Remote work

The increasing focus on remote working necessitates proficient coordination between the teams located at various places. The fact that the employees are not physically present at the office premises poses various challenges for the companies and firms. Though the concept is fairly popular in almost every organization now, yet intellectual leadership qualities are needed to bring in a cohesive feeling. Termed as virtual or distributed teams, they work remotely at home or a co-working space.

In the article, we will discuss the definition of distributed teams, building and managing distributed teams, and the various pros and cons. We will touch upon the distributed team challenges and distributed teams best practices.

Content Index

1. What is a distributed team?
2. Benefits of building and managing a distributed team
3. How to build a distributed team?
4. Tips on managing remote teams
5. The pros and cons of having a distributed team
6. conclusion

What is a distributed team?

Distributed teams or a distributed team is essentially a team of employees working in an organization in a remote workplace. The workplace is their residence, any co-working space or they may be digital nomads. The fact that they are scattered in various regions of the world or a city, they are termed as distributed teams.

They communicate with the other team members or their managers through online communication mode. Audio, video and web-conferencing gain preference in their work life. They are not physically required to be present at the office locations or work sites. 

Certain companies just maintain virtual offices, forgoing physical setups. They operate remotely and are surviving in the market. There are both pros and cons of distributed teams, yet their importance is quite significant, especially in reducing costs and bracing pandemic situations.

Another significant aspect of distributed teams is a mix of various skills and talents. Companies often struggle to hire employees of the same skill from a particular location. This leads to loss of customers and revenue. Remote, virtual, distributed and collocated teams – whatever name you may call them, are super beneficial to tackle this problem.

Benefits of building and managing distributed teams

The management and leadership of big, medium and small size companies and firms are slowly shifting to the new trend of remote working. They realize the potential benefits of working remotely, the key ones are:

• Reduction in infrastructure and transportation costs
• Leveraging the global talent pool of resources
• Flexibility in the work hours
• Maintain a proper balance between professional and personal lives
• Reduction in anxieties, stress and tension levels
• Enhancement of efficiency and productivity
• Reduction in the employee turn over rates
• Generates a sense of self-responsibility and accountability

The mentioned key benefits are being noticed by many companies, and the satisfaction graph of employees is on the rise. Customers are satisfied and are showing trust in the company and its employees; a win-win situation for the company, its employees and its customers.

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How to build a distributed team?

1. Hire the Best

The starting point of building distributed teams is to hire the appropriate people. The success of remote working teams depends a lot on the talents and skills of the team members. Curate your interview questions in such a way that you receive the answers to both the technical or domain aspects and the behavioural characteristics. 

You may select candidates with good technical or domain know-how. Yet they may significantly lack interpersonal skills. Unless there is an acceptable balance between the two, you may struggle to manage the distributed teams. Self-motivation, dedication, good communication skills, and a positive attitude are some of the behavioural attributes that you must check. The leadership must usher in trust and confidence in their skillsets and capabilities while hiring to ensure mutual goodwill.

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2. Define the roles and responsibilities

The roles and responsibilities of the team must be defined and set clearly without any ambiguities. At the time of induction, these must be specified. Queries must be entertained and explained in concise terms to prevent any disputes later on. 

You must specify the mission, vision, and objectives of the company and the team. Mention the daily activities and the mode of communication. List out the reports and dashboards that need to prepare and circulated based on the scheduled frequency. It is better to provide some online training materials or induction manuals for the remote team members.

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3. Frequent Communication

Communication is an essential weapon for geographically distributed teams. The mode of communication must be set appropriately. Certain meetings or sessions mandate video calls whereas some may cater only by audio calls. Depending on the brevity of the situation, a decision needs to be finalized on the communication medium.

A robust and effective communication mechanism ensures proper coordination and management of the teams. The team members stay connected and can feel being part of the organization. The company leadership must encourage both professional and personal space of communication. The employees are re-charged and re-fueled after the day’s work and do not experience mental isolation.

4. Correct tools and technologies

Distributed teams require robust tools and technologies for constant collaboration and communication. Negligence may amount to difficulty in managing and coordinating between the teams. 

Technology has undergone major advancements in the modern era. Various tools, software, and applications are available in the market, facilitating remote working. The team members can virtually connect, collaborate, and engage as and when needed. You need to decide and invest in the correct systems and application, beneficial for both the teams and the organization.

5. Appreciations

Employees working remotely need to be constantly motivated and inspired for better efficiency and productivity. The fact that they are isolated at a remote workspace must not creep into their minds. That may lead to a reduction in their output and quality of work.

A good and recommended method to generate constant enthusiasm is to reward or appreciate them in the form of monetary compensations or gifts. Their performances must be recognized and treasured. These methods boost up their confidence level, encouraging them to work for the betterment of the company. They gain trust and confidence in the company and feel a part of the family.

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Building an efficient and motivated team is key to the successful execution of a project or program. Hence if you invest initially in achieving the same, the result will be positive.

Tips for managing distributed teams

1. Regular scheduled meetings

Managing geographically distributed teams is challenging. Yet if you conduct regularly scheduled meetings, then your life is more or less stable. Daily status checks and progress details are needed either through audio or video conference calls. Risks and hurdles must be discussed and solutions provided. If any team member needs support for technical, domain, infrastructure, or even HR-related issues, those aspects must also be discussed and deliberated upon.

Ensure all the meetings have a specific agenda with time limits. Do not overshoot the time as that may unnecessarily hamper productivity. Daily meetings must be short, focusing on any specific risks or hurdles. Weekly meetings can be a progress check. Monthly or fortnightly meetings can be to work on the next set of actions or plans. Unremot helps you to create a virtual office enabling one-tap video calls, instant messaging, easy screen sharing, and much more. You can organize your tasks and activities smoothly, without any hassle. 

