On Monday morning, March 30, I appeared on ABC7 Los Angeles to share my Top 3 tips you can follow if you’ve had to make a sudden shift to remote working during the coronavirus / COVID-19 pandemic emergency.
John Bwarie, Community Resilience Expert, shares community crisis response expertise on ABC7 from Stratiscope on Vimeo.
These remote working tips aren’t about the technical, “how to run a flawless video conference” stuff, or how to make sure your conference call backdrop is HGTV-worthy. They ARE about accepting the challenge of the current COVID-19 moment and finding ways to be effective, successful, and still imperfect. After all, when we can accept our own and each others’ imperfections—especially in times of adversity—we find more common ground and strengthen our communities.
Remote Working Tip #1: Embrace the awkward.
The dog is going to bark. The kids are going to want attention within two minutes after an important conference call starts. At the outset of a call, share this info with the others. Everyone understands that this is now part of everyday working. They’ll emphasize, and you’ll probably hear a “Same here!” or three.
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Remote Working Tip #2: Keep some structure.
“Its already time to make dinner? Where did this day go?!?” With so much other life swirling around you, it can be hard to feel that you’re accomplishing things working from home. I suggest creating a chart (or, say, a spreadsheet, or whatever works for you), on which you mark the progress of your projects. You’re basically giving yourself the feedback that you’d be getting back in the office.
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Remote Working Tip #3: Cut yourself some slack.
Working from home is not going to be exactly like working at your office, and nothing’s going to make it the same. So be OK with getting up, taking an exercise break, “stealing” some time with the kids, taking care of yourself. Find your own remote working best practices that will help you not just survive this disruption, but thrive and continue to do great work for yourself and your organization.
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To help you and your organization blaze a path through the pandemic, I encourage you visit our Coronavirus/COVID-19 Pandemic Resources page. We’re constantly updating it with new, unique, topical content. Stay safe and well!