Who would you rather work for...?

Would you rather work any time, any place, and have your success measured by the results of your work? Or would you rather work for this guy:



We didn't think so!!

Funniest Workplace 2.0 Story YET!

One of my fellow executive members just sent me her most recent mishap/funny story about our mobile workplace, and I had to share it!

Being mobile, I am at one of our many locations, the ATCO building in our CFO's old office. I was using this closed door space as I had a couple virtual meetings that afternoon with some of our team members based out of Edmonton. 

At 2pm, "Sam" pings me and I accept his video invite.  The room behind him doesn’t look like his normal office, so I ask him where he is:

Sam:  I’m in Calgary today at the ATCO building.

Exec: Me too!!  I am in the CFO's old office if you want to come by.

Sam:  Hmmm, I don’t know where that is.  But do you know where Rob's office is? I am across the hall from there.

Exec:  …I am right beside Rob's office… come across the hall and open the door!

He did and... Man, did we laugh and feel like dorks!

When you think about it, this could have happened to any of us who work from any location any time!

Thanks for sharing this great story - I love hearing them!!

Ta ta

Floor Plan Sneak Peek

Today we sent out a communication to everyone involved in the Workplace 2.0 Pilot that explained what to expect when the construction is over. We're excited for the final product, but for now our floor looks like this!!

Take a look at our plan for this space, and try to envision what it will be like when all the mess is cleaned up!

What I love about this approach is it gets everyone involved at a very early stage.  Who wouldn't want to see the future floor plan, or watch construction as it happens?  I know I already feel a vested interest in the end product!

Ta ta

Workplace 2.0 Pilot Video

I'm famous! Don't you love all the amazing places @jodiulrich had me travel to?  Ok your right it was just a really cool green screen, what will they think of next? This was the video we shot to help kick off workplace 2.0 at Investor Services.

Night and Day: Lessons for Managers

As I sit down to write this new post, I wish you could see me killing myself laughing! Not giggling or chortling, but full-on belly laughter that actually starts to hurt when you can't stop!

Hopefully you’ve learned a bit about my less than brilliant first attempt at implementing a flexible workplace in my previous post. In order to mitigate the confusion that occurred there, today I blocked off 2 hours of my time to work on the training for leaders in our official pilot for Workplace 2.0.

Why, you ask, am I laughing so hard?

When I compare and contrast what I am looking at right now, to what support and tools I gave to my leaders and associates previously (none), I almost fell out of my chair! The training course has so many terrific nuggets that I wanted to share a few with you. Talk about world class, engaging and relevant!

The first managers’ action recommended in the material is “to position your team to fully embrace the new workplace experience." That was MY first mistake, this time we will get different results! I have already booked a meeting with my whole team on the 28th - a step in the right direction. Who says old dogs can't learn new tricks??

Based on the verbiage inside this brilliant manager’s course, I am now developing and leading a strong distributed team! What is a distributed team? Really it means there is no ceiling on our ability to be efficient and collaborate with each other and anyone else inside or outside the organization. Physical location doesn't matter!

The concept breaks down the barriers of time and space, allowing us to work more effectively in a broad range of previously time-consuming activities. So let me ask each of you, what activities can you see becoming more effective in a model like this? The first one that comes to mind for me is the quantity of face-to-face meetings. Think of the travel time we could eliminate by not having them in person, they don't go away they just become more efficient! I don't waste 30 minutes driving to the location, finding parking and getting into the room to set-up. I get off one video call, grab a fresh cup of tea and place the next video call. Easy peasy.

Ta ta

Workplace 2.0 means something different to everyone and that is the point.

Tracy Harris made this video after a visioning session she facilitated for the Investor Services Executive Team, on what is Workplace 2.0.

Watching it again reminds me why I love my role and my company!

Ta ta



Monday Morning Construction Update

The best part of looking at this photo's is to imagine that there are still people working on the other side of the blue tarps!  Talk about dedicated!

Construction update: