Episodit
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In this episode, host Pilar Orti interviews Andreea Gătin an event and community manager who is organising a unique experience for digital nomad and remote workers in Romania. Andreea discusses her goals for the experience, which include showcasing Romania as a destination for digital nomads and fostering a sense of community among participants. It’s happening in March 2025, so check it out!
Find an episode summary over at www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts/experience-romania
Find out more about Andreea and the experience she’s creating:
Information and Registration Form
Connect with Andreea Ioana Gătin on LinkedIn
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In this episode, host Pilar Orti talks to Sagar Chandni, who describes himself as a distributed work practitioner and a strategy leader with a heart. We talk about the nuances of these terms and the evolving nature of work, particularly in India where Sagar is based.
Sagar discusses his work with startups and the challenges and opportunities they face, and shares his approach to informed leadership, ethical business strategies, and workplace inclusiveness, as well as the importance of embracing a mindset shift and approaching work in a way that fosters meaningful connections and positive impact both personally and professionally. He also gives us a view of the startup landscape in India. Yes, we cover a lot in this episode!
Find out more about Sagar and his work:
Connect with Sagar on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sagarchandni/Check out his LinkedIn show Virtual Global Leadership Podcast
Subscribe to his newsletter: https://strivewithsagarchandni.substack.com/
For a written summary check out https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts/leader-with-heart
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Host Pilar Orti is joined by Doug Haines, the founder of Kalium and Marketing Pros. Doug's entrepreneurial journey began with Kalium, where he successfully recruited talent from South Africa. This positive experience inspired him to launch Marketing Pros, an agency connecting South African marketing professionals with global opportunities. In this episode, Doug discusses the development of both ventures and his strategies for maintaining a robust talent pool.
For the full show notes check out www.virtualnotdistant.comFind out more about Doug Haines and his companies:
Marketing Pros: https://www.marketingpros.co
Kalium: https://www.kalium.co.uk/
If you’re looking to expand your team and want to talk to Doug about your best options, find him on LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/in/doughaines/or email him as per the end of the interview.
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In this episode, host Pilar Orti shares her new framework showing how we connect at work, and talks about some of her other projects.
If you'd like to be alerted when the Remotely Shakespeare wall calendar comes out, head over to remotelyshakespeare.com
For more information check out www.virtualnotdistant.com -
A special episode to celebrate the launch of the revised edition of The Long-Distance Leader, written by Kevin Eikenberry and Wayne Turmel, who returns to the show with another conversation that made host Pilar Orti laugh plenty of times.
The conversation takes a critical look at the “hybrid” workplace - is it a compromise, a hostage negotiation? Or is the problem that we’re all transitioning to a new era of knowledge work, and are uncomfortable with uncertainty? Wayne also covers the role of trust, building a culture fit for hybrid and proximity bias.
Summary blog post: https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts/challenges-of-hybridFind out more about the book here:
kevineikenberry.com/products/the-long-distance-leaderCheck out Wayne’s website too:
wayneturmel.comAnd if you’d like to hear more from the authors, listen to Wayne in episode 238 or hear from Kevin Eikenberry in episode 181.
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In today’s episode, host Pilar Orti catches up with Frédérique Lloyd Bougreau, about how she transformed her career and lifestyle by setting up a Pilates studio in rural France. They talk about cultural adaptation, building a business in a new environment and the Importance of movement and exercise as we progress through life.
Frédérique’s contact details are over at her website: https://www.pilatesbienetre.com/contact.html
As always, you can find Pilar over at www.virtualnotdistant.com -
For today’s Recommendations episode, Pilar is joined by Catherine Nicholson, co-founder and creative director of The Virtual Training Team. Before they move onto this month’s reading and listening recommendations, Catherine talks about her recent interest: the blend of generations in the workplace, and how to make the most out of them.
Recorded on 7 August 2024
For the full set of show notes, head over to
https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts/generations-workplace -
In this episode Pilar talks to Justin Gignac, co-founder of Working Not Working, and Nicolina Jennings, the company's VP and Managing Director. Our guests share the origins and evolution of Working Not Working, and how what they’ve learned about engagement and belonging led to their new platform NTRNL. They make a strong case for increasing employee retention by creating an infrastructure that makes internal opportunities - and hidden talents- visible to all.
