Telework Tips for Success During the Corona Virus Social Distancing Movement

Let's talk realistic remote work tips for those of you who normally don't telework or supervise those that do.

With remote work enjoying an upward trend, there are already a plethora of online tools to facilitate a productive quarantine operation.  

When remote work advances from perk to necessity it becomes that much more important to establish ground rules for yourself to limit procrastination. Devise a daily routine, keep hours consistent, eliminate any potential distractions and keep communication channels active.

The corona-crisis also submits small-scale considerations. Before the infection achieves pandemic status, US companies would do well to develop contingency plans for in-office output.

Without a clear prognosis, the best organizations can do to protect the health of their employees is to prohibit presenteeism.

I would be happy to work with you one on one, visit AbbyBolt.com to connect. 

Transcript

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Hello there. How are you? Thank you so much for being here with me today, on up in flames where we talk about going up in flames and not down in the workplace. So today I want to talk about the Corona virus and this tele work huge like opportunity that a lot of people are now facing. And it's a great thing. And there's, you know, some tips and hacks. They go along with that to make you successful. So stick with me and we'll get to him now. Some folks were jumping into telling work for the first time, like they have never done it before. And it's like, Oh, my gosh, what do I do? Some folks have been begging to do it forever because they know they could be awesomely productive, and some folks have been doing it and they know how it all works. So that's super easy. But, you know, this is a really great opportunity and away toe warm up managers who maybe we're not open to it before. So look at it like that. It's your time to shine and show him that you absolutely can't be Justus productive, if not more while working remotely. Now I have found that supervisor who's not comfortable their ability to leave their organization. They're usually the ones who are the biggest Doubters of teleworking, Believe it or not, sometimes it's because they just don't have that relationship with their people or their control freaks. And they feel like they can't, you know, micromanage when you're not right there under their sight. So Or, you know, sometimes they just don't want you to be able to do something that you want to. D'oh! That's a bank one, too, that I have seen it like, Oh, you wanted to tell the work. Oh, right on. There's something I can tell you know, too. So this is your opportunity. You know, I had one supervisor one time that no matter the circumstance, he would do anything from keeping people from teleworking. A few years ago, we had a really bad storm, and it closed down several access points to this valley where we live in. And ah, lot of employees lived on the other side of this closure. It was this huge canyon and all these rocks came down. They had to like, do all these blasting operations It took almost two weeks. So there are only way to get to the office. Was an extra, like two hour commute around the Valley and on icy roads. It just made no sense. You see, there was work that they could be completing, that they could do a home. It wasn't the things that they were completing at work. We're not worth the risk. I was leading the safety committee at that time, and I brought it up to this boss to let him know you know what the situation was, and I showed him that look, there's all this work that they can complete from home. They have laptops. There's really no reason for them to come in and go around. They say it's gonna be a temporary closure. I really think this is something we could d'oh for employee safety. He merely smirked and said, Well, that's what leave is for. It's not my problem. They choose to live where they dio. I cannot tell you how frustrating that was. There was that and many other exchanges that happened surrounding this, and I'm not even to go to because it makes my blood boil, but it can show you what a poor leader can look like and you know, when they're insecure there, abilities to lead, show that insecurity by actions just like that. But I've gotten past it, even though I didn't think that a lot of his decisions were right. And I'm feeling a little bit of bliss right now because I know that guy is still in charge where I was working and he is being forced from above to do what is right for the people and figure out a way to let them telework. Shocker. It's possible it can be done. Take that, buddy, huh? In the hand. Maybe you took the Corona virus to show you that your employees could be productive at home, but, oh, well, so I digress. All right, let's get back to what my whole point for this episode was. While he said this is an opportunity for you to shine and show your supervisor why this is a great thing. This is also a time for youto absolutely blow it if you don't step up and go above and beyond expectations once things get back to normal. If you don't put yourself out there now, toe where you're doing more than they expected. You can kiss your future teleworking opportunities Goodbye. One big worry that I've heard from some folks who aren't set up for Tele work already are. What do we do if I don't have Internet access at home? Well, that can't be a problem. Here's a few ideas that maybe can help you out if you haven't thought of them. One is if Internet isn't an option because of where you live. For example, I live so far in the sticks that we only have access to satellite Internet. If we want to set that up, so work with your supervisor, see what the actual connection requirements will be because they might not be that much. And you can maybe do some work and then go somewhere minding your social distancing, like in a parking lot of a place that offers WiFi. You go in, connect and catch up your e mails or process any work that you had to do and then you know any sort of online work that you had to do. You can do in chunks like that. There's a lot of work that you do where your connection actually isn't even relevant. So think about what that is and what it is that you really need to be connected for. Number two is Do you have cell service at your house? If you do and you don't have the plan already, you can update your plan to include a mobile hot spot. I found out recently that my varieties in mobile hot spot is faster than any wired connection available in my community. Like I eat, I couldn't believe it. I did a speed test and I asked the local business I was like, Hey, can you beat what my lt is? And they couldn't crazy, right? But living in a rural area, that's what happened. So that's my main form of connection. I even create, publish and upload these podcasts using my cell phone data in my hot spot because it was cheaper and faster than setting up a slower service. So that could be an idea for you if if you're having trouble with the connection, okay, so let's talk about some other tips and hacks about teleworking, so you need to separate your work life from your home life, which could be really tough to do when you're working from the house. Especially depending on how you have it all set up. And right now, if you have kids and they're not in school, usually see teleworkers have these great hours where the kids were gone to school, and that makes it really easy. Or they'll take him to daycare so they can get their work done. Because just because people are telling working doesn't mean they don't have their kids in a care place, like a daycