Working from home - My personal reflections and challenges

The week that was - My first week of working remotely

Over the last week, I have read blog after blog on how my colleagues, partners and customers are dealing with what is happening in our homes, communities, countries and the globe. I've been desperate to hear their stories, to get an understanding for how everyone else are experiencing this crisis. It is all so foreign.

I have been fighting my urge to pick up the proverbial pen and share my experience, because there is so much being written already! However, as I sit here, I can’t help but to share! Maybe, if we all share we can solve these challenges together.

I am so blessed to work for an organisation who has embraced modern working practices over the last ten years. We have been working flexibly for a decade. We have the technology to support and managers who understands the philosophy. In light of this, you would think that in an organisation like Microsoft, we would be taking these developments in our stride. However, there were some elements that really stood out for me over the last couple of weeks.

The show must go on

Due to the challenges around people coming together in physical locations, we had to make decisions around physical events. Some of them small, others large. The knee jerk reaction is to say that we will cancel everything. The limitation of physical space is sometimes an imagined one. If we take a second to consider the outcome, we are able to conceptualise very creative alternatives.

·      Over the last week, my team delivered an executive review 100% virtual

·      We are working on high quality, studio produced virtual events to replace roadshows

·      We are building virtual bootcamps with student participation

Right now people are at home, potentially with more time available than ever before. The ability to deliver high quality, on-demand content is a great opportunity.

I would love to hear what solutions other businesses have for creating new and engaging ways to connect with partners and customers during this time.

The use of cameras

Even though I have been working from home for over ten years, I generally don’t use my camera. There is nothing better than working from home, not doing your make-up and staying in your tracksuit for the whole day!

However, it is imperative that use cameras to maintain eye contact and make the most of the non-verbal cues which makes up 80% of our communication.

Take the time to go through hair and make-up

I will own this statement, as it might be very personal to who I am. When I go to the office, I dress nicely, do my hair and put on make-up. This week I came to realise that going through this process is important to put me in the right mindset. Personal trainers often say that the goal is just to dress in your training gear. Once you are dressed up, the rest will follow. Working from home can be distracting. However, if you are dressed for the office, you are more likely to act like you are at the office.

Also, if you do switch your camera on, you won’t have to apologise for your appearance. ??

Invest in your space

I now spend easily seven hours a day on the phone and on camera. I invested this week in a decent webcam and also headphones. Many companies have announced programs to support the purchase of home office supplies.

Also make sure that the space where you are working is sufficient to support you working from home full time over the coming months. Maybe this is a good time to move a desk into the spare room, rather than to be in a public area.

Luckily, webcams and also technology solutions like Teams now have the ability to blur your background or to replace it with any image you want. This really removes the pressure of needing to clean-up the lego every morning!

Stay connected

I am a very social person, generally. Even when I do have the ability to work from home, I try to be in the office at least twice a week. 

If we are not able to into the office anymore, we need to find other ways to connect with our teams.

We have decided to trial a coffee chat this week at 9.00 in the morning. It is like a “Stand-up Meeting”. If you can make, you do and if you don’t, that is OK. It a is quick check-in and opportunity to share how you are doing, what is going on at home and if you need anything.

Again, I would love to hear how other companies are solving for this challenge of our teams feeling isolated and disconnected. Please share with me in the comments.

Get fresh air

I wear a smart watch and this week my summary informed me that I was less active than what I’ve been all year. Because I no longer take the train to work, walk around the office, go to meeting rooms, meet with customers in the city and walk 50m to get a coffee, I don’t get the same amount of incidental exercise I normally do. I will need to make a concerted effort to build movement into my day. I can’t sit down at 08.00 only to get up at 18.00. This is not healthy. 

I am sure that as we navigate the next two or three months, we will learn new lessons every day. Hopefully my observations help even just one other person on how to approach our new reality. I look forward to learning from everybody else. Please share what you are doing to overcome some of these and other challenges.

Stay safe and good luck. ??????