March 2021

Why continue working remotely? The Worldwide COVID-19 Pandemic has caused us to make many changes in our lives and how we conduct business. A large segment of the population has seen their workplace move from a centralized location to their homes. Now that it appears like the pandemic is winding down, we will be able to move back into the office. I, however, believe that despite the impending end of COVID, we should keep the workforce at home, at least some of the time. In 2019, I wrote a dissertation well before the pandemic, where I found several advantages to Working from Home. to continue working remotely can fundamentally transform our society in employee well-being, sustainability, and lower costs for all stakeholders in the enterprise. Employee well-being. The first reason to continue working remotely is that remote work provides a means for workers to maintain a satisfactory work-life balance (Raghuram & Wiesenfeld, 2004). For Work from Home to be workable for all the stakeholders, remote workers must exhibit self-efficacy regarding their jobs and non-work activities (Raghuram & Wiesenfeld, 2004). the downside of this is that distractions inevitably surface while working from home, and there is no manager to watch over the workers to help them get back on task (Raghuram & Wiesenfeld, 2004). Workers should minimize the effect of these distractions by exhibiting characteristics such as high self-efficacy and the ability to structure their day to manage interruptions efficiently (Raghuram & Wiesenfeld, 2004). Workers with higher self-efficacy are more likely to use tools such as the Pomodoro System, their calendars, and collaboration tools to help them minimize these distractions (Raghuram & Wiesenfeld, 2004).   Raghuram and Wiesenfeld (2004) found that those who did extensive virtual work benefited from structure their work and non-work schedule. For example, parents could be home when their children came home from school (Raghuram & Wiesenfeld, 2004). To continue working remotely can also improve happiness as remote workers feel that they are in better control of their time, thus reducing commute-related stress (Cloutier et al., 2017).   Lower Costs A company’s costs might also decrease through telecommuting arrangements. The whole idea of remote work, initially, was to cut down on costs. Companies’ desire to cut down on costs was one of the drivers of the telecommuting initiative (Messenger & Gschwind, 2016).  In a remote work arrangement, companies do not have to invest in real-estate for their workers to sit at their desks and work at their computers. Employees can sit in Starbucks (or anyplace) using available resources (Ashford, George, & Blatt, 2007). Another consideration is employee relocation costs. Relocating employees can be relatively high. One company, Nortel, estimated that they save $100,000 per employee that they do not have to relocate (Patterson, Harvey, & Bosco, 2014). With the global economy and an international work pool, telecommuting can save a company substantial money. Patterson, Harvey, and Bosco (2014) noted that absenteeism is quite expensive for a company. The company would save costs simply by reducing absenteeism.   When employees telecommute, they can stay home and work and care for their sick spouse or children. Patterson et al. implied that when the child is sick, the parents can be at home working when they are not caring for their child.  There is also a link between absenteeism and job satisfaction (Whyman & Petrescu, 2015). In their study conducted among British small businesses, Whyman and Petrescu (2015) found a link between companies using family-friendly practices such as telecommuting and job satisfaction—the satisfied employees spent less time off the job, thus cutting down on absenteeism. Sustainability. Telecommuting cuts down on commute costs and cuts down greenhouse gas emissions (Zhu & Mason, 2014). Zhu and Mason (2014) also pointed out that telecommuting cuts back on the need to drive to work and the need to build new office space. Although their data in this matter is inconclusive, the study’s authors theorized that this could be because remote work had still not proliferated into society. Belgium, however, saw a decrease in greenhouse gases emitted, perhaps due to implementing telecommuting and other eco-friendly commuting (Almeida, Verbist, Achten, Maertens, & Muys, 2014).   Concerns about climate change also increase the demand to lower one’s carbon footprint. To continue working Remotely decreases the need to commute and use fossil fuels helps in the battle against human-sourced climate change (Pyöriä, 2011).  Yes, in remote work, we do have to find different methods of collaboration and team building. We have made strides in that area and collaboration. Team-building tools, such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Hangouts, Mighty Network, Trello… have made it possible for improved cooperation among remote work teams.   With COVID making its exit (knock on wood), there are also openings for hybrid models where we can continue working remotely but come to the office as needed and go to the restaurant with fellow team members. So to sum things up, if you own a business of any size and you have been utilizing remote work during the pandemic, continue working remotely! Allow the lowered costs, employee well-being, and sustainability benefits to continue. Consultancies such as Dr. Work from Home can help you with optional efficiency with these arrangements. With these benefits in mind, we offer a consultation at no charge to evaluate and optimize your situation. The link is below. To book your complimentary appointment:  Click Here To find out more about Dr. Work from Home and Dr. Jeffrey Levine, Click Here REFERENCES Almeida, J., Verbist, A., Achten, W., Maertens, M., & Muys, B. (2014). Sustainability in development cooperation: Preliminary findings on the carbon footprint of development aid organizations. Sustainable Development 22(5), 349-359 doi:10.1002/sd.1553 Ashford, S. J., George, E., & Blatt, R. (2007). Old assumptions, new work: The opportunities and challenges of research on nonstandard employment. The Academy of Management Annals, 1(1), 65-117. doi:10.1080/078559807 Cloutier, S., Karner, A., Breetz, H. L., Toufani, P., Onat, N., Patel, S., . . . Carlson, C. (2017). Measures of a Sustainable Commute as a Predictor of Happiness. Sustainability (2071-1050), 9(7), 1214. doi:10.3390/su9071214 Messenger, J. C., & Gschwind,

