Working from our chosen spaces: from virtual offices such as Workshop17, co-Mind collaborative offices, coffee shops, and of course, home.
A mandatory work from home is not the same as staying home out of choice! It’s different for everyone right now, whether it be with partners and families or being alone at home. And it can feel more isolated than usual too. I look forward to the day we can support our favourite spaces and coffee shops!
So, here’s an update with a global lockdown in mind.
Some of the obvious physical things are important for remote working like a proper desk and chair. Save your neck by trying not to work for long chunks of time from your couch or bed.
As you move online for video calls, take a good look at what’s going on behind you… Family moving around too much? Clothes hanging on the cupboard door? We want to keep some element of professionalism. Is your face in the dark? Try to sit with natural light from a window falling on your face, as opposed to the window behind you.
Watch this video from Jason Bagley for other tips that will help you create a better video calling experience:
Connection
This includes everything from a decent internet connection (an obvious one) to being connected to each other (important right now). A strong internet connection is important for video calling and for cloud-based tools such as Dropbox to be able to synchronise files that team members are collaborating on. We’re using Zoom to have video calls with clients.
Culture of communication
Communication is key and we are in regular contact on Skype. Skype groups dedicated to projects or clients give team members a channel to chat. It’s easy to ask questions and get answers. Team members are very responsive, this is our company culture.
Teams that embrace ‘bursty’ communication – concentrated exchanges with little time lag between responses, perform better than those that let conversations drag.
We are fortunate that it just worked out this way, then we realised it is an ingredient in the secret sauce of our high performance team.
Read more about what makes remote teams thrive in Behavioral Scientist’s article.
Trying to keep it Zen
When working from home having a structured day can go out the window as you aren’t getting dressed to go to an office or getting in the car at a certain time to get to work. It’s best to try to be intentional and disciplined about following some sort of routine. Get dressed out of your pyjamas, eat at certain times, don’t snack all day. Here’s what some of our team do to maintain balance in their lives:
Digital designer, Kristie, follows Leslie Sansone on YouTube and does her workouts. Her two young daughters enjoy some of her workouts, so it is fun for all. Kristie uses MyDailyOm to guide her yoga time.
Robyn our operations manager is doing the 30 day yoga challenge
Rob does The Happiness Program which taught him about meditation and breathing exercises. “I do both the breathing and meditation in the morning to get my day started. It’s a replacement for the thinking/non-thinking time that I used to get on the commute to work.”
I prefer something a little higher impact and so I try to do Shaun T’s Insanity Workout with my sons a few times a week.
Relaxing after hours looks a little different now but gardening is still a good one, having fun on the PlayStation again, and getting to those things that you never seem to have time for like organising your photos or cleaning out your cupboards (which can be therapy on its own!)
How are you managing with working from home? Kids driving you nuts? Or maybe you would love some company? Are you working in a really small space? Do you communicate regularly with your colleagues, and if so what apps do you prefer? We’d love to hear how you’re doing it so please add your comment below.
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