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The main challenge is communication. It’s a big hurdle for managers. They struggle to keep it effective. Without a traditional office, quick, impromptu conversations are much less common. A manager shared with us, “We can’t have water cooler chats or ‘grab someone for a quick word.’ We must find new ways to connect. We need to ensure our teams stay close and informed.”

Adapting to this new digital landscape requires a shift in how we manage. Traditional oversight and team building must evolve. They need to fit a world where video calls replace meetings. And, where instant messaging replaces desk-side chats. It’s about fostering an environment where people use asynchronous communication. It’s not just accepted but optimized for productivity and team engagement.

Strategies for Success

• Regular Check-ins are key. Schedule one-on-one and team meetings to stay connected. Address any issues promptly.
• Use Technology: Use project management tools and platforms. They help collaboration and keep everyone on the same page.
• Foster a Culture of Open Communication. Encourage team members to share their thoughts and concerns. Make sure remote work doesn’t lead to isolation.

Putting Theory into Practice: A Real-World Example

While the strategies discussed can be helpful, it’s valuable to see them in action. To illustrate this, we spoke with Luigi Pedalino, VP of Product Delivery at a leading national insurance firm. Luigi leads a hybrid team of 30 people and offers a practical example of building and maintaining connection.

He emphasizes the importance of concise daily meetings focused on three key questions:

• What did I do yesterday?
• What do I plan on doing today?
• Are there any obstacles in my way?

These quick stand-up meetings, typically lasting 15 minutes, ensure everyone stays informed and connected. Here are some key takeaways:

• Focus on brevity: Limit individual updates to 10-15 seconds to keep the meeting efficient.
• Facilitate connection: These meetings allow team members to hear each other’s voices and even joke around, fostering a sense of camaraderie.
• Address roadblocks: The format allows team members to identify and address obstacles quickly, preventing delays.
• Camera usage: Cameras are optional for internal meetings but required when outsiders join.

This highlights how small adjustments, like focused daily meetings, can significantly improve communication and engagement in a hybrid work environment.

The key is to experiment and find what works best for your team.

The post Navigating Remote and Hybrid Team Management appeared first on Clearmont Technologies.

In this episode, I’m delighted to be joined by Angus Muir, a Senior Leader in Application Delivery at an international insurance firm. As an Agile practitioner and Agile coach for twenty years, Angus has drawn on his broad experience to guide organizations through the journey to implement and scale Agile. He has focused on building beyond team-level success, working with corporate leaders to solve complex issues of merging Agile principles into existing corporate cultures. You’ll learn a lot from his experience merging the theory with the needs of the work team and the organization.

You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in…

• Angus’ beginning career [01:55]
• The broad uses for Agile [03:03]
• Focusing principles [07:27]
• Getting leaders onboard with Agile [12:38]
• The benefit of an outside coach [16:46]
• The unwritten rule of Agile [20:43]
• Finding Agile practitioners [23:04]
• The future of Agile [29:18]

Lean and Agile principles

Before Angus started his career as an Agile coach, he worked with a manufacturing firm that built military radios. That opportunity introduced him to the ideas of lean and lean manufacturing. He started to see the applicability of that and how it applied to software development around the same time the Agile movement began in the industry. This early involvement gave Angus a uniquely broad perspective of how Agile applies to software and how it applies to things like marketing and human resources.

Angus quickly realized that Lean and Agile principles could be applied to just about anything. He’s helped companies with focusing their sales approach by turning the problem into a Kanban solution. Over time, the client’s process was refined from a scattered approach to a narrow, focused approach where he knew his focus was on getting the job done.

Multitasking isn’t working

A common trend Angus sees in organizations is looking busy not finishing three things rather than completing one. There’s a belief that starting something is good. That puts pressure on starting too many things and multitasking. The reality is that things aren’t being completed. Switching from task to task like that isn’t a productive use of time. The research shows that we’re not good at task switching. Instead, we’re causing stress on individuals and losing hours of productivity a week.

How can Agile help?

Angus loves to give Agile presentations to leaders to help them see how some things they do are counterproductive. He wants them to see how something they’re doing higher up connects directly to the problem down the line. Most of his coaching isn’t focused on teaching the Agile principles. Rather, the focus is on helping people understand what the principles look like day-to-day. The coaching process isn’t just for a month. It’s touching base regularly over a long period to help move ideas forward.

Angus has a group of full-time practitioners who are in touch with the limitations of companies. He stresses that these coaches must be absolute pragmatists. They not only have to understand the principles but also use them successfully. That personal experience is necessary for the level of patience required for the job. There will be many times when ideas will be ignored and need to be revisited repeatedly. Managers have to unlearn things they’ve trained their whole lives to do. This change is a psychological process that is a lot of work. That work will pay off in the form of a culture of trust that is more productive than it ever was before.

With Agile, the client’s process was refined from a scattered approach to narrow and focused #AgilePrinciples #Focus
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Resources & People Mentioned

• Toyota Production System
• The Problem with Agile – It’s not the team, it’s you – Toronto Agile Conference 2019
• Ken Akai, SPC, PSM – Director, Technology

Connect with Angus Muir

• By email
• On Linkedin

Connect With Jodi Kulek Mayer

• https://clearmonttech.com/about/meet-the-team/
• Follow Jodi on LinkedIn

Subscribe to Tech Talent Today on
Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts

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The post Increasing productivity through Agile scaling, with Angus Muir, Ep #4  appeared first on Clearmont Technologies.

In this episode of Tech Talent Today, I’m delighted to be speaking with Arthur Phidd, CIO. Art has more than 25 years of executive-level experience leading information technology and corporate-wide business transformation programs. He’s worked in multiple industries, including retail, financial, gaming, eCommerce, government, and more. An award-winning leader, Art is also a faculty member at the University Of The West Indies graduate schools of business, where he lectures on contemporary topics impacting organizational change, technology management, and transformation HR management strategies. You’ll want to hear what Art has to share from the transformation he’s led across the globe.

You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in…

• The biggest challenge in corporate transformation [02:24]
• How to encourage change in internal structure [06:40]
• Having a teaching mentality [10:01]
• Art’s journey to technology [13:58]
• Combating complacency [20:35]

The obstacle to change

Art has been involved with corporate transformations for many years over multiple industries, countries, and geographies. Everywhere he goes, he’s met with resistance to change. This resistance is commonly blamed on culture. But is culture an accurate culprit? Blaming culture removes the human element from accountability, as though it’s some being from another planet that shows up and ruins things. Passing the blame like that prevents us from addressing what the real problem is.

The actual barrier to change is our nature. As humans, we are creatures of habit and are inherently built to oppose change. Because of this, we tend not to accept something new until we’ve experienced it. People get comfortable with what they know, even when it’s not the best fit, and lack the willingness to let go of a function that doesn’t belong where it’s placed in an organization. The result is misplaced responsibilities, inefficient work, and unsatisfied people.

Collaborative accountability

To overcome the resistance to change, Art creates a sense of collaborative accountability. He does this by effectively communicating to his client the importance of establishing centers of excellence. As leaders, we have the responsibility to manage people and their careers. That means placing people and talents in teams that can understand each other. For example, if you aren’t an IT professional, how will you manage the career and lead someone who just graduated with a degree in computer science? It’s not possible. This sort of logical discussion is what helps people understand the value of making adjustments to internal structures.

The awesome responsibility of leadership

Art’s parting thought is to warn us to think carefully about our desire to be a leader. We need to understand the differences between management and leadership. Managers focus on the status quo. Leaders focus on change. There’s plenty of management but not enough leadership. One of the most common reasons for people to leave companies is the lack of leadership. If you’re going to be a leader, you’d better understand the awesomeness of that responsibility. You have to be ready for the panicked, late-night calls from your people. You’re going to have to become someone’s big brother or big sister. You have to want to do that.

Managers focus on the status quo. Leaders focus on change. #Leaders #Improvement
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Resources & People Mentioned

• The Prince, by Nicolo Machiavelli; CHAPTER VI Page 2
• Arthur Phidd, CIO of REEDS, Best CIOs of 2020

Connect with Arthur Phidd

• On LinkedIn

Connect With Jodi Kulek Mayer

• https://clearmonttech.com/about/meet-the-team/
• Follow Jodi on LinkedIn

Subscribe to Tech Talent Today on
Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts

Audio Production and Show notes by
PODCAST FAST TRACK
https://www.podcastfasttrack.com

The post Successful Business Transformation through Putting People First, with Arthur Phidd, Ep #2 appeared first on Clearmont Technologies.

The pandemic has changed what the work landscape looks like. We moved from traditional workplace environments to home offices practically overnight, never seeing our colleagues in person, only on video. People started new jobs never meeting their manager or any coworkers in person.

So how did a change to a purely virtual environment effect communication, connections, and relationships?  In essence, what happened to collaboration?

Interestingly enough, a March 2021 article from Forbes asserted that collaboration was already on the decline in 2019 and the pandemic exacerbated the problem.

”… the dramatic shift toward work from home during the pandemic has dealt a significant blow to collaboration. The startling decline in collaboration from 2019 to 2020 signals that there could be considerable downside to working environments that are entirely virtual. This new finding offers warning signs for businesses that are in the process of planning how they will return to the office.”

This is the reality that employers will have to face as they begin to return to normal and bring their teams back into the office. How will they bring back the pre-COVID collaborative mentality?

Another study from PwC discusses the role the office may play post pandemic.

“The office is here to stay, but its role is set to change.  Less than one in five executives say they want to return to the office as it was pre-pandemic. The rest are grappling with how widely to extend remote work options, with just 13% of executives prepared to let go of the office for good. Meanwhile, 87% of employees say the office is important for collaborating with team members and building relationships — their top-rated needs for the office.”

It seems that management and employees are fully aware that lack of collaboration is a huge issue, but few are willing to return to a pre-pandemic work environment.

Our own survey mirrors the sentiments from the other studies. 42% of IT Managers and Talent Acquisition Specialists we surveyed said they faced work from home challenges and 70% of them said that working from home negatively affected collaboration.

So, what’s the solution?

There is no easy answer, but it seems that collaboration issues can’t be solved only with technology.  One of our survey respondents stated:  “We have plenty of collaboration tools, but nothing beats face-to-face communication.”

Although virtual meetings have had their niche in the workplace for quite some time, they just don’t replace the personal contact that comes from holding person-to-person meetings or the informal communication of seeing someone in the break room or the elevator.  It is much more difficult to build trust with colleagues you have never met.  Another survey respondent stated, “We are working with people we’ve never met.  The trust isn’t there.  I can’t help but wonder if we met in person would the dynamic be the same?  I think people would get along better.” 

Every aspect of how we collaborate must be examined closely.  Before creating another virtual meeting, ask yourself, “is this meeting necessary?  Does it really accomplish the same type of collaboration we once had?” If your answer to either question is ‘no’, it’s time to revamp the way you are doing things.

Examine the format of your virtual meeting.  One where a presentation is made with Q&A at the end may be more effective virtually whereas an ad hoc meeting to brainstorm may be better served in person or over lunch.

Companies will need to experiment to find the right formula of working days in the office vs working days remote, keeping in mind a company’s culture.  Leaders should determine which activities are best performed in person to effectively use in office time.

Another benefit of office work days is the opportunity for informal communication.  As stated in the article in MIT Sloan Management Review, Redesigning the Post-Pandemic Workplace , “Employees who returned to the office only one or two days per week increased the number of serendipitous connections by about 25%.”  The article further states that these chance connections directly affect innovation and knowledge sharing, hence collaboration.

Effective collaboration is not a one-size-fits-all process.   The overall culture of a company is a huge factor in addressing collaborative needs effectively.  Examining the format of your meetings, in person or virtual, connecting the right content and activities to meeting type and finding the sweet spot of hybrid work will be key to improving collaboration.

The post Collaboration: Problems and Solutions appeared first on Clearmont Technologies.

We asked IT Managers and Talent Acquisition Specialists, what is your biggest challenge currently?

Drop in productivity because people aren’t working together in the office as they were pre-pandemic. We have plenty of collaboration tools, but nothing beats face-to-face communication.

WORK FROM HOME ISSUES: DEEP DIVE

If we were together “word of mouth” could spread more easily so I feel like being remote has exposed rather than created the problem.

The largest challenge is managing all our work. We either took on more than we can do, or working the way we are remotely is not as effective as we thought – or both. We are in back to back meetings all day – they start early and end late. We are all swamped, stressed, etc. I believe stress and not taking vacation the way we used to could be a contributing factor.

What I see as the upcoming challenge is the transition from working remote to going back to offices whether fully in office 5 days/week or a few days per week. Will be interesting to see impact on filling jobs.

I started this position last October, so haven’t met the team face to face yet!

Getting people to take their vacation allowance. It is needed for mental separation from work but not everyone realizes it.

I can’t help but wonder if we met in person would the dynamic be the same? I think not – I think people would get along better.

Extended work hours, 14+ hours working from home during the pandemic for a global company. Days start earlier, before 6 am, and never seem to end before 8pm or later. I miss the 2 hour commute into the city, at least the day ended naturally.

The post Work Challenge Survey 2021 appeared first on Clearmont Technologies.

It’s surprising that some firms are taking a stronger stance on returning people to the office. After a year of positive feedback which included high worker productivity, better work-life balance, and broader access to a wider range of talent, it seemed that working remotely post-covid was a foregone conclusion. Now I’m not so sure.

A company’s policy on remote work will have ramifications on its ability to attract and retain talent. Microsoft surveyed more than 30,000 full-time and self-employed workers. The survey stated that “nearly three-quarters said they wanted flexible remote work options to continue and 46% said they were planning to move this year now that they could work remotely.”

Jared Spartaro, corporate vice president for Microsoft 365 said, “There are some companies that think, ‘We’re just going to back to how it was.’ However, the data does seem to indicate that they don’t understand what has happened over the last 12 months.”

In my opinion, having a restrictive WFH policy will shrink the available pool of talent especially to companies located in areas with difficult commutes. For some in-demand skill sets such as Cloud or DevOps, this shrinks an already small talent pool even further. Companies also run the risk of losing current staff to firms with more flexible WFH options.

Some things to consider when developing your WFH policy.

The post Back to the Office? appeared first on Clearmont Technologies.

Conducting Performance Reviews With Remote Employees

The time we’re living in now is not like any other period from recent memory. Between the COVID-19 pandemic, global economic downturns and lingering job shortages, it’s safe to say that we’re all charting unknown waters. It can seem like entire processes and workflows have gone out the window—sacrificed for the sake of staying afloat. And performance reviews are among the greatest casualties.

Performance reviews are traditionally conducted in-person, on a recurring basis. But, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, most businesses have at least some employees working remotely. Measuring performance among these individuals can be a particular challenge, sometimes prompting managers to adopt an ambivalent attitude toward performance reviews entirely. This is obviously not a viable solution.

Instead, managers should use this shift toward remote work as an opportunity to rethink how their organization conducts performance reviews, particularly among this set of employees. What’s more, reevaluating and strengthening this process will better position them in the remote-work landscape, which is likely to stay for a long time.

This article offers tips for successfully administering performance reviews among remote workers.

Consider Your Goal

As with any endeavor worth pursuing, you should first consider the end goal. Performance reviews are a time for managers to sit down with their direct reports to discuss workplace matters. These meetings are generally broad and can serve a variety of purposes.

During performance reviews, employers are usually looking to gauge the success of employees in the workplace. However, your goal should be a bit more specific. For instance, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, your goal may be to reduce burnout rather than single out individuals for promotion. In essence, as employees adapt to new working environments, so too should your performance review goals.

Reevaluate Your Metrics

The way you evaluate performance during reviews should be influenced by your primary goal. The metrics used only a year ago may be unfair to use now. Moreover, those metrics may not even help assess what you need to accomplish your main objective.

In other words, performance reviews are evaluations against a goal. If your goal has changed since the last time you evaluated your performance review program, then your metrics should change as well. For instance, your current goal may be to see how performance ranks against pre-COVID-19 standards. Alternatively, your goal may be to strengthen collaboration between remote workers. How you measure success in these cases will be entirely different, and the metrics used should reflect that.

Remember Context and Compassion

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected everyone, sometimes in hard-to-see ways. For instance, employees may have taken on extra caretaking responsibilities due to school or nursing home closures. They may also be burdened by a spouse being laid off or sick family members who are financially dependent on them.
These realities are sometimes hidden by employees who must juggle many home and work responsibilities. The employees may fear being viewed as prioritizing other matters over their work, especially if they’re both caretaking and working out of their homes.

Your performance reviews should leave room to discuss these types of matters. Use this time to identify responsibilities and workloads. This has been a challenging time for everyone, and it’s important to be compassionate when dealing with over-burdened employees.

Encourage managers to work with employees on ways to accommodate their other responsibilities, as applicable. This may mean creating a flex schedule, adjusting work hours or scheduling regular check-ins.

Pick Your Battles Wisely

Performance reviews have historically been used for identifying star performers and reprimanding poor ones. However, amid the COVID-19 pandemic and a shift toward working remotely, it’s not always prudent to lay into employees with performance issues.

Determining why an employee’s performance has fluctuated will help you figure out what the situation warrants. Directly asking the employee is one of the best methods for getting to the root cause. From there, you can assess the best course of action. Using a heavy hand right away may add to burnout or employee departures rather than address the actual problem.

Look Forward, Not Behind

Remote work is likely here to stay, at least in some capacity. Some of the largest companies in the world have announced plans to allow such arrangements for the foreseeable future. That means your organization should plan for this new landscape right now. For instance, in this new environment, does it make sense to have only one performance review a year? Should promotions be tied to metrics sussed out at these meetings, or is another method better? Is the organization’s definition of “success” the same as it was a year ago?

Pondering these questions will help you evaluate and implement a more meaningful performance review program—one that can benefit remote and in-person employees alike.

Reprinted with permission.

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How Can Employers Benefit From This?