Remote Coaching Methodologies by Demographics. Since a remote workforce is off-site, coaching team members increases in importance geometrically. The question, therefore, becomes not if to coach your team but how to go about coaching your team. In this article, I use characters from one of my favorite movies to illustrate how to coach team members in different demographic groups. Freedonia Sporting Goods’ mission is to provide low-cost sporting equipment to the community; its vision is that everyone has the opportunity to play. The company’s target market is low-end department stores such as Wal-Mart and Target. The business strategy that they use to market their products, therefore, is a low price strategy. The sales department’s pay structure is a base salary with a quarterly bonus for individual production and a bonus based on the sales group’s output. Rufus T. Firefly is the sales manager for the company’s Bocce Ball Division, running a department of twenty salespeople, two of them being highly producing employees, Pinky and Chicolini. Pinky, a 55-year-old salesperson, has worked for Freedonia for 17 years with a strong sales record bringing on several new clients who generally stay with the company for many years. Chicolini is a 23-year-old programmer who has graduated from Stanford a year prior and has many great sales ideas, and has a methodology some have called unique. Sales at Freedonia have been flat for several months, and Firefly is under pressure from management to increase sales. Hence, he wants to coach these employees to take their sales up to the next level. Although the essential technique to motivate these workers would be the same, adjustments in the methodology would be needed per demographics. However, it must be cautioned that demographic information should not be used to stereotype these two workers (Macon & Artley, 2009). They are both individuals, and demographic research is no substitute for sitting down with the workers and finding out their values through personal conversation. It is essential to not have the field of demographics be used to stereotype. The key to any coaching is to listen to what is occurring in the person being coached universe. What is happening in Chicolini’s and Pinky’s universe is partially a function of their demographics. Demographics There are four generations in the workplace; The Traditionals, The Baby Boomers, Generation X, and the Millennials. Pinky is a Boomer. Baby boomers did not grow up with technology and can sometimes be overwhelmed. Being a senior salesman, Pinky commands respect from his co-workers, who generally will go to him for mentoring and advice. Boomers are known to be very idealistic and can achieve greater if this sense of idealism is tapped into (Macon, & Artley, 2009). Generally, they prefer face-to-face or telephone communications over electronic style communications such as texting and e-mailing (Macon, & Artley, 2009). They are known to be team players who are great at consensus building but can be perceived as micromanagers who think others are lazy (Macon, & Artley, 2009). Chicolini is a member of the millennial generation, sometimes called Generation Y. The millennials are characterized by their familiarity with high tech; they are much more comfortable with electronic communications (Macon, & Artley, 2009). They are optimistic multitaskers, demand instant feedback work well together in groups (Macon, & Artley, 2009). They are, however, perceived as being poorly read and as having no context due to insufficient knowledge of history. Although Chicolini has excellent problem-solving and communications skills, he is often perceived due to his age. This can be pretty frustrating to Chicolini. Coaching The model for building a performance strategy is to: 1) develop a strategic plan 2) write the requirements document 3) write the operations plan, 4) write the performance plan and scorecard (Harbour, 2009). When building a performance strategy, it is imperative to balance several different factors (Harbour, 2009). Demographic differences need to be balanced. Chicolini and Pinky are of different generations; therefore, the manager would need to take these Demographic factors into account when giving these two employees coaching to achieve the company’s strategy. The system, however, would be the same. There would just be slightly different tactics to execute that strategy; thus, the difference would be in the tactical planning (Chapter TWO: The Strategic Business Plan – Tactical Section, 2004). The difference in tactics would come into play in the performance plan and scorecard (Harbour, 2009). Being a baby boomer, Pinky has a very high sense of purpose. A coach would best motivate Pinky by letting him know how much Freedonia helps the community by providing affordable sporting goods. Because of the sales team’s hard work, kids play Bocce Ball rather than join street gangs. Firefly will want to provide “face time” for Pinky to discuss sales difficulties with someone. (Macon & Artley, 2009). Face-to-face