2. Set Performance Metrics and goals

Key performance indicators or KPIs not only help to measure a company’s success but also an individual’s performance levels. It is good to set the goals and measurement metrics at the beginning before initiating a project or a program. The team members will be aware of the goals and objectives they need to fulfil. Metrics will guide them to their future career and achievements.

KPIs and goals motivate remote professionals to focus on their activities and tasks. They remain dedicated and inspired to meet the deadlines. The quality and efficiency of work improved significantly. It leads to a win-win situation on both sides. One of the most effective tips for managing distributed teams.

3. Promoting social interactions

Remote, virtual, distributed, and collocated teams operating out of various regions do not imply that they are supposed to execute like machines. Even they need bandwidth flexibility, time to leisure and vacations, and interpersonal connections. Hence you must promote social meetings and interactions maybe once or twice in a week. a great way to do this is by facilitating and encouraging virtual watercooler interactions.

The best ways are to conduct quizzes, online games, chitchats about hobbies or personal interests, etc. between the members. It brings in several benefits. The employees feel refreshed, their brains supercharged, and bonding between the team to work together. The team members develop confidence and trust with the company’s management and feel at home. Through Unremot you can collaborate effectively and efficiently using their state of art tools and software.

4. Mutual agreement on work schedules

One of the distributed team challenges is maintaining the time zone and work schedules. The geographically distributed agile teams need to synced up accordingly. It is better to club time zones as per their proximity and then plan the schedules.

It is good to agree at a consensus on the work schedules at the beginning to avoid any kind of issues. There can be situations wherein you need to conduct a common meeting or discussion between all the members. An expectation must be set consciously on such occasions for a definite time. It may be an evening for someone, and it may be an early morning for someone. You need to percolate the same among the team for agreement.

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5. Be result-oriented and not time-oriented

Forcing remote professionals to maintain a scheduled time every day is not desirable. It may result in dissatisfaction and resignations. The basic purpose of professionals preferring to work remotely is flexibility in timing. You must focus on the results and objectives. The teams must also be guided to follow the same.

Communicate the objectives and results expected from each member along with the deadlines. They may work at any time of the day, but the results must be met. You may enforce some fixed hours for availability in phone and emails, rest you must leave at their discretion to complete the work. As long as the deadlines are met, you must trust them. 

6. Create a virtual work environment

Email communications are not always reliable. Constant checking of emails is not recommendable. It results in the deterioration of productivity. Besides, it invites distractions. If your inbox is flooded with emails, you may struggle to sort and find out the required ones. 

To avoid such situations, it is good to maintain a virtual workspace with provisions of file sharing, chatting, instant messaging, screen sharing, etc. The remote team members can exchange documents, discuss with peers or managers and even seek clarifications or support as and when required. Unremot provides all the benefits at your fingertips. 

7. A Random Check on the Progress

In addition to daily meetings and status checks, you must occasionally check on the team members. It can be just a random call or video conference. Not only it helps to verify the progress of the work, but it provides assurance on the motivation level of the members.

You can leverage these checks to ensure the members are satisfied and happy with the work environment and the management. It is better to enquire about their health and mental state too. Proactively ask for any problems or issues and volunteer to guide and assist in sorting them out.

8. Transparency

Remote professionals expect transparency from their managers. The work culture, expectations, remunerations, health benefits, leaves must be communicated clearly to them. The reporting hierarchy must be conveyed so that they understand whom to report and who are present in the ladder higher up. 

This information helps them to understand their position in the company and assist in shaping up their aspirations. They gain trust in the management and leadership of the company. They remain dedicated and focused on their work. It is one of the important guidelines when it comes to distributed teams best practices.

What are the Pros and Cons of distributed teams?

The concept of Distributed agile teams comes with both advantages and disadvantages. Pros are a boon, and we must strive to utilize them to be more productive and efficient. Cons are the awareness that needs to be seriously dealt with and tacked with intelligent solutions.

The Pros of having a distributed team

• Flexibility in work hours ensures a balance between personal and professional lives. Motivation levels are higher up. Efficiency boosts up, and productivity shoots up. Remote professionals are happy that they can take care of their kids and family while being full time in a job.
• Access to a pool of talented and skilled resources spread in different zones of the world. You can leverage them without being bothered about locating similar skills from a city or a state. The problem of resource shortage is resolved, allowing you to operate smoothly and efficiently. 
• Reduction of infrastructure and transport costs is one of the greatest advantages of operating remotely. The more you reduce expenditures, the more you can invest in strategic opportunities. It positively impacts your revenue figures.
• Work disruption is minimal in remote operations. Office locations may face hindrances due to physical calamities or technical faults. That may halt several operations of a company, resulting in an unrecoverable loss. Remote working will reduce the occurrence of such situations.

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The Cons of having a distributed team

• Requires constant check on the motivation levels. Interpersonal attributes are a necessity along with the technical or domain know-how. The remote professionals need to collaborate and engage with a positive mindset to bring in team harmony.
• Constant check on the work progress is anxiety. You need to constantly rely on verbal confirmations and written progress reports. Physical checking on employees will be limited except in video calls. 
• Communication and collaboration platforms and applications have to be robust and efficient. Else you may land up in misunderstandings and unnecessary troubles. Urgent calls or messages may be sometimes difficult to handle. You may land up in a situation of not being able to access a team member during emergencies. 
• Settling disputes between team members may be troublesome. You can only engage them together in a phone call or video call. In certain situations, face to face interactions is effective. Hence there might be cases it will be time-consuming to arrive at a mutually conclusive solution.

