It’s Sunday afternoon and I know many of us are looking towards tomorrow as\nthe start of three to four weeks of working from home – for better or for\nworse! For some of us, working from home (WFH) is how we usually work but for\nso many, this will be a new experience…potentially compounded by our kids\nbeing home too!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As you probably guessed, I’m here to share five ways we can stay hopeful\nwhile working from home – and they’re all about future-facing activities,\nstaying connected and taking advantage of this opportunity, one that is not\nlikely to come around in quite the same way ever again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you’re a knowledge worker that typically goes to an office every day, do\nyou know what you’ll need to work from home as far as accessibility to files\nand folders, secure network connections, power cords for your laptop? What\nabout access to a printer, the ability to dial-into meetings and the contact\ninformation for key players in your organization should you need to inform them\nof anything? How’s your internet speed and data consumption limits? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many organizations have plans and technology in place to support a remote\nworkforce so make sure you know what those plans are and stay informed of\navailable resources to help support you while you’re home. I know the company I\nwork with has set-up Remote Readiness Drop-in Centers where you can simulate an\nat-home experience and make sure your technology is ready to be at home. It’s\nlikely your company will increase staffing levels on your Support Desk to be\navailable for those who need help setting up at home so make sure you have the\nphone number written down somewhere if you’re home and can’t access your office\n– won’t do you any good to have the phone number on your company intranet page\nif you can’t access it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hopefully thinking is about recognizing the future will be better that today\nand being proactive and prepared is a great way to stay hopeful and productive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What if you aren’t someone who goes to an office everyday and your place of\nwork is a warehouse or a shop, some other kind of brick & mortar location\nand being able to connect a laptop to a network isn’t how you work-from-home?\nWe’ll have to be really creative in these scenarios to stay productive and use\nthis time to it’s full potential. Think of tasks and activities you just never\nget to, those ones that you know need to be done but there’s other daily\npriorities…any of those you can do from home? Think about filing that might\nbe overdue, or bolt bins that could be sorted…are there Operations or Safety\nmanuals that are out-of-date and could be brought into current? Maybe you have\na whole bunch of new processes and procedures that haven’t yet been written\ndown…could someone on your team update those while they’re home? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I’ve been thinking about updating contact lists – do you have out-of-date\ninformation that someone on your team could call folks and get current info\nfrom? What about suppliers you’ve been meaning to change but haven’t bothered\nbecause you’re too busy – maybe now is the time to get quotes from new\nsuppliers and re-engage old ones. Are there contracts you can consolidate or\ninventory levels you’ve been meaning to top up but haven’t had time to do the\npre-work necessary? How’s your website look? Anyone on your team have\nexperience updating websites and interested to take that on?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My point is that even if your workplace isn’t somewhere that workers can\neasily stay productive at home, there are many ways to still engage them in the\nimportant but not urgent work that just never seems to get done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anyone who’s familiar with my work around Hope and Hope Theory, knows that\ngoal setting is one of the keys to staying hopeful and think these times are a\nreally cool opportunity to get intentional about achieving our goals while\nstaying flexible to the needs of our workforce. Chances are high that even if\nyour team is working from home, there are going to be a lot of distractions –\nkids, the news, laundry. We all have the best of intentions and I’m sure we all\nwant to be as productive at home as we are at the office but the reality is\nthat WFH is just different. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I’m a big fan of smaller, weekly goals where we can see tangible progress\nand I think this is a perfect time to really focus on these kinds of goals.\nEspecially since folks won’t be together in real life and holding each other\naccountable naturally by being around each other all day, setting a goal (or\ntwo) for each week will help. And because it’s likely we won’t be working “regular”\nhours, fitting our home lives around our work lives, setting the expectation to\naccomplish a goal by the end of the week gives our teams flexibility to work on\nthat task, and complete that task, when it works for them, not necessarily\nenforcing work to be done during regular business hours. This flexibility will\nbe so key for your employees and help relieve the stress that is so very likely\nto surface having to balance all the things. