In my last blog I wrote about how most people like the idea of remote working but struggle with the reality, missing the daily interaction with colleagues – no chats over coffee, no joke at your desk, no interruptions. No enforced structure of being in the office at 09:00 and going home at 17:30. Staff loose contact with what is going on and managers can’t supervise directly and so have to trust their staff.
So what did I cover last time?
I have worked from home and run remote teams for years and so this my view based on my experience, which hopefully will be of some help to many of you;
Technology is just the enabler that allows people to work from anywhere, once it is all setup it can be largely ignored.
The big challenge is mental wellbeing, it is far too easy to spend the whole day in the same room staring at your screen. Start by taking short breaks for tea or to do a domestic chore. It is OK to go and spend time with the kids! Have a longer break during the day such as a long lunch while you read your book, or go for a walk, run, cycle.
Call up your colleagues for a chat, go networking at one of the many of on-line networks that have started up in the last few days and have a social chat at the start of conference calls while you are waiting for other attendees to join.
Also, some activities will sap your energy while others invigorate and energise you, so intersperse your day with both!
Finally, be selective about where you get your news from, ignoring the false-news and gossip. Remember to keep the information in proportion, understand the statistics!
Have a plan
I spent a lot of my career doing Project Management roles, so I love to have a plan! In fact, I am very uncomfortable when I don’t have a plan in place.
I always liken it to climbing up a rock face. When you first look up you can’t see how you are going to get to the top, then you start to work out your route, where the hand and foot holds are and suddenly it all becomes very easy!
Also working from home removes the routine of going to work at 09:00 so you have to be self-disciplined! Make sure you get up at a regular time, start work at a regular time and don’t get distracted. Some people find they need to dress in their work attire to feel like they are going to work (I had a boss who used to wear a suite and tie while working at home!), there are also many people who happily work in their pyjamas all day!
The point is to plan your day and stick to it. Decide when are you going to work, when are you going to chill!
- Before you finish in the evening decide what are the things that have to happen the next day and block out time in your diary to do them.
- Make a list of the priority activities, stuff to follow up and any anything else to complete.
- Make sure your plan can be realistically achieved in a working day and you can do all the important activities.
- Identify the things to fill in time in the quite moments (e.g. before a call or other scheduled activity) and that can run onto the next day without any consequences.
Email is a great activity to do in those 5- or 10-minute gaps, you don’t have to respond immediately but make a note of those that require your attention. Remember with email that if is really important they will phone you, set that expectation with people. I also find I have to fight the temptation to respond to an email with an email when it may be better to phone and discuss the topic to conclusion there and then, rather than spending hours writing an email response that covers the multiple possible solutions
Don’t forget in your planning to include the things for you, extend your plan beyond your working day and think about when you will exercise, have a virtual lunch with a friend or spend time with your family. The beauty of working from home is you can you flex your working day to incorporate non-work activity (within reason!). I often plan in a longer walk or cycle during the day to get the daylight but work later in the evening to compensate.
Remember, social media is not a bad thing either, giving a little down time during the day but time box how long you spend on your personal platform. For most businesses social media is part of the work and so is an activity in its own right.
I reiterate, plan your tomorrow before you go home today!
It reduces the feeling of panic about everything you have to do, and your mind will mull over the tasks during the evening and night so you know what you are doing when you start. Balance your day with fun stuff and boring grind, energy sapping and invigorating.
Management
Millennials want to be measured on performance not the hours they work, which is far more suited for remote working but very odd for us baby boomers, making us uncomfortable managing in this environment.
The key as a manager is to set the outcome not the method to achieve it;
- Be very clear on what is to be achieved and agree how will I, as a manager, know it has been done.
- Discuss the approach your employee will take and coach, mentor and support them
- Agree how you will monitor progress, whether that is having a meeting, progress reports or seeing a draft copy.
- Regularly check-in informally to see how things are going and offer assistance when needed
However, the general rules of managing still apply, do not take on the task unless it’s appropriate for you to do it. Your team are there to do the work, you are there to support your team.
Keep communicating with your team
I regularly talk to business owners who say communication calls are too much of a time commitment but then I look back and realise that I did regular 30 minutes call and rarely missed a project deadline – just saying!
The daily call is not the forum for your team to update you as their manager, you still need to have regular one-to-ones for that (plus it is mind numbingly boring for the rest of the team to have to listen to detailed break downs of everybody’s current work!), the point is to keep the entire team up to speed on what is going on.
- Discuss what is due to happen that day
- Review the plan – not the detail
- Make sure everyone knows what they are doing and how it fits into the wider plan
- Discuss any issues
I also found it was good to mix it up some days so the call does not become repetitive, possibly with a focus on a topic for a day e.g. the new marketing campaign, the plan for a new product, finances, etc.
Hidden in the background as a manager I would have a theme of the week which I would discuss at every opportunity. Something I needed the team to remember such as why paperwork must be done by Friday, the focus on the customer or whatever it is. Your team won’t remember everything you tell them, so you need the focus on key items
You still need to be a Leader
Leadership needs to be very deliberate with remote working and not just words, it must be demonstrated at all levels. As a leader be very clear on your vision for the company;
- The business goals for next 5, 3, 1 year and next quarter and the plan to achieve them
- The values of the company
- The culture of the company
- The plan to achieve the goals
By culture I mean things like the behaviours expected, the principles behind decision making, people’s attitude as a team, to the customers, to the suppliers and to people who are not connected in any way to the business.
Then Communicate with your team regularly to ensure they understand, ensure everyone is included, listen to their feedback and integrate it into your thinking – they will have some brilliant ideas!
Finally, make sure your team understand how their work contributes to the success of the company.
Make it fun! Have a chat and a joke on the calls and allow your team to share videos of cats, funny clips and jokes!
Remote working over the next few weeks and months is going to be a challenge for all of us and I think will change the way we work for ever. It will require us all to modify our behaviour and accept one size does not fit all! However underneath it all the principles of running a business will remain the same, just the physical structures will change!
Those that manage their business well will be the ones that survive the crisis and even thrive!
