2466: Working Well With Others (When You're Working From Home) by Julie Morgenstern on Structured Communication

[00:00:00] This is Optimal Relationships Daily, Working Well With Others When Youre Working From Home by Julie Morgenstern of JulieMorgenstern.com It's one thing to learn how to productively work from home as an individual, but collaborating with others in a remote workforce is an entirely different challenge.

[00:00:20] Not only must we learn to stay in sync with remote colleagues, many of whom may be operating under different hours, workloads, or circumstances than ourselves, the vast majority of us must also learn to navigate working from home alongside our roommates, partners, parents, and children, which presents another unique challenge.

[00:00:40] While some of our pre-existing systems can be applied to our new working conditions, it is also necessary to develop new and specific protocols to ensure that we can work with others, both within and outside of our households, in a productive, collaborative, and harmonious manner. The following strategies may provide just the solutions you need to simultaneously maximize your own productivity and foster that of those around you while working from home.

[00:01:08] Use the Kindergarten Method of Organizing Walk into any kindergarten classroom in the world, and you will find a room clearly divided into activity zones—a reading corner, arts and crafts table, music circle, dress-up area, and so on. With each zone well-defined and wholly self-contained, one can easily stay focused on the task at hand.

[00:01:33] This principle can easily be applied to your work-from-home life, and is especially useful if multiple members of your household are working from home, or learning from home, simultaneously. It is best if each working member of your household is able to stake out separate and specific workspaces.

[00:01:50] If space is limited, and you cannot create multiple independent working areas, establish one shared space for quiet work—a formal dining room, for example, or a shared office—and identify another space where you can each go to close the door and take phone calls—a spare bedroom, perhaps. If you have kids at home, identify a place where you can place a pop-up folding table or a similar piece of spare furniture to create a work surface for schoolwork.

[00:02:18] You now have a quiet work zone, a phone booth, and a school-slash-homework area. Designating a few different places specifically for rest, relaxation, and hobbies would be the icing on the cake. Be transparent Many people may be able to abide by the traditional 9-to-5.

[00:02:37] But perhaps, with your kids home from school, you can only log on from 6am to 9am, and then again from 12pm to 5pm, so that you can take three hours in the morning to feed the kids and get them started on their schoolwork for the day. Clearly communicating your hours, as well as any changes in circumstances, helps others to know when you are available and when you're not, so they can plan accordingly, thus maximizing their own productivity. Communicate thoroughly and often

[00:03:05] Without the correct systems in place, dissemination of information between remote workers can turn into a bad game of telephone, fast. It's essential that teams establish clear systems of regular communication to keep everyone aligned on evolving priorities and new developments.

[00:03:22] A Monday, or daily, morning huddle to share updates and establish priorities, followed by a Friday, or daily, afternoon huddle to review what was accomplished and to identify and problem-solve roadblocks, is an efficient way for many teams and managers, slash direct reports, to remain cohesive and connected. Replace drive-by conversations

[00:03:47] Those impromptu meetings at a colleague's desk and aha moments over water cooler chat can become the life force of a company. If your company, team, or specific role depends on these FaceTime interactions, you must find a way to replicate them in your remote environment. One way to accomplish this is to keep a running list, on a notepad, in an electronic document, or drafted in an email, of any passing thoughts, questions, or insights you have to share with your boss, colleagues, or team.

[00:04:16] Then, simply request a meeting, one-on-one or as a group, discuss your talking points in your next team check-in, or shoot off the email at the end of the day. In this way, you can efficiently batch process information, a tool that may even save you time once you return to the office. Take advantage of technology Commit to video conferencing whenever possible.

[00:04:39] Not only does this serve to ensure that everyone is present and focused on the task at hand, it provides important context-defining social cues, such as facial expressions and body language. While many of us may be worried about how we'll look on camera, rest assured, everyone else is too. Your kids are running through the background or your dog jumping into frame will only humanize your experience. Your colleagues will likely relate and empathize.

[00:05:06] You may even consider eating lunch together as a team via video conference a few days a week, allowing yourself to enjoy the sort of informal conversations that bond teams together. Alternatively, you may find it useful to block co-working time on a daily or weekly basis, in which everyone jumps on a video call together to do work, whether independently or collaboratively. The way that one person works affects the way that everyone around them works, even in a remote work environment.

[00:05:35] By establishing clear systems around organization and communication, you can ensure that you, your colleagues and your housemates are able to maximize productivity and efficiency, both independently and as parts of the whole. You just listened to the post titled, Working Well with Others When You're Working From Home by Julie Morgenstern of juliemorgenstern.com

[00:06:03] One way in which working from home does seem to have a negative effect on morale is the fact that upper management is less likely to offer compliments now than before the pandemic. Being that compliments are thought to be less crucial than correcting someone for what they've done wrong, it's usually an afterthought that is best triggered by seeing someone in person or having a spare moment in the office. And now that those moments don't happen as much or at all, workers are being complimented less frequently.

[00:06:32] So, do keep this in mind if you're working from home. Try to make a point to offer compliments and support to co-workers and employees. Try to plan it and do it deliberately, as you are less likely to do it in passing than you would have been while in the office space. On that note, good job sticking with me till the end, everybody. Really nice work. I had fun this episode, guys. Hope you did too. We are all done.

[00:06:54] So, I hope you'll come back and join me tomorrow as we look at another article, another angle of relationships, and of course, where your optimal life awaits. For before you go, please. For. For. For. Probably. Thank you.