Work Without Walls

by Maura Nevel Thomas

The Key to Success in the Knowledge Economy is Quality Employee Experience

Executives must protect knowledge workers (and themselves!) from stress and burn-out. How can you and your team be creative when exhaustion and frustration from 24/7 communications, changing priorities, and constant distractions are the norm?

Today's "always-on" work culture actually prevents you and your team from producing what really matters: ideas, innovation, and meaningful results.

According to Maura Thomas in Work Without Walls, "{in the knowledge economy,} the most important individual and corporate resources are neither time nor money, but body and mind." Her research and 20+ years of experience in the productivity field confirm that relationships and productivity suffer when people are stressed, and that greater employee happiness creates success and productivity, and is essential to deliver great customer experiences.

Author Maura Thomas describes how to intentionally create a workplace culture that nurtures creativity and improves productivity by focusing on high-quality employee experience through:

- Work-life balance
- Holistic well-being
- Significant results
- Attention management vs. time management
- Effective communication strategies
- Office design that supports both collaborative and focused work
- Vacation and downtime
- Off-site work with healthy boundaries

Each chapter provides personal shifts and organizational changes through specific action items you can implement now to support the well-being and long-term success of you, your team, and your organization.

"If conventional wisdom says that constant work is necessary for professional success, I can't think of a more important time to buck convention." ~Maura Nevel Thomas

Genres: Business, Professional Development, Nonfiction, Leadership

168 pages, Paperback

Published February 14, 2017

About the author

Maura Nevel Thomas is an award-winning international speaker and trainer on individual and corporate productivity and work-life balance, and the most widely-cited authority on attention management. Her proprietary Empowered Productivity™ System has been embraced by the likes of the NASA, Dyson, and Google. She's ranked in the Top 10 Time Management Professionals in the World, and was named a Top Leadership Speaker by Inc. Magazine. She's also a TEDx Speaker and the author of six best-selling books. Maura is frequently featured in major business outlets including Business Insider, Fast Company, and the Washington Post, and she’s also a regular contributor to both Forbes and the Harvard Business Review, with articles there viewed over a million times.

Reviews

[Kevin Eikenberry · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 2015 I ran across a book called Personal Productivity Secrets. (Here is my recommendation.) I was so impressed by this book that I wanted to meet the author, so I reached out to her and that began an intermittent, but ongoing conversation with her about productivity and more. In Maura, I found someone who asked some of the same questions I asked, though she asked them to help her clients, and I asked them, mostly, for myself and perhaps my team.

I had the chance to read an early draft of this book (and provide a brief review – which you will see if you go to Amazon to buy a copy), and talk to her about the construction of the chapter titled “the location of work.”

I share all this to let you know that I might be a bit biased, and that I was eagerly anticipating the book. When I received it last week, I read through the final version, and immediately knew I wanted to recommend it to you here.

Read more...

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book!

In Work Without Walls Maura addresses timely topics like how to handle email, workflow and vacation time in today's technology and distraction filled environment. The end of each chapter lists out "action items" making the concepts learned easy to implement immediately. I like how Maura challenged me to take a step back and re-think company policies as well as my own personal behaviors and the messages those send to my team. My entire team works remotely, so I loved her chapter devoted to telecommuting. This book was especially relevant to me as the business owner, but I also plan to have my entire team read this, especially the chapters on distraction & attention, email, and telecommuting.

[Monisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Feeling overwhelmed by too many emails, being on 24/7, having too much to do and being constantly distracted in the open office? These are the realities of our current working world that are dramatically affecting our sanity and productivity.

Maura Nevel Thomas directly addresses each of these elements and provides specific actions and tools that our corporate leaders, managers and employees can implement to pull out of the madness and create a culture and environment that supports productivity and overall well-being.

[سليمان العوشن · Rating 4 out of 5]

بعد قرأتك كتاب "العمل بدون جدران" للمؤلفة ماورا توماس، ستدرك أهمية هذا الطرح العميق في تسليط الضوء على التحديات الحقيقية التي تواجه بيئات العمل المعاصرة. يناقش الكتاب، بمنهجية دقيقة، الأثر السلبي للمشتتات المستمرة على قدرتك في الحفاظ على التركيز والإنتاجية، كما يوضح كيف تحوّلت بيئة العمل إلى مساحة استجابة دائمة بدلًا من كونها مجالًا للإبداع والتفكير العميق.
يُلفت انتباهك أيضًا إلى دور القيادة المؤسسية في تبني ثقافة تحترم الوقت والانتباه، ويقدّم لك استراتيجيات عملية قابلة للتطبيق تهدف إلى خلق بيئة عمل أكثر صحة وكفاءة.
إنه كتاب يدعوك لإعادة النظر في ممارساتك المهنية، ويحفّزك على استعادة السيطرة على انتباهك كشرط أساس لتحقيق التميز الفردي والنجاح المؤسسي. أنصحك بقراءته بتأنٍ، فهو مرجع قيّم في زمن التشتت الرقمي المتسارع.

تابعني على شبكات التواصل الاجتماعي

سليمان العوشن

http://about.me/aloshan

[Magda Krakowiak · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick to read, but rather a self-help style of book, which I am not particularly fond of. Some interesting observations and a summary (take away points) at the end of each chapter.

The topic itself is highly relevant and interesting. In the knowledge economy and information overflow attention and focus are a scarce resource.

[Marta Dzhambazova · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good overview of the problems in the modern office. Quite some of the content is close to Maura’s other works. It dies give actionable ideas and typically in the author’s style can be used as a guide to improving issues.

[Mehul Sheth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thomas shares her productivity philosophy from the perspective of a company leader trying to establish a modern, healthy, low stress work environment.

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's about average. The author covers the basics of how to improve employee working conditions in order to improve productivity. This includes chapters on office layout and remote workers. These days, supporting remote workers is a reality for most companies, so many of the ideas listed here are already being addressed to some extent. The benefit of this book is to enlighten those who haven't thought about the rest of the ideas.

[Austin Sawyer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interestinly enough found it very hard to foucs on this book. Though many of the suggestions for better attention a good idea but not practical in the work place, such as creating a nap room for employees.

[Mills College Library]

658.3044 T4594 2017