With many of us now working from home indefinitely, we’re all learning new and creative ways of working to ensure that we collaborate and connect with our team members.
Jess Richardson and her team of Portfolio and Programme Analysts have been working flexibly as a team for over a year. Here Jess shares how she and her team make it work for them as well as her top tips for working remotely.
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Jess’s top tips for working from home
Find out what your team think will be the challenges and opportunities
On our first day working from home we had a team meeting on Zoom and I asked everyone to share what they thought would be the most challenging aspect of remote working and what they thought the opportunities would be, on both a personal and professional level. The most common challenges were the social isolation, missing the chat and fun of the office environment and their personal working environment at home. I’m going to follow up on these thoughts in a few weeks’ time to see if those initial thoughts have turned out to be true.
“Zoom is a great tool for those who need to have meetings with multiple people.”
Make time for social catch-ups to maintain your team cohesion
As a result of the exercise above I booked in a 20 minute Zoom ‘coffee break’ at the same time every day so that the chat and fun can still continue without necessarily talking about work. There are a number of people in our area who work alone so I have invited them along too so they don’t feel isolated.
Think about a healthy working environment
Put your laptop up on some storage boxes and stand up for part of the day. If you’re tall, put your laptop on some thick books to bring it up to the right height. Have 1-2-1s as walking meetings and encouraging your team members to enjoy their daily exercise at the same time. Take phone calls outside in the garden if you can so you can enjoy the benefits of nature.
Think creatively for team celebrations
I have a team member leaving at the end of the week so the usual team lunch and presentation is not an option. Instead I have booked a Zoom Tropical-themed leaving party – dress in your loudest shirt, bring your own tropical drink and party food and prepare to dance (alone). Hopefully it will give us something fun to look forward to. I am already thinking about how to celebrate a ‘I’m not going on holiday’ online event on the day I was supposed to be flying to Dubai in April and an online birthday party.
Over communicate with your team and manager
Make sure everyone in the team knows what the priorities are this week and elicit concerns on how to complete the work so that whole team can support them.
Remember you can update your Sametime settings
If you need to concentrate on something switch Sametime to ‘Do not disturb’ and put your phone on silent.
Allow team members to work different hours
I have team member with small children so she asked if she could do some of her hours in the evening when they have gone to bed.
Take a break
Three other people in my family are working from home so we have agreed to try eating lunch together or take an afternoon break together.
When I’m not working, I like to potter about in my garden so I’m using the current situation to plant lots of seeds and enjoy some fresh air and sunshine.
Reflecting on the current situation Jess said:
“Although this can be a challenging time for managers to manager their teams remotely, it also nudges us out of our usual grooves and forces us to think differently to get the best from our team and get the work done, which I think will also have long-term benefits.”
Do you have a top tip for working from home? Share your ideas in the comments below.