What a strange new world we find ourselves in.
Working from home, for those who can, is becoming the new norm. It is a huge cultural change for many of us more used to a prescribed structure of being at work by a certain time, leaving at a certain time, regular meetings around which you fit the rest of your work, a quick chat to sort something out as you pass someone’s desk, the often undervalued but vitally important organisational glue of socialisation - asking how someone’s weekend or evening went, how their mother is now or their child, all of these things and more we take for granted when we are in the office, so much the daily fabric of what we do and where we are that we don’t consciously think about it.
I thought I knew this stuff when I worked in an office and, intellectually I did, but like many things, I didn’t really understand it until it wasn’t there anymore. Six months ago I left thirty years of structured working at Penguin Random House to set up my own coaching business and since then have learnt more than I could ever have foreseen about the difference between working in an office and working at home.
As a nation, and across the world, we are entering a whole new way of working. Yes, some people have been doing this for ages (hello writers and artists), and some of you, in bookshops or distribution centres, have jobs that don’t allow you to work remotely, so this is primarily aimed at those of you who have been office-based and are now either self-isolating (as I am with a cough) or your company has stepped in to say everyone should stay home.
Things are changing so fast. And with that change comes The Great Unknowing. The Great Unknowing can be a cause of much anxiety. Not only are we anxious about coronavirus and how that will affect us, our family, our friends, our businesses, but we are now dealing with all of that anxiety in a new unstructured, unfamiliar working environment.
So, looking for a way I could help colleagues across the industry, I thought I’d share some things I’ve learnt and some thoughts I have, from my own personal change, from years of leading a happy and successful team and from 10 years of coaching in an office environment, in the hope that they will enable you take a short cut to a place of calm acceptance and happy productivity. I will post about a different subject for the rest of this week and then for as long as there are things to say. I would love to hear from you any areas that you would like covered from a coaching perspective and I will do my best to tackle the most common questions that come in.
So where to begin? I am making an assumption if you are now working at home that your basic needs are being met by your company – you have the tech set up you require to do your job and some initial rules and systems are in place: you know the hours you are required to be available to others; you know what to do if you need something from the office; and you know which meetings are going ahead. It’s early days, so you almost certainly won’t have everything that you specifically need. Keep that in mind as your company has to get the most right for the highest number of people as quickly as possible. Your specific requirement may be important to you, but not everyone else. If you don’t know something – ask. Asking questions to get clarity for yourself and others has never been more important. Ask your manager, ask your HR team, ask your colleagues. Do not sit and fret. If you don’t know, others probably aren’t clear either, so you will be doing everyone a favour by shining a light. And remember everyone is doing their best at the moment in unprecedented circumstances, their priority may not be the same as yours, but at least, if you ask, you will know!
Giving yourself permission to work in a different way
Permission is something so many of us need without even realising it. You have been given permission to work at home but now you are there, what does it mean?
I went from full structure – many regular meetings and regular hours to no structure at all. I struggled with my productivity without deadlines flying at me from every angle. I felt that I wasn’t properly working unless I was at my ‘desk’ in my new working environment. After many conversations with long term freelance friends I am now comfortable working in the way that suits me – I start early when my brain is firing on all cylinders, no phone, email or social media til a time I have set for myself that day. I do yoga for 5 minutes to stretch and head outside several times a day. I can get a really productive, concentrated hour of creative work in by 9am and have walked the dog and done my yoga (5-Minute Morning Yoga with Adriene – highly recommend) and then I can carry on focussing if I’m in the swing or switch to answering emails, making calls etc. I don’t do any household chores til the afternoon when my concentration is lower and my work less productive. Putting a wash on is pleasing to tick off the list, but it’s not worth using your best brain cells to do it!
You will probably still have meetings on the phone or Zoom or Skype which will add some structure to your day or week but, outside a rigorous office structure, when do you do your best work? Are you a morning person or an evening one? Does the way you want to work fit with your colleagues and your family or flatmates? Where are you willing to compromise in order to do all the things you want to do? I am a true believer that as long as you get your job done well and on time it doesn’t really matter when you do it.
It is not lazy to take breaks from concentrated work. Look at your diary from the last week you were in the office. How many hours of concentrated work did you do? If it was anything like my job then it’s not even an hour a day, the rest of the time is spent in meetings (never 100% productive), or at your desk fielding other people’s queries, or managing staff or having a much needed respite chat in the kitchen as you make your 45th cuppa of the day. Therefore, if you spend an hour or more of concentrated productive work around any emails and conference calls at home then you are almost certainly achieving more than you did in a day in the office and you can walk the dog, put a wash on and make the kid’s tea as well!
Today’s question to ask yourself:
As long as the way you work fits within the broad rules expected from your company and you do your job well and on time - who do you need permission from to work the way you want to work?
The rest of this week I will focus on things to think about when you are part of a team working remotely whether you are leading a team or a team member.
If you have more questions, thoughts or worries then please do get in touch and I will do my best to tackle the things that come in. Let’s stay positive and supportive and together we can do this.
If you would like a 1-1 coaching conversation around anything you are facing related to this article, to talk about coaching support for your business or indeed anything else then do get in touch with me at inkworkscoaching@gmail.com You can talk to me or one of the other fantastic coaches I work with. And, an important note for these times, coaching can be done very effectively on the phone or a video call.