A year ago my book Leading Virtual Teams was published, and I can very clearly remember all the wonderful excitement that led up to the launch, and am still grateful for all the encouragement for this Open Access publication.
A year on, and the book, which was initially inspired by the work Martin Hawksey and I did at ALT, has turned into a whole host of resources, two free courses and a podcast which informs my wider work on hybrid working leadership development and coaching.
A year in Leading Virtual Teams
To celebrate the milestone, this post gives a quick overview over what’s happened in 2023 and if you are just discovering the book or my work, this is a great place to start:
Open Access publication – December 2022
Leading Virtual Teams – Field Notes from a CEO by Dr Maren Deepwell, was published in December 2022 as an open access publication by the Association for Learning Technology, UK. You can read and download a free digital edition, published as an Open Access publication by ALT in partnership with Open Academia.
I also recorded a preview of the book on the podcast:
Print edition via Lulu Press – January 2023
The Open Access print edition, published by Lulu.com, came out in January and you can order it via:
Podcast season 2 – March 2023
I started the podcast in 2022, but in spring 2023 things really started happening. Each week, I share ideas and strategies for creative and fun approaches to help you succeed and lead in the hybrid workplace. Each episode includes tools, resources and strategies for different aspects of hybrid working, and links to blog posts and further reading.
The podcast is available on different podcast platforms and I hope you enjoy the show. You can find it on: Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify.
Free Leading Virtual Teams course launches – April 2023
This was my first venture of translating the book into a course, and I learnt a lot along the way.
If you’d like to explore the course, all materials are freely available:
- Course Book (Chapters 1-3)
- Course podcasts (Season 2, Episodes 12 – 17)
- Course blog posts including all resources and tools
Week by week
- Podcast | Blog post | Part 1: Orientation and a brief introduction to Leading Virtual Teams
- Podcast | Blog post | Part 2: How we work and onboard new colleagues
- Podcast | Blog post | Part 3: Setting shared expectations
- Podcast | Blog post | Part 4: Fostering a shared team culture (12 May ’23)
- Podcast | Blog post | Part 5: Leading team activities (19 May ’23)
Podcast season 3 with weekly episodes – September 2023
In September I was excited to have Season 3 of the Leading Virtual Teams Podcast finally underway. It’s a new season in every sense… and that is why I kicked off with ‘new pencil case’ moments in episode.
This episode celebrated the start of September, and the new season or start of term for many of us. I have recently tried out a new gratitude journal share ideas for how to find bright spots in a busy time of year. I also give you a preview of what’s in store for season 3 and the upcoming run of the Leading Virtual Teams course in October.
Free Hybrid Working Habits course launches – October 2023
I have experienced a lot of ups and downs working from home, managing remote workers and collaborating virtually, and I chronicled this in my book, Leading Virtual Teams (2022). One of the things I learnt along the way is that a good work/life balance and relationship with digital technology may look a little different for everyone but that the journey how we get there is similar. That’s why I designed this course: to share practical tips that you can use to find ways to make hybrid working really work for you (or you team or organisation) in the long term.
It’s been great to see the course attract lots of listens and interaction. Although I do encourage people to register for free, only about half of the people participating in the course do. Others prefer to simply subscribe to the podcast to listen along and explore at their own pace.
The topics for the course resonated well with participants, especially those designed to help manage digital overwhelm and setting life/work boundaries. Plus, I really enjoyed recording these as well, which is an added bonus!
The course resources and podcasts are now freely available and you can explore topics at your own pace. The easiest way to do that is to listen to the course podcast:
- S03E09 – Hybrid Working Habits: Topic 1 – Auditing your hybrid working habits
- S03E11 – Hybrid Working Habits: Topic 2 – Setting boundaries for a better life/work balance
- S03E13 – Hybrid Working Habits: Topic 3 – Increase productivity away from the screen
- S03E15 – Hybrid Working Habits: Topic 4 – Reduce digital overwhelm
If you’d rather see everything at a glance, the Course information page provides a handy guide to the course and links to all previous topics:
1: Audit your hybrid working habits to find out how your current habits are impacting on you and what to change;
2: Set boundaries for a better life/work balance and stick to them even when things are busy;
3: Increase productivity away from the screen by using strategies for communicating and collaborating outside of meetings;
4: Communicate more effectively in the hybrid workplace in a way that works for you and reduces digital overwhelm.
Special guest Martin Hawksey returns to the conversation – November 2023
In November we went back to the origins of Leading Virtual Teams! I was delighted to co-write together with Martin Hawksey, and we created this joint blog post and special podcast episode:
Working in the open
It’s been a wonderful year, and it’s also been a lot of hard work. Practically all my work in this area since the publication of the book has happened around the edges of my day job, and especially until the end of September that was a very full on commitment. Since focusing full time on my free-lance work I have had a little more scope to take on paid work in this space, and thus give this topic a bit more time in my day to day work.
Every now and then I get an email or a message or someone speaks to me at a conference about something valuable they found in the book, something that helped them in their work or opened up a new perspective and it always, always makes my day.
I have chosen not to publish the book commercially, instead going the Open Access route with the book and all the resources and courses I have published since, because I want as many people as possible to learn from the mistakes I made and the experiences I recount, and find a better way to manage blended, hybrid and virtual organisations. One downside is however that I have not much data about how many people engage with the work I do, and with an ever more fragmented social media landscape getting a feel for one’s reach is more challenging still. Which is why I value it so much when folk do share some feedback or send me a message.
All in all, it’s been a fun and rewarding year working towards putting the book into practice and making the ideas in it available to a larger audience.
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