Day 1 | Working From Home ... 5 Kids are present ...
How to work from home when everyone is home.
It’s day one. Monday. Working from home. I was all set to be productive. It’s 1:13 p.m. and my bride is potty training our 2.58 year old baby girl. Ezra did the 3 pages of homework and 20 minutes of reading assigned. Elliott is studiously working. Titus has wrapped up for the day and is installing new door knobs and locks on the house. Elizabeth, my niece, is now Spider-man and she has finished her school work as well. I’m trying to work. There are only five kids running around the house. No big deal.
There’s a book on my “soon to read” shelf: it’s called, “Deep Work.” It’s all about focusing. I might pick it up tonight since I can’t watch Duke and Arkansas make a run for the playoffs.
So the question is not only, “How do we collaborate well with our team from a distance?” but the question is also, “How do I focus?”
For today, let’s talk about how to focus.
Work From Home Tip 1: Interruptions are everywhere, embrace them and calm down.
Remember when you were interrupted at the office last week and you responded in a polite, fun, and curious way? We recommend a similar response at home. For some reason at home, we pretend we can’t be bothered because our work is super important. Here’s my thought: If we respond in a relationally healthy way, we won’t have as much conflict at home, therefore; easier to focus.
Work From Home Tip 2: Manage your priorities effectively with your team.
Know what has to get knocked out and don’t let the less urgent, less important tasks get in the way of the most important. Plan out your top priorities for the week. Be sure to set meetings or request what you need from others in a timely manner so you’re not inadvertently creating stress for them . Remember, they have 23 kids running around the house as well, with a significant other trying to work from home too. :)
Our Insight team is leveraging Microsoft Teams to collaborate and keep up with who is doing what. Thanks to Angela Lowther, COO of Hatcher Agency for showing us the ropes! Leverage the tools you have or take the time to learn some new online collaboration tools. Slowing down to figure out new work from home norms will help you work at a better and more effective pace sooner than later.
Work From Home Tip 3: Set schedules and fix them again.
Set schedules, see if they work. Set schedules again, see if they work. Do it again. Make sure the schedules work for you, your team, your spouse, and your kids. We have to be realistic that we aren’t typically going to have 4 consecutive hours of quiet. Set realistic expectations for schedules. When our current state of the union has reverted back to some kind of normalcy, I know that I want my team to be able to say, “My boss was considerate of the adjustment needed in this environment. He/She was effective while also valuing my contributions when my personal and professional lives were colliding”. We can imagine what the opposite reflection could look like. For example, right now my wife and sister-in-law are swapping potty training secrets…
Focus! Focus! Focus! Okay I’m back.
Embrace the interruptions and enjoy this season as much as you can.
Mange your priorities and communicate well with your team.
Set schedules and establish new norms.
Share your work from home tips with the community and let’s all help one another out!
For more work from home tips check out a great post from another leader who navigating the shifts and changes: https://www.mindgenius.com/homeworking-homeschooling-in-covid-19-by-brad-egeland/