training, where Pinky is in a classroom, can ask the instructor questions, and interact with the other students would be best (Macon, & Artley, 2009). The training may include modules on leading without micromanaging and dealing with people of the younger generation. Firefly should also have weekly meetings with Pinky to discuss his goals and any issues he may have in attaining those goals. Firefly also may want to have Pinky mentor some of the workers of the younger generations. Non-monetary rewards could include donating to charities on Pinky’s behalf. Motivating Chicolini, on the other hand, would be slightly different. Millennials tend to work well in groups and are highly optimistic, so Firefly may want to stress group goals to Chicolini rather than personal goals. (Macon & Artley, 2009). As he is of the millennial generation and is comfortable with technology, Firefly may want to set up webinars to train Chicolini on aspects of his job and work as a part of a work team to do webinars rather than face to face seminars. Firefly may even want to throw in a webinar or two about working with others of different generations, such as Pinky. Electronic methodology such as e-mail and surveys can be

Intercultural Competence in Remote Work? Remote work opens up the possibilities of having a global workforce without anyone leaving the comfort of their living room. In my remote work, I have worked seamlessly with people working from the United Kingdom, Japan, Dubai, Germany, Israel, India, Pakistan, Hong Kong, and Canada, so Intercultural competence in remote work has been vital for my business Yeah, on occasion, I did screw things up rather royally. I once made a gesture to someone that in their culture meant, you are a filthy animal, but the person did realize that I did it out of ignorance rather than malfeasance. That could have been a disaster, though, for both my company and me. Even in the United States culture, at one time, if you insulted someone, they could challenge you to a duel to save face. Something not good! Thankfully, those days have long passed. However, you can still have the equivalent for your business if you don’t have intercultural competence.  In the Era of Remote Work,  Interculture Competence is even more critical. Although an insulted stakeholder couldn’t pull out a Derringer and shoot you in the liver, he/she could still block you on Facebook and give you a One-Star on Yelp. That’s even worse!  So, suppose you are Sam Drucker at his General Store in Hootervile. In that case, Intercultural competence is far less significant than it would be for a global high-tech firm. Actually, in my parts (The San Francisco Bay Area), a corner grocery store would have customers from all over the world who spoke a multitude of languages (Deardorff, 2009)! I have been talking about Intercultural competence, but what the bleep is it anyway? Intercultural competence is the ability to act in a culture other than your own. Intercultural competence has to do with demographics, religion, and country where one is doing business. A high school teacher who wants to be interculturally competent needs to know about Miley Cyrus and all the other mashugana pop cultural stuff that the students follow. Someone who is doing business in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, who likes to lace their speech with Yidishisms, would need to know what mashugana means.  I may have been exaggerating earlier about being shot in the liver for committing what a social faux pas in another culture is. There is a cost to not being interculturally competent: the team isn’t as cohesive as a unit, or if it is with your customer, it means that there is just one more thing to get in the way of doing business. Of course, as Malcolm Gladwell (2009) discusses in Outliers, the cost of a lack of intercultural competence could be the life and well-being of the clients or customers should the business be an airline and should there be miscommunications because of a misunderstanding of power distance. So what can we do to develop intercultural competence in remote work? Have an open mind and be willing to learn from others. Knowledge is infinite, and o it dramatically enhances the experience to be open to new information and multiple perspectives and interpretations other than your own. I am not saying to agree with all views but to be available to them. Be aware that others may not share the same cultural values that you do. When working with people from all over the world with different backgrounds, this awareness is a necessary step to intercultural competence in remote work. Realize that you don’t know everything, and yours may not be the best way to do something. Be willing to learn from your cohorts and not automatically think that your way is the only way. Develop the ability to adapt and accommodate behaviors to a different culture. Team members must be willing to assimilate new cultures. Connect and listen to people. Have the ability to visualize the situation of another person intellectually and emotionally, show compassion for your team members, think from more than one perspective, and listen actively.[ Business at one time could get away with not having a multicultural business model, but in this post-COVID world, unless you are that general store owner in Hooterville, you would need to have a multicultural business model. A lack of intercultural competence in remote work can lead to bad relations due to cultural misunderstandings, inefficient teams, and even lawsuits.    I can help you to develop intercultural competence in remote work and help your remote teams increase their effectiveness with my  CAUSE PROGRAM Please schedule your Complimentary Strategy Session. References: Deardorff D. K. (2009), The SAGE handbook of intercultural competence. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. Gladwell M (2009) Outliers.  NY Little Brown

