The Collaboration Superpowers Podcast

During a casual conversation, someone asked what my top 3 tips were for having a successful remote team. It was tough to distill all the great information I've collected into just 3 tips, but I managed to do it! For more stories, visit www.CollaborationSuperpowers.com.

Tim Stough works for a large research institute in California that offers their employees a 9/80 flextime schedule. We discuss why the 9/80 flextime schedule was implemented, how it works, and how the employees organize themselves. I also ask Tim what he likes about this schedule and why it works so well for him. For more stories, visit www.CollaborationSuperpowers.com.

If you want to work while traveling, here are some great gadgets for working on the road. For more stories, visit CollaborationSuperpowers.com.

Brie Reynolds works with FlexJobs, creators of Remote.co: a resource providing information and best practices on starting, training, and managing remote workers and teams. We discuss communication, relationships, and awesome culture building tips. For more stories, visit CollaborationSuperpowers.com.

Managers of remote teams face the challenge of combating the "out of sight, out of mind" mentality. How do we move away from micro-managing and set up and lead our remote teams to success? Join me as we discuss the four main pillars of remote team management. For more stories, visit CollaborationSuperpowers.com.

Vanessa Shaw is on a mission to help your team collaborate and be productive virtually. She’s an expert intercultural trainer who is exploring how the digital world is impacting how teams work together and how technology innovations are changing the way business is done. For more stories, visit CollaborationSuperpowers.com.

Remote employees can often feel left out of things that are happening back at the office. Like celebrations, for example. Whether you're looking for ways to include your remote employees in what is happening at the office, or whether you just want to say thanks, this episode will give a whole bunch of ideas for perks that you can offer your remote employees. For more stories, visit CollaborationSuperpowers.com.

Gerard Beaulieu is the creator of VirtualIcebreakers.com, a website that creates icebreakers for conference call meetings. We discuss the importance of having creative freedom, establishing a human connection, and creating engaging conference calls. For more stories, visit CollaborationSuperpowers.com.

Christina Ng has developed a work from home excuse generator called wfh.ninja. Anyone can vote on the likelihood of the success of the excuse. So give your excuse a try and see how believable it is. For more stories, visit CollaborationSuperpowers.com.

We've reached Episode 50 on the Collaboration Superpowers podcast. In this podcast, I highlight 5 of my favorite segments from the last 50 interviews. Join me on this epic journey through the history of the podcast. For more stories, visit CollaborationSuperpowers.com.

Adriana Vela is the Founder of NanoTecNexus.org. We discuss how her team works from all over the US and Canada to transform the way we learn about nanotechnology in grades K-12. Adriana shares great tips about how to be efficient and self-sufficient on the road, and how to overcome the obstacle of working remote. For more stories, visit CollaborationSuperpowers.com.

In this episode, I share my enthusiasm for the potentials of telepresence. We discuss the applications of using both the KUBI from Revolve Robotics and the BEAM Smart Presence System from Suitable Technologies. For more stories, visit CollaborationSuperpowers.com.

Erin Rapacki is the Marketing Director for Suitable Technologies, makers of the Beam telepresence robot! We discuss what the Beam team office is like; how robots are giving people a real presence and allowing us to be in two places at once. For more stories, visit CollaborationSuperpowers.com.

In this episode, I talk about some of my current personal favorite tools for online communication. The tools I talk about in the show are the tools that I like using with the teams that I work with. For more stories, visit CollaborationSuperpowers.com.

Lucius Bobikiewicz is a trainer for distributed agile teams at SpreadScrum.com. We discuss what it takes to be a good remote facilitator, the importance of authenticity, and how using a simple spreadsheet can lead to impressive collaborations on remote teams. For more stories, visit CollaborationSuperpowers.com.

Virtual icebreakers can be a fun way to learn more about your remote colleagues, and a great way to get meetings started. In this episode, I share my favorite virtual icebreakers and tips. For more stories, visit CollaborationSuperpowers.com.

Alexandre Cuva is the CEO of SmartDev LLC, an offshore development center based in Da Nang, Vietnam. We discuss why the focus on community is so important, Management 3.0, and the culture of doing business in Vietnam. For more stories, visit CollaborationSuperpowers.com.

