What’s the fastest way to get collaborators to invest themselves, or their time, in a new project? Whether they’re colleagues within your organization, outsourced or remote talent, customers and clients, or subject experts you’re connecting with, the answer is the same: ownership. Read More »
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Georgina Laidlaw
Bio:Georgina has more than ten years’ experience writing and editing for web, print and voice. With a background in marketing and a passion for words, the time Georgina spent with companies like Sausage Software and sitepoint.com cemented her lasting interest in the media, persuasion, and communications culture. She lives in country Victoria, Australia.
My Focus
productivity, work process, motivation, remote work lifestyle
Recent Posts
Many have discussed email etiquette, but for the average web worker, the notion of politesse can seem counterproductive. Here, then, are five golden rules for respectful, productive digital communication, whether you’re using email, IM, video chat, phone, or other communications tools. Read More »
Many digital freelancers earning U.S. dollars are now receiving substantially less for the same work, as their own nations’ currencies gain strength against the U.S. dollar. The rates that U.S. companies offer to remote workers may no longer compete with their local firms. Read More »
Are “untemplaters” — contract web workers unfettering themselves from the conventional freelance model — a good skill resource for businesses? To many employers this breed of digital professional might seem flighty and unreliable. Where’s the accountability? Can a project as important as yours rest on their… Read More »
It’s one thing to work in a team with one or two off-site members. But what about entirely dispersed teams, where none of the members are located in the same office? Team leaders need to consider the interplay of three crucial factors: frequency, transparency, and variability. Read More »
It makes sense to focus on project briefs and core competencies — after all, these are what gets the job done. But what gets the job done well? Often, it’s team members’ non-core skills and experience that make the collaboration a real success. Read More »
In the desire to be perceived as thought leaders, many businesses are focusing on a curatorial approach to their social media presences. But if you work in a creative team, an approach to social media that leverages your creativity can deliver benefits far beyond brand-customer engagement. Read More »
More Must Reads
Crowdsourcing startup 99designs recently received $35 million in venture capital and is currently advertising six positions in its Melbourne and San Francisco offices. The business has a strong culture and a flat structure. How does the company plan to manage expansion without compromising collaboration or culture? Read More »
Are you a poor listener? In the context of distributed teams, “listening” needn’t be restricted to an auditory process — it includes your ability to take in information through all communications channels. Here are some tactics to help develop better listening skills. Read More »
For innovative teams — those in startups as well as those innovating within established organizations — traditional professional development, or PD, has become an anachronism. Rather than being an after-hours, formal, institutionalized proposition, successful professional development in innovative teams is holistic and always-on. Read More »
“If you’re bolding the bullet points in your email” said a friend of mine recently, “your email’s too long.” Few web workers would disagree. But that comment made me wonder whether the tools we’re using to communicate are becoming more important than the communications we’re having. Read More »
Gone are the days when creative work was always done by teams operating from the same location. Yet there’s a a great deal of creative collaboration that still relies on our being able to “workshop” concepts together. What does remote work mean for creative collaboration? Read More »
The reality is that truly productive teams tend to be close-knit. There’s a strong sense of rapport between the team members. Let’s face it, in a productive team, it’s the teamwork — willingness to problem-solve together — that often ensures the productivity. And teamwork depends on… Read More »
Using a team isn’t just a way to get things done faster, it’s also a way to do things better. Gone are the days when innovation was handled by management. Smart businesses know that idea generation happens on the ground. But that innovation takes time. Read More »
Social media needn’t be an end in itself. It’s one thing to “engage” and “lead thinking”in your social network. But social media really starts having a direct benefit when you can tap into the information it’s providing you and feed it back into your team. Read More »
Working with teams whose members are spread across offices (or even continents) can make it extremely difficult to gauge and manage project momentum. Momentum isn’t motivation — it’s a separate factor. In fact, it’s often momentum that comes into play when team motivation might be flagging. Read More »
An important but often unacknowledged issue surrounding collaborative business is that while companies will focus on choosing tools, prescribing acceptable network policies and measuring ROI, the easiest way to get staff to collaborate is to make it fun. But what makes collaboration fun? Read More »
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