hours to your day
Leadership
The over-riding challenge of Working 2.0 is the management of global talent that is role modeled from the top down.
Coach your management team in the leadership skills to motivate, mentor, and drive teams from afar.
Ensure that new managers are trained to measure output not input from their direct reports.
Develop reporting tools and processes that ensures fairness, recognition and support for distributed employees.
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Leverage the technologies that bring teams together live.
Communications
Picture if you will, multiple cultures, a polyglot of languages, and a plethora of world views in a globally distributed workforce all sending each other email.
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You say you don’t speak a second language? At least master the following: hello, good bye, thank you, and "I don’t speak _____ but I appreciate your speaking English".
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Become aware of the cultural rhythms and tempos of the people you are working with including national/religious holidays.
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Invest in accent reduction for your direct reports. The frustration of not being heard and understood and not hearing and understanding will grow on both sides.
Basic cross cultural communications skills and tools for everybody will insure the slang in one language, dress code in one culture doesn’t become the public offense in another.
Web 2.0
From start-ups to large corporations, companies are leveraging Web 2.0 technology to enable productivity through a distributed workforce. The Working 2.0 workforce is always on and always connected.
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Invest not just in the tools but the change management training to make the tools effective. Not everyone adopts easily to instant messaging for workplace communications for example.
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As technical professional, to not stay current with the latest new tech/Internet tools will eventually cripple your productivity, so get on board with SKYPE, VOIP, Blogs, Wikis, Bluetooth, GSP, etc.
As in flex time, negotiate the time you commit hooked up to the mother ship. If anything plan vacations out of cell phone and cable range. Given cellular and cable coverage of the US and California, that shouldn’t be too hard to do.
Lifestyle
Because of Web 2.0 choices are now open as to where to live and how we work.
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Looking to opt out of urban, densely populated areas? Think again. Yes, housing and living may be cheaper but will you miss the energy of the urban scene living in podunk? Are the schools and cultural activities of a decent quality?
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Returning back to hometowns with extended families can be an option, but be sure if your current distributed job goes away that the hometown has options for re-employment. What’s the fallback position for your career?
Looking to return to your home country for entrepreneurial opportunities? Check your visa, citizenship and green card papers to ensure you can come back years down the road, so this isn’t a one way trip.
Conclusion
Organizations will move to embrace Working 2.0 and Web 2.0 together as a business necessity. How well they do it will go a long way to determine their business effectiveness as a whole. Together they impact the attraction and retention of key talent, the productivity of workgroups and ultimately the bottom line revenues of a company.