Putting employees through new training programs can be an expensive endeavor, however, proponents of the practice feel that it provides a worthwhile return on the investment. Employees are likely to feel a stronger sense of loyalty to the company and a renewed sense of enthusiasm and purpose. This can translate to financial savings by reducing the cost of recruiting new talent and the time it takes to get them up to speed, where a long-time employee already has that background knowledge.

Offering upskilling opportunities also makes the company more attractive to job seekers. NYU Professor, Ari Ginsberg shares, “Generation Z is already fairly tech-savvy and is more likely to be attracted and stay in a place where they can get technology learning.”

Why Is It a Risk?

Amazon recently made news with its announcement in July that it start a $700 million retraining program for its employees to help them further their careers at Amazon in other fields.

In an article published by UPenn., Wharton professor of management, Matthew Bidwell has this to say: “There is the concern that if you give people training in transferable skills, either they leave, or the threat that they’re going to leave means that they can demand much higher wages — and that eats away any of the returns [from the] training,” he said.

Investors and shareholders are more comfortable laying off workers who no longer have skill sets needed by the company and hiring newer, more tech savvy staff. Most don’t see the monetary value in investing in a complete training program for employees who may have capped out their salaries and could be replaced by better skilled talent at a lower overall cost.

To invest in current employees seems to be an open invitation for those employees to take their years of experience and newfound skills to another company, wasting the money spent on training them. Accepting upskilling as a standard practice will take time for shareholders and investors to embrace.

A recent article in The Wall Street Journal shares, “Cumulatively, firms spend billions of dollars every year on technology devoted to digital transformation, but executives admit to confusion and uncertainty about the impact. A recent Accenture survey of 1,200 executives found that, while nearly half say skill shortages are a major concern for the future of their firm, only 3% said they will significantly increase their training budgets over the next three years. In a separate survey conducted in 2017 by consultancy McKinsey & Co., 35% of U.S. executives said they believe they will realize their digital goals mainly or only by hiring new talent.”

How to Make Upskilling Work

Can upskilling benefit your company? It’s easy to say that upskilling is a win-win for all involved, however the truth is that upskilling is not a one-size fits all answer. Each company has to evaluate the pros and cons to determine if it would work for them. However, helping employees develop a logical career path with the appropriate training can certainly help with retention, employee engagement, and job satisfaction, if done correctly. Watching what other companies, like Amazon, are doing with their upskilling initiatives can help you determine if this is a path that will benefit your company in the future.

The post Upskilling–Risks vs Rewards appeared first on Clearmont Technologies.

Lauren Young, writer for Reuters.com shares, “A recent survey of more than 2,000 managers and employees in 10 different countries found that employees increasingly depend on technology to communicate with their colleagues, including email (45 percent), text messaging (15 percent) and instant messaging (12 percent).

Of those who cited email, more than 40 percent said they felt lonely always or often, were not engaged and had a high need for social connection.”

It’s also important to understand that it’s not only social isolation that remote workers can feel but other forms of isolation that are more impactful on someone’s career.

Laurel Farrer with Forbes.com goes on to say, “When telecommuting independently from home or mobile offices, workers aren’t just cut off from interactions that contribute to Maslow’s foundational need of love and belonging, they’re also distanced from the opportunities that being around other people provides. In other words, it’s not the break room parties and high-fives that the remote workforce misses—it’s the causes for these celebrations.”

Farrer goes on to describe other types of loneliness or isolation that remote workers have to cope with. Feeling cut off from being able to use the same resources that those working in the office use and feeling like you are missing out on opportunities for promotion and rewards, due to being out of sight are two of the most impactful.

“Without the visibility of a co-located environment, it’s hard to achieve the top-of-mind status that is so beneficial when a promotion or roundtable review is due.

Being engaged in a workforce allows employees to continually compare output, compensation, and goals with others to ensure future growth. Team members are able to silently observe the strategies and successes of others—which in turn inspires individual growth and development. When working independently and focusing only on personal productivity, remote workers run the risk of career stagnation.”

Sophia Bernazanni, with OwlLabs.com, says, “The number of remote workers has increased dramatically, but this physical separation of coworkers has led to more people feeling like they don’t have friends at work, and that they’re less loyal or connected to their company because of it.

For remote workers, loneliness leads to poor outcomes for physical and mental health and productivity. For employers and team leaders, strengthening bonds and connectedness between remote team members and co-located team members can help reduce turnover and improve team collaboration by building relationships.”

For employers looking to keep a remote work staff, be sure to find ways to keep them engaged. Regularly hold video conference based meetings, schedule onsite events quarterly, and do what you can to include the remote workers in any decision making processes. These steps will go a long way towards combating any isolation they may feel and will increase their productivity and loyalty to the company.

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