Skip to main content
The Human Behind The Screen

The Human Behind The Screen

By Shauna Moran

The ways in which we work and scale workforces are changing. No longer are we reliant on a physical location in order to operate as a business or a team. This shift in building teams and companies is coming rapidly and businesses are being forced to adapt what they’ve done for years. In this podcast, we’ll be speaking to leaders and experts all over the world to dissect what makes businesses successful at remote working? We’ll be discussing the importance of human connection, emotional intelligence and relationships, in an ever-changing virtual world.
Available on
Apple Podcasts Logo
Spotify Logo
Currently playing episode

Managing Yourself as a Human Being When Working Remotely - Brad Jasper - Remote Habits

The Human Behind The ScreenFeb 07, 2020

00:00
40:18
Why are remote workers experiencing burnout, and what can we do about it? - Shauna Moran - Operate Remote

Why are remote workers experiencing burnout, and what can we do about it? - Shauna Moran - Operate Remote

So many of us are experiencing burnout since COVID-19. We're working remotely and juggling a busy working environment along with many other reasons. 

In this episode, I share my own experiences and insights as to what is causing burnout for remote workers in 2020 and what we can do for ourselves and each other to ensure we are sustaining for the future- whatever that looks like. 

Whether you're concerned about burnout on your team, experiencing it yourself or want to be proactive about preventing it- this episode covers it all.

Jul 30, 202028:38
Understanding the Modern Workplace – Paul Savage – Conjura

Understanding the Modern Workplace – Paul Savage – Conjura

How do we manage to transition back to an office environment when some of our teams will still be working remotely? What will the future of the workforce look like and how should we adapt as leaders? In this episode, we speak to Paul Savage, COO of Conjura. Paul is a passionate leader and shares with us his biggest insights from many years of building and managing teams remotely.

There is also great discussion on the importance of seeking, for the right reasons, to carefully measure productivity, with the right message and for the right understanding. We cover the challenges that arise when giving feedback in a multi-generational remote workforce. Along with a nice touch of inner reflection from Paul during this show, we can all benefit from his sharing of thought leadership and his valuable advice!

Jul 23, 202001:10:15
Over-communicating and Redefining Collaboration for Top Performance in the New Remote Climate – Mike Potter – Rewind

Over-communicating and Redefining Collaboration for Top Performance in the New Remote Climate – Mike Potter – Rewind

A podcast full of great people-focussed leadership qualities from Mike Potter of Rewind, about how he supports his team of remoters during this unique time. Mike shares ideas on what to do when the initial appeal of working from home has, for many, become more of a challenge in terms of work-life balance, and how to meet the needs of those who are missing that super important human connection they had in the office, reiterating the value of ‘over-communication’ and ensuring priorities are aligned. He also leads by example when encouraging his team to manage their time based on their own unique needs. Practising empathy once again comes up as a key leadership skill, really listening to employees and employing processes and improvements that will really pay off when expanding a remote workforce.

In the last section of the show, you will hear Mike and Shauna brainstorm ways around the key blocker to ‘collaboration’, which Mike’s development team are having a particular difficulty with.

Mike Potter is the co-founder and CEO of Rewind, the leading cloud data backup provider. Rewind is trusted by over 20,000 businesses to protect their data on platforms such as BigCommerce, Mailchimp, Shopify and QuickBooks. He earned his MBA from the University of Ottawa and his B.Eng in Mechanical Engineering from McMaster University. Mike currently resides in Ottawa, Canada.

Make sure to take good notes from this show!

Jul 16, 202043:39
The Future of Work, the Future of Living – Chris Herd - Founder & CEO Firstbase

The Future of Work, the Future of Living – Chris Herd - Founder & CEO Firstbase

This show gets rapidly interesting as the super-knowledgeable Chris, Founder and CEO of Firstbase, talks to Shauna about the logistical and physical aspects of setting up your business to operate remotely. Then he talks about how your leadership soft skills should come into play around collaboration, communication, trust, and enablement, when meeting the challenges of building and scaling a remote team.

