Collaboration tools are essential for working remotely, but they can also blur the boundaries between your work and personal life. How do you maintain a healthy balance and avoid burnout, distraction, or conflict? Here are some tips to help you keep your work and personal life separate when using collaboration tools.
The first step is to communicate clearly with your team and your manager about your availability, your goals, and your preferred methods of collaboration. For example, you can agree on specific hours when you will be online, when you will check your messages, and when you will have meetings. You can also use status updates, calendars, and do-not-disturb features to signal when you are working, taking a break, or offline. By setting clear expectations, you can avoid confusion, frustration, or interruptions from your colleagues.
Leveraging the tools you and your team use to set clear boundaries is a great first step. For instance, set your working hours in your calendar so that when others are looking to book time, they clearly see your work day window (eg. 9a-5p or 10a-6p). Have your Slack/Teams status set to inactive at a specific time and have notifications paused. Once you've set those boundaries, it's important to stand by them with clear requirements for exceptions. Your time is just as valuable as anyone's, so don't diminish yourself.
Another way to separate your work and personal life is to create a dedicated workspace in your home. This could be a separate room, a corner, or a desk that you use only for work. Having a physical boundary can help you focus on your tasks, minimize distractions, and reduce the temptation to check your personal devices or social media. It can also help you switch off from work mode when you leave your workspace at the end of the day.
Physical workspaces are cherished, but what about our 'digital' spaces? Through tools like the M365 suite, some have woven into my day, subtly enhancing both my professional and personal worlds. They've become my "self-collaboration" toolkit. Establishing distinct digital zones is crucial. Here's my approach: OneNote: My digital anchor. Separate notebooks for work and personal endeavors ensure organized clarity. Windows 11 Multi-desktop: A space for personal exploration and another dedicated to work. Distinct, yet interconnected. Outlook & To-Do: Vibrantly color-coded events and synchronized tasks ensure I maintain equilibrium, striving for work-leisure harmony. Seeking work-life balance? Some tools might just tip the scales!
Brandon has offered some valuable strategies! I want to add on one more that gets so many of us - mobile devices! Personally, I have a personal and professional phone. When my work day is done, my work phone stays at my (home) office and automatically goes on DND at a specific time. If you have a single device, be sure to separate work and personal. This means having your Slack/Teams, email, and calendar notifications muted when your work day is done.
One of the challenges of using collaboration tools is dealing with the constant stream of notifications from different platforms, channels, and groups. While some of them may be urgent or important, others may be irrelevant, redundant, or distracting. To avoid getting overwhelmed, you can manage your notifications by prioritizing, filtering, muting, or snoozing them. For example, you can turn off notifications for non-work-related groups, mute conversations that are not relevant to you, or snooze notifications when you are working on a deadline or having a meeting.
Just as you need to respect the boundaries of your colleagues, you also need to respect your own boundaries. This means that you should not feel guilty or pressured to respond to every message, join every call, or work beyond your agreed hours. You should also avoid mixing your work and personal accounts, devices, or activities. For example, you should not use your work email for personal matters, your personal phone for work calls, or your collaboration tools for socializing. By respecting your boundaries, you can protect your privacy, your productivity, and your well-being.
I want to focus in on "join every call". With the increase of remote work, meetings have increased. Before booking a meeting or accepting a meeting, as yourself a few questions: >Does a decision need to be made, are you disseminating information, or do you need help? >Who do I *need* in the meeting? >How urgently do we need the meeting? >How long does this meeting really need to be? Remember: 1. Not everything needs a meeting (and yes, even that "Do you have 5mins?" is a meeting if you go longer, which too often it does). 2. Meetings do not always need to be 30mins or 60mins 3. Folks need time to DO their work, which cannot happen when a day is back to back in meetings
While collaboration tools can help you stay connected and engaged with your team, they can also create a sense of isolation or detachment from your personal life. To balance your communication, you should not rely solely on collaboration tools, but also use other forms of communication that are more personal, emotional, or informal. For example, you can make a phone call, send a handwritten note, or have a video chat with your family, friends, or co-workers. You can also use collaboration tools to express your appreciation, feedback, or support to your colleagues, or to celebrate achievements, milestones, or events.
Finally, you should review your habits regularly and make adjustments as needed. You can use analytics, surveys, or feedback to evaluate how effectively and efficiently you are using collaboration tools, and how they are affecting your work and personal life. You can also ask yourself some questions, such as: Are you spending too much or too little time on collaboration tools? Are you using the right tools for the right purposes? Are you feeling stressed, overwhelmed, or disconnected? Are you achieving your goals and meeting your expectations? By reviewing your habits, you can identify areas for improvement, learn from your mistakes, and optimize your performance.