Management
Today, we still can’t be sure how long the COVID-19 environment will keep us at home. This new and unique situation is a challenging one – alas, even though we are not yet in control of it, we can decide how to live with it, and how can we use these current living conditions for our growth and progress as individuals and as a society?
How can we all best support ourselves?
Does it not make sense to continue doing our work well? The basis for this is a place to work where we can be productive. If we are going to build trust among all of us to move forward as people, then we should all work together, because we are all in the same boat. That way we can achieve bigger goals like becoming a better society.
"Keep the focus in excellent, engagement and ethics", as Professor Howard Gardner puts it.
Your Home Office space should reflect:
trust
productivity
effective communication & negotiation
comfortable and excellence – a space just for you
Trust
Trust is essential to build a safe, well-functioning and productive workplace.
Be consistent: meet your commitments, show up on time and do what you say you’ll do.
Competence and reliability are key elements to earn the trust we need for a fruitful collaboration.
Be kind and respectful with yourself and others.
Don’t judge anyone for their setbacks; develop an open attitude to listen and comprehend. Building trust will make clients, co-workers or employees feel comfortable to share their honest thoughts, feelings, and ideas with you.
We need to be supportive in these unique times.
Be able to communicate, to tell the truth and feel free to admit when you don’t know something, and admit when you are wrong.
Be transparent, communicate your intentions and reasons for doing something.
Be a good listener: Check your coworkers’ reactions and ask their opinion.
Read some emotional intelligence books, empower your emotional intelligence – this will be a skill which will stick with you forever.
Productivity
If remote working from home is new to you, be patient with yourself – you are leaving your comfort zone! Working remotely is like going to the gym for first time: it requires training & focus. And you will most probably not master it in the first one or two days!
Keep a firm routine, set goals and priorities: What is important? What is urgent? What just seems urgent? If you think about it, and it turns out to be neither important nor needs to be solved at once... Even from home office, you can delegate tasks to others in their home offices. Prepare a to-do-list the day before; you’ll be more focused and find it easier to start the next morning: because you already have the game plan and your goals ready!
Keep a logbook, allowing you to keep record of what you did when and on which project. Observe your working hours and track them – there are a couple of nice easy-to-use and free apps available! Of course, you still may just work with your watch, pencil & notepad – old school’s okay with home office!
Those who work from home tend to work longer hours ... don’t work overtime, it's not productive.
Take breaks and organise them like you did in the office; in longer video conferences as well, it’s smart to plan and schedule pauses (for coffee, lavatory or checking for what your children are up to).
If you are video conferencing with your colleagues, agree to some rules which might contribute to a good and productive session: schedule your appointments for meetings in advance and make it clear which time suits you best to allow for optimum concentration and a low chance of disturbance.
Take a power nap, studies agree that this improves our concentration and memory.
Reducing stress levels, greatly increases your stamina. Try it out!
Get up in-between, walk around and exercise – do at least some desk stretching exercises to keep that ache in your lower back away!
Put on your Casual Fridays work outfit – alas, if you have a formal video conference that day, a more formal business outfit is appropriate (for example, as newscasters on TV do)
Stay organised to get things done and stay safe and healthy!
Communication
Clear communication is key: with your boss, with your colleagues, with your clients, and with your partner, too! Communication which is face-to-face and instant usually builds up a personal closeness: video calls, Facetime, Google Hangouts, Skype, Zoom (mind the current possible data security issue) etc. Consider that if you do not need visualisation (like screen sharing), a phone call can be even more personal and focused...
Arrange meeting times in advance & make clear when you are available to talk. Communicating with colleagues can avoid feelings of isolation; you can organise both, a coffee break with them or a brainstorming session.
Check your communication style:
Create conditions that promote cooperation of all parties involved, e.g. plan pauses, let everyone finish, how to indicate when you want to speak, choose a host or moderator to structure the meeting and keep track of the speaking-order.
The interpersonal aspect must be considered in the development of relationship skills, aimed at improving the overall communication.
Build Good Communication Strategies: create a climate of empathy, trust and security that encourages people to express themselves responsibly and sincerely, legitimising both one's own needs and those of others.
It is the language of cooperation and the search for mutually satisfactory solutions which leads to successful meetings and negotiations. Because it facilitates the expression of mutual needs, constituting the fundamental axis of win-win negotiation processes, characterised by values such as solidarity, reciprocity and relational justice.
Work-Life balance
Pyjamas are worn in bed – change into a proper work outfit to start your home office work. It's well known that those who work from home tend to work longer hours... control yourself and try not to work overtime... because this is usually not productive (and will leave you frustrated too, once you slip into your PJ’s again!).
Closing the door after your working day, means: call it a day, it’s closing time!
Create an area that you consciously enter and leave, unless it's a place you use for other purposes, and at the end of work you want to put it back with its original use. This way you don’t condition yourself to feel like you are in a work-mode when you actually want to be in a private one. Working from home allows you to give your workspace that extra touch that makes the space more pleasant:
e.g. plants, do not only give a nice touch and add colour but, science has proven, there are many that actually raise the oxygen level in your room.
Use the opportunity of a home office situation to work in a pleasant place where you feel perfectly comfortable.
Add some decoration, a notebook, a shelf where you can keep it (even shut a door so you don’t have to look at it when in ’private mode’) and so on.
Take advantage of reading the books you've wanted to read but do not forget to move your body: Exercise! Exercise! Exercise!
Learn to meditate – give your mind and body a chance to rewind and be at ease.
Learn to enjoy your own company: this unique COVID-19 situation can be the best time for that, to lower the internal/external noise. You can use the time to reset and to reflect, maybe even find the answers to your own philosophical questions.
Ask yourself if there is anything you can contribute to improve the lives of others in these moments?
Check all those things you've wanted to do but lacked the time: call an old school friend, organise a group call with friends, read a book. But do not put too much private stuff on the list, because this will build up stress.
Become aware of your emotions and negative attitudes in order to change them, choosing to access your resources, strengths and virtues. Without a doubt, in the difficult moments of our lives, cultivating hope, confidence, courage and integrity will give us the strength and motivation needed to build creative solutions and to find meaning and significance in suffering.
Kids
When working from home, parents are facing work in an alternative way. The children are at home, because the kindergartens and schools are closed. Do not worry – these days, all parents are facing the same situation, be them your bosses, managers, clients or others. We are in the same boat, and this surely adds a little bit of understanding and empathy during these virulent times.
Generate internal balance. Learn how to give quality time to your family and also quality time to your work. Use this situation to create a relationship of trust and respect with your loved ones.
Explain to your children what working from home is all about.
Plan and schedule “family-only” activities.
Children like to imitate their parents. Look for activities they can do while you are working – let them set up their own home office.
Make it clear to them (and to you) that everyone has their own tasks at home. Plan a set of activities that the children can do, suitable to their age. This also involves developing a schedule and setting rules for the family home office with your partner too.
Every culture and family has its own peculiarities and characteristics – find and enjoy yours! These are unique times – let’s take advantage of them wherever we can. With a confident attitude like this, the current situation will remain in your child's memory as an experience in which values, empathy and respect grew strong.
