I won’t keep you. You’ve probably got a piece of work to finish that you should’ve got done by now … but you got a bit side-tracked this morning when:
a) You spent a couple of hours trying to figure out how Slack worked and then just as you were about to send a jaunty message to the team the wifi went down
b) You found the will and energy to fix the broken bathroom shelf and had to just seize the moment
c) You found yourself in a Zoom meeting you didn’t really understand or know how to contribute to but didn’t want to cause offence by leaving.
(delete as appropriate)
Now you feel a bit frustrated and a bit guilty and a bit lost in the slightly bewildering world of home working.
Or I could be wrong – you might have been beavering away since 6am. Overwhelmed with responsibilities and barely able to look up in case your workload drowns you. This glance at social media could be your light relief before you dive back in for another 7-hour marathon (you crazy cat). You feel a bit frustrated and a bit lonely and a bit overwhelmed by the all-consuming nature of home working.
Whichever end of the spectrum you’re leaning towards, my guess that working from home is throwing up challenges that might feel too personal or self-indulgent to raise at a time of uncertainty and pressure across most businesses. For lots of people, this is an unfamiliar way of working and it’s bound to take time to get used to a new normal.
Many of my friends and colleagues are wrestling with these seemingly trivial niggles and they’re all looking for really simple solutions to help ease the transition from office life to remote working. The simplest and most useful tip I’ve been able to offer is ….
Have lunch.
As well as scheduling time to meet online to discuss annual targets or marketing strategies, I advise setting up an open online meeting at lunchtime. People can pop in, check in on each other, ask about families, friends, wellbeing, pets, lockdown life hacks, whatever. No work, just pleasure.
Chance conversations, silly anecdotes, box-set recommendations and kind words are some of the treasures of office life. Without this gentle interaction, work can start to feel lonely and burdensome. Building in some happy social time during lockdown will help this informal support network continue to thrive and allow you to keep an eye out for colleagues who might be having a tough day.
So, become the lunch monitor. If you’re part of a team, invite your colleagues. Think up ways to make the hour delightful. If you’re self-employed, set up a network of fellow solo workers. Building in formal downtime will give people the chance to have a gentle moan, gossip and share cat pictures. Your business will be all the better for it.
We've been working hard at Leading Ideas to find out what people are finding really tough about working life during lockdown and how people are adapting in the most efficient and imaginative ways.
We've developed six quick sessions. They marry our research with our fundamental Leading Ideas approach of using creativity, great communication, simplicity and a commitment to put empathy and curiosity at the heart of any development programme. Our training is interactive and collaborative. Your business needs will direct the conversations we have and we’ll send you away with a concrete plan for how to make remote working an easier, happier and more productive experience..... We can help you become Remotely Wonderful.