You signed up for the Virtual Working Summit? If so, you’ve had access to over six hours of great content about Virtual Working from leading experts. Fabulous!
But…
Some people have been too busy to listen through all nine presentations. Others have different questions to ask or challenges to deal with that can’t wait until next year’s summit. They need to boost the success of their virtual work NOW. Others appreciate the quality of the advice on offer, but need input that’s precisely tailored to their own situation, to boost their success now.
Does that resonate with you? If so, read on…
We know that Virtual Working is tough, from the frustration of not being able to look your colleagues in the eye, to the isolation of working on your own, miles from the rest of the team. Virtual work seems to swallow up time. Sometimes it seems as if the work you do is invisible and goes un-noticed, despite the fact that it is harder than face to face.
People face so many challenges with Virtual Working. Which of these apply to you?
Trying to make decisions with remote groups quickly and finding it almost impossible due to mixed agendas, procrastination, seemingly endless discussions and repeated ‘ground-hog day’ meetings.
Getting others to recognise the benefits of virtual working, which often meets resistance from “traditional” managers.
The difficulty of getting people to use virtual tools. The more you remind people to use them, the less likely they seem to want to try!
Dealing with conflicts when you can’t see people face to face: including battling for resources; dealing with competing priorities in your organisation; simple misunderstandings that quickly grow out of control and more.
The frustration of having so much work to do, but your remote team keep quiet when you ask for volunteers…
Keeping people’s commitment and energy levels high when they are remote and you can’t see them. Are they falling asleep on the conference-call?
Dealing with multiple time zones and time differences, and how this creates stress and overwhelm as well as late night/early morning working.
Needing to influence others who you have never met, knowing that the stakes are high and it could all go horribly wrong.
Even when you have the right tools, why do people still do other things (like e-mail or worse) when they should be focused on your meeting? It’s so frustrating when you ask someone what they think only for them to reply: ‘Sorry, can you repeat the question?’ and it’s obvious they haven’t been listening.
Co-ordinating work, progress and updates across a distributed team: spending almost all of the working week in conference calls.
Loss of visibility: “they only see me when I pop up at a conference”
Tools: Which ones to use to communicate collaboratively most effectively across several sites? Which ones will work best for which areas and in which environments? Which ones will the team be happy to use?
To get things done needs trust and commitment across the virtual team and there just isn’t any. You need to build it fast or nothing will get done but how?
Meetings with a few people joining by telephone for hours at a time and most the others forgetting about them, so they might as well have not been there.
Being a participant in conference calls which are led by others. Each one is tortuous, takes far too long and achieves far too little. It’s almost impossible to get a word in edgeways and despite your best intentions, your mind tends to drift away.
The list goes on! 
I realised that there were many busy people who needed support to make their own virtual situation work, and quickly!
Whether you are challenged by:
or any of the other myriad Virtual Working gremlins, there are ways to overcome them.
As you know, and have experienced through the Virtual Working Summit, I work with virtual teams spread across different locations. They have been struggling with getting things done remotely and feel a sense of frustration. When they work with me, they gain practical ways to keep remote teams engaged and to make their virtual meetings much more effective. People often appreciate more than anything else their new confidence to challenge the status quo and to stop wasting valuable hours each week. I’ve worked with these issues since the disaster of 9/11 and know what it’s like to need to lead virtually. My passion is helping people to become more effective at getting things done remotely. While I work with teams in multinationals, I realised that I’d never put on a programme for individuals before. It’s time to put that right.
What do people say about our Virtual Working programmes? Here is a reminder of the feedback from our no-charge Virtual Working Summit this summer:
So, I’ve decided to launch a short, sharp programme, focused on you and your needs for virtual work. This is only available for up to a maximum of twelve individuals, to make sure each of you has enough support from me.
This programme is a short but intensive boost for your virtual working. It will last for two months. (It’s a way for you to preview of my 2011 VIP coaching programme too.) By working together, and taking your context and organisation into account, we’ll focus on your own virtual working challenges. This will give you what you need, without spending hours and hours of your time. We will build on what already works for you and support you as you take steps to build on that success.
What might you notice as a result? 
You’ll notice is that your virtual meetings are shorter and more productive. The trust across your team will develop and along with commitment to get things done. You’ll build more of a sense of connection. All of this leads to progress and more work completed.
What does the ‘Boost Your Virtual Work’ programme consists of:
* 3 laser-focused one-to-one sessions, honing in on your situation and what you can do to improve it.
* 2 group calls to allow us to share successes and ideas across the all the people working on the programme.
* Online access to your own virtual working space, where you can work through tools and questions as much or as little as you prefer.
What would you save by joining in?
How much would your business save to convert just one business trip to an effective virtual alternative? I’m guessing thousands! The work we’ll do together won’t just help you for one trip but, when you apply it, for your whole career.
What’s it worth to you to be able to do work remotely which would otherwise not be possible?
How useful would it be to know where you stand now and how you want to develop your virtual working skills?
Savings though are not just financial. Typically, people find their virtual meetings become much shorter and more effective, saving hours of time as well as reducing frustration.
Your investment for this programme, starting on a date to suit you in the last quarter of 2010, will be £485 (+VAT for those in the European Union), which is around US$750. (Want to pay $750 exactly? Mail us at boost@makingprojectswork.co.uk and we’ll send you an invoice which you can pay in US$ by credit card.)
Additional bonuses:
Not only does this programme include the one to one calls and online coaching and group calls and access to your online space, but we have lined up some great bonuses we know you’ll enjoy:
1. The full transcripts of all the calls in the Virtual Working Summit in searchable PDF format. Read them again whenever it suits
you. Search for a particular topic with instant access.
2. Self Assessment for Virtual Workers. Penny uses this with her corporate clients and now you’ll be able to work out where you stand on the key skills for virtual work, and where you want aim for in the future.
3. Recordings and transcripts of all of the group coaching calls so you can listen again whenever you want to.
4. Penny’s guarantee – try out the tips and tools for 6 months and tell us what you did. If for any reason, it didn’t work for you, we’ll refund your whole fee.
Summing up
How many hours each week do you waste in virtual work or on long business trips that are not the best use of your valuable time? If you’re ready to change that, please join me for this boost programme, starting in early September, to suit you.
Please note that this offer is only available to the first twelve people who sign up. This will ensure that everyone gets one to one attention from me. Once the places are gone, the programme will close to new entrants.
You’ve already shown that you want to develop your virtual working skills. Take that one stage further by joining the ‘Boost Your Virtual Work’ programme.
Reserve Your Place Now:
How can you join in?
Online: Click here to reserve your place.
We’ll contact you with your links, assessment and how to book dates for your one to one sessions.
If you would like us to invoice your company, then please e-mail us at boost@makingprojectswork.co.uk, with the subject ‘Invoice me for the Boost Programme 2010’. Remember to let us know if you’d like to be invoiced in UK£ or US$.
Note: We are offering one additional place with a bursary of 90% of the programme cost to a charity or non-governmental organisation of our choice. If you would like to apply, please send an e-mail at boost@makingprojectswork.co.uk to us letting us know why you’d like to apply and what difference it would make to your work.
With Regards,
Penny
Penny Pullan
Your Virtual Working Summit Host
Tel +44 (0)1509 821691
PS The Boost Your Virtual Work programme offers the chance for you to focus on and improve your virtual work by the end of October, supported by Penny as you do so. You’ll have access to assessments, to the Virtual Working Summit transcriptions, to group coaching calls which will be recorded and you can even try what you’ve learned for six months to see how it works for you, confident in our guarantee.