Advice from a Work From Home expert.

The current work from home (WFH) situation we are all facing due to the threat the Covid19 virus poses to the population may be a new paradigm for many. I will use this opportunity to share my experiences as someone that has primarily worked from home for over a decade. Through this trying time, no matter where you are, no matter what your role is within your organization, maintaining personal and professional productivity and keeping a positive attitude is key to our long-term success, survival and sanity. Hopefully these personal experiences I am sharing will help you.

People often say “oh you’re so lucky to work from home”; and yes, I agree with them, but not for their intended reasons. Others say, “It must be so hard to stay focused, I couldn’t do it” and I agree with them too. As Henry Ford said, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right”. I love working from home – I am far more productive in my home office than I am in the company office. Not just professionally, but personally too. However, it takes incredible self-discipline and tenacious organization. If you do not pay attention to your personal plan (we will get into that later) working from home can be quite a burden on you, your colleagues, and those you share your home with. Compound that with the fact that many of you, like myself, may have children at home as schools are closed too, self-discipline and tenacious planning become the most important factors to continued success, productivity and personal and career satisfaction.

It has been my experience that friends, family, colleagues and acquaintances often assume that you have so much free time working from home you can tidy the house and take care of your groceries, prepare meals because, hey, you're home, right? No, no, no! You cannot do those things when you work from home for the same reason you cannot do them when you are at the office – you are working!

It's very important to have social interaction during your workday. Going into the office and being able to work and creatively problem solve and troubleshoot with your colleagues is critical, not just for personal sanity but to your productivity. However, one thing that it less imposing when you work from home is the frequent interruptions from colleagues stopping by to chat. Not that stopping to chat is a bad thing – see previous comment on social interaction being important, just that when you're in the middle of work and you get distracted, it can be very difficult to get back in the zone for quite some time. I am not saying I'm all work and no play, I love to hang out and chat with my friends and my colleagues - sometimes they are the one in the same - but when you have deadlines, being able to focus without any outside distraction is incredibly beneficial.

I still find I'm far more productive at home than I am in the office. That's not just because I do not have to commute three hours each day! Here are my top tips for working from home successfully, with some bonus insight for working from home with children.

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1.      The absolute, hands-down, most important thing to do when you first start working from home is designate your work-space.

You may be tempted to use your dining room table or work from your lap, on the sofa or easy chair, but trust me, either of those options are going to get old, really fast. For example, if you use your dining table for your desk, the first time you need to make a meal you have to move all of your papers and equipment – keyboard, mouse, monitor and power cables - it becomes a herculean effort. It is very disruptive not just to your working life, but to your home and family life too.

Just as important, having a designated area allows you to “leave work”. This may sound strange, but it is very important when you work from home. Being able to leave your work, as you would if you're working in an office and let that stress of the day go, will go a long way to helping you relax, detach, and reconnect with your family and friends.

2.      Create your Personal Plan. In some ways this is equally as important as having a designated work-space. Having a prioritized ‘to do’ list of things that you must achieve through the day, and getting those things done, are more important when you're working from home because there are significantly different types of distractions at home than you face in the office.

I tend to focus on a ‘top 3 things’ every day, and what matters most is they are three things that are important to your role and progressing any projects and work you have in flight. This will help you maintain focus on the important things during the whirlwind of your day.

3.      Meeting Management - do not schedule back to back conference/video calls. As tempting as it may be to book four hours of calls back-to-back, do not do that to yourself, or the people the calls are with. You will run late, someone else will run late, someone will ask a question right at the end that takes a few minutes to answer – that just snowballs down the line and causes others delays. Respect your time, respect the time of your colleagues and respect your customers time.

Always give yourself at least 15 minutes in between each call. This becomes more important when you have multiple calls in one day. For instance, I have had days where seven back to back calls have been scheduled. Sometimes it is due to time zones, others to meet expectations (expectation management is a topic for another day) others due to the group’s availability. Scheduling like this makes it very, very difficult to take care of yourself - from both a sustenance and a relief standpoint.

Staying on the theme of scheduling, where possible I book meetings to start at 15 minutes passed or 15 minutes to each hour (HH:15 or HH:45). This helps address several issues: the back-to-back booking of others making your meetings late, wasting your and your customer/colleagues time. Gives you a few minutes to grab a drink, snack or bio-break. You are setting people up for success. As the It has also been my experience that attendees are punctual, which is good for all involved parties. The origin of this phrase is hotly debated so I will not cite anyone but the person I heard it from first, my good friend and former colleague, Mike Thomas, as it is one I use often: “Ten minutes early is on time, if you are five minutes early you are late, late is unacceptable”. Showing people that you respect them, and their time, goes a long way to a low-stress, productive interaction.

