Book Summary by Dr.N.Asokan: Non-Obvious Guide to Virtual Meetings and Working Remotely Book

Book Summary by Dr.N.Asokan

Remote work is not a recent phenomenon. People have been working remotely for hundreds of years.

In this book, you’ll find a collection of the skills, habits, and techniques to help you get ready for the new reality of modern work. Read this book to learn how to avoid distractions and be more productive when doing remote work. Whether you need to collaborate with people virtually, deliver a compelling virtual presentation, or lead a remote team, this book will give you the step-by-step advice on how to do it.

The goal of this book isn’t to pretend that working remotely is always better or that offices are irrelevant. Instead, you will read about how you can continue to make human connections, collaborate effectively, present virtually, and do business without being in the same room. While the future of work remains uncertain, we know it will take a far more flexible mindset than ever before. The rapid changes in the world are dictating that we each become more adaptable and willing to reinvent how we work.

The Book consists of three parts. Part 1: Working Remotely, discuss about necessity, challenges, lifestyle, remote work Vs life balance, mindfulness principles of better remote work and creating your own work space.

Part 2: Virtual Meetings, discuss about rules, four models, virtual engagement, virtual presentation, events, webinars and training.

Part 3: Virtual Collaborations, discuss about expectation of virtual team, virtual body language, building and destroying virtual culture of trust, how to lead a remote team, and hiring & building a future – proof team.

In this book, you will learn how to …

 Avoid distractions and be more productive no matter what happens around you.

 Choose the right technology to get things done more quickly and easily.

 Assess your working style to divide your day between deep vs. shallow work.

 Conquer the loneliness and isolation that often comes with remote work.

 Deliver a compelling virtual presentation in a meeting, webinar or online training session.

 Collaborate with people you’ve never met and colleagues working remotely.

 Manage and prevent conflicts in a virtual setting with more emotional intelligence.

 Effectively lead a virtual team and improve accountability.

 Prepare for the virtual future of work and be more flexible.

Some of the quotes from the book:

The truth is that working remotely isn’t better than being face to face. But sometimes you don’t have a choice.

“The three great enemies of working from home are the fridge, the bed, and the TV.”

Contrary to what many leaders believe, studies show people who work remotely can often be more productive than those who commute to an office every day.

Try to spend the first part of your day planning what you want to accomplish that day instead of reacting to the latest urgent email.

Having a personal website isn’t the only way to have a presence online. You can use social media today to accomplish a lot of the same benefits.

Your personal brand is what you say about yourself. Your reputation is what others say about you.

Using video for every conversation is the virtual equivalent of getting on a plane every time you need to meet someone in a different city.

The reason virtual meetings don’t work is that most people never learn the skills to run them properly.

Show interest in people first, and then get down to business.

Never apologize before you begin your presentation.

A bit of self-deprecating humor is ok when you keep it succinct and tie it to a topic instead of using it just for the sake of using humor.

Overall, look at your beginnings as ways to prime the brain for what’s to come.

It turns out that having the technology for connection doesn’t magically make connection happen.

The secret to better communications, virtually or otherwise, is to become a better writer.

Don’t use too many words, but don’t use too few either.

One of the fastest ways to appreciate and respect a culture is to notice and mirror their behaviors.

Sometimes staying in your swim lane can make everyone faster.

Trust is the foundation for a strong virtual team culture, and it built by starting with empathy.

To build trust with virtual teammates, you to be consistent, give trust to get it, be available and do what you say you will do.

Leadership flaws often become more destructive when leading a remote team.

Everyone works better when they know why they need to do something.

Without transparency, people invent stories to explain what they perceive to be happening.

Diversity is being invited to the party; inclusion is being asked to dance.

Some of the very interesting new phrases are

Asynchronous communication – any type of communication that does not happen in real time where there is some time lag between messages (i.e. – email).

Attention residue – a term based on the work of researcher Sophie Leroy, this is when thoughts about a task persist and intrude while performing another task.

Backchannel – when technology is used to have a real-time conversation alongside another event (live or virtual) happening at the same time.

Co-working space – a working space that provides essentials for work such as WiFi and meeting space that is shared by workers who usually do not work at the same company.

Deep work – a term originally coined by author Cal Newport to describe activities performed in a high-concentration environment free from any type of distraction.

Design Sprint – A process used mainly by small technical teams to develop and build a prototype for an idea in a matter of days.

Digital body language – a term used alternately to describe the subtext of digital conversations as well as the specific signals that can be seen by watching how people behave when using digital tools.

Digital nomad – an individual who uses technology to enable a working lifestyle where they can travel the world and live anywhere

Digital whiteboard – an open collaborative space online that works like a whiteboard in real life, allowing multiple people to share ideas in real time in a single location.

Flex time – short for flexible time and refers to a situation where work hours do not need to happen within a prescribed working day.

Hot desks – an office format where individual workspaces are openly assigned on a rotating basis, often as a cost-saving method.

Hybrid work – A combination of working remotely and coming into a physical office.

Hybrid event – A gathering that has a live component along with participants who use technology to participate virtually.

Reverse Mentoring – a workplace arrangement that pairs younger employees with executive team members to mentor them on various topics of strategic and cultural relevance.

Shallow work – a term coined by author Cal Newport to describe activities done often through multitasking that don’t require significant concentration.

Sizzle reel – a short, often flashy video used to promote a product or service.

Synchronous communication – any communication that happens in real time (i.e. – talking on the phone, in person conversations)

Telecommuting – the original term used for working out of the office, usually from home without the need for commuting. Often used as a synonym for working from home (WFH) or remote work.

Virtual background - a feature in some video conference software platforms that allows you to display an image or video as your background virtual

The three key elements that matter for building a personal brand: 1. Personality: Who are you as a person, and how can you share your authenticity? 2. Perspective: What is your unique point of view, and how do you share it? 3. Presence: How visible are you online, and what do people see when Googling you? A good personal brand is always consistent.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, everyone wants to know what to expect for the future. In a time of uncertainty, we need help to make sense of everything.

Rohit’s  mission is to help people see what others miss.

USE ONE WORD OPEN AND CLOSE

TALK LESS, SMILE MORE

DOUBLE THE ENERGY

LOOK AT THE CAMERA, NOT THE PEOPLE

USE MORE TEXT

TALK SLOWER (OR PAUSE MORE)

REPEAT MAIN POINTS

Don’t blame the tech

DELIVER DATADRIVEN RESULTS