Each team has a unique way of communicating. And each team has a particular combination of personality types. And just like an orchestra tunes up before a performance, or an athlete warms up before a practice, tuning a virtual team helps get everyone on the same page. For more stories, visit CollaborationSuperpowers.com.

Alexandre Pellaes is a People Management Consultant in São Paulo Brazil. We discuss cultural differences and the importance of team agreements. For more stories, visit www.collaborationsuperpowers.com.

Just like on co-located teams, giving useful feedback is a critical component of a healthy team. On virtual teams we should be constantly talking to each other and affecting what happens next. We should think of feedback as a means for continuous improvement and a way of building trust on the team. For more stories, visit CollaborationSuperpowers.com.

Jeffry Hesse is an Agile Coach working at Sonatype. He is responsible for working with a fully distributed software development team of 40+ people, helping them to adjust their team process and iron out kinks along the way. Jeffry does this while traveling all over the world. We discuss what the team struggles with and how they make it work. For more stories (and to pre-order the Collaboration Superpowers boo) visit CollaborationSuperpowers.com.

Managers biggest fear seems to be "How do I know people are working?". But through interviews, I'm finding that remote workers tend to work too much, not too little. In a world where we're always on, how do we find a healthy balance? For more stories, visit CollaborationSuperpowers.com.

David Horowitz is the CEO and Founder of Retrium, new software for facilitating remote retrospectives. We discuss the importance of informal networks, random interactions and silliness, and abolishing the postmortem. For more stories, visit CollaborationSuperpowers.com.

I share my 5 top tips for simulating the office online. Specifically, how do we simulate the "human-enss" that we get when we're in the office together. For more stories (and for more information on the Collaboration Superpowers world tour), visit CollaborationSuperpowers.com.

Chris Jankulovski is the CEO and Founder of remotestaff.com.au. We talk about the benefits of outsourcing and what it takes to make it work. We also discuss the challenges he's faced scaling his own remote team. For more stories, visit CollaborationSuperpowers.com.

Another short episode: In this world where we’re always on, I’m learning that sometimes, we need to take out all the non essentials and start over again - and give ourselves some room to breathe and focus on the things that are most important to us. For more stories, visit CollaborationSuperpowers.com.

Judy Rees holds the secret formula for helping your remote team work better together. We discuss how using metaphors helps create a common visual language we can all relate to. For more stories (and for more info on the book), visit www.CollaborationSuperpowers.com.

I'm trying something new in this episode. I'm taking the month of April off from conducting any interviews so I can focus on my new book. So, here's the story of what I did when faced with a mountain of information and self-doubt. Let me know what you think! For more stories, visit CollaborationSuperpowers.com.

I speak with Sumant Kowshik and Nick Timmons of Personify.com. They work with "the best cameras the world hasn't seen yet" to bring you a more engaging online experience. We talk about how video helps them build camaraderie on their remote team - and how they work with a 12 hour time zone difference and still make it work! For more stories, visit CollaborationSuperpowers.com.

Piero Toffanin is a digital nomad traveling the US in a camper while coding to pay for expenses. We talk about what's great and what's hard about this lifestyle. For more stories, visit CollaborationSuperpowers.com.

Teo Härén is one of the most requested experts on creativity in Sweden. He is the author of Härabete, which is about working from wherever you are most productive. We dive deeply into why this is important and how everyone can make it work. For more stories, make sure to visit www.collaborationsuperpowers.com.

Bart van Loon is an Offshore Staffing Specialist with Zeropoint.BE who bring together businesses from Europe and Pakistan and Sri Lanka. We talk about the benefits and challenges of off-shoring. And the difference between having a personal vs a professional culture. What tools they use, and how they train both the employee and the client to work remotely. For more stories, visit www.CollaborationSuperpowers.com.

Tom Howlett is a Developer and Agile Coach at Lean Tomato in the UK. We discuss how pair programming helps build trust, camaraderie, and visibility on his remote team. We also discuss tools, personality, work-life integration, and Agile. For more stories visit CollaborationSuperpowers.com.

