Chances are you have been recently directed to work from home. If it’s not something you are generally used to please see my earlier blog post on How to work from home for newbies for some hints and tips. But working from home is one thing, working from home with children at home is another thing entirely. And it’s not just having family around that makes this new paradigm challenging, not being able to see and properly care for elderly relatives, not being able to go to the gym and see friends at the sports club or matches, all add new and challenging dimensions to our days (and nights).
So, while you might be working from home, you might not be able to do your normal 9-5 at home. Here are some tips on working productively and some ideas for how you might look to use this new way of homeworking to deliver better services to clients and increase loyalty within your workforce.
Working Productively while Staying at Home: 10 Tips for Success
1. Schedule less time than you think you’ll need.
When working a normal working week, your work can expand to fill the time available. You’ll be surprised how busy you can be without actively being productive!. Schedule specific time to complete specific tasks, the important ones first and once that time is up, if you haven’t finished, write a to do reminder list for the next slot that’s available for that activity. I do emails 7-8 am and pm and try to limit my access/responses to them throughout the rest of the day. That way I can properly give my attention to important tasks. And use your diary, put into your diary what you are doing and when, working on blog post, chasing up event speakers, logging into finance system, chasing late payers etc etc.. all tasks that need doing, so box out your diary, plan like a pro and you’ll be surprised just how productive you can be!
2. Compartmentalise your time.
Following on from my previous point, make your to do list work even harder, by scheduling in time to achieve each item. And once that time is up, be disciplined and move on to your next task. Try also to make your adjacent tasks different. This way your brain will totally switch to the new area and you’ll feel invigorated and will up your productivity again. So follow finance admin with telephone calls to team members, or social media scheduling with event planning.
3. Use tools.
To make your (work) life a whole lot easier use digital tools to do the heavy lifting for you. My personal favourites are
- If this then that IFTTT it’s a free way to get all your apps and devices talking to each other. You can use it make sure pictures you post in Instagram are shared to twitter as native pictures rather than a line of code, or event make sure your porch light comes on at home when the pizza is on its way.. the list really is endless. I use it to thank new followers, send monthly and weekly standard messages on twitter and a few other things, but it’s a good one to have fun with.
- Hootsuite This super powerful and trusted tool makes finding, scheduling, managing and reporting on social media content easier. You can save time by scheduling your posts, curate your content enabling you to stay on message with pre-approved content your teams can post, and measure your social media results by tracking performance and sharing meaningful insights with your team about customers and campaign content using customisable, easy to create reports. There are various plans available at different prices, but it’s about thinking for the future as well and weighing up the benefits of delivering effectively and staying connected.
- ZOOM This is a free to sign up and participate service, but if you wish to host meetings lasting more than 45 minutes or have them recorded for future sharing it’s a paid subscription monthly or annual subscription. Its way more stable than Skype, easier to use than Microsoft meetings, and less complicated to sign up for than google hangouts so for me it’s the winner for digital meetings and calls. They have even provided a guide to help users use zoom effectively during the COVID 19 pandemic which even includes tips on how to hide your messy room for a video conference. Also, Entrepreneur Magazine have a great article on getting the most out of ZOOM so it’s worth reading that to get yourself up top speed.
4. Know yourself and eat your frog.
Your energy levels will fluctuate over the course of the day, depending on your biological make up (I am definitely a morning lark not a night owl, comes from years of crew rowing I think!). So make sure you work on your hardest tasks at the time of the day when you have your peak energy. And while you’re at it, make sure you eat your frog at that time of the day too. Wondering what I am talking about? Mark Twain once said “If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.” … Eating the frog means to just do it, otherwise the frog will eat you meaning that you’ll end up procrastinating it the whole day. Here’s a cute little video which helps get the message across:
6. Take frequent breaks.
Taking small and frequent breaks to help you recharge enables you to process and retain more information for future use. Research backs this up, its’s why your apple watch tells you to stand up at least every hour. A small break to get some fresh air, peg out the washing or make a cuppa will help you up your productivity. Just don’t let the breaks turn into a distraction or start doing something which takes more than 5 minutes. Refer back to the first blog post on home working and the benefits of adopting the THE POMODORO TECHNIQUE to scheduling your tasks
7. Take up gardening.
If you don’t already, now is a great time to take up gardening. It not only provides physical exercise, but also has meditative qualities pruning, tieing in, weeding and digging all require mindful concentration and you’ll be surprised what bubbles up to the surface of your thoughts. I’ll bet that work problem you couldn’t see a way round will look a lot simpler after an hour or two in the garden. If you don’t have any outside space, then work on your indoor plants, clean their leaves, water them re pot them, spruce up the planters they are in, anything that lets your mind wander and brain rest.
