Tag: Long Distance Team

The Joys (and Pain) of Not Having an Author Brand

What is my author brand? When you think of what you’ve read from me, what do you think of?

Most of you reading this are not writers, so you probably don’t know what I’m about to tell you. In December, I had a book come out. Last week, I had a second. You’d think as an author that would be a very good thing. Everybody who bought the first book would buy the second, right? Guess again.

The problem is that the book that came out in December was the second installment of the Werewolf PI Series: Johnny Lycan and the Vegas Berserker. The book that is still hot off the presses is the third in the Long Distance Workplace Series: The Long-Distance Team, Designing Your Team for Everyone’s Success.

The thing is, readers who enjoy silly thrillers about Lycan gumshoes are not necessarily the same bunch who are reading serious books about making their remote teams work. That

doesn’t even include my short fiction, which has been published all over the world and in every conceivable genre. In fact, if you think about my work, including historical fiction like Count of the Sahara and the Lucca Le Peu stories, the Venn diagram of possible readers looks like this:

What I”m trying to say, is if you read my work, you are in very elite company, and I appreciate you. If you enjoyed The Long-Distance Leader, maybe take a chance on Acre’s Bastard or Count of the Sahara. The same brain, for good or evil, created all of them, and I hope you find, read and enjoy my work.

Plus, you’re in an exclusive club, and that’s kind of cool, right?

The Long-Distance Team Comes Out Feb 28

My day job doesn’t always find its way to this site, but then it’s not every day (it’s actually every 2 years) a new book is born.

In this case, Kevin Eikenberry and I have written The Long-Distance Team: Designing Your Work for Everyone’s Success. It is the third in the Long Distance Worklife series that includes The Long-Distance Leader, and The Long-Distance Teammate.

If you are wondering how to help your team deal with virtual, remote and hybrid work, or want to start creating a great team culture instead of just reacting, this is the book for you.

Here’s what you’ll find in this book:

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part 1: Getting Started: Defining the Overused Terms  

Chapter 1: Defining the Team.

What does it mean to be on a team? What are the types of teams? How does all of this impact a long-distance (remote/hybrid/flexible) team?

Chapter 2: Defining Culture.

Let’s get past the buzzword and talk about what culture really is. We’ll share some specific examples of why this matters so much.

Part 2: The Building Blocks

Chapter 3: Establishing Ownership.

It’s time to recognize who the owners are—it may not be (only) who you think.

Chapter 4: Rethinking How We Work.

It’s possible for long-distance/hybrid work to create better results than we’ve experienced in the past.

Chapter 5: Applying The 3C Model of Team and Culture Design.

Let’s understand and apply the 3C (Communication, Cohesion, and Collaboration) model of long-distance team design.

Part 3:  Designing for Success

Chapter 6: Designing a New Team.

Time spent consciously designing a team is necessary for ultimate success. Here’s a process to help you do that reliably and effectively.

Chapter 7: Redesigning an Existing Team

If your team has been operating at a distance and now you want to adjust, here’s how you can use the design principles to redesign your team.

Part 4: Creating Your Aspirational Culture

Chapter 8: Defining Your Aspirational Culture.

How to use our framework to define and create the cultural description that everyone can get excited about.

Chapter 9: Building The Micro Inside the Macro.

Your team culture needs to fit inside the organizational umbrella. Here’s how to create the alignment.

Chapter 10: Making the Culture Come to Life.

Once the culture is defined, here’s how you start to create it.

Part 5: Applying Core Principles

Chapter 11: Applying the Power of Expectations.

Use mutually clear expectations as a driver for your team design and culture.

Chapter 12: Creating Agreements.

Your team design and culture ultimately will succeed or fail based on what the team agrees to do and how consistently they do it. Here is a process to create team agreements.

Chapter 13: Creating Engagement.

Whether overtly stated in your aspirational culture or not, engagement is required for your team’s success. Let’s talk about what it really is and how to nurture it.

Learn how to buy bulk copies and get free downloads and resources at LongDistanceTeamBook.com.