After that, enjoy some thought-provoking commentary from Chris about the future of work and how the by-product of remote working will be the ability to produce the best work of our lives. And if you have kept up thus far, then you will be ready for the live on-the-spot coaching session about removing bias from decision making!

Firstbase is the physical Operating System (OS) for remote teams. Their platform lets companies supply and manage all the physical equipment remote workers need to do great work at home, as a monthly subscription.

Jul 09, 202037:29
Business as Usual? The Impact Over Recent Months on Distributed Teams – Marcus Wermuth – Engineering Manager at Buffer

Business as Usual? The Impact Over Recent Months on Distributed Teams – Marcus Wermuth – Engineering Manager at Buffer

Our new show format with live coaching is underway! We can’t wait for you to hear this episode with Marcus Wermuth, Engineering Manager at Buffer. Our discussion is about managing the latest challenges for widely distributed teams, bringing great insights on how to balance empathy with performance, how to provide the right support and guidance for effective communications, and generally seeking to make life for your team easier, not harder.

Then we move into live coaching, where we strategise, coach and explore how to address the one challenge or blocker that Marcus has identified as key for improvement. The blocker, he explains, is about maintaining that team bond and how much trickier it has become, when travel and in-person events are not an option this year.

Tune in and experience the power of coaching in our first show to feature a live on-the-spot coaching session!

Jul 02, 202037:34
Bullying and Bad Leadership in Remote Environments; Shauna's Story
Jun 26, 202001:00:15
Emotional Intelligence in the Online Environment – Maureen Hewitt – Founder and Academic Director of Positive Success Group

Emotional Intelligence in the Online Environment – Maureen Hewitt – Founder and Academic Director of Positive Success Group

Our discussion in this podcast with Maureen Hewitt, is all around emotional intelligence and building strong foundations and relationships in the online environment.

Maureen is the founder and academic director of PSG, Positive Success Group. PSG being led by Maureen, strengthens leadership in people, teams and organisations through coaching, emotional intelligence and tailored programmes.

Maureen talks to us about the importance of being able to constantly adapt as we move into the remote working space. Being conscious of the elements that have been dulled down as a result of moving online and how to amplify them up again.

Once again, we learn that there are terrific opportunities for businesses moving online, while recognising the need to take time to invest in learning, in order to grow and evolve.

Listen in to this inspiring podcast for tonnes of wisdom and great advice for anyone operating in the virtual world.

Jun 18, 202037:00
The importance of ‘time’, our most valuable commodity – Shauna Moran – Founder of Operate Remote
Jun 11, 202029:19
Personal Opportunities from Transitioning to Remote Working - Justine Shu - We Work Remotely
Jun 05, 202035:36
Uncovering Powerful Leadership Capabilities From Within - Nigel Stevens - Organic Growth Marketing
May 28, 202034:24
Transitioning to Remote Work - Benjamin Crudo - Diff Agency
May 21, 202035:13
Leading Teams with Empathy - Roy Sunstrum - GiveCloud.co
May 15, 202030:38
The key to Enabling a Thriving Remote Work Environment - Tim Burgess - Shield GEO
May 08, 202032:21
The Secret to a Successful Workplace Wellbeing Program - Brian Crooke - Workplace Wellbeing
May 01, 202028:27
Scaling With remote Teams - Chathri Ali - Recharge

Scaling With remote Teams - Chathri Ali - Recharge

How can we help our company to grow without perishing in the attempt, learning what tools we must improve, how we can keep vital information available to everyone, and maintain fluid communication? How difficult but important is it for leaders to manage their time to guide their teams and be effective in their work without overdoing themselves? How important is face-to-face for a remote company and how can we use this to avoid long-term losses? And how important is empathy as part of the corporate culture? All these questions get their answers through Chanthri Ali.

