Remote Work Done Right - with Sacha Connor

CEO of Virtual Work Insider, Sacha Connor discusses the challenges of remote work and how distance bias affects professional teams. 

Marketer turned remote work advocate, Sacha Connor, shares about her journey and insights into leading distributed, hybrid, and remote teams. Sacha shares her experiences from working at advertising agencies to leading teams at Clorox and starting Virtual Work Insider in 2018. They discuss the challenges of remote work, including distance bias, creating team agreements, the importance of flexibility, and the necessity of evolving leadership skills for the modern workplace. The conversation also highlights practical solutions for improving productivity and connection within remote teams.

BIO

Sacha Connor is the CEO of Virtual Work Insider, a consultancy that provides training programs and content on how to lead, communicate, collaborate, and build culture in hybrid, distributed, and remote teams. 

Sacha has 18 years of business leadership experience in marketing, sales, and new product innovation roles, including over 13 years of experience leading hybrid & distributed teams while working fully remotely.  

As one of the first remote marketing directors at The Clorox Company, she led brands worth over $250M and was the first fully remote member of the leadership team for a $1 billion business unit. 

Since the launch of Virtual Work Insider in late 2018, VWI has delivered over 300 skills training workshops, executive team sessions, and speaking engagements about hybrid and remote work to audiences of 10 to 1,000+.  VWI has worked with clients that span a range of industries, including Toyota, Sephora, Vanguard, Under Armour, Allstate, Eventbrite, and Optum Health. 

CHAPTERS

05:38  Sacha’s remote work story

08:18 Sacha’s views on remote vs. in-person work

13:10 How leaders reacted to Sacha’s remote work experiment

15:43 Becoming an omnimodal leader 

17:50 Leading remote teams vs. in-person teams

19:32 The value of remote work management skills

22:24 Leadership skills and managing the abstract nature of people

26:47 The importance of communicating preferences

31:31 The mindset shift required to embed connection in work

34:00 Is it necessary to meet in person?

37:10 Building connections continuously

38:53 Focusing on goals and roles and creating team agreements

42:31 Flexibility in omnimodal environments

LINKS

Narnia Westmount

Ep. 1 - The Secret Super Powers of HIghly Sensitive People - with Clare Kumar

Virtual Work Insider

The Clorox Company

Orbit ERG

Dave Ulrich

Invested Leader Program

Hot Topics Playlist

Happy Space Work Style Profile™

Happy Space T-shirts

IMAGE CREDITS (see images on Youtube video)

Other images and video - Canva

Narnia Image - Clare Kumar

Virtual Work Insider logo - Virtual Work Insider

Orbit logo - Virtual Work Insider - Sacha Connor

The Clorox Company Logo - Wiki

Dave Ulrich - Wiki

T-shirt graphic - Clare Kumar

Learn more about and follow Sacha:

Instagram

Twitter

LinkedIn

Website

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Highly sensitive executive coach and productivity catalyst, Clare Kumar, explores the intersection of productivity and inclusivity exploring how we can invite the richest contribution from all through improvements in design and culture. She works bottom-up - coaching individuals in sidestepping burnout and cultivating sustainable performance, and top-down – working with leaders to design inclusive performance thereby inviting teams to reach their full potential. As a speaker, Clare mic-drops “thought balms” in keynotes and workshops, whether virtual or in-person. She invites connection through her online community committed to designing sustainable and inclusive performance, the Happy Space Pod. Why? Because everyone deserves a Happy Space.

Believing that productivity is personal, the podcast is produced in a variety of formats so you can enjoy it in the medium you prefer:

Listen to the audio right here or on your fave podcast platform.

If you prefer to watch video, check out the episode on YouTube. And look for the Shorts playlist for clips.

If you prefer to read, please see the transcript below.

Ready to learn more, or want to find out more about coaching with Clare or hiring her for your next engaging event? Contact Clare here.

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If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a heartfelt review as this will help other listeners discover the podcast.  Please invite your colleagues, friends, and family to listen as well. Together we can design a more inclusive world where everyone can make their richest contribution.

Want to learn more about Clare and/or her guests?  Follow Clare on Instagram and Twitter. 

And don't forget, everyone (including YOU) deserves a Happy Space. 😊

CREDITS

Audio and Video Editing: Jaclyn Enchin

Production Assistant: Rafael Dona

Song Credit: Cali by Wataboi  / wataboi  

Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0Music promoted by FDL Music  • Cali - Wataboi · [Copyright-free Music]