Learnings about working online

Some of us in the Relating for Results team have been travelling during part of December and January, which you might think complicates things. Since a team working from different locations is indeed one of the tendencies of work in the last few years, this is something we are continually optimising since we support other teams in doing it. We all have previous experience in it, but here are 7 learnings drawn specifically from this team:

1. Being at a place with internet connection does not mean you are going to be able to talk and see each other. Go to that place before you have an actual online meeting and perform a speed test that allows you to inform your team if its going to be only written chatting in a text box, or if you can use audio, or if video is likely to work. You can use speed test or other similar sites for this!
2. Consider the different needs in the team when playing the scheduling game. Some people need some stability and some others love to improvise! What are the members of your team like? Scheduling a regular meeting where everybody needs to attend apart from working sessions where people can join and different streams of work has proven to be useful. Choosing good confirmation and communication systems where everybody registers and has accessibility has also been paramount.
3. Don't try to work through the holidays! Even if you have a committed team, you will likely get pulled by family and friends, so take the time off, it pays in the longer run.
4. Technical problems often seem to come up when there is an important topic to be discussed or an emotionally charged issue. Breath deep, keep your grounding and hold space for your team to go through it! You might have to let it go for now, but the next tip can help that. When speaking an important topic, always checkin that everybody is on board before diving into it.
5. To ensure understanding, it's usually useful also to repeat something someone said with other words for achieving more clarity on these important issues that you want everybody on board with.
6. Write notes real time it helps to keep minutes or notes in real time, so that team members can take turns to take while not speaking. 
7. For a better connection with the other persons, try to put their video image as near from your camera as possible, since it has been proven that looking at people's eyes makes communication more fluid and trustworthy. Do not multitask, that makes online meetings endless an unfocused, making you loose your precious time!

Good luck with your online team work and if you need support, we will be happy to provide it! Check out this video below to have a laugh at the things that happen during online collaboration.

Cynefin Framework

Beautiful video from Chris Corrigan from the Art of Hosting community
explaining the Cynefin framework about working with complexity.

Going vegan...?!

Yes, I am surprised myself but after watching this conference (in Spanish recommended by a friends biomagnetism practitioner), I am going as vegan as I can. And not only that, but trying to eat alkaline foods. I have already found a vegan store in Berlin called Veganz and they say there is a vegan avenue. ;-)

I am discovering how easy it is to eat mostly raw and vegan and it fits my schedules. I also discovered many products like Kale or Beetroot chips air dried, or sesame, fig, nuts bars that are simple pressed together! Products come from the UK, Bulgaria and also the US. Healthy, tasty and with good design!

The Great "I am" Worksheet

Today coach Sonja Bichsel shared this with me when talking about achieving cLArITy in what you offer: The Great "I Am" Worksheet by Alexandra Franzen. Free to distributed, blog and post about it! Here "I am not confused" post is hilarious and right on spot too. ;-)

Citizens for Europe II

Nueva colaboración con Citizens for Europe para facilitar las sesiones interactivas de la conferencia sobre Diversidad en Liderazgo en conjunto con Maytree Foundation de Canadá y otras fundaciones alemanas de prestigio. ;-)

Para quien pregunta dónde dormir en Berlín!

Para quien pregunta siempre por hoteles o hostels baratos o copados, o alojamiento en general, acá van algunod datos!

