Today is an exciting day for me, as my book goes out into the world. It’s my first experience of this kind of publication, and feels quite different from anything I have published before.
As an Open Access publication, the book is immediately and freely available to download and read online and I am really looking forward to celebrating the launch of the book this evening in conversation with ALT’s Chair, Professor Helen O’Sullivan.
Thanks and acknowledgements
First and foremost I would like to thank the Association for Learning Technology for the support for this venture. Special thanks go to Professor Helen O’Sullivan, Chair of the Board of Trustees, without whom this publication would not have happened, as well as the Trustees at time of writing, who reviewed the manuscript: Bella Abrams, Peter Bryant, Lorna Campbell, Elizabeth Charles, Shonagh Douglas, Sharon Flynn, Natalie Lafferty, Keith Smyth and David White.
Many of the examples in this book were collected between 2017-2022 in my role as CEO of the Association. I am grateful for the input from everyone I worked with, especially the core staff team, with whom I shared the transition to becoming a virtual team and the years since. The transition was a unique opportunity for me and the team as a whole to shape a new era of a long established organisation. Many of our experiences from 2018-2020 were chronicled in collaboration with Martin Hawksey. Martin has given his kind permission for this book to include many of the ideas we originally blogged about.
This book is subtitled Field Notes from a CEO because my years as an Anthropologist taught me how to adopt a researcher’s outlook. Although I have settled into a different mindset in my ten years as a CEO, no longer just observing, but leading, I still find myself just as curious about seeing the world from someone else’s viewpoint and doing my best to walk a few steps in their shoes. Leading a virtual team has challenged that ambition in interesting ways, and provided me with a new field for inquiry. My fondest thanks to the Material & Visual Culture staff and colleagues at the Department for Anthropology at UCL, who inspired me so much during my time there.
Last, but certainly not least, I would like to acknowledge all the open practitioners and researchers who have shared their insights and provided input along the way.
Thank you.
Get your copy
You can read and download a free digital edition, published as an Open Access publication by ALT in partnership with Open Academia. The Open Access print edition, published by Lulu.com, will be available to purchase soon.
Leading Virtual Teams is licensed under a Creative Commons licence CC-BY-NC-ND, copyright Maren Deepwell 2022.
Sign up for the free Leading Virtual Teams course
If you’d like to learn more about leading virtual teams, join my free course starting in spring 2023. This course translates key parts of the book into practice:
- Onboarding and setting expectations
- Fostering a shared team culture
- Managing people and processes
- Strategies for succeeding in hybrid workplaces in the long term
This course offers a unique blend of inspiration, practical support and resources. Join us to explore ways of working in the hybrid workplace that are aligned to your goals and values and how to lead with agency and authenticity.
Explore resources, blog posts and podcasts
There is a wealth of resources and inspiration in the Virtual Teams blog posts, more recent blog posts and resources and podcasts .