What I learned in the Year of COVID It was the year of COVID! I remember last year, at the beginning of March, I was thinking how bad a year it was for Basketball; Kobe was killed a month prior, and people were still in mourning. My Golden State Warriors, after dominating the NBA for several seasons, were in last place. I was looking forward to watching Star Trek Picard on Thursdays. Oh, and the media was (as usual) overhyping this thing called the Coronavirus. The media does tend to overhype this kind of thing: killer storms turning into drizzles, The Y2K bug, The African Killer Bees … That is the media’s job to scare the bejesus out of us all over some exaggerated disaster that would eliminate all life on earth. In the year of COVID, though, they were actually under-hyping it. COVID 19 would end up altering our very reality. Thus far, it has taken over half a million lives, instantly transformed one of the most prolonged periods of economic growth in America to that of a deep recession. Sporting events have been canceled, restaurants closed down, and movie theaters empty. People began working from home. My mother fell down and needed skilled nursing. She was there alone for a month and passed away a few weeks after she got home. My mother-in-law and father-in-law both had COVID and were both put on ventilators, my mother-in-law not making it through.  Only in my deepest nightmares would I have thought up a scenario that has been the Year of COVID. As we come to the tail-end (I hope), I have begun to reflect on what it meant for me. I think that something can be a curse as well as a blessing. In the Year of COVID, you don’t need Physical contact with people to be a community During the pandemic, I have created communities with people I would have never met in person. I have taken to meeting with people on Zoom and have at least 4 organizations I have joined. I am on Zooms, interacting with people hours a day with people I didn’t even know before the pandemic. Some of these people are my neighbors that I never talked to and now do regularly. I am building businesses and helping others who I have never actually met to achieve their dreams  In the Year of COVID, you solve medical problems with medicine, not with politics I know several medical doctors. ALL of them have said that the way to slow down the spread of COVID is to social distance and wear masks. Yet, a certain percentage of the population refuses to do so because a particular politician with a background in Business, NOT Medicine, told them they didn’t need to. This politician also told his followers to drink bleach to be cured. He knows nothing about medicine, and his advice should be put on the trash heap of bad ideas. Politicians should deal with politics and allow medical decisions to be made by doctors. Had this politician just kept his damned mouth shut, my mother-in-law and several thousand others might still be alive. In the Year of COVID, just because it is on the internet does not mean it is true. I read on Twitter that Doctor Harry Vanderspeigle said that if you drink lots of coffee and watch Law and Order reruns, you will be shielded against COVID… Harry Vanderspeigle is an alien posing as a doctor on the TV show resident alien, played by Alan Tudyk. It is a hilarious TV Show, but Alan is hardly an expert on infectious diseases. This sounds absurd, but it is incredible how many people get their medical advice from You-Tube and other social media. There is a process to publish scientific articles known as peer review. Peer Review is required to publish in scientific journals. Neither Twitter, Facebook, You-Tube, nor for that matter Tic-Tock require peer review. Anyone can post without any peer review. Get your medical advice from qualified physicians, not aliens in Colorado Life can change drastically at a moment’s notice I was working as a substitute teacher in a local high school district. I was teaching a special-ed science class. I had recently completed my Ph.D. in Organisational Development, having written my dissertation on Working from Home. I had put myself through grad school doing substitute teaching. Still, I was finished and looking for something that would better utilize my talents. A Ph.D. is a little overqualified to work at a job babysitting high school students. Then the notice came over the loudspeakers: the school would be shut down for three weeks. Those three weeks, so far, have been a year, and no work as to when schools would reopen. I took the opportunity to transform myself into Dr. Work from Home and realize my vision of closer families and a cleaner environment. Our hand was forced in the matter of working from home. Who here would have ever thought that would happen? In the Year of COVID, human beings can work together to achieve common goals. Despite the barriers, businesses are continuing. We are working together. I work with several fine organizations to support each other in attaining our mutual goals. It has always been that to accomplish anything significant and lasting requires a team. Without the Apple team, Steve Jobs would have lived his life as some Doc Brown type of crackpot with these wild ideas. Give him a team, and he revolutionizes the world. The COVID Crises gave us more and more enormous barriers to face. Only by working together can we dissolve the obstacles that we were facing In the Year of COVID, sometimes you need to have the government take charge I had always been a die-hard libertarian; I thought that the private sector should be left to solve all problems. In “normal” times, that is true, but when there is something like war or a pandemic, our