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June 11, 2020 @ 10:00 am (MST)

Meeting Agenda

This week’s topic:

Help Open Assembly and Harvard Business School shape an upcoming article on the steps a manager inside an organization would take to begin using open talent tools. We will be walking through the article idea and the research structure to ensure we’re all aligned.

Chat room transcript:

00:17:36 Darren Murph: This is Steve right now: https://twitter.com/MartySmithESPN/status/1270799510147645441
00:17:41 Carin-Isabel Knoop: woah that escalated really fast! hello everyone!
00:17:48 Ashley Beaudoin: HAHAHA!
00:17:58 Ashley Beaudoin: Best way to start the call.
00:19:06 Open Assembly: Darren Murph – guitairist?
00:19:18 Dyan Finkhousen: OMG @Darren love the Marty Smith tweet!!
00:19:43 Darren Murph: Yes! That’s a Stingray5 bass and a black Les Paul Standard (left-handed) 🙂
00:28:14 Darren Murph: Love these breakout sessions, the most valuable 6 minutes of my week!
00:28:24 John Healy: wear that blue shirt with pride Steve!
00:29:04 Carin-Isabel Knoop: Balaji — are you guys hiring??!!!
00:29:07 Ashley Beaudoin: Now we’ve deconstructed Steve’s entire wardrobe.
00:29:26 Dyan Finkhousen: C’mon you guys – you scared Steve off!! 😉
00:29:51 andy barnes: Have I dialed into a different call this week?
00:30:05 Jin Paik: Happy people!
00:30:34 Open Assembly: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-stanton-2716972/
00:30:54 Open Assembly: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jin-paik-967ba8196/
00:32:49 Bondili, Balaji: ““Organizations learn freelancers are just as easy to manage and integrate into teams as remote employees.””
00:33:10 Carin-Isabel Knoop: are you limiting yourself to a particular industry or type of manager/leader?
00:33:20 Bondili, Balaji: Quoting from Steve King, Emergent research
00:33:53 Chuck Hamilton: I’ve drafted a piece on working in a remote first world if you are an emerging knowledge worker in the gig economy. My draft ideas open to comments and ideas. https://medium.com/@Chamiltonmobile/do-you- The personal pay wall is a theme I see coming. need-a-personalized-pay-wall-d5bde9143321
00:34:14 John Healy: recent survey data from 600 self identified IC’s…. https://rilastagemedia.blob.core.windows.net/rila-web/rila.web/media/media/pdfs/letters%20to%20hill/hr/cwi-report-final.pdf
00:35:03 Gavin McClafferty: Chris – 2 key points: organisations usually pivot to Open Innovation as a result of crisis. The hardest part is overcoming the culture of organisation and recognising that regardless of the organisations size you are still a small percentage of the 7.8 billion people in the world.
00:35:13 Chris Stanton: I think we’re industry agnostic, but would like to explore some of the differences across industries that may emerge
00:35:56 Janice Stevenor Dale: Another challenge is howto decide on who will perform for you, of those top talent candidates
00:36:00 Paul Estes: I published an article yesterday that I thought this group may enjoy “Companies who do not look beyond their location and organizational boundaries for the best talent are neglecting their fiduciary responsibility to society, customers, and shareholders.”
00:36:03 Paul Estes: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/now-time-companies-address-location-bias-paul-estes/
00:36:40 Darren Murph: Chris, happy to help with this.

I’ve written 40+ guides on remote processes and workflows, published in the GitLab handbook. All are linked from here: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/guide/

There’s a friendly PDF that captures highlights: http://learn.gitlab.com/all-remote/remote-playbook