• Private apartments
• Airbnb Apartments or Rooms for rent (anywhere in Neukölln near the blue line (U8) or light blue (U7) of the metro - “U-Bahn” - would be fine: Schillerpromenade, Leinestrasse, Herrfurthplatz, Boddinstrasse, Hermannplatz, Schönleinstraße)
• Ferienwohnung von privat (sehr preiswert) - a private apartment very good in price!
• Adina Apartments Hotel (good prize for hotel/apartment in the middle of the city)
• The Circus Hotel and Apartments (good prize for the quality!) and hostel: 19€ per night perfect location!!!
• Park Inn de Radisson en Alexanderplatz (good prize and location)
• 25 hours Hotel (recently opened, overlooking the zoo of berlin and on top of the bikini berlin concept mall on the west side of the city)
• Huttenpalast (a funny place where you sleep inside moto-homes or huts inside a building, nearby too)
• Adina Apart Hotel (apartments in the middle of Berlin)
• Easyhotel (sauber, sehr preiswert - vor allem wenn man früh bucht! - und sehr einfach; mit der U8 nur ca 10 min nach Neukölln; so wie Easyjet eben)
• Soho House Berlin (für die, die es stylisch und etwas nobler brauchen …) - fancy place
• Columbia Hotel (wer mit dem Auto anreist, kann hier gut und günstig unter kommen und ist in Laufnähe zum Karneval; mit den Öffentlichen zu uns zu kommen ist allerdings eher kompliziert) - not so fancy
• Hotel Mercure (in Laufnähe zum Cafe Selig und zu uns, aber aus unserer Sicht etwas zu teuer, muy cerca del Café Selig donde hacemos el brunch)
• Motel One (in Kreuzberg, verläßliche Qualität)
• Michel Berger Hotel (Funky one)
• Nhow Berlin (Another funky one dedicated to music)
• Casa Camper (wonderfully located and cute)
• Monbijou Hotel (simple and central)
• Biohotel Essentis (not central but on the river)
• Calma Berlin Mitte (central and simple)
• On a budget (booking.com has great offers!)
• Generator Hostel (Mitte): 19,67€ dorm room mixed
• One 80 Hostels (): 21,67€ dorm room
• Aletto Hostel (Kreuzberg): 39€ double room
• Meininger Hotels (Mitte): 26€ double room
• 2A Hostel (Neukölln): 27€ double room (12€ in a dorm)
• Scube Park (Glamping): 39€ cabin for two
• Airbnb room in Boddinstrasse for 24€
• Eastern comfort hostel (East Side Gallery)

From Berlin with love...

Many people ask about the Berlin Startup and Innovative in general scene. Want to know more? Here is the Startup Map. Read about it on Silicon Allee as well as Venture Village, check out the streaming from Friday at 6 event, know what is going on with Berlin Geekettes (that have gone global), explore the coworking movement in town through Deskmag and hear from the blog of a girl in the startup world. A hundred start-ups to watch from The Hundert magazine, downloadable here.

You can also look for jobs in startups here! And there is even a startup institute with an 8-week program that will boost your career. Startup Bootcamp has started Startup Gallery as a coworking space. Finally, a BBC news with "Could Berlin be the Next Silicon Valley?" If what you are looking for is a meaningful job, check-out The Changer and Jobs4Good!

http://www.material-mafia.com/

IDD-Lat: El índice de desarrollo democrático en América Latina

El video explica la mayoría, pero ayer se presentó la 12ava edición del Índice de Desarrollo Democrático de América Latina en la Fundación Konrad Adenauer en Berlín. Lo realiza cada año desde 2002 la consultora argentina Polilat y su representate Jorge Arias.

La presentación fue sumamente interesante y principalmente explicaba cómo realizaron el estudio, qué metodología e indicadores se utilizan con total transparencia, aunque explicando también con total sinceridad que ninguna medición es perfecta y que simplemente se intenta poner sobre la mesa datos que favorezcan el diálogo y trabajo de poner en cuestión a la democracia, a los temas que nos implican a los ciudadanos. Intentan objetivar la discusión para tratar la democracia real, no conceptual.

Utilizaron 35 indicadores principales en torno a cuatro dimensiones: la democracia de los ciudadanos, la de las insitituciones, el desarrollo social y humano, y finalmente, el desarrollo económico. Consideran sólo 18 países, por las limitaciones de obtener datos medianamente fiables y comparables, así como el aspecto formal de que sea una democracia (Cuba no entra en el ranking por ejemplo por esa razón). Tienen como fuentes: Cepal, BID, BM, índice Gini y el de transparencia internacional para la corrupción, entre otros.

Entre las interesantes preguntas, hubo una referida a la sostenibilidad, ya que no aparece en todo el informe. Jorge Arias explicó que no aparece porque lamentablemente todavía no es una prioridad en la región, frente a temas como mortalidad infantil u otros importantes.

Personalmente le pregunté sobre la influencia de los social media, la tecnología, la web en general en la política y me contestó que por el momento hay mucho uso de los mismos para la protesta, pero que todavía no han servido para la cohesión social. Al preguntarle sobre el partido de la red, me dijo que sí, estaba actuando, pero que no tenía gran peso todavía.

Los comienzos del Techo en Argentina

Ayer domingo hicimos un Google Hangout On Air con 6 personas de las que inicialmente co-fundamos el Techo en Argentina, en el marco del programa Un Techo para Mi País que nació en Chile. Lo hicimos porque con el paso del tiempo, la historia de los comienzo del Techo en Argentina se fue difuminando en su web.

Tras 10 años de la primera construcción y luego de 6000 viviendas construidas, algunos de los que formamos parte de sus comienzos en Córdoba en 2002-2003 nos juntamos virtualmente para recordar y compartir historias de esos primeros pasos. Fue una conversación informal y de corazón, donde intentamos construir el rompecabezas con los recuerdos que tenía cada uno y regalarlos a quienes forman parte hoy de la organización.

