Working Virtually

By Joanne Banyer

This book is intended for use as an organisation and professional capability development tool for managers and staff that operate in virtual work environments; as a guide for senior leaders looking to transition their organisation to a virtual way of working; and those participating in interagency collaborative initiatives.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Publicious Book Publishing
• Release date: May 7, 2020
• ISBN: 9780646818344

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

Virtual work environments – the shift from bricks and mortar to cyber space

These days, many organisations find themselves in a position of having to conduct operational activities in a virtual environment. This is particularly true for nationally or internationally distributed organisations, and when undertaking collaborative activities across organisations. The shift to virtual work environments is effecting all sectors. A raft of Australian government strategic programs -including Inter-Governmental Agreements; ‘Whole of Government Approach’ initiatives; areas identified for National Reform; Strategic Roadmaps; National Strategic Frameworks; National and International Partnerships; Strategic Alliances; and the private sector ‘Industry Innovation Precinct’ initiative, announced in 2013 as a part of the federal budget; are key examples. All of these require the use of virtual work environments to support cross-sectoral and cross-disciplinary engagement on a large scale.

We are living in an era where most information is now available digitally, and there is ever expanding use of the internet. Coincidently, people’s expectations are that information will be available in real time, and virtual collaboration technologies will enable instant access to skills and knowledge from distributed locations.

In times past, organisations undertaking collaborative initiatives with other organisations, would seek to collocate staff. Today, virtual collaboration technology and digitised information, enables electronic face-to-face collaboration between organisations, as if staff were in a single location.

The concept of a workplace is changing. The days of associating a workplace with bricks and mortar in a specific location are rapidly being left behind. The need to work across geographically distributed locations within and between organisations is rapidly increasing, as is the understanding of the efficiencies this can provide.

This shift to virtual work environments is being largely triggered by four factors -

1.Emergence of a digital era - where information communication technology (ICT) enables real-time access to information, expertise and resources from any location.

2.A generation change - where the majority of the current workforce that grew up with bikes and street cricket, will soon be replaced by a generation that grew up with computer games, Skype and Face Book.

3.The financial environment – as demonstrated by global economic shocks and severe financial constraints for extended periods - forcing public and private sectors to seek more efficient ways of doing business, and to develop a more collaborative business model.

4.The effects of globalisation – that has dramatically increased the number and type of international dependencies, and which has made for a more fluid, and less certain political, economic, and business environment.

This period of change creates numerous challenges in the workplace. Despite the increasing shift towards virtual operations, many organisations are not prepared for the unique challenges that occur with this type of working environment. Nor, are staff and managers trained to operate effectively in these environments.

A change in mindset is required in organisations that are transitioning to use of virtual work environments. From focusing on what’s possible in a specific organisation and location, to what’s possible when the boundaries can be extended to a level that is only limited by permission to access information and engage with people on a global scale. Evidence of the need to change this mindset can be found in the national strategic programs mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, where many identify the need to overcome historic siloed ways of working, to become more collaborative, resourceful, and develop innovative work practices.

The whole area of ICT infrastructure is a significant challenge, where the traditional approach has been for organisations to invest in their own ‘enterprise’ solutions, including that required for interagency collaboration. This approach spawns a situation where there can be significant duplication of expenditure on ICT by organisations. Having been responsible for implementing a national ICT infrastructure initiative that offered cloud based virtual work environments, I observed that a high percentage of requirements were common across organisations seeking to invest in this type of infrastructure. This is an area with enormous potential for efficiency gains and cost savings if a collaborative approach is taken in having common ICT needs met.

ICT and digitisation of information has evolved at a rapid rate. So much so that policy development in the use of virtual work environments is having to catch up. We are now in the situation where policy and workplace culture is trailing behind technical capability. Recent developments in ICT allow for far more efficient and cost-effective ways of working through use of shared ‘cloud’ ICT services, rather than continued investment in ‘enterprise’ ICT systems. The ball and chain however, is the policy to use such services. In Australia, the policy framework for the use of cloud-based services is still in its infancy. Some countries, however, are progressing in this space. The New Zealand Government is one such example, which in November 2013, announced a shift to shared cloud-based services to support an ‘all-of-government information management service’ (NZ Internal Affairs, Media Release, 22nd Nov, 2013). Interestingly, in the 2014 Australian National Commission of Audit, one of the recommendations suggested an approach similar to that being implemented by the New Zealand Government –

Recommendation 63: Cloud computing

Cloud computing is a way of leasing computing services over a network. It can reduce costs by sharing them across users. The Commission recommends that the Government increase its adoption of cloud computing by:

a.introducing a mandatory ‘cloud first’ policy for all low risk, generic information and communication technology services; and

a.establishing a whole-of-government cloud computing provider panel.

You’ll be interested to know that Chapters 2 and 3 of this book on Financial and Productivity Benefits of Working Virtually, were drawn upon as supportive information by those conducting the audit process.