In this episode of The Human Behind the Screen, we are going to speak with Chanthri Ali, who is the Chief Operating Officer for ReCharge, the leading subscription billing platform designed for physical subscription goods. She currently oversees the sales, marketing, customer success, and people operations, teams. ReCharge has achieved fast growth and currently powers over 10,000 e-commerce stores including Hubble Contacts, Native Deodorant, Dr. Axe, and Billie.

Apr 24, 202028:06
How to Nurture a Healthy Working Environment - Leah Knobler - Help Scout

How to Nurture a Healthy Working Environment - Leah Knobler - Help Scout

Keeping a conversation with Leah Knobler, we will learn about how can we modify the hiring process, to generate a better relationship with new employees, how important is creativity when creating an inclusive environment within a remote company and difference between the growing and the scaling of a company.

In this episode of The Human Behind the Screen, we got the chance to speak with Leah Knobler, a former high school teacher from New York, who found her passion for helping people as the director of talent acquisition for Help Scout.

Leah has been creating inclusive environments since 2005 when she started her career as an NYC public school teacher. After years of educating the youths and working in higher education, she discovered her true love of People Operations when she heard about Help Scout, a remote-first tech company building helpful, human customer messaging tools. She took a chance, changed her career path, and for the past 4.5 years, she's grown the team from 20 to 110 people. Leah loves talking about recruiting like a human, diversifying tech, and Beyoncé.

Apr 17, 202030:05
Empowering Remote Employees - Job Van der Voort - Remote

Empowering Remote Employees - Job Van der Voort - Remote

In the business world, especially in remote work, being a good leader brings many benefits for the team. How do we know if we have the necessary qualities to be a good leader? How can we help our employees develop independence and ownership? What parameters must we have to guide our employees correctly? Is there a way to give our remote team the same benefits that our local teams have?

In this episode of The Human Behind the Screen, we are joined by Job Van der Voort, who has a background in neuroscience. Job went into tech by starting a start-up, joining gets lab as Vice President of product. And he was fundamental in helping get lab scale from five people to unicorn have over 500 employees. Also, He's now helping the world work remotely as the CEO of remote.com, a company that allows both employers and remote workers around the world.

Apr 10, 202029:35
The Principles of Good Leadership for Remote Teams - Kelly Vaughn - The Taproom Agency

The Principles of Good Leadership for Remote Teams - Kelly Vaughn - The Taproom Agency

Having a remote work team, added to the one we have in an office, is an excellent opportunity to expand our reach as a company and add diversity to our work team, but what happens when our work team is entirely remote? How much can the experience gained over the years help us, when we undertake a project as innovative as risky? And, how important is a leader to help us grow and achieve our personal goals?

Apr 03, 202027:27
Working Remotely During the COVID-19 Pandemic - Shawn Winters - GitLab

Working Remotely During the COVID-19 Pandemic - Shawn Winters - GitLab

There are a lot of us who have worked remotely for years, but, how should we deal with these new circumstances? How do we cope with the challenges that are implied with a generalized lockdown? And also, how do leaders manage a team that is transitioning to remote work now?

We have Shawn Winters with us today in The Human Behind The Screen to share his experience as a leader of remote teams as well as his interesting point of view on topics like mental health and motivation for remote workers in these times of crisis.

Apr 02, 202031:59
Being an Successful Leader of Hybrid Teams - Brandee Sanders - Planet Brandee

Being an Successful Leader of Hybrid Teams - Brandee Sanders - Planet Brandee

Working remotely is a huge resource when it comes to having a flexible schedule, to fulfil our dreams or goals, but we could find some obstacles inside this kind of work. How we get the same visibility as our pairs, that work in an office? and how we, as leaders, can use standardization to help all our team members to be more efficient and have better communication?

We are joined by Brandee Sanders, the owner and director of marketing operations activities of Planet Brandee, which is an award-winning visual storytelling, multimedia and content consultancy strategy business and the director of marketing operations activities.