4.      Make sure you take regular short breaks and stop for lunch every day. One trap that is easy to get into when you work from home is sitting for extended periods of time. Even if you only give yourself 30-minutes for lunch – do not forget to take short breaks during the day to keep your energy level up. Being that sedentary is not good for us and can cause long term health issues. Moving around, taking a walk, getting the body moving is something we do when in the office. Some people go for a walk around the parking lot, some up to the top floor and back down (or maybe a few floors if you are in a tall tower). If you are home, you can get a break while staying productive, so make a point of getting up and moving.

I am going to be slightly contradictory here, but this is where working from home has its advantages. If you have a dog, take 10 minutes and jog around the block - Fido will be happy to get some exercise too! If the weather is bad, take a few minutes to fold and put away that basket of laundry, or take out the trash. Making the bed, straightening the pillows on your sofa, pulling the curtains, opening the blinds – these are all things you can do from muscle memory that do not require any concentration. They are also a good way to get you moving after you have been sedentary for a while. Also, as an added bonus, you will score points with your significant other, or people that you live.

5.      Hydrate. Make sure you drink plenty of water. You may miss the water cooler conversations but staying hydrated helps you focus, remain alert and fight off fatigue. It also gives you more than one excuse to get up and move around! Personally, I avoid caffeine, instead I always keep an insulated water bottle with me.

6.      Focus, focus, focus - do not be tempted to multitask. If you are on a call with colleagues, partners or customers, you are supposed to be focusing on that call. It will be evident to everyone else on the call if you're not paying full attention. At some point during the call you will be asked a question, or your name will be called. Inevitably, you will be on mute, maybe double muted, and by the time you have enabled your voice to be heard, you will have forgotten the question. Don’t get distracted!

7.      Phone etiquette. Always remember to plug in and recharge your headset(s) at every opportunity. Yes, one of the most embarrassing things that can happen is your headset dies in the middle of a conference or video call. Yes, it has happened to me. I now have three headsets, and one has a spare battery and I still get caught out from time to time.

Unless you must, do not use speakerphone. It is distracting for everybody else. It's hard to hear you, and hard to be heard. It is asynchronous communication so you may find it hard to get your voice heard if someone else is talking without pause.

Additionally, if you're using a voice over IP phone, be sure no one else on your network is streaming media or performing other network intensive services when you're making calls. I'm pretty sure you know exactly what it sounds like when a caller does not have enough bandwidth for their call. It is very distracting for everyone involved.

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These are my top working from home tips. If you're not used to working from home and this shelter in place has you scrambling, hopefully sharing my personal experience will be of some help in the coming days and weeks as we all adjust to this new, albeit temporary, reality.

Ohh, I almost forgot! Working from home with kids – while the duration of this is new to me, it is not the first time my kids have been home while I am working. Based on my experience, I’ll share what works for my family – hopefully it will be of some help to you and yours.

8.      Routine is key. Work out a routine, and if you have a partner ensure you work out the routine together and make sure everyone is clear on their role, expectations and contribution to the family. You likely already have a weekend schedule, let us build on that, and link with our other “WFH” experiences:

a.      Remember, you are a team – this will not be easy, but you are all on the same side.

b.      Create a schedule together that you can adhere too. Our family schedule looks something like this

                                                             i.     Wake-up time - lessons

                                                           ii.     After Breakfast free time

                                                         iii.     Lunch and lessons

                                                          iv.     Afternoon free time

                                                            v.     Dinner and family time

c.      Wake-up time is my favorite part of the day. I make everyone breakfast – pancakes, cereal, eggs, bacon, sausages, toast, tea, coffee – whatever you are in the mood for I make it happen. I’ve been the “breakfast chef” to my friends and family for as long as I can remember. While I am preparing food, my wife works with the kids to get an hour of their class work and lessons (supplied by their teachers/school) complete.

d.      Once breakfast is over, my wife and I go to our “offices” to work, and the kid have free time. They are not short of things to keep them entertained.

e.      We stagger lunch over 90 minutes to two hours depending on the day. We each get time with our kids to help them with their schoolwork and lessons.

f.       Once lunch is over, its free time again. They usually play outside.

g.      At the end of the workday, it is time for a family walk before dinner. After dinner we’ll play games, chat and eventually, get the kids to bed with story time.

It is not easy, but having the structure there is a huge help – the beginning of this week was a scramble for us as I am sure it was for you. We’ve now found our stride and are as functional and productive as we can be in this situation.

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Would love to hear your experiences and suggestions on how you have made working from home during this pandemic a positive experience for you and your family.