Remote Works
Discussion Guide
RW JOURNEYS
Welcome to RW Journeys! This guide contains everything you need to experience the principles of Remote Works as a group. RW Journeys can meet anywhere—from your local coworking spot, an office space, or that cozy coffee shop you love, or in a videoconference.
While anyone can form an RW Journeys group, we highly recommend it for learning and development, HR, and people ops teams as an alternative to formal management training for your company. Within self-directed groups, employees can learn how to make remote actually work within your organization.
The Approach
RW Journeys are an invitation to find a remote working community and solve remote work challenges together. There is no one way to do remote work. It’s all about experimentation and finding what works for you and your team.
The Groups
We recommend between four and six members in a Journey group with a designated facilitator. You may want to group people based on their managerial role (e.g., people manager, project manager) or functional expertise (e.g., accounting, sales, engineering) to enhance the group dynamics. Don’t forget to include those aspiring to manage as well!
The Cadence
Here are some ways to divide the chapters depending on the length of your desired journey:
• The Sprint: Two months (meet weekly—one chapter per week)
• Short-Haul Journey: Four months (meet biweekly—two chapters per month)
• Long-Haul Journey: Eight months (meet monthly—one chapter per month)
The Ground Rules
• Sharing works only when people feel psychologically safe within the group. Therefore, all RW Journey groups should commit to the three Cs:
• Confidentiality: I will keep whatever is shared in the Journey group confidential.
• Communication: I will listen deeply and communicate openly and honestly.
• Commitment: I will come to the monthly meetings fully present and prepared. I will contact the facilitator ahead of time if I cannot attend.
Deep Listening and Lived Practice
RW Journey groups practice deep listening, inspired by Quaker sitting circles. Each member listens quietly as they share their reflections on the Remote Works chapter. The facilitator will then open the floor for members to reflect on each other’s insights. The facilitator ensures that everyone feels included and prevents crosstalk.
RW Journey groups are more than a book club. Using the prompts and reflections shared within the group, members should pick one activity they can test to put what they are learning into practice.
The Meeting Flow
Before the Meeting
• Members will read the assigned chapters.
• Members will pick one reflection question or excerpt from the chapter that stood out to them and contemplate how it applies to their work life.
• Members will brainstorm one experiment they can try based on the reading.
At the Meeting
Meetings usually last an hour, though you can lengthen as needed, and follow this format:
• Opening (5 minutes): The facilitator starts the meeting with a reminder of the themes covered in the Remote Works chapters for the month, leaning on the TL;DRs at the beginning of each chapter.
• Personal Pulse Check (5 minutes): The facilitator leads the members in a brief check-in to see how members are feeling. The members can then use the same format with their teams at work. Here are two potential formats:
○ Traffic Lights: Use the colors green (good), yellow (meh), and red (mayday!) to describe how you’re doing today.
○ Rose, Thorn, Bud: Describe a positive thing that happened (a rose), a negative thing that happened (a thorn), and something you’re looking forward to (a bud).
• Lived Practice (10 minutes): Members share how last month’s lived practice went and discuss any open questions before continuing the journey to the next chapter.
• Reflecting (15 minutes): The facilitator asks members to share a reflection question or chapter concept that challenges them and how they might integrate the learnings into their daily lives. Each member has about three minutes to share, while the rest of the Journey group listens. Once the member has finished speaking, they can call on the next person to share.
• Responding (10 minutes): After everyone has had a chance to share, the facilitator opens up the floor for members to comment on others’ reflections and listen to lessons learned. This is an opportunity for members to gain insights from each other.
• Commitments (10 minutes): Members choose a concrete action they can practice with before the next meeting.
• Closing Words (5 minutes): The facilitator shares the concrete actions at the end of the meeting and through a follow-up email for accountability. They close the meeting with a reminder of the chapter for next month.
RW STUDENT CASE STUDY
Take a moment and imagine your top-choice employer after graduation. Maybe it’s a nonprofit with a mission statement that gives you goosebumps. Or a CPG (consumer product goods) company that makes the world’s best veggie burger.
Whatever it is, guess what—not only did you land an internship at The World’s Best Company (TWBC), but they’ve asked you to come back next summer—except this time, they want you to design the internship program.
The Ask
TWBC has embraced a “remote state of mind” and has recruited 100 undergrads for their upcoming eight-week remote internship program. Interns will be evaluated on their performance at the end of the internship and offered full-time employment if successful.
TWBC management has laid out a few goals for the remote internship program:
• The Work: Interns need to take on real work whenever possible to understand what a full-time job would entail.
• The Culture: Interns should get a feel for TWBC’s internal culture, mission, and goals.
• The People: Interns should participate in networking and social events, not only with each other but with senior employees.
The Deliverable
Luckily, you’ve read Remote Works and are up for the design challenge. There are four deliverables that you’ve been asked to design.
1. Intern User Guides: Everyone at TWBC is excited to meet the new interns, and all the interns, of course, are eager to meet each other. Using the RW User Guide template from chapter 3, develop a User Guide questionnaire to send to upcoming interns to learn more about them and their working styles. TWBC will then collate this information and share it with the rest of the organization.
2. Collaboration Kickoff: You know what it’s like to be an intern—all the excitement and the fears. Now, it’s time for you to put your firsthand experience into practice. Using the RW Collaboration Kickoff template from chapter 3, develop a conversation guide for managers to onboard interns. Feel free to adjust the prompts to make them relevant to college students.
3. Intern Digital House: It can be overwhelming to join a new company, especially as an intern. Therefore, you’ve been asked to create an online portal that will orient interns to the company’s inner workings. Create a brief that outlines what should be on the landing page of the online portal for interns. Refer to chapter 5 to see what types of tools and information that interns may need during their internship.
4. One Social Event: Although remote, TWBC still meets together in person a few times per year. However, since interns are at TWBC for only eight weeks, they will not get a chance to meet in person. You’ve been tasked to plan one event, either asynchronously or synchronously, that’s purely social for interns. Put together a plan and schedule for the event, and describe why you believe it will create a bonding moment across the intern class. Refer to chapters 4 and 8 for thought starters. Remember, you can break the internship class into small groups, send physical items in the mail, or incorporate online games or activities.
Things to Note
• You get to decide which company will be the TWBC. Use this as a chance to research companies you’re interested in, and use public information to customize the deliverables.
• Remember, you and your peers are the target audience. Tailor the deliverable to what college interns want to know and learn from an internship experience. Feel free to integrate technology and tools that interns might be more familiar with (e.g., YouTube videos, TikTok).
• Be creative and think outside the box! Feel free to experiment with tools like MURAL, Canva, or even WordPress, to mock up deliverables rather than just writing about them.
• Have fun! Remote work is new territory. How can you help interns embrace the remote state of mind? Refer to chapter 1 for inspiration.