La mayoría se conectó desde Córdoba, aunque también Melbourne en Australia y yo desde Berlín en Alemania! La verdad es que cada uno siguió con sus proyectos, trabajos, empresas, organizaciones, pero cada uno tiene guardado en su corazón esa primera construcción en Jesús María, los lazos y la acción, entre mil anécdotas y aprendizajes.

Aquí se puede ver el video completo!

What does Impact mean to you?

As we move forward with the evolution of our global network (from a single HUB location in London 2005 to a global network of 7000+ members in 40+ cities!), we are excited to showcase our purpose and bring ‘Impact’ to our name. Over the coming months, as each HUB transitions to Impact Hub, #HelloImpact will help us shine the spotlight on what has been there all along - our commitment to Impact. Read more on the updated global website!

And join us and celebrate this addition by participating in our global #HelloImpact campaign. What does #impact mean to you? For me, IMPACT means enabling connections and collaborations for collective action! It also means hosting people and teams to work on trust, feedback and the principles of how to work together to facilitate authentic working relationships!

How German are you?

There is a book I am going to read "How to be German in 50 steps", not because I want to be German, already enough being Argentinean and Italian, but because of the funny cultural differences that it describes. There is even an online quiz on how German are you...!

On another line of thought but still having to do with germaneness, is the fact that this weekend we went to a wedding and every time I go to a german one I keep being fascinated by all the talent in the room! Its impressive (maybe its the kind of friends my husband has, maybe not) but the couple this time was a singer and a performer and of course many friends in related professions so they had great use of the stage. Here is fragment of "its a nice day for a white wedding" from Billy Idol by the bride, groom and band!

Need help with your CV?

These days in one way or the other many job opportunities come to me and I am connecting people I know to them. Yay! Many people have also mentioned they are looking for a job and I suggested a few sites to look here in Berlin: Startup Jobs Berlin, Linkedin, Experteer and Xing.

However, many need help in the step beforehand: updating their cv to be effective, crispy and one-pager and even making it more visual. For the former, the best it to use Get Interviews, they have a first resume critique for free and then offer several services but I found the first step really useful. For the latter, ResumUp with their visuals is really helpful as well to have your cv in a different and original format, combined with an about.me basic page to link your relevant profiles.

Regalo Werder

Seguimos recibiendo regalos de casamiento y los alemanes son muy diferentes lo cual está buenísimo! Esta vez se trató de pasar un día a un par de horas de Berlín: media horita en auto y una hora y media en barco para ir a la isla de Werder. Una isla pequeñita y simpática, donde se hacen vinos y licores de distintas frutas. 

Migrantas

El colectivo Migrantas trabaja con mujeres en Berlin y otras ciudades para llevar la migración a la calle. Es decir, entre otras actividades y acciones urbanas, realizan talleres con migrantes, generalmente mujeres aunque en el taller al que asistí yo en el Instituto Cervantes también había hombres, a los que invitan a expresar utilizando el lenguaje visual, en criollo, dibujando, lo que significa para ellos la migración. En general, en el pasado, ahora, etc. Lo que permite que uno de alguna manera abra esa caja de Pandora y cristalice el proceso migratorio que ha realizando, el camino que va andando. Florencia (diseñadora gráfica) y Marula (artista) trabajan luego esos dibujos, encontrando patrones hasta destilar su esencia y crear pictogramas que sacan a la calle en distintos formatos.

La experiencia para mí fue muy enriquecedora y el viernes fue la apertura en el Ayuntamiento de Berlín, la Rotes Rathaus, de la muestra de todos los dibujos hechos en los talleres de la ciudad. Fui con una amiga y fue toda una experiencia el que ella justo, sin saberlo, se sintiera identificada con uno de mis dibujos. Después, en la charla de presentación, una de las mujeres también mencionó justo ese dibujo! No me lo esperaba y no había entendido en mi alemán básico todo lo que ella decía, pero me emocionó claro el hecho de que le haya llegado el mensaje! 