Companies must now dedicate their attention to building up a strong and effective circuit of distributed teams. The challenges or cons can be easily overcome if you follow the tips shared in the article.

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Conclusion

I hope by now, you have understood what is a distributed team? You have gained insights into the ways and techniques to build up a dependable distributed team. Modern-day technological advancements are facilitating the governance and management of distributed teams smartly. More and more people are on the lookout for remote jobs. The count of digital nomads is on the rise. It is good to harness the skills and extract the maximum benefits by hiring remote professionals. You can brace the market with dignity and agility. 

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Professionals belonging to any industrial sector or domain face the challenges of multi-tasking in the competitive modern world. Most maintain planners and task lists to keep track of their progress. But do all know how to prioritize task? Well, it’s a million-dollar question. You can inquire about any individual and will be amazed to observe curious looks of dilemma and confusion.

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Among the many factors that result in efficient productivity, prioritizing tasks play a significant role. You may be under the notion that all your tasks are important and crucial. Then what are the genuine reasons for conducting a prioritization activity? Over and above, how do you determine top priority among the multitude of activities? The article will provide you with all the answers to your questions.

We will talk about why prioritizing tasks is vital for success and growth and how to prioritize tasks at work. There are various prioritization tools available to support and supplement the activities, we will discuss them too.

1. Why is it important to prioritize tasks?
2. Tips on how to prioritize tasks?
3. Prioritization tools or method
4. How to manage short term and long term priorities?
5. How to prioritize tasks that repeats?

Why is it important to prioritize tasks?

Market and customer demands along with long time survival, drive companies and firms to increase their productivity above others. They are under constant stress to strive for the competition. The pressure is cascaded to every department and employee working in the organization. It happens among individual business owners and firms as well.

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Unless you adopt the prioritization skills and segregate the tasks, you may not be able to align your progress towards the desired objectives. Classification of urgent and less important is a very much essential part of the planning and organizing in a professional environment. And it has to be done daily, even weekly or monthly for smooth and seamless execution of jobs.

The focus must be on completing the tasks of higher value and greater impact. The inherent results of such an exercise are remarkable and noticeable. Productivity boosts up, and goals are met as per the desired metrics and results, performance factor increases, objectives are achieved, and so on. Professional and personal life balance is well maintained. Trust and confidence with internal and external stakeholder enhance, leading to greater satisfaction and higher revenue. In the end, your future growth is positively impacted.

Tips on How to Prioritize Task

Prioritization brings in mental peace and relaxation, minimizing worries to complete tasks as per the stipulated deadlines. Sharing some useful tips on how to prioritize task:

1. Create a List with To Do Activities

The first step is to create an exhaustive list of all the activities under your radar. All strategic, tactical, and operational tasks must be listed, none to be ignored. It is advisable to record your tasks and activities too. In such a manner, you can maintain your entire day, week, or month efficiently. The list must be constantly checked and updated each day to ensure you capture only the relevant tasks. Eventually, you will stay organized and updated on the upcoming tasks. You need not rack your brain every time, trying to remember the daily activities.

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2. Prioritizing Tasks

The second step is how to prioritize tasks at work. It is insane to think about accomplishing all activities in parallel. The tasks need to be ranked from higher to lower to fulfil them while meeting the desired deadlines. Some tasks are urgent and demand early completion. While others can wait to be finished at a later period. You need to understand the urgency and complexity simultaneously while deciding the rank. The best way is to ask a few valid questions:

• Which tasks are urgent for the company or the customer?
• What is the outcome or result of the task?
• When do I need to finish the task?
• What happens if I fail to achieve the timelines?
• Is there any potential risk in completing the task? 

Important Fact: Always add buffers to handle contingencies and delays due to unavoidable circumstances.

3. Numbering or Ranking the Tasks

You can select a ranking or numbering mechanism for your tasks. It may be via numbers 1,2,3 etc. or A, B, C… etc. Either way, you have to define the meaning of each of them and set them against each task. The basic formula for categorization involves segregating them based on urgency and significant value or return for money. Typical prioritizing list examples involve:

• Very High – failure to complete may severely impact business and customer satisfaction; a reversal may not be feasible.
• High – tasks with higher value, and significant importance, earning potential revenue or fame
• Medium – strategic projects impacting the growth of business or company in the long term, resulting in significant visibility and earning
• Low – tasks that do not have a direct impact on the business functions or customer can wait in the queue for completion
• Very Low – optional activities, can be taken up when one has relaxed bandwidth

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4. Fragmenting Big Programs into Multiple projects

Handling big programs and breaking them into multiple projects for easy execution is the quality of a program or project manager. You can manage and monitor your work well, and prioritization is easy and convenient. Sometimes projects are also subdivided into smaller sections for better management. Each subdivision is assigned a deadline and progress tracked at the lower level. It is a realistic approach for accomplishing big programs or projects, paying due attention to each task.

5. Timelines and Effort Estimation

One of the important aspects of how to prioritize work is time management. Unless you are capable and proficient enough to set the proper deadlines and hours/days required, the entire prioritization activity will fall apart. You need to estimate the hours to be dedicated each day for a task and then calculate the entire effort. Keep some buffer before fixing the target completion dates. Do not overcommit, resulting in unnecessary stress and reduction in quality. You need to maintain a balance between efficiency and quality. 

