Steve Prentice

Prior to the pandemic, Steve was already advising companies about the future-of-work and the possibilities of a mobile workforce, and now we face the realities of some significant influences such as the work-from-home/hybrid workforce, the true functionality of virtual collaboration technologies, and the social impacts of events such as the Great Resignation, along with employees' awareness of career mobility and work-life alignment. This is indeed a new era, and employers need to be fully aware of the benefits and threats that a distributed workforce and a fast-changing economy are delivering. This session will be of great importance to anyone involved in managing employees. The content is based on research done as part of Steve's advisory role to clients such as Cisco, as well as for his new book, The Future of Workplace Fear: How Human Reflex Stands in the Way of Digital Transformation, published by Apress, 2022, and for books ghost-written for other experts.

Building a remote/hybrid team requires new skills. Time and task management, calendar management, communication skills via video we all learned these things the hard way during lockdown, but there are better, more productive ways of working as a team by using remote technologies as a new medium, rather than trying to lift and shift the old ways on top of it. Remote teams will become a key part of any organization's day-to-day existence from this point forward and may also serve to widen the hiring radius beyond a local commuting belt. Learning how to use remote technology as a manager or as a team member will be a vital skill for the new normal, not only in terms of productivity, but also in areas such as trust and team building. Steve has worked as an advisor to Cisco Webex and a number of other organizations in the area of remote teams productivity. He is also the author of three professionally published books including one on time management/productivity and one of digital transformation.

Based on his book of the same name, Steve describes how basic human fears, such as losing one's job or looking incompetent in front of peers can be a much bigger threat to corporate security and progress as we like to think. This presentation outlines some of the most significant causes and results of workplace fear, and offers realistic and topics solutions. Great for managers and teams.