A key challenge in use of cloud based virtual work environments, particularly those that utilise the internet and are accessed by multiple organisations, is security. In addition to the rapid evolution of virtual work environment technology, use of the internet, and digitisation of information; so too has the level of cyber threat. That is, the ability of individuals to gain information and cause disruption to ICT systems through cyber intrusion. To counter this challenge, the Australian Government in 2013 announced the establishment of the ‘Australian Cyber Security Centre’, formerly known as CSOC. Much is yet to be achieved, however, in raising awareness and education of businesses and governments to the risks associated with cyber security, and what steps can be taken to reduce this risk. This is a highly important area which managers of virtual work environments need to be aware of, to develop effective practices to protect engagement between staff and stakeholders, and access to information. Unfortunately, there is still a widespread belief that password protection means security, and organisations think their information will not be targeted. Sadly, this is not the case on both counts. Security extends from verifying the identity of the person using a computer device; to network security; ICT security; and physical security protection of computer infrastructure; as well as the servers hosting the systems and information being accessed. Essentially, consideration of ‘end-to-end’ security is required. Risk assessment of the information and nature of online engagement between individuals, dictates how stringent the security measures need to be. Cyber security is important to any business, government department, or research and technology organisation. There are plenty of examples, reported in the media and other authoritative sources, of intellectual property being stolen through hacking, and of ICT systems being disrupted.

The adoption of virtual work environments, by a majority workforce that grew up in the absence of Skype, Face Book and Twitter, is also a major challenge for organisations wanting to tap into the efficiencies and business opportunities that come from working virtually. Heads of organisations are also having to prepare for, and manage the expectations, of the younger technology savvy generation of staff, where use of virtual collaboration technology to communicate and access information is the norm. The generation gap between the older ‘paper-based’ staff and younger ‘digital-based’ staff is here and now; within the public and private sectors. When I asked my 18 year old son, what he thought the workplace would be like in the future given the rise in virtual technology, he didn’t hesitate in saying – ‘the workplace won’t exist’.

Leadership and management of geographically distributed staff in virtual work environments also comes with a raft of new challenges. So much so, that demonstrated experience in being able to effectively manage staff in a virtual work environment, is increasingly sought after in the employment market. This area of capability and skill is likely to become the new ‘fad’ in leadership capability; following a similar path in growing popularity as we’ve seen over the past ten or so years with ‘Emotional Intelligence’ and ‘Organisation Change Management’. This book has served as a basis for a new professional development program called ‘Working Virtually’, which is available from Banyer and Associates Pty Ltd.

The emergence of the digital era, together with globalisation and economic constraint, has also opened the door to opportunities that come from, and the need for, interagency collaboration. Close working relationships between organisations at the operational level on a daily basis, comes with a range of additional challenges to those outlined above. The need to create harmony, trust, and common ground, between organisations with different cultures and strategic objectives is a key challenge. As is the need to have a strong operational framework and enabling ICT infrastructure.

Overall the current and the future operating environment pose new challenges for leaders. This will be an era where we see Organisation Change Management and Emotional Intelligence become the norm. It will be an era where organisations strive for increased integrity, and a time of generation shift at the management level, where use of virtual work environments for engagement and information access becomes the norm.

At this point in time, leaders and managers must manage up, to heads of organisations, most of which are further divorced from the notion of virtual work environments than their middle management. They must also manage down. Be able to relate to the different expectations of the ‘digital generation’; tap into and use their experience and understanding; and pave the way for their successors who will see the virtual work environment fully integrated into the workplace.

CHAPTER 2

Financial benefits that come from working virtually

Use of virtual work environments integrated as a part of daily business, is one area that you can definitely say leads to financial savings; time efficiencies; enhanced productivity; stronger interagency relationships; creativity and innovation. In this day and age, the value of virtual work environments is something that every organisation and interagency collaborative initiative should explore.

Some organisations already realise the benefits that come from working virtually, and have been working this way for quite some time. From my experience, however, this is the exception and not yet the norm. For the past five years I’ve had the unique experience of leading establishment of a federally funded national infrastructure initiative, which resulted in Australia’s first security accredited cloud provider of virtual work environments. The initiative aimed to support information access and collaboration across Australia’s biosecurity sector - a diverse stakeholder set comprised of more than 150 government, research, and industry organisations, from Primary Industry, Environment, Human Health and National Security. Stakeholders from the private and public sector, as well as members of the governance arrangement for this initiative, commented that it was a capability well ahead of its time. Essentially we turned a vision of how a community wanted to work together, into a reality, before the community was ready for it. We failed to generate enough support in the time we had to sustain the capability. The next closest thing to this initiative is what is currently occurring in New Zealand, where the government have invested in an outsourced cloud services initiative to rationalise and streamline access to information, and to support collaboration across government. The initiative we delivered in Australia was indeed ahead of its time. Nothing even now compares with the security approach taken; the range and sophistication of virtual work environment tools made available; nor the governance and service model developed to support adoption in use. It’s important the learnings from this experience, which are many, are shared with those that will continue to drive forward use of virtual work environments into the future.

A major stumbling block for organisations exploring the value of adopting a virtual way of working, appeared to be a lack of understanding, interest, and support, from middle to senior management. Only once did I encounter a head of organisation that had the vision to see that virtual work environment technology was where his organisation needed to head. He was proactive in adopting use of the technology himself; encouraged his senior leadership team