Here are a few tips to assist in setting deadlines and effort estimation. It will answer your anxiety on how to prioritize the task.

• Club similar tasks for rationalizing efforts and time
• Anticipate risks behind each task and calculate the effort accordingly
• Sequence the activities and check which can be executed in parallel
• Keep space for personal work
• Place fillers to key in any feedbacks on previous work

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Prioritization Tools or Methods

Here are some prioritization tools and methods to help you organize your tasks.

1. Leverage Apps for creating your To-Do List

The traditional method of creating a To-Do List was utilizing the pen and paper or a whiteboard. In recent times, the internet is flooded with applications that assist you in creating To-Do List online. The applications have several facilities of shifting the tasks in the rank of prioritization. You can even defer the tasks using the apps. Kanban Board is a prominent and useful application for maintaining tasks and activities.

You can break down your tasks into multiple sub-tasks and maintain a daily or weekly or monthly schedule as desirable. The online applications provide excellent user-friendly drag and drop facilities for modifying the To-Do List and planner. 

2. Utilize Technology to rank the tasks

Ranking the tasks is a mammoth activity. If you sit and shuffle through pages of To-Do List activities, you may find yourself in total dismay. The other big issue is scheduling the duration of each task. Opening a calendar and then trying to calculate the hours is tedious.

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The best way is to utilize various online time blocking applications. The apps provide the calendar beside the tasks listed in the system. You can drag and drop the dates and calculate the estimated completion duration. Once done, you can sort out the tasks based on their importance and time required. They help to track the progress of your tasks by calculating the time invested. The best is they have in-built intelligence to suggest breaks in between activities for personal benefit and health. Some of the key time blocking apps are Week Plan, Plan, and PomoDone.

3. Priority Matrix

We all know about Stephen Covey and his famed time management matrix. The US-based educator and keynote speaker had gifted to the world of professionals and entrepreneurs an intelligent quadrant. The four-quadrant or matrix suggests creating two columns for Urgent and Not urgent category and two rows for Important and Not Important category crisscrossing the columns. 

The benefits of using the matrix are to list down 

• tasks which need to be done mandatorily – Urgent and Important
• tasks which can be planned for an acceptable duration – Not Urgent and Important
• tasks that can be delegated to a team member – Urgent and Not Important
• tasks that can be eliminated for later consideration – Not Urgent and Not Important

You can easily solve your problem on how to prioritize task by leveraging the efficient and smart quadrant suggested by Covey.

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4. Deciding the Important Tasks

After ranking the tasks, the next big question that may crop up in your mind is how to prioritize your time? For that, you need to select the tasks that are most important among the ranked ones. You need to understand the bandwidth for each day and assign the tasks to yourself accordingly. The tasks that you select for accomplishing in a day turn out to the most important or preferred tasks. 

The exercise is necessary to prevent excess burnouts. One must not be under the notion of completing all the urgent and important tasks in a day. Hence along with ranking, time management is important. There are not tools specifically available for it, and it is essentially a theoretical method that you need to ponder upon. The method effectively must answer your question on how do you determine top priority among the scheduled high ranked tasks.

5. Stay Focused

Focus and attention are very important when you are really struggling to understand how to prioritize the task. Deviation to social media notifications, browsing through unrelated websites, and diverting mind towards personal activities are not desirable. It hampers your productivity, and the prioritization activities turn out to be a failure.

Henceforth, if you want to be serious on how to prioritize work, concentrate well. There are a few apps that can assist you in increasing your focus. The widely used ones are Chrome extensions called Momentum and StayFocusd. They are given free with Chrome and can be installed easily on your laptop or desktop. You can block unrelated websites to prevent distraction. The extensions remind you of your activities, the moment you open a new tab or a new browser window.

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6. Use the Pareto Principle

Vilfredo Pareto, a world-renowned economist, had devised a unique principle called the Pareto Principle. The logic is to illustrate the relationship between the inputs and outputs of a process or activity. It’s an 80-20 rule; the definition being 80% of the consequences of a process is derived from 20% of the causes. The principle is quite popular and a good answer to the question of how to prioritize the task.

You need to find out how can you achieve 80% of the outcome from 20% of your tasks. You need to calculate the returns from your work to arrive at a conclusion. To explain the effective utilization of the Pareto Principle, one of the prioritization list examples can be that of event management. When organizing a business event, marketing and promotion are the key strategies for success. Hence you need to consider these two activities as 20% of your work, eventually providing you proper customer engagement and revenue.

How to Manage both Short term and Long term priorities?

A typical work schedule of a professional or entrepreneur involves both short term and long term work priorities. Managing both of them is a question asked my day, a typical query being how to prioritize my day with both types in my work bucket? 

Short term priorities or tasks are easy to accomplish, as they have lesser effort estimates. Whereas long term priorities require proper planning, management, organizing, and estimating the duration. A few tips will guide you in effectively handling both the priorities with ease:

• List down the success criteria
• List the tasks and activities
• Schedule the dates based on a priority ranking
• List down the resources required to fulfil each task
• Break down tasks into sub-tasks and set milestones accordingly
• Anticipate challenges and risks and work out on the mitigations and resolutions
• Seek advice and guidance as desired
• Delegate tasks as feasible
• Track the progress of each subtask
• Plan buffer for delays and feedbacks
• Be ready for an alternate plan in case the primary plan fails to work out

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How to prioritize the task that repeat?

Certain tasks are repetitive and recurring. You may wonder how to prioritize your time to handle such tasks. Segregate the recurring activity from the rest one time tasks. Break down the repetitive activity into smaller processes. Determine the frequency of each sub-process – daily, weekly, or monthly, etc. Estimate the duration required for each. Allot a fixed time as per the frequency to execute the tasks. Ensure your planner or To-Do List holds them as per the recurring schedule.

A few tips to save your time and effort in such jobs is to design templates. It subsequently helps in prioritizing more activities in the To-Do List. You can also leverage automation tools to aid in delivering repetitive jobs. In a way, it enhances your productivity and answers your question on how to prioritize my day.

Hope you have acquired sufficient information on how to prioritize task efficiently and with convenience. Enjoy working!

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Learning in any form is an art that needs to be cultivated and nurtured to gain the maximum benefits out of it.

Though the objective is common for both adults and kids – enhancing the knowledge level. There lies a fundamental difference in the techniques and methods by which the learning is imparted. Adult learning has its own set of theories and approaches, leveraged to uplift the motivation and inspirational levels. Andragogy Theory is a prominent adult learning mechanism to achieve the desired efficiency and effectiveness.

Andragogy theory is the brainchild of Malcolm Knowles. In the article, we will discuss the key concepts and principles of andragogy. You can relate as to how adult learning theories vary from that of the education granted to children. Some certain basic variations and assumptions require attention when it comes to adult learning.

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The Adult Learning Theory – Andragogy Definition

In 1833, Alexander Kapp, a renowned and legendary German academician, first initiated the term “Andragogy”. It was eventually transformed into adult learning theory by world-famous German social philosopher and historian, Eugen Rosenstock-Hussey. 

But Andragogy theory gained prominence under the leadership of Malcolm Knowles, a pioneer of Humanist and Adult Learning from the USA. The name is derived from a Greek word, the meaning being “leading man” or “man-leading”.

The focus is mainly on self-direction; the activities and learnings are under the control of the learner. Knowles adult learning theory encourages inherent attention to hands-on training. His thoughts were oriented around studying and learning by forming groups. Collaborations and interactions among students and learners primarily drive and facilitate the Andragogy theory.

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To summarize, andragogy definition empowers the adult learners to work on their creativity and intellect, thus diverging from the traditional methods of teacher-oriented learning.

The Five Assumptions of Andragogy – Knowles Adult Learning Theory

Knowles specified initially 4 assumptions for firming the principles and concepts of the Andragogy theory. The assumptions were mentioned to differentiate with the theory of pedagogy, based on child learners. A fifth assumption was later added by him.

Let us now try to understand each of the assumptions or the pillars of Knowles’ Andragogy Theory:

1. Self-concept

The maturity of a person flourishes and rises with experience. This is the time when a person tends to focus away, being dependent, to a more self-directed individual. The same theory is applied to learning when a person deviates from instructor-led training to self-learning. Remote and online learning courses and sessions demand a self-directed mode of education. The very reason that the instructors are not present to constantly guide and monitor your progress, it necessitates following the principle of Andragogy.

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2. Learning Experience

With experience, the knowledge and competency levels of adults increase. Practical and on the job learning is beneficial to understand the key concepts and guides in deep learning. Adults can easily relate use cases or real-life examples with their academic courses. It eventually speeds up the learning process. That’s a vital difference between Andragogy and Pedagogy.

3. Readiness or eagerness to learn

Adult learners understand the relevance of education to their professional and personal lives. They are enriched with the maturity of selecting the appropriate learning courses or sessions to facilitate their work. The awareness level regarding the benefits and impact of education on jobs is well understood and applied. This increases their zeal and eagerness to learn about the concerned topics.

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4. Problem-centric learning

With the progress of maturity and experience, adult learners prefer the immediate and real-time application of their knowledge. They do not prefer acquiring competencies for theoretical needs. For them, application on their regular daily jobs or activities is essential and vital. It’s a paradigm shift from a subject-focused approach towards a problem-centric practical application approach.

5. Self-motivation and inspiration

A vital point of distinction between the Andragogy theory and Pedagogy is drivers for motivation and inspiration to learn. Children are more concerned to obtain higher grades and rewards in their academic and learning sessions. The external factors drive their motivation levels. Whereas adults are self-motivated and inspired to pursue their education or learning spree. They register for learning courses or sessions essentially to speed up their competency levels and work efficiency.

Knowles’ principles of Andragogy is focused on the above mentioned 6 assumptions. We will now discuss the 4 pillars or principles of Knowles Adult learning principles.

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The Four Principles of Adult Learning or Andragogy Theory

Knowles adult learning principles guide teachers, educators and instructors on the aspects they must focus on.

• Adults are eager to know how the training sessions and courses are planned. They scrutinize the topics selected, the duration, and the study materials. They evaluate the trainers or instructors based on reviews. The mode of training is essential for them as they are restricted by full-time participation. They prefer participation and involvement in designing the course features and subjects. In many Corporates, the participants suggest topics to the instructors, required for their tasks or activities.

• Adults relate their experiences gained from past learnings on their academic sessions. They even derive real-life examples and facts and try to sync with the knowledge being imparted through the learning courses. This assists in imbibing deeper and contextual understanding of the topics. Achievements and errors both are referred to extract the best out of the learning process. Hence their learning effectiveness is far more practical and efficient. Majority of the adult learners are interested in rectifying their mistakes and shortcomings along with upliftment of their knowledge deficiencies.

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• While preparing the curricula for adult learning, one must focus on highlighting practical use cases and examples. Adult learners normally undertake to learn courses and sessions since they require improvements in their professional and personal growth. Therefore the curricula must be designed to focus on these aspects. This generates interest among adult learners. They can relate the topics learned, to their activities and jobs. Additionally, if you provide them with problems that they might be facing in their life, that’s a boon for them. Guiding and assisting in the self resolution of the issues is the best way to uplift their talent and potential. 