All are welcome to share these. It’s open source.
00:36:45 Bondili, Balaji: This is critical work, we need more studied proof points of how open talent can help business units/ divisions deliver cost efficiency, quality and agility. We have ton on Crowd competitions with the Topcoder/ HBS collab. We need that for Freelancing/ broader open talent.
00:36:50 Chris Stanton: Thanks for these comments, everyone!
00:36:55 Gavin McClafferty: Chris / Jin – also worth considering that organisations need to truly understand the meaning of value proposition. If they understand that by re-inventing the wheel they are only standing still then the case to collaborate with external talent becomes more solidified.
00:37:26 Janice Stevenor Dale: view Jane Elliott and you’ll understand
00:38:12 Open Assembly: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/13th_(film)
00:38:23 Pranish Kumar: I had an interesting conversation with senior IT folks at several large pharma companies the other day, they didn’t view the independent highly skilled talent they worked with (e.g. independent scientists) as freelancers (they had a fairly negative reaction to the term). They viewed freelancers as lower-skilled talent, which I thought was surprising (but was common across several folks)
00:38:35 Open Assembly: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryanpena/
00:38:49 Janice Stevenor Dale: woman-owned businesses
00:38:58 Bondili, Balaji: @Pranish – You are totally right. Nomenclature is a mess.
00:39:39 Dyan Finkhousen: +1 @Balaji and @Pranesh
00:39:56 Sheila Mahoney: @pranish life sciences is similar- very negative connotation w the word “contractor”. “consultant” or “expert” are acceptable, everything else is less than
00:40:03 Sheila Mahoney: perceived to be that is
00:40:25 Wyatt Nordstrom: survey doesn’t work if you select “No” for Q1
00:40:56 Shilpa Shah: It has to be self-declared – not mandatory
00:41:09 Gavin McClafferty: This could be problematic in certain countries due to GDPR.
00:41:22 Tom O’Malley: It won’t take no for an answer
00:41:35 Paul Estes: Chris / Jin – It is important consider that many hiring managers do not have access freelance programs. There are large compliance organizations that have created barriers to the adoption. (HR, Procurement, and legal) are important personas to include. Also consider how to frame of freelance programs fit into the Total Talent movement. There are many ways for managers to engage talent and helping them understand where freelancers fit into the mix.
00:42:09 Dyan Finkhousen: @Tom neither will we 😉
00:42:46 Wyatt Nordstrom: @pranish – we encounter a similar phenomenon when talking to healthcare companies, but on the expertise (vs. freelancer) side. big hc (esp. big pharma) professionals are programmed to value “Key Opinion Leaders” (KOLs) above all else, as if good ideas couldn’t possibly come from anyone other than a university department head working on clinical trials.
00:43:39 Sheila Mahoney: @wyatt lol very funny observation
00:44:00 Chuck Hamilton: Found a company that is working to standardize a taxonomy of skills for organizations and uses an AI to determine alignment. They bridge the effort to determine what the overall skills are available in an organization and then plot the roles/competencies needed to grow and add value. Maybe a way to adopt a standard see Ibbaka Talent at https://teamfit.co/
00:44:06 Laura McLeod: We don’t capture this info on the 99d platform, but we did look at this in our 2019 designer survey (and associated report) – https://99designs.com/design-without-borders
00:44:36 Laura McLeod: We are about to start our 2020 report & collecting the questions we want to ask – feel free to reach out if you have any suggestions/thoughts
00:46:04 Darren Murph: Sadly have to drop for a call; please share more on this workshop. Would love to collaborate more with this group. Have a great week, all!
00:47:27 Sheila Mahoney: @catherine very exciting!!
00:48:01 Sajeev Nair: Great initiative Catherine. Sadly have to drop off now. Will connect offline
00:48:57 Chuck Hamilton: Catherine, happy to play.
00:51:26 Dyan Finkhousen: Great perspective @Kirstin..
00:52:16 Bondili, Balaji: @Dean, tell us about your new role.
00:52:30 Open Assembly: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirstin-hammerberg-37b5085/
00:52:35 Sheila Mahoney: please let it not involve eyebrow shaving!
00:52:45 Open Assembly: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bosche/
00:53:46 Paul Estes: Welcome to the world of being a freelancer Dean!
00:54:09 Dyan Finkhousen: @Dean for president!
00:54:23 Janice Stevenor Dale: there is a cultural divide relative to remote workers already forming, based on the conservative views of ownership….big divide…big design thinking opportunities
00:55:48 Open Assembly: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pranishkumar/
00:56:04 Dyan Finkhousen: @Janice – what do you think some of those points of division are? Forces / factors that we need to keep on the radar?
00:56:37 Janice Stevenor Dale: Economics, socio-politics, religious beliefs
00:56:39 Mark Hannant: Pig not chicken?
00:56:58 Bondili, Balaji: @Mark, that was a question for me too!
00:56:59 Tom Cooke: @Janice – agree, it will be a challenge to convince Founders/Boards of value of balance between wealth creation versus value creation
00:57:03 John Healy: in your breakfast, the chicken is involved/interested; the pig is committed!
00:57:35 Terry Sydoryk: Unfortunately have to drop, thanks everyone for the conversation this morning.
00:57:43 Open Assembly: https://www.linkedin.com/in/evamissling/
00:59:45 Open Assembly: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dyan-finkhousen/
00:59:50 Eva Missling: In case somebody is willing to be our test candidate for 99designs Studio and provide us with a testimonial we can use on our press release – please reach out
01:01:53 Wyatt Nordstrom: need to hop, good session today
01:02:38 Wyatt Nordstrom: the concept of standards (a form of which could be accreditation) is very compelling. I see three categories: ethical, legal, and best practices
01:04:16 Carin-Isabel Knoop: to add to Janice’s comments: wonder if we can bring three themes together: 1) how is management/corp needs changing in crisis; 3) how is nomenclature shaping reality; and 2) how do we improve access to Open Talent? What have you all heard about how the demand side is evolving?
01:04:35 Open Assembly: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janicestevenordale/
01:04:54 Open Assembly: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuck-hamilton-951483/
01:05:31 Open Assembly: Great idea Chuck!
01:06:52 Chuck Hamilton: https://pickmybrain.world/
01:07:27 Janice Stevenor Dale: we need a case study to prove the value of remote talent
01:08:42 Janice Stevenor Dale: re: location bias….Doesn’t it boil down to labor laws? How are those changing to accept remote workers?
01:08:43 Dyan Finkhousen: @Paul – you’re doing amazing work framing the key issues and driving a consistent message out… Great work!
01:09:04 Open Assembly: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markhannantteammagenta/
01:09:06 Bryan Peña: @paul is da man!
01:09:15 Darren Murph: @Janice — I spent the past 8 or so months working with both Harvard Business School and INSEAD creating that.

