Ted Talks We Recommend for Remote Teams
The best way to transition a team to fully remote work is to spend time planning, hold conversations with the team, introduce productivity measures and communication channels.
Sadly, many managers didn’t get the chance to do this as their organizations abandoned their office during the coronavirus outbreak and that means there have been a lot of challenges getting remote work to function properly in companies across the land.
Never fear! There is a strong community that has faced the same issues and there’s a growing self-awareness in that community that we need to talk about the creative work that makes working remotely a joyous success rather than a total pain.
So, with that in mind, we bring you a set of Ted Talks for remote teams that are the result of innovation, creativity, and growing knowledge in the grand experiment of remote work.
Why Do Ambitious Women Have Flat Heads?
Imagine that it’s 1963 and the only way to go about working remotely was to embrace “asynchronous collaboration” (that is – I do my bit, you do yours, we meet up later to see if they fit).
That’s the challenge that Dame Stephanie Shirley took on when she built her all-woman software company and as you can tell from this talk she was able to create boundless opportunity and productivity.
She sold her company for nearly $3 billion and more than 70 members of her employee pool became millionaires as a result of her free approach to remote teams.
The opinions expressed in this talk are blunt but a strong sign that a remote team can always succeed in even in a world where companies face huge obstacles and are short on technology (which today, we are not).
The Key To Growth? Race With The Machines
Employees and managers alike are feeling under threat from AI and automated productivity solutions but Erik Brynjolfsson says we ought to celebrate.
If we can work in remote teams where we treat AI as part of the team, we can achieve things no group of office workers ever has.
Think how fast you could search for relevant data with an AI pulling it together for you? How it could anticipate communication needs and ensure that your employees and team were always aware of what they need to know?
That could be the future of business collaboration and understanding the importance of that new professional culture could make you one of the most valuable resources in a virtual world.
Why Working From Home Is Good For Business
Matt Mullenweg knows everything about using distributed teams that embrace creativity to build a unique company culture that led to one of the big web success stories – WordPress.
He says that it’s vital that a person has control over their life, their job and this gives them the room to develop vital expertise that really makes them high value employees.
And he shows how you have the right conversation throughout your business to ensure nobody is left in the past and that everyone gets the power that they need to be productive to the best of their ability.
10 Ways To Have A Better Conversation
Want some good advice? Teams that don’t talk to each other properly, ensure that their companies are forgotten by history.
Good leaders ensure that they serve their people by creating an environment where interesting dialog doesn’t alienate the rest of the team.
Celeste Headlee helps you discover the way to give advice and feedback that really helps and that people want to listen to.
The Surprising Ingredient That Makes Businesses Work Better
Marco Alvera wraps up our top Ted insights by asking leaders to remember that there’s one ingredient in business that makes or breaks your teams, whether they’re in the office or not.
That ingredient? It’s fairness. If you can embed that feeling in your company and its culture, you simply cannot go wrong.
We are primed to seek out fairness and it makes us feel good when we feel it and see it and, in return, it makes us loyal, hard-working, and trustworthy.
Final Thoughts On Our Favorite Ted Talks For Remote Work
As you can see from each Ted Talk, you’re in good company if you’ve been struggling with this whole transition and whether you’re a recovering micromanager or a colleague trying to work out how relationships work in this brave new world, we think that you’ll find insights in these talks that apply to you that go beyond those you can Google.
There are quality lessons that can be put into practice not just by management but also by those seeking to set an example to the rest of their long-distance team. Have fun with it!