• Curriculum for kids is mainly focused on theories and memorizing content with logical understanding. Adult learners do not appreciate such a mode of learning. They love interactions and collaborations in a session. Group discussions, joint project work, presentations, debates, etc. interest them more. This not only helps in self-directed and self-focused learning, it promotes sharing of experiences too. Participants can learn from others and even relate to similar problems or issues faced by fellow learners. 

Knowles describes further that as part of the Andragogy Theory, there are 7 outcomes or results that must be achieved.

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What are the 7 outcomes of Andragogy Theory?

1. Understanding yourself

Adult learning theories must positively focus on understanding self characteristics. One must be able to sort out the niche subject areas or topics that generated interest and passion. It is essential to know your capabilities revolving around professional and personal attributes. Setting goals for future growth is vital for success and prosperity. Adult learners need to respect their self-esteem for progress ahead.

2. Respect for others

Respecting the ideas of others and accepting feedback empowers adult learners with interpersonal effectiveness. Respecting others views and listening attentively are important attributes to develop an environment of bonding and trust. The basic concept is to focus on the ideas and not the human characteristics. Andragogy theory is to generate an interest in learning through active participation and collaboration. That can be achieved only through a strong and robust interpersonal relationship.

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3. Accepting changes

Constant changes in professional and personal life is a common phenomenon in the modern era. Adult learners need to adapt to such changes with grace. They must not be biased toward certain schools of thought and methodology. It is suggested to possess a flexible and dynamic attitude towards life, people, and the new generation of thoughts or ideas. Inventions, discoveries, researches are constantly bringing forth new concepts and algorithms. Innumerable experiments are conducted to bring in innovative thoughts and ideas. Adult learners must possess a transparent mentality in grasping those changes and adapt them accordingly. 

4. Root Cause Analysis

The preventive method of resolving problems or issues is often temporary. One fails to perform a deep-dive analysis to understand the underlying causes of the problem. This results in constant recurrence of the problems, hampering productivity and an increase in cost and effort. The future growth is severely impacted.

The suggestion is to engage in a proactive method of problem resolution, wherever possible. Discovering the root cause analysis of recurring issues is super beneficial in increasing efficiency. Adult learning must focus on this important aspect and encourage participants to follow in their professional and personal lives.

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5. Learning from experience

People often tend to avoid recollecting past experiences and consider them as a hindrance to their future progress. Knowles shares a different perspective on this thought. He discusses that the Andragogy theory must focus on understanding past experiences and sharing the learnings. This encourages positivity in the thought process and assists in critical thinking. The idea is to avoid ignoring past experiences, eventually utilizing them to generate analytical thoughts and ideas.

6. Societal changes

Human survival depends on the betterment of society. Hence it is essential to bring in changes through innovative thoughts, benefitting humanity. Adult learning theory must focus on encouraging and educating people on societal behavior. Identification of improvement areas and generating potential solution opportunities are suggested methods of learning.

Note: Knowles was instrumental in imbibing a new era of adult learning, creating a difference in the philosophy of education.

Adoption of Andragogy Theory in Corporate and e-learning

Since we have now understood the concepts and principles of adult learning theory, it is important to be aware of its application too. Training providers, instructors, and academicians need to utilize the learnings in their training programs and online courses.

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Tip to incorporate Angragogy theory in training process

• Analyze the past learning courses and programs. The focus point of the analysis must be to find out the deviation from the adult learning framework and principles. The deviations will assist in curating the future training curriculum with proficiency.
• Identify practical and real-life examples and use cases for each subject or topic of the adult learning programs. An extensive study is required to gather such examples. Such case studies are the key to the success of generating interest among adult learners.
• Corporates must seek feedback and suggestions from employees in designing their learning courses and web-based training. Adult learners love to be part of the learning design activity. They can provide constructive suggestions on the content, modes of training, duration, and also the technology being leveraged.

• Provide options to adult learners to select their preferred learning courses. They must be provided the opportunity to select the method of training – classroom-based or online webinars. According to their preferences, they can enroll and attend the learning programs.
• The assessments must comprise of real-life problems, most commonly faced in professional and personal lives. The participants must be encouraged to form groups or solve the issues individually. They, in turn, must also present the solutions in front of the class and seek feedback and comments.

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Andragogy theory Example by Knowles

• The different parts of a computer, both software and hardware, need explanations on their usability and importance
• Focus must be on common activities and tasks performed in daily life and defocus on just memorizing concepts
• Interactions between learners must be encouraged to share previous experiences on computers. The training guides and resources must allow participants to leverage their past learnings into the activities.
• Instructors must encourage participants to resolve assignments and progress through the course on their own. Only required guidance and assistance must be provided as and when needed to rectify the errors.

Best Books on Adult Learning Theory

1. The Modern Practice of Adult Education of Knowles by Englewood Cliffs
2. Knowles’Andragogy in Action – Applying Modern Principles of adult education by Jossey Bass
3. Knowles’ The Adult Learner – A neglected Species by Houston
4. Towards a Developmental Theory of Andragogy by Nottingham University

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Conclusion

Adult learners possess immense experiences due to their past acquaintances, in both their professional and personal lives. Nurturing this important aspect and leverage the same in developing innovative ideas and solutions benefits in the upliftment of competency. Knowles believed in this simple theory, introducing a significant change in the world of adult education and learning. Its benefits have been observed by several training institutes and online teaching schools. Special focus on real-life examples is vital to entice adult learners and students to register and attend the learning programs.