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Schedule daily virtual stand-ups with your teams or at least weekly\naccountability check-ins to ensure people are progressing towards their goals,\nhave all the resources and support they need to be successful and feel like\nthey\u2019re not alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For some, working from home will be awesome but for others, it\u2019ll be a\nlonely experience. Especially for those of us who get our energy being around\npeople, WFH could really drain our batteries and create a tendency to slip into\nlower levels of Hope. For others, who thrive in a more quiet and\ndistraction-free environment, working from home could be ideal\u2026until the\nlaundry starts calling or cabin fever has set in for the kids. Regardless of\nwhere you fall on the scale, this is a cool opportunity for employers to really\nsupport their remote workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My friend, Dr. Laura Hambley of Work EvOHlution<\/a>, have a whole toolbox of things you can do to be intentional about supporting your workforce \u2013 she and her team specialize in exactly these situations. Some really simple things you can implement right at the beginning of your time at home is to implement a daily 15 minute virtual stand-up, as I mentioned earlier. This is where your whole team gets on a video call (or at least a conference call) for 15 minutes and shares successes and asks questions, maybe a funny story or a tip to stay hopeful. Just a cool opportunity for face-to-face time with your team on a consistent basis. Where possible, have video meetings with your people \u2013 make sure you can see each other as we all know how much is communicated via non-verbal interactions. Maybe assign someone on your team to send out funny cat videos or inspirational TedTalks each day to stay connected\u2026gives an opportunity to learn more about each other when you\u2019re sharing your feedback and thoughts in response to the videos or talks. Suggest you also designate someone on the team, maybe a leader or someone with mental health support experience, to always be available should a team member be struggling with their mental health. This could be a rotating role and this person should know how to access any Employee Assistance Plans (EAPs) available to your employees as well as the numbers to local health services and potentially, testing centers as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Okay, okay\u2026you\u2019re going to be sick of me telling you to move your body! But\nit\u2019s so important, and take it from someone who works at home on the\nregular\u2026you\u2019ll be surprised how little you actually get up from your desk when\nyou don\u2019t have others around you to invite you for coffee, when you\u2019re not\nheading to meeting rooms or out for lunch. I actually have a reminder on my\nphone to prompt me to get my butt out of my chair and dance around for a minute\nor two each hour. Otherwise I can go hours not really moving, especially if I\u2019m\nreally into a spreadsheet 😊<\/p>\n\n\n\n And speaking of dancing\u2026do more dancing! I told you how cool the dancing\nexperience was at the Rise! Conference last weekend and I\u2019ve totally brought\ndancing into my life on the regular. Pick a song, add it to a ring tone on your\nphone and set it to go off every hour\u2026then dance around like a fool! Dance like\nnobody\u2019s watching! Even if people are watching\u2026get them to join in too! I\npromise you, it\u2019ll feel so awesome when it\u2019s over\u2026you\u2019ll be looking forward to\nthe next time the alarm rings. Your mood will improve, any stiffness in your\nback or shoulders will relax and the smile on your face will relieve any\ntension you feel in your jaw or your forehead. Trust me, you\u2019ll like it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The other thing I\u2019m finding that works lately, especially when I\u2019m not feeling confident\u2026if I\u2019m feeling anxious or worried and find myself slouching or notice that my head is hanging \u2013 I strike a power pose! I know, another ridiculous thing\u2026but I promise you it works! Stand like Wonderwoman \u2013 hands on hips, shoulders back and head high. Instant confidence! Or try flexing like you\u2019re Schwarzenegger and you\u2019ve just won the Mr. Universe contest\u2026instant strength! Maybe Cleopatra is more your style and standing like an Egyptian will do it for you\u2026instant power! Whatever it is, Madonna says strike a pose and see what happens to your mood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This pandemic is scary, unknown and such a unique experience that it\u2019s easy\nto get overwhelmed with the newness of it all. I\u2019m very hopeful that our\ncommunities are ready to support each other, to take advantage of the positive\nopportunities this time will allow us to experience and be intentional about\ntaking care of each other. The future will be better than it is today and\nhopefully some or all of these tips will resonate with you and your teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As always, I\u2019m here if you need me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Starting tomorrow, Monday, Mar 16 at 10am MST, I’ll be hosting a daily Facebook Live on my Expert in Hope FB page<\/a>, answering questions around hope and staying hopeful while we ride out this season in our lives. Love you to join me! <\/p>\n\n\n\n Oh\u2026and wash your damn hands! 😊<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It’s Sunday afternoon and I know many of us are looking towards tomorrow as the start of three to four weeks of working from home – for better or for worse! For some of us, working from home (WFH) is how we usually work but for so many, this will be a new experience…potentially compounded by our kids being home … <\/p>\n#5 \u2013 Move your body<\/h3>\n\n\n\n