Happy and Productive as Remote Team: A Panel Discussion by We Are Online

The Covid-19 pandemic meant that many people all of a sudden found themselves to be working in a remote setup. They had little to no time to prepare nor did they get the chance to test it out in a secure environment. That’s why on March 20, Silicon Garden hosted a first-aid meetup with the We Are Online team. We invited four international speakers with diverse backgrounds in working remotely. They discussed how to organize remote work in a team context and ensure happy, productive employees, especially in times of a pandemic.

Our panel consisted of these four inspiring speakers:

• June Bolneo, a Remote Work Advocate, Globalization Lead at Grow Remote and Founder of Work Remote, talked about how you can keep your team productive during a pandemic, remotely.

• Gonçalo Hall, the Founder of the Remote Work Movement Podcast, Remote Work evangelist and Digital Nomad, discussed how you can use remote teamwork to become a far better team and company than you might have ever thought possible

• Michael Laussegger, who is an Agile Product Coach & Remote Work Advocate, talked about how to nurture positive relationships with employees and team members that only improved even more thanks to remote work

• Nora Goerne, a UX Designer & Remote Work Advocate, emphasized the importance of selecting a remote leader who makes the decisions when it comes to the strategy, tools and organization when transitioning to remote work.

The panel was moderated by Oliver Perner, Enterprise Agile Coach and Management Consultant, and featured sketchnoting by Esther Schramm, Scrum Master, Coach and Consultant at Schwerpunkt Mindful Communication.

In our discussion, we wanted to utilize the power of the remote work community and help those that were pushed into remote work all too suddenly. There’s a substantial difference between choosing to work remotely under normal circumstances versus being forced to in times of a pandemic. It’s from this angle that we approach various issues, problems and challenges:

• How to have and nurture productive, approachable and happy team members

• How to find the right balance between human needs such as empathy, communication, focus time and alignment, coordination and productivity

• How to create and maintain agile teams that have always relied heavily on face-to-face communication

• Which tools can help to create agile, remote, productive and happy teams

For many reasons, remote work is here to stay but it is important to be aware of the possible risks and problems it might create for teams who might not be used to working remotely. However, with the right tools suited to your needs and the right mindset, you’ll find that it doesn’t have to be such a daunting challenge and in the long run, will ensure that your company comes out of the pandemic stronger and more agile.

Local Communities for Remote Workers: A Presentation by Kimberly Bringas for We Are Online

One of the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic was that working remotely became a substantial part of mainstream business practices. Working remotely, however, is nothing new and a lot of companies, employees and freelancers have gained plenty of remote working experience over the last decade. We all can learn something from them and this is why Silicon Garden hosted a We Are Online meetup and invited guest speaker Kimberly Bringas, a Remote HR Expert, to talk about the importance of local communities for remote workers.

Kimberly Bringas is a Remote HR Expert specializing in building successful remote teams using her three-part framework of being proactive, intentional, and human. Her areas of expertise include: developing remote specific HR best practices, building and stewarding vibrant and inclusive company cultures, partnering with managers to foster trusting and accountability based relationships and conflict management.

In this recording of our meetup that was held in Vienna on March 5, Kimberly discussed the following aspects, followed by a Q&A session:

• How local communities contribute to the quality of life for remote workers

• How personal lifestyles, needs and requirements on the one hand and professional Working attitudes, needs and problems intertwine

• What needs remote workers have and what personal struggles they might have

There’s no question that remote work is here to stay and that’s why it’s so important that we understand how the changing working environment implicated in remote working will also affect and change the needs of the employees and what role local communities play in contributing to the happiness and quality of life of remote workers.