Mar 27, 202039:32
Improving Communication in Remote Teams - Jordan Husney - Parabol

Improving Communication in Remote Teams - Jordan Husney - Parabol

Working remote comes with a lot of challenges, one of the most obvious is the time zone differences. So, what do we do to improve communication under this scenario? And, how do we prevent this from generating more problems like isolation for our team members? We’ll discuss these and other topics in today’s episode of The Human Behind The Screen.

We’re joined by Jordan Husney, co-founder and CEO of Parabol, a software that provides communication tools for remote workers. Jordan will share a few tips on how to improve the hiring process to find the right people for your team and how to overcome various other challenges implied when working remotely.

Mar 20, 202042:26
The Benefits of Holacracy - Morgan Legge - Convert

The Benefits of Holacracy - Morgan Legge - Convert

We’re quite used to the common management hierarchy that we’ll find in most businesses nowadays, both local and remotely - But what happens when teams work autonomously and decision-making is distributed throughout a holarchy of self-organizing groups rather than being vested in said hierarchy?

Today we’re joined by Morgan Legge, an expert advocate of remote working from Convert, who will discuss the benefits of holacracy as a modern-day solution for teams and management models.

Mar 13, 202048:54
How to Be Efficient at Managing Remote Teams - Sarah McDevitt- Hubspot

How to Be Efficient at Managing Remote Teams - Sarah McDevitt- Hubspot

Remote Teams are quite often crucial but overlooked components of our businesses, often so overlooked that it’s also common to think they can be managed the same way an office team can be organized - but what does managing a remote team really look from an inside perspective? What different challenges we can find when establishing an inclusive culture within that area? In this episode of The Human Behind The Screen, we’re joined by Sarah McDevitt, head of Customer Onboarding and Partner Success at Hubspot - and we’ll find out what management really is about when you’re connecting remote teams with each other.

Mar 06, 202036:10
Outsourcing Remote Resource and Scaling Quickly - GQ Fu - LTV Plus

Outsourcing Remote Resource and Scaling Quickly - GQ Fu - LTV Plus

Working remotely as an individual means having to adapt to your job or company needs from an employer standpoint. However, what happens when the task is too big for an individual or a small team? What happens when you need to entrust a complete specific part of your business to another partner who is not on-site?

In this episode of The Human Behind the Screen we’re joined by GQ Fu, co-founder of LTVplus to discuss the intricacies of outsourcing and integrating other businesses in your own corporate or work ecosystem and keep things smooth between both parties to ensure optimal performance in your business.

Feb 28, 202050:52
How Companies and Leaders Can Be Effective at Scaling Remote Workforces - Filippo Di Trapani- Automattic

How Companies and Leaders Can Be Effective at Scaling Remote Workforces - Filippo Di Trapani- Automattic

What does a business need to consider as remote teams start to scale? What does communication, onboarding and hiring strategies need to embody when your team is 800+ remote employees? In this episode, we speak to Filippo Di Trapani, Design Director at Automattic to discuss how companies and leaders can be effective at scaling remote workforces and make remote truly authentic and successful when a business is rapidly growing.

Feb 21, 202031:21
The Secret to Building Long-lasting Relationships Remotely - Jon Stern - Retention Rocket

The Secret to Building Long-lasting Relationships Remotely - Jon Stern - Retention Rocket

When we think about the human connections we make remotely, our customers and partners play a big role in that. How do we connect with customers and partners with whom we never meet face-to-face? How do we ensure that we engage and retain customers when we build our relationships online? Jon Stern is the VP of Client Experience at Retention Rocket. Jon manages clients, partners, and prospects all over the world while working primarily in his home in San Diego. In this episode, we dive into what it takes to build effective customer relationships when you're limited to face-to-face interaction.