A substantial improvement in the future growth and achievements of the learners have been observed. They stand beneficial in relating their real-life problems and issues with the topics and subject areas. The result is greater satisfaction and improvement in different aspects of life.

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Yoga is a form of spiritual practice to maintain equity in mental and physical balance. Originating in ancient India, it is being followed as the source for attaining divinity and peace. The modern world has recognized its immense benefits towards the betterment of humanity. The practise of yoga has increased considerably, with more and more relying on its utility. The rising interest and faith among people of all generations have significantly boosted the emergence of online yoga classes. 

In the article, we will discuss some of the key benefits of yoga and the best online yoga classes in 2020. The classes are designed to train you on the different yoga postures, as per your needs and preferences. The ultimate objective is to shape your body muscles, pacify your mind and reenergize your heart.

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Content Index

1. What are the benefits of yoga?
2. What to expect from online yoga classes
3. 13 best online yoga classes
4. Tips for your first online yoga class

What are the benefits of Yoga?

The benefits of Yoga are immense, both physically and mentally. Dedicated practice can considerably reduce and relax pains at different parts of your body. The yoga postures are designed in a way to work efficiently on various muscles and bones of the human body. They have a phenomenal effect in reducing insomnia, reduce blood pressure and blood sugar, and even breathlessness.

Your body metabolism is maintained effectively, eventually increasing your digestive capacity. It enhances your appetite and hence balanced body growth. Yoga has been observed to have a significant impact on strengthening the body muscles and joints. Your body flexibility increases, thus boosting up your energy level and immunity.  

A noticeable effect is experienced on the blood circulation capacity of the body, thereby improving the heart health. The result is fewer chances of heart failure or any other cardiovascular disease.

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Yoga has a sound impact on a human’s mental health. It reduces the stress level, rejuvenating the body and the mind. You experience a wonderful calmness circumference you, leading to a healthy social and personal life. The concentration level is uplifted, the patience level is enhanced, and the mind attains a cooling relaxation.

What can we expect from yoga classes online?

Online yoga classes are conducted by experts and professionals. You are guided through a series of postures, necessary for the entire body. There are standing exercises, sitting ones, and the postures where you need to lie down on your back. Few are conducted by even sitting down on a chair. Breathing exercises are the key features of online yoga classes. Meditation and relaxing methods are followed after that.

Certain participants may require extra attention depending on their body formation and other physical challenges. The instructors guide them individually to overcome their problems. The yoga classes online attempt to generate a lively environment among the participants. Ensuring a refreshing and jubilant atmosphere is one of their key criteria for success.

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Best Online Yoga Classes 

Numerous online yoga classes are nowadays conducted on the internet or through an app. The difference is the instructor is not present physically in front of you. Hence you need to focus on the steps being executed attentively and listen to their guidance.

Here’s a list of the best online yoga classes and programs. You can read about them and decide to register based on your preferences and objectives.

1. Yoga Download

It is one of the preferred brands conducting online yoga programs and sessions. Started in 2006, it has successfully registered about 250K members. They have perfectly curated yoga sessions for beginners as well as experts. You need to sign up on their websites to subscribe to their plans. To be acquainted with their way of guidance, you can opt for some free classes. Once you are comfortable, you can pay for the subscription. Their plans range from 8 USD per month to 18 USD per month.

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2. Yoga International

It offers one of the advanced online yoga classes to strengthen your core. They have a world-class group of teachers and instructors, possessing extensible knowledge of yoga and their usage. You can search the classes and courses offered by them and register accordingly. Explore their innumerable online guides and articles for proper knowledge of yoga and their effect on the human body and mind. You can opt for their 30-day free trial before availing any of their paid programs. 

Currently, they have approximately 300K members registered on their website. The members are granted access to their specialized design online yoga classes. Some of them worth mentioning are the courses for Autism disorders, gaining Spinal mobility and stability, attaining Mental peace, improving flexibility, and many more.

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3. 5 Minute Yoga

It is an ideal app offering free online yoga classes, especially for beginners. As a beginner, you will find it difficult to engage in advanced and strenuous yoga postures. Before venturing into something too challenging, it is better to warm up your body and mind with some short and light exercises.

The app, as the name implies, provides workouts for a minimal duration of 5 minutes. The postures are simple and easy ones, but suitable to tone up your body muscles. It provides the facility to track your daily progress. Moreover, sometimes your lifestyle and professional asks, may not permit you for elongated yoga sessions. The app assists in overcoming such a challenge by offering useful postures in a small duration.

4. Glo

Glo is phenomenal in offering more than 4000 online yoga classes and programs. They have different types of subscription levels, providing unlimited access to their sessions. The key programs provided in Glo are the Pilates training, yoga combined with the relaxing effect of essential oils, exclusive breathing exercises, and even postnatal postures. The duration of each class varies depending on the complexity and essence of the exercises. 

Their group of experts and instructors guide you through sequential steps of executing the postures with ease and convenience. Their meditation classes are super soothing, bringing in complete relaxation of the body and mind. Through the exercises, they even train how to detoxify your body, leading to an increase in metabolism rate.

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5. Yogi2Me Free Charity Zoom

Yogi2Me provides one of the best personalized online yoga classes at your service. Their certified instructors and yoga experts will guide as per your body flexibility, lifestyle, and needs. They offer streaming videos to check on the exercises, demonstrated step by step as per your convenience. The programs are skillfully customized to benefit each individual. That’s the USP of Yogi2Me.  

