Flexibility: Willingness to Change

Today, I share the story of a coaching client, and now a friend, who demonstrates flexibility. The sharing of his story calls for a bit of background and a grounding in a common definition of flexibility, in both practice and mindset.   

Let’s start with the common definition.  I love dictionary.com’s simplistic explanation for Flexibility.  

• the quality of bending easily without breaking.
• the ability to be easily modified.
• willingness to change or compromise.

My own notion of flexibility was challenged when I was offered the opportunity to coach Greg Carter in 2019.  Greg is not a typical coaching client, He does not work for a typical company or work for a typical manager. I say this because many companies reserve leadership coaching for senior leaders. I’ve worked with his upline executive on and off in a coaching capacity for many years, first for herself and then for her direct reports, and more recently, her team high-potentials.  This leader is wise and insightful in recognizing the value of coaching to the individuals and fortunately works for a firm that supports their employees as much as she does. 

She asked me to consider a coaching agreement with one of the companies long term individual contributors, Greg Carter, in the late summer of 2019.  Greg’s contribution to the department was recognized and valued. She believed he could use a safe harbor to talk over stress points. As an executive and leadership coach, I questioned her request but trusted her judgment too much to decline. I am thankful I did. I’ve enjoyed witnessing Greg’s satisfaction grow both professionally and personally. Since 2019  I’ve had the honor of coaching other non-manager employees and learn from them as much as they do me. 

Now to Greg’s story. 

On Working Remote for the First Time: The Pandemic Edition

by Greg Carter

Months before the pandemic appeared on anyone’s radar, I had already suggested to my manager that I work from home one day a week. My team—the people with whom I worked daily—are scattered about the country: California, Texas, Florida, Virginia, Oregon, New York, and even Ontario, Canada. Thanks to technology, we were already meeting virtually using Google Hangouts, constantly instant messaging, sending and responding to multiple emails, and accessing the company database and almost any other tool required from anywhere as long as we had access to a computer.

Throw in the 20-mile drive to and from work—with the infamous traffic on Southern California freeways making the trips last anywhere from 45 minutes to almost two hours—and the need to be in an office to get the work done did not seem as necessary. To me, at least.

I added the idea to the agenda of my weekly one-on-one with my manager, and she said that she would discuss it with our Vice President. To my surprise, the VP agreed to it, so during the next one-on-one, my manager and I pored over my weekly schedule. I mentioned that Fridays would work best due to fewer conference calls in the mornings and a lighter workload. And the day tended to be more low-key in general for me because the larger chunks of my time focused on processes earlier in the week. She eventually green-lighted the idea of my working from home one day per week, setting the following Friday as my first official day.

A few days before the inaugural “First Friday”, the entire office—the entire company—was told to pack up our laptops, grab any items such as a mouse, a keyboard, or anything necessary to work remotely, and to continue working from home for the foreseeable future.

Not exactly an auspicious beginning. I had wanted to test the waters one day a week, but here we all were being thrown into the deep end of the pool and left to figure out how to reach the steps at the shallow end. That uncertainty carried into the first full day of working from home.

I had to figure out the best way to set up my workstation in the kitchen of the apartment and to make sure that the Wi-Fi didn’t decide to sputter and freeze my computer (since my partner was also now working from home, adding strain to the system). The very first conference call of the morning began with a temperature reading of how the team was coping, spending a few minutes just talking, getting our feelings out in the open, surprisingly laughing at the absurdity of hoarding toilet paper. I neglected to bring a monitor from the office, so after about an hour, my neck cramped and my shoulders ached from hunching over the laptop’s tiny screen. Stepping away from the work area helped for a short time, but then, I had to return and so did the cramps and aches as if the breaks never happened. Once the workday finally ended, I felt more wrung out than ever before, even after an hour-and-a-half commute.

This was definitely not what I anticipated when the idea of working from home crept into my head. But with no perceivable way to get around this, I made the decision to deal with the change.

My first step was to create a routine to start the workday, something to keep the feel of going to the office. Every morning, I slipped into jeans or khakis and a nice button shirt. I then spent about ten minutes assembling my workstation—laptop, extension cord, keyboard, mouse, and headphones. It may seem strange, but this organizing helped to keep my mind focused on work. And at the end of the day, the ritual of breaking everything down, stowing the laptop in my courier bag, and returning the kitchen to its former glory gave the impression of leaving the office behind and heading home.

As the weeks progressed, I finagled a second, larger monitor from the office as well as a riser for my laptop. The neck and shoulder cramps disappeared after a while, as did my frustration of being forced to find one of the three windows I was working on using my single, minuscule screen.

The second step was to make sure that I pushed the computer aside at some point and left the apartment. Before the pandemic, I enjoyed getting out of the office to walk in the wildlife preserve nearby for about 40 minutes, cellphone in my pocket, enjoying the birds and being outside. The first few days at home, I was reluctant to step outside because, yes, the fear of the pandemic had a stranglehold on my thoughts. I didn’t want to catch COVID from a passerby who happened to breathe the wrong way or touch a doorknob without a Lysol wipe. But I needed to do something because I missed those lunchtime walks at the office. After much hemming and hawing, I finally convinced myself that as long as I wore a mask and kept the six-feet of distance between me and anyone else, that all would be okay. I donned a mask, locked the door behind me, and walked to a nearby park and back (about 20 minutes total). I increased the walking time to about 45 minutes. I spent that time exploring the neighborhood, marveling at the different styles of houses and the various plants and flowers, discovering little restaurants for takeout that I never knew existed in the area.

The third step was to connect with my team. I missed not being able to turn around at the office and ask a co-worker what they did over the weekend and just chat for a few minutes before diving into a project. At first, I believe that working from home would make that kind of connection almost non-existent. However, a quick “good morning” or sharing pictures of any new dishes that someone attempted using Slack, or even a simple “Happy Birthday” or “Happy Anniversary” with the dozens of responses made me feel more in touch with everyone and not as isolated. (And sometimes, a few of us will hop on a video call and just talk about nonsense, laughing and joking to lighten the day.)

Working from home didn’t turn out as I had originally envisioned, but it definitely has challenged me to rethink my workday. It’s still a learning process, too, and I doubt that I will ever have a completely set routine for each and every day. But these steps give me a framework to make the work possible.

In closing:

When the impact of the pandemic became a reality, Greg like millions of employees was sent home to work without notice. Unlike many, he is making it work despite less than ideal conditions. Greg’s story of resilience and positive mindset exemplifies the power of Flexibility. The willingness to change or compromise.  He maintains a positive attitude and growth mindset.  I hope he inspires you as much as he does me.

Have a great week, Mary

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