Feb 14, 202027:57
Building Empathy and Understanding in Multi-cultural Team Environments - Bridgid Farrell- All Talk Training

Building Empathy and Understanding in Multi-cultural Team Environments - Bridgid Farrell- All Talk Training

Communication is at the heart of any successful remote or multi-location team. What happens to communication when businesses add more dynamics to a remote team? How do we build effective human connections and interpersonal relationships when we have a diversity of languages and cultures. How can we prepare our businesses, our teams and ourselves when it comes to multi-cultural communication? In this episode, Bridgid Farrell from All-Talk Training discusses how speaking the same language on a multi-cultural team, doesn't guarantee that everyone has the same voice.

Brigid Farrell, the founder of AllTalk Training, works with companies who operate internationally and have culturally diverse teams, helping them to eradicate communication issues that arise due to differences in language and culture. 

Having spent several years abroad, Brigid has observed countless instances of communication breakdown due to cultural misunderstandings. In addition to this, her work training businesspeople in English has also afforded her extensive insight into the areas that lead to miscommunication in international business.

This experience led Brigid to identify a pressing need - the development of communication training for those working within diverse teams. This training offers practical solutions to the question ‘What can we, native speakers of English, do to ensure non-native speakers are given an equal voice?’

Uncovering what can be done to improve cross-cultural interactions not only reduces inefficiencies that negatively impact productivity but also helps to drive collaboration among diverse teams.


Feb 07, 202023:33
Managing Yourself as a Human Being When Working Remotely - Brad Jasper - Remote Habits

Managing Yourself as a Human Being When Working Remotely - Brad Jasper - Remote Habits

A remote job, more than a position, is a lifestyle on its own because our job latches onto our everyday personal space and it is harder to delimit boundaries compared to having a fixed position in a local office. It is at that moment when we fail to set healthy habits for ourselves and we lose track of our circles, our social interactions, our physical health, and we slowly phase out of keeping things fresh and proficient.  In today’s podcast, we are going to have the opportunity to hear all about the experiences that our guest Brad Jasper has collected through extensive years working as a product developer, freelancer, and consultant. Brad himself is the creator of Remote Habits, an amazingly helpful online community that is focused on sharing key lessons and learnings and healthy practices for remote employees.

Brad Jasper is a software entrepreneur building tools to help you be more productive, creative and independent. He created RemoteHabits, a place for workers to learn how to make the transition to remote work and also Focus an app to help with deep work. Currently, he's building Bit.sv, a next-generation network to help creators earn a living from their content. To learn more visit https://bradjasper.com


Feb 07, 202040:18
The Secret Sauce to Remote Team Success - Vargab Bakshi & Eduardo Casta- Shopify

The Secret Sauce to Remote Team Success - Vargab Bakshi & Eduardo Casta- Shopify

How do we build extraordinary relationships with our team members when they work halfway across the world? What's the secret sauce to creating fun and productive working friendships when we rarely meet our colleagues in person? In this episode, I speak to two of my dear friends and previous colleagues, Vargab Bakshi and Eduardo Casta to dissect what made our connection so special and our team efforts so successful on a fully remote team at Shopify.

Vargab is a lead in the International Partnerships team at Shopify & their first employee in India. Vargab's expertise lies in E-commerce platform technologies & he has helped hundreds of small and medium businesses take their business online, guiding them in the digital space. Prior to Shopify, he has worked for Google and Martjack where he led Learning and Development. Presently he mentors freelancers and agencies to grow their business on Shopify. Apart from mentoring young startups, he is also a guest lecturer for educational institutions such as IIT KGP, SP Jain, Narsee Monji, Welingkar among others. In India, he has spoken at various conferences like Yourstory's Techsparks, India Retail Forum, Nasscom 10K startups amongst many others.

Eduardo is an entrepreneur and expert in business development for technology-based companies, he is passionate about business and technology. Since 2013, he has led the growth of Shopify -a Canadian multinational e-commerce company- in both Latin America and Spain, by promoting and linking entrepreneurs in areas such as Fintech, web design, application development, digital marketing, logistics services, government, incubators, and other key players for trade in the region.

Feb 07, 202057:06