You can find a summary over at www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts/working-not-workingCheck out Working not Working https://workingnotworking.com
and NTRNL https://workingnotworking.com/ntrnl
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We are joined by regular guest Theresa Hollema who has been doing some thinking with host Pilar Orti on the topic of Bonding within remote teams, versus Bridging, where team members create bonds with other parts of the organisation. Plus, Theresa has her own reading and listening recommendations to add to Pilar’s.
You can connect with Theresa on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/theresasigillitohollema/
And check out the resources on her website:
https://virtualacrosscultures.com/
Let us know what you thought of the episode over at www.virtualnotdistant.com/contact
You can find an summary of the first part, plus all the links we refer to here:ww.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts/bridging-remote-teams
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A new player has entered the field in the world of work: generative AI. As remote teams increasingly rely on asynchronous communication, have AI chatbots become go-to resources for quick answers and idea validation? What does this mean for our workplace relationships and social skills?
Maya Middlemiss and Pilar Orti discuss!
For more detailed show notes head over to www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts/chatbotsYou can message Pilar through the Virtual not Distant website: https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/contact-us and get hold of Maya over at Remote Work Europe: https://www.remoteworkeurope.eu/ .
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Host Pilar Orti talks to Henry O'Loughlin, founder of Buildremote. As he shares his journey from running a fully remote marketing agency to creating Buildremote, Henry discusses the pitfalls many companies faced during the pandemic and how his experience led him to develop a "remote operating system" playbook.
The conversation evolves into a thought experiment looking into the future of work, exploring concepts like the four-day workweek, the growing trend of freelancing and the creator economy, ending in a not-too-distant future where traditional employment structures become networks of one-person businesses collaborating globally.
Connect with Henry on LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/henry-olaughlin/Check out the Remote Operating System at Buildremote buildremote.co
For a summary blog post, check out https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts/work-evolution
05:05: Four-Day Workweek and Remote Work Connection
08:03: Future of Work and Questioning Traditional Practices
17:49: Freelancing and the Creator Economy
26:12: Resistance to Change in Traditional Work Structures
28:22: Challenges of Managing Part-Time and Freelance Workers30:18: Remote Work: Learning Curve and Comparisons
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In today’s episode, Pilar Orti welcomes regular guest Mark Kilby onto the show, to find out how he’s using generative AI. They share their personal experiences, preferences, and cautionary tales surrounding various AI tools. Plus, they have plenty of reading, listening and tool recommendations for you this month!
Recorded on 24 April 2024, so some of the tools have evolved since then.
For the show notes, check out:https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts/may-recommendations
You can connect with Mark Kilby on LinkedIn:
www.linkedin.com/in/mkilby/
Or message him through his website:
www.markkilby.com
And if you’d like to keep up with his thoughts and work, subscribe to Differability
https://differability.works/
Connect with Pilar over at https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/contact-us -
Today’s show notes are a little bit different. We’d like to keep Jack’s story in his own words as much as possible, so we’re sharing a polished version of the transcript over at:
https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts /jack-nilles-telework
Talking to our host Pilar Orti, Jack takes us on a journey through the very early days of telecommuting, sharing the challenges and triumphs he experienced while pioneering this new concept. From convincing skeptical companies to adopt telework to exploring the societal benefits of reduced traffic congestion and pollution, Jack's story is a fascinating glimpse into the birth of a movement that continues to shape our world today.
LINKS:
Get in touch with Jack through his website (you can email him from there) https://www.jala.com/
Jack’s blog: https://www.jalahq.com/blog/WORK DIFFERENT, the documentary https://www.nfb.ca/film/work-different/
You can connect with Pilar on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/pilarorti/
Or message her through https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/contact-us -
In this episode, Pilar interviews Jaap Linssen, the founder of OrangeTrail, a company that helps organisations navigate change and adopt new ways of working.
Jaap has been helping people in organisations collaborate and communicate through harnessing the power of technology since 2011. Through Jaap’s examples, they talk about asking questions to drive engagement, developing team narratives to strengthen teamwork, the adoption of genAI in organisations and social learning. And building a business exporting farm cheese. Of course.
Here are some links for you to check out:
Find out more about OrangeTrail on their website.
Connect with Jaap on LinkedIn.
And don’t forget to watch the video New experiments in self-teaching by Sugata MitraPlus, if you’re interested in using genAI for creative projects, you might want to check out Spiralling Creativity, Pilar’s new blog.
For a full summary and show notes, check outhttps://www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts /team-narratives
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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.