8. Manage your remote teams like a boss.
As you know at the NHIC we have utilised remote working for a number of years now, our social media and marketing support is based in South Africa and our web hosting and maintenance is actually just up the road from me in the midlands, but we hardly ever connect f2f (once a year at Starbucks to exchange Christmas cards and a bottle of red). But we connect weekly if not daily using email, hangout messenger, and video chats. We are also now firm friends on FB and feel confident enough in each other that we are able to ask for help, admit we have forgotten to do something and need a dig out or simply need some help coming up with an idea. Having such a great team is a blessing and distance hasn’t affected the way we work one bit. Here a few things that can help
- Logistics
Make sure your team not only have the right equipment to work from home, but they know how to sue it as well. There are loads and loads of how to use videos on YouTube or the internet, use those, don’t create your own, but make sure, especially in these first few weeks that your team members feel supported and that they can be honest with you about their abilities.
- Be available and schedule check in time
Back to points 1 and 2, if you don’t want your team checking in with you at all hours, make it clear when you are available and when you are not. Ask them to do the same and see if this new time slot scheduling allows you to delver a better service to your clients… can you now offer 7-7 call centre or sales support because your team are home working dedicated 3-hour shifts rather than all simply being in the office together 9-5
- Lead by example
When using video conferencing tools, your tone, facial expressions and body language communicate as much as your words do. So be ready to lead by example, turn your camera on and keep your personal vibe high.
- Transparency
Keeping things clear is crucial when working remotely. If anyone is confused about strategy, deliverables or priorities its harder for them to simply catch up from round the office conversations. Build trust and confidence in your team with honest clear communication so team members feel secure and that they can ask anything.
- Add moments of fun
Don’t just use video conferencing and times when you speak to your team for important meetings either, schedule in office coffee breaks times when people come together with a drink for 15 minuets and simply chat. Helps keep relationships going and helps people gain confidence with the technology. Also think about planning in virtual lunch Thursdays and see who has the best lunch, or even host pub quizzes… My family has done this, we did it using facetime (you can have up to 32 on one facetime call, but they all need to be apple users). We did a round of 10 questions each and had it at 8:30 once the kids were in bed and had great fun.. the teenagers were on the phone to their mid 70’s grandparents helping them get their iPad sorted and one branch of the family even went as far as creating their own pub sign! We’ll be doing it again on Saturday night… at this rate we’ll be seeing more of each other during the lock down than we normally do!!
9.Create a sense of culture and community
During this time of social distancing and working from home we are naturally going to feel isolated and adrift. Maintaining your company culture will arguably be one of the most important aspects of keeping moral, engagement and productivity high during this time. A few ideas below to get you going, but tag us in on social media with your own company ways to show you’re #inittogether
- Bring your pet to work day – hold a virtual meeting where everyone brings and shows off their pet… this can even be your horse as all video conferencing facilities have mobile apps, so why not do it from the stables!
- Host drop in sessions – ZOOM has great facilities such as virtual waiting rooms, meeting rooms and white board where teams can come together for informal catch ups rather than scheduled more formal calls.
- Start thinking Virtual First – before you cancel any f2f events, think can it be virtual instead
10. Become outputs driven
Now more than ever we need to trust each other and focus on deliverable and outputs rather than hours at work. Being outputs driven means being focussed on goals and criteria. You present the problem to our team, thereby giving the goal and results that must be achieved, together with any preconditions for the solution and allow them to work on developing the solution in their own time and way. They might do it at night, collaborative using digital tools with team mates, or in splendid isolation from the comfort of their bedroom. It really doesn’t matter; what matters is the output!
Use this time to explore and be brave about new ways of working, and also to reflect on what works well and what not so well. And once we are out the other side, and this time will end and simply become a memory, consider which parts of “normal” are worth rushing back too. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if this dreadful pandemic can become a positive and vibrant disruption to the way we work and connect forever?
You never know, my family might even keep doing our virtual pub quiz every Saturday night!
Even though you are working from home and movement is restricted, it doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy your garden or the local park. Get outside and move, and if you don’t want to leave the house then use at home fitness apps like FIIT, Apptiv or YouTube to get moving daily and keep your vibe high.