You can also join their free online yoga classes with a donation for their charity service.  

6. Yogi Approved

Yogi Approved is one of the excellent online yoga classes offering state of the art designed programs. It is simulated and conducted by Ashton August, Michelle Stanger, Alba Avella, Denelle Numis, Jennifer Pansa, and many more. They are all amazing fitness instructors guiding you through a series of postures suitable for different levels of fitness. A free trial period of 14 days is offered for the learners, before subscribing to the programs. Both individual and group classes are conducted, supported by a pool of talented yoga experts.

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A unique feature of the school is they plant a food-producing tree for each class undertaken by the participants. Till now they have planted a record of 95,438 trees, a truly appreciating initiative for the betterment of health and society. You can search your preferred classes by sorting based on duration, name of the instructor, category and difficulty level. 

7. Daily Yoga

Daily Yoga is one of the best online yoga apps that can be downloaded into your smart devices. It provides numerous best at home yoga programs to select and practice. Each program comprises of stepwise guide and instructions to follow. You can join their community to connect with similar other participants and share your experiences. The forums allow you to ask questions and get help from experts or fellow learners. 

The app also helps to track your health and yoga progress records through efficient statistical analysis. The instructors are all world-renowned yoga experts offering online yoga classes to pacify your body and mind.

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8. Yoga with Adriene

YouTube Videos are quite popular nowadays. So why not avail them in tuning your body. Yoga with Adriene is a YouTube Channel offering free online yoga classes. The host of the channel is Adriene Mishler, a superb trainer and instructor of yoga. She has over 7.87 million subscribers. 

The best part of her channel is the refreshing and friendly atmosphere created by her for her audience. She transforms your mind and body to a divine and peaceful state, enlivening your spirit. She focuses on strengthening the core foundation of your body. Slowly and steadily, she will guide to nurture your body towards a toned state. Her videos are widely popular, terming her as the Queen of Yoga.

9. Gaia

Gaia offers the best at-home online yoga videos for fitness freaks and enthusiasts. Their website is full of interesting information on yoga with documents, films, events, and articles. You can select your preferred online yoga classes based on the category, teacher, duration, difficulty level, and focus area of the body.

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Before selecting a video, you can check the reviews and ratings by other participants. The videos can be played on any of your smart devices and laptops. A total of more than 8000 online yoga videos are present on the website for the members. You need to sign up to avail of the free trial and watch the videos. They have a big pool of yoga trainers and experts to guide you through the various programs and classes.

10. Purple Valley Ashtanga Yoga

A successful YouTube channel, focusing on breathing exercises. The instructors and trainers essentially focus on body flexibility by pacing up the yogas. That’s the way Ashtanga is executed to enhance fitness and durability. You will be benefitted by engaging into one to one interactions and guidance by world-famous yoga teachers.

They are believers of Ayurveda mode of medicinal healing. Through their yoga postures and training sessions, they focus on transforming the body and the mind into betterment. You can search through innumerable videos uploaded on their channel and start practising. All the steps are provided with proper instructions and demonstrations.

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11. FLYLDN

A London based Yoga studio, reaching out to their audience through live videos and online yoga classes on Instagram. Their programs are free and can be availed by anyone. The instructors are experts in their area of specialization. The key attractions of the videos are lively background and enthusiastic atmosphere.

The classes vary from slow-paced ones to faster movements. If you want to achieve mental peace, then attend their chill classes. If you want to reduce your fat and belly, then opt for their advanced strenuous programs.

12. Grokker

One of the popular and preferred online yoga classes accessed by many. They have varieties of programs to select and practice. They conduct yoga challenges and run contests. The trainers are selected after proper scrutiny and hence are the best of the lot. You can check the profiles of the instructors from their website.  

They offer light training, heavyweight training, focused body training, meditations, and many more. You can watch the video streams in any of your smart devices. They offer a free trial and once convinced you need to pay USD 14.99 monthly.

Video conferencing etiquette: Best practices for video conferencing

13. Body Positive Yoga

Amber Karnes created the YouTube Channel to help and guide humanity for a better and healthier lifestyle. She has a unique style of performing the postures by leveraging props, some of which are easily available at home. 

She also advises on how to calm the body and the mind. Her suggestions on dietary controls are commendable. She believes in introducing the body through a healthy regime that covers different aspects of good practice. The best part of her tutorials is the inspiration she tries to imbibe in her followers to develop their self-confidence and passion. 

There are many other online yoga classes, apps, and YouTube Channels available. The above are some of the popular and reliable ones that you can try and avail with ease. Some offer plans which are affordable and some offer free courses and videos. You can select your preferred programs and start utilizing their benefits.

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Tips to prepare yourself for your first online yoga class

• Keep yourself dehydrated throughout the day to avoid muscle and body cramps
• Avoid eating 1 to 2 hours before the practice
• Buy a comfortable yoga mat
• Wear comfortable yoga fit clothes, easy to stretch
• Keep a bottle of water always with you
• Keep a towel as you may sweat out often
• Do not stop practising, ensure to uplift your motivation level
• Follow the instructions carefully and ask questions for any doubts
• Do not feel disappointed if there are mistakes, try to improve through focused attention and dedication
• Do not be overburdened with the first impact on body and mind, slowly you will overcome all
• Maintain discipline and respect your instructor
• The breathing pattern must be adopted and followed strictly to avoid structural disbalance
• Dedicate a fixed time of the day for the classes and adjust your rest time accordingly
• Maintain a proper diet and a healthy lifestyle to prevent any adverse effects
• Shower in warm water after the practice and refresh yourself

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