La Comida de la Familia

Nos regalaron el libro "La comida de la familia" de Ferrán Adriá y hemos empezado a usarlo. Está bueno porque trae recetas para un mes entero con el planning y demás. Son las recetas que hacían en el restaurant elBulli para su staff, por lo que además las recetas son super variadas y vienen con las cantidades desde para dos personas, hasta 75! Gracias Caro y Lieven. Gran regalo gran. :-D

Hochzeit in Wien

Had a wonderful time this weekend for a friend's wedding. We went on Friday and started with lunch at a cousin's place, then later had dinner at Albertina with Madrid friends and enjoyed drinks that night with the wedding party at Palmenhaus. It was lovely to meet all the IE Business School gang again! The next morning there was a walking tour with a colombian tourist guide organised by bride and groom and finally the big event at the Organgerie of Schloss Schönbrunn. Not a big fan of monarchy but having grown up with Sissi's stories for children, it was pretty incredible to attend the special moment of a couple there! And it was a very cute mix of viennese waltz with bolivian passion and salsa of course. On Sunday we went swimming on the Danube with cousin Harriet! It felt pretty cool to swim across the legendary river.

Women in tech

I have to say I loved the Berlin Geekettes panel yesterday at the Apple Store about women in tech that make positive social impact. I choose not to go to all events happening in Berlin because you can get dizzy with everything that is happening in this city, but would love to go more to this type of community events, missed them actually, as I am in part a woman in tech and I am trying to have a positive impact. ;-)

Jess Erickson (@jessjerickson, Founder of Berlin Geekettes) did a seamless moderation and all the panelists answered from the heart, crisp and straight to the point, no long boring answers. They were: Daniela Schiffer (@changerscom, Cofounder of Changers), Keyun Ruan (@ruankeyun, CRO for XENSIX), Ida Tin (@idatin, Cofounder of HelloClue) and Jeannette Gusko (@jeanneraffut, Senior Campaigner, Change.org).

Got to know that according to Deutscher Startup Monitor there is only a 13% of founders that are women still. I have experienced this in Spain where I co-founded HUB Madrid and having coordinated the Women, Enterprise and Technology (mentoring program at IE Business School at that moment -now no longer there- in partnership with Research in Motion), but wasn´t aware of the situation in Germany yet.

I loved the questions posed to the panelists, which made me think about them myself like who is the source of your inspiration, when did you realise you wanted to be in tech, if you got encouragement or not, the financial issues, etc. I loved the comments about Keyun Ruan about how she loves pink and just cries a lot (being myself one of the latter), and being confident and concrete in here contributions to show what she is worth at her job by action, instead of words. Enjoyed also the remark about having a supportive partner, whether you are a lady or a man, something very important! There were some extraordinary women in the room as well, a pitty I could not stay longer, but for sure there will be more opportunities!

Lunch 'n Learn

Invited by Meritxell Sala Taña from the Ezeep team, went to have lunch with them on Friday to their event called Lunch 'n Learn, a simple, yet nice idea to have one guest and a dialogue during lunch to share experiences and learn from each other. I loved the idea of this being something small where you can really have a dialogue.

They asked loads of really good questions about the HUB, my journey as HUB Madrid co-founder, our journey as a network, the technology platforms that we use, the global governance model and decision-making processes,  knowledge sharing, our social impact, etc.

They also explained how Ezeep works and their founding story as well which started with Sascha Kellert, Fredo Haitz and Marian Zange. We had some spanish tortilla and enjoyed the views from their lovely office by the canal. By the end I experimented with their App and how easy it is to print!!! I got to know about several facts:

• Its a cloud-printing web and app that works with any printer in the market without an enabled password
• The cost is around 75€ per month for about 50 people using the system 
• It can work both, per invitation by email or just by being logged to the local network (with a server or a 24/7 computer via wifi if you don´t have a server)
• You can include a certain amount of pages for free for users monthly, weekly or daily
• Once that is used, anybody can purchase credit from them (you set the price and by the end of the month get the money from Ezeep)

I enjoyed talking to their team manager Lea Böhm, Gabriel Escalona from Marketing and Leon Schabel from Sales and everybody else. Thanks for the invite Ezeep team! The next step was to connect them to the team developing the HUB Berlin and finally with our own HUB Global Partnerships Manager to see if there is something to explore there. Happy HUBbing! ;-)

Almanya

Watched the movie Almanya at the Deutsch Orientierungskurs, a lovely story of family, identity and migration from Turkey to Germany but that can be applied to any country in the world!

Back to Madrid!

It was wonderful to come back to Madrid with two excellent excuses (apart from visiting friends!):

1. A workshop to facilitate for the HUB Madrid team to support their team with community engagement, community building and participatory leadership/methodologies from Art of Hosting. Check out the graphic facilitation by Toni Arribas (@elreydelaruina). 
2. My friend's bachelorette party! We cannot come to the wedding in Lima but at least I managed to be part of this special weekend! The photos are beautiful taken by photographer Marianella Fargier.