Derek Scruggs is the Vice President of Staunch Robots who work with remote teams in São Paulo, Buenos Aires, Ukraine, and the US. We discuss why they use so many tools, remote working in start-up cultures, and the importance of having structure and getting enough sleep. For more stories visit www.CollaborationSuperpowers.com.

I talk with the StarterSquad Team about their unique entrepreneurial business model and how they make remote working work. For more stories, visit www.CollaborationSuperpowers.com.

Ralph van Roosmalen calls himself an "innovative Agile enabler". He's also a Management 3.0 enthusiast! I talk to him about how his company successfully manages remote offices in three locations: The United States, The Netherlands, and Romania. For more stories, visit www.CollaborationSuperpowers.com.

Mario Lucero is an Agile Coach in Chile working with remote teams in the US. We talk about how important interaction, communication, good equipment and generosity are. He also tells us how it's the little things than can drive the biggest changes. For more stories (and for more information on how to pre-order the Collaboration Superpowers book), visit www.CollaborationSuperpowers.com.

Per Frykman is a Reputation Advisor who can analyze and strengthen your professional reputation as an individual. He and his colleagues are spread all over Scandinavia and in London. I talk to him about why and how he works from anywhere. For more stories, visit www.CollaborationSuperpowers.com.

Luis Suarez quit his job after 17 years. We discuss the importance of using social networks and blogging as ways to increase opportunities for oneself. We also discuss how to go almost email free! For more stories, visit www.CollaborationSuperpowers.com.

Yves Hanoulle is a Creative Collaboration Agent and the author of "Who is Agile? A Book of Personal Reflections on Journeys Where People Stumbled on Agile". We discuss the ergonomics of a good home office, techniques and tools for developing trust, and the importance of welcoming people into a community with a personal touch. For more stories, visit www.CollaborationSuperpowers.com.

Gretchen Wegner is a superstar academic life coach for students - and she coaches them remotely. In this interview, we speak to her and one of her students about how they make learning fun. For more stories, visit www.CollaborationSuperpowers.com.

Marcus Rosenthal and Jeff Goldsmith from Revolve Robotics show off the KUBI, the world's first portable video teleconference device! We discuss how KUBI is changing the definition of what it means to have a remote presence. For more about KUBI and other stories, visit www.CollaborationSuperpowers.com.

Peter Hilton is a software developer, writer, speaker, and trainer. We discuss the necessity of meeting face-to-face, using tools, training new staff and clients, and the need for typing faster. For more stories (and to pre-order our book on remote collaboration), pleast visit www.CollaborationSuperpowers.com.

Luke Hohmann is the Founder and CEO of Conteneo, Inc. (formerly, The Innovation Games® Company). In this conversation, we dive deeply into what collaboration actually is and means - and why games are an important way to solve big problems. For more stories, visit www.CollaborationSuperpowers.com.

AgileBill Krebs is a virtual worlds guru. Virtual worlds may seem overly techie and nerdy to some, but they are undeniably powerful learning tools and certainly worth exploring. For more stories and training, visit www.collaborationsuperpowers.com.

Laura Rooke is one of the best remote technical support gurus you could ever hope to have on your team. She started her career in remote working so she could be a stay-at-home Mom. She has a great story and even better tips! For more stories, visit www.collaborationsuperpowers.com.

Hugo Messer is the CEO of Bridge Global IT Staffing and the author of Managing Remote Teams. We discuss offshoring, nearshoring, cultures, scaling virtual teams and more. For more stories, visit www.collaborationsuperpowers.com.

Marion Smits is associate professor and neuroradiologist at Erasmus MC, Rotterdam (NL), and honorary consultant and reader at University College London Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in London (UK). We discuss how she works remotely with her staff and graduate students. For more stories, visit www.collaborationsuperpowers.com.

ShriKant Vashishtha is the Director of Engineering at GlobalLogic. His specialties include technology strategy and implementation, distributed Agile, and Agile transformation. I talk with him about his experiences working with distributed Agile teams. For more stories, visit www.collaborationsuperpowers.com.

Jeremy Stanton has been working remotely for 15 years. In this interview he shares his insights on hiring and onboarding, creating culture, defining expectations, and wearing pants! For more stories, visit www.collaborationsuperpowers.com.