Coffee Break Articles
So, please send through anything you think we might add in future episodes. https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/contact-us05.00 MINS
Article + Documentary
The Pyramid Principle
Via Sketchplanations
How Remote Workers Are Reshaping Corporate Travel Policies
via Skift
E-voice in the Digitalised Workplace. Insights from an Alternative Organisation
via Human Resource Management Journal (Wiley)
Grabbed from Eva Rimbau-Gilabert’s profile on previously-known-as-Twitter.
Airchat Is Silicon Valley’s Latest Obsession
via Wired.com
15.50 MINS
Books
Work Different
a documentary by Julien Capraro
This was recommended by Jack Niles, reader of the newsletter, and author of Managing Telework: Strategies for Managing the Virtual Workforce published by Wiley in 1998.
You can read about the documentary here: https://www.createastir.ca/articles/work-different-rendez-vous-french-film-festival and watch the documentary here: https://www.nfb.ca/film/work-different/18.12 MINS
The Long Game: How to Be a Long-Term Thinker in a Short-Term World
by Dorie Clark
(You might also want to check out Entrepreneurial You.)Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things
by Adam Grant
Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout
by Cal Newport
Audio Recommendations
How To Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen
by David Brooks
(thanks Bernie J MItchell for the recommendation!)30.25 MINS
What’s Going On with Maya and Pilar
Deep Questions with Cal Newport
294: A Tactical Assault on Business
1 April 2024
The Long-Distance Worklife podcast
Episode: Press Start on SoWork: How Gamers are Influencing the Future of Remote Work
15 April 2024
Remote Work Life
RWL203 From office manager to international remote work expert w/ Laurel Farrer, Founder Distribute Consulting
4 March 2024Check out our own work!
Thinking Remote: Inspiration for Leaders of Distributed Teams, a collection of our blog posts.
And Maya’s “Out Of The Office: Making the transition to working from home” and “Finding Your Edge: Establishing And Maintaining Boundaries When You Work From Home”
Pilar is back on Twitter (X)!
Maya’s mainly on LinkedIn, and… during RWE’s LinkedIn’s challenge, Maya posted about Getting Things Done, and got a comment from David Allen on it!Maya is speaking at Bansko Nomad Fest.
Use her code for a discount! 𝗠𝗮𝘆𝗮𝗥𝗪𝗘_𝗯𝗻𝗳𝟮𝟰
Our newsletters:
Pilar’s “Spiralling Creativity” https://spirallingcreativity.substack.com/Maya’s “Remote Echoes” https://mayamiddlemiss.substack.com/
You can message Pilar through the Virtual not Distant website: https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/contact-us and get hold of Maya over at Remote Work Europe: https://www.remoteworkeurope.eu/ . -
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 her website.
Connect with her on LinkedIn.
Check out The Brick Coach website
For a summary blog post, head over tohttps://www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts /coaching-and-burnout
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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 https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/contact-usMaya shares a recent event she ran as part of Remote Work Europe, with Ali Meehan on “speed networking”.
Someone else organising networking-type events is Lisette Sutherland from Collaboration Superpowers, who is running virtual coworking sessions: https://www.collaborationsuperpowers.com/workshops/schedule/?type=1112
Maybe this kind of event is something organisations could run, instead of assuming the best way for people to connect is through face to face social events?
12.25mins
Special guest Matt Ballantine tells us about his relationship building experiment: 100 coffees.
Read about it here: https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/category/projects/100-coffees/
Connect with Matt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattballantine/
Listen to his previous episode on this show: https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts/collaboration-in-organisations
Listen to the WB40 podcast, or even, book a coffee time with Matt: https://calendly.com/matt-ballantine
27.15minsWhat about online communities? Belonging to a public group and a private one, and a free one versus a paid one, are very different experiences.
Remote Work Europe has a public, open group on Facebook, and a private community, over at https://www.remoteworkeurope.eu/connected
Communities and relationships can exist both online and off: we mention Social Now as a conference about the digital workspace: 16th and 17th May in Lisbon, and also the online community Asynco.
And relationship building can be synchronous or asynchronous.
Virtual Team Talk, set up back in the day by Pilar and Lisette, is still around!
43.15mins
And Social Media? How’s it going over on LinkedIn? If you want to become active on the platform, join the RWE challenge: https://www.linkedin.com/events/levelupyourlinkedinspring2024-a7175914652218834945/comments/
Or, you might want to join Alison Jones’ Book Proposal Challenge.