The HBS one just went live in two parts.
GitLab and the Future of All-Remote Work (A): https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=57917
GitLab and the Future of All-Remote Work (B): https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=57927

The INSEAD case study is in legal review and will be taught/shared soon.
01:09:24 Dyan Finkhousen: @Bryan most def!
01:09:56 Janice Stevenor Dale: build on those who will go forward
01:10:52 John Healy: lets set a date and get going!
01:11:24 Pranish Kumar: @janice – regarding labor laws, what I think is interesting is that companies can be reticent to remote work even when they have the appropriate labor/compliance laws. For example, they may have sales offices or other subsidiaries, but not R&D, marketing etc…
01:11:38 Janice Stevenor Dale: asymmetrical work can work…those who have experienced it can manage it
01:11:46 Open Assembly: https://www.linkedin.com/in/topcodermike/
01:12:13 John Healy: Google is 53% non Employee….
01:12:27 Dyan Finkhousen: @John that’s just a fascinating stat
01:13:26 Tom Cooke: @Paul – https://instantteams.com/ business model is about ever changing geographic locations for military spouses to show the value of countering location bias
01:14:13 Open Assembly: https://www.linkedin.com/in/balaji-bondili-6b55304/
01:14:19 Darren Murph: So much great inspiration on remote. For all on this call, consider submitting a talk on the Remote Work tracking within the upcoming GitLab Commit: https://about.gitlab.com/events/commit/

And please share this with your network for folks who are searching for a platform.
01:14:39 Darren Murph: track*
01:14:48 Janice Stevenor Dale: @balaji…let’s think global world health as a goal, as a market driver
01:15:04 Dean Bosche: https://www.npr.org/2019/07/22/744195502/you-2-0-the-empathy-gym
01:15:41 Catherine McGowin: Location is a significant component of GitHub’s D&I policy with 60+% working remote – see their report: https://github.com/about/diversity/report
01:15:51 Open Assembly: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anatella/
01:16:01 Dyan Finkhousen: Thanks @OA and @Everyone!
01:16:18 Tom Cooke: Similar to the Rooney rule in the NFL, can use what works and doesn’t work there in that effort
01:16:30 Jeff Tennery: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jefftennery/
01:17:08 Mark Hannant: Thanks all for a great discussion. See you next week.
01:17:29 Wade: mental health wayfinder (ckhealth@shaw.ca)

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