My first thought after finishing Wayne Turmel’s Remote Working: Turning “Them” Into “Us” was I should’ve written that. Wayne tackled the tough issue of building relationships on remote teams with a deep understanding of the problem and straightforward advice. There’s a lot more I could tell you about Wayne, but I’ll let him take the mic as he answers today’s 10 Telecommuting Questions.
1. Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do.
I’m a former standup comic turned corporate drone. After 13 years in the training business I’m now the president of www.greatwebmeetings.com and work from home in Glen Ellyn, IL. We help people learn to sell, present, train and manage using any web presentation platform. I’m also the Virtual Working contributor for BNET and Management-Issues.com.
2. How long have you been a telecommuter?
I started about 4 years ago working more and more from home to avoid office politics, craziness, and recover from all the airplane travel. They took me out back and shot me 2 years ago. I started Greatwebmeetings and I’ve worked from home since then with occasional forays into the big wide world for sales calls.
3. Why did you start?
Most of the people who worked for me were scattered around the world, my clients were all over the country, and my boss was on the East Coast; so it’s not like I was working face-to-face with my team anyway. That’s not unusual, 70% of managers now have remote employees although very few companies have figured out the implications of that. The company was also going through a lot of turmoil and the environment wasn’t conducive to positive energy or creativity so a couple of days a week I’d work from home. Now, of course, I work for myself and who needs to pay for office space?
4. How many people do you regularly work with?
I’m a small company with only a couple of people I partner with on projects, but my clients are scattered around the world so there are probably 5-6 projects going on at any time.
5. When was the last time you saw your coworkers face-to-face?
I have one client close to home so I venture out to work with them. Actually, I make any excuse to see people. I’m a big old “E” (Extrovert) on the Myers Briggs and I don’t deal well in captivity. Getting out to see people is important to my mental health even if it’s not the people I work with regularly.
6. What is your desert island must-have telecommuting tool?
Skype. My oldest client is in the UK and 6 o’clock in the morning I’m video to video with them at least once a week. It’s also got IM, file transfer, and I can make really cheap phone calls to anywhere in the world. I may be in Glen Ellyn but my clients are spread out from France to Australia to Washington DC.
7. How many different ways did you communicate with your team today?
Hmmmm Skype, telephone, email, and I hope one of them isn’t psychic because I cussed someone out telepathically for something. I hope they didn’t hear that.
8. What is the one thing that really makes your home office officy?
I have a laptop and a desktop with a big monitor, but the thing that really makes it “officey” is a door. I can work without having to listen to my wife watch “The View”. A blessing if there ever was one. Joy Behar fighting with Elizabeth is not conducive to clear thinking.
9. Do you ever miss cubicle livin’?
Actually, a little. I miss the daily interaction with people and the ritual of going to work… get up, eat, shower put on your big boy clothes and leave the house. I am really good about settling into a routine though and treating this like work. I don’t miss the commute, venturing out in the Chicago winter, or the 7 times a day I had to stick my head up over the cubicle like a meerkat to see what all the racket was. Also I’ve dropped 40 pounds this year because all that commute time now lets me get to the gym.
10. What are the best pajamas for long conference calls?
That’s easy. If I’m not using the webcam, it’s my Toshiro Mifune T-shirt and sweat pants. If the video’s on, it’s a button down shirt and boxer shorts. Well, sometimes jeans because boxers and leather office chairs are an uncomfortable situation.
Wayne Turmel is the a speaker, writer and president of Greatwebmeetings.com and the author of 6 Weeks to a Great Webinar- the best selling web presentation book on Amazon. He lives in the Chicago area. You can find him at www.greatwebmeetings.com and listen to his podcast, The Cranky Middle Manager Show. You can also follow him on Twitter @greatwebmeeting.
- Check out Wayne’s company: Greatwebmeetings.com
- Follow @greatwebmeeting on Twitter
- Listen to the The Cranky Middle Manager Show
Thanks for stopping by Wayne!