And being part of a challenge itself is a great way of meeting new people with whom you have something in common!
52.30mins
In the absence of people, can generative AI bots help?
A cheeky transition into some resources we have around generative AI:
Maya has created the course: Generative AI Secrets For Remote Work Search Success
And Pilar is now blogging about her artistic projects with and without genAI over at Spiralling Creativity, where her latest post ponders on whether genAI is a Clown . -
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 GenAI) here:
https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts/ai-developers
Connect with Jen on LinkedIn.
Read the article: Will Generative AI Kill DevsecOps?
Read Jen’s other article: The AI governance policy engineering managers needed yesterday
Check out the State of OpenCon 24 sessions on YouTube.
You can also check out Pilar's post on her Spiralling Creativity blog, describing her recent experience with GenAI creating this episode's show notes. https://spirallingcreativity.substack.com/p/gen-ai-helpful-assistant-or-clown
If you enjoy listening to the 21st Century Work Life podcast, you might also enjoy Management Café - look for it wherever you are listening to this. -
Today’s guest is Linda Redell, Head of Talents and Culture at the hybrid company Homelike. https://www.thehomelike.com/
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 Linda Redell on LinkedIn.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/linda-redell/
Find our more about Homelike nd what it’s like working there: www.thehomelike.comFor a summary of the conversation, check out https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts/homelike
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Today’s post is the audio companion to the Virtual not Distant monthly newsletter, which you can sign up to here. 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 Marcus Wermuth, who is an Engineering Leader specialising in virtual leadership.|
Coffee Break Articles:
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 true to his identity as servant leader.First off, check out Marcus’ article on “laying himself off”,
If you are interested in hearing another conversation about how to strike the balance between transparency and discretion, check out episode 69 of the Management Café.
18.30 MINS
Deutsche Bank's 3-day-a-week return-to-office policy has been met with fierce criticism by staff who say there isn't enough space for everyone
via Business Insider
The title says it all, but worth looking at some of the detail to understand the risks of mandatory planning looks like.Right to disconnect: Implementation and impact at company level
Recent research shows that having laws about the right to disconnect is not enough to prevent employees feeling like they have to be constantly available. Company culture and in-house companies are needed too.
10 Ways to Build Better Relationships Working Remotely
A blog post that could have been a short ebook. A thoughtful article with specific advice on how to build relationships .Are Enterprise Social Platforms All Talk?
Past guest Wietske Van Osch has just released research into why enterprise social networks need to be run differently to the social networks employees might be used to, for employees and the organisation to get the most out of them.
Listening Recommendations:
Gifts and Greats for True Feedback
via Mark Kilby
A very useful post to guide us through formulating feedback on other people’s work, and how to structure it.Podcast: The Rich Roll Podcast
Book Recommendations:
Episode: #815 CHARLES DUHIGG: HOW TO UNLOCK THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF CONNECTION
Date: 22 February 2024
An interview with journalist/writer Charles Duhigg, talking about building strong relationships.
Podcast: Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin
Long-form Interviews with a range of guests, from a range of industries.
Podcast: Collaboration Superpowers
Episode: Agile Retrospectives 2.0 with Esther Derby, Diana Larsen & David Horowitz
Date: 5 March 2022
Lisette Sutherland talks to the authors of the new edition of Agile Retrospectives 2.0. Pilar hasn’t listened to it yet, but highly recommends it - she’s a great fan of David Horowitz, who guested on this show back in 2017, in episode 129 on Building a Distributed Business.
Podcast: Sliced Bread
Episode: Fitness Trackers (UK link, but look for it in your podcast app)
29 Feb 2023Scaling People: Tactics for Management and Company Building
by Claire Hughes Johnson
Collabor(h)ate: How to build incredible collaborative relationships at work (even if you’d rather work alone)by Deb Mashek PhD
Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection
by Charles DuhiggThe Coming Wave
by Mustafa Suleyman
Can’t Hurt Me
by David GoggingsMake Your Art No Matter What
by Beth Pickens
You can connect with Marcus Wermuth on LinkedIn and check out his website: www.marcuswermuth.com
Other episodes with Marcus:
WLP291 Starting a New Role Remotely
WLP219 OnBoarding (or Integration) in Remote Teams and Organisations
WLP188 - From Maker to Manager in a Distributed Company
SIgn up to the Virtual not Distant's newsletter here: https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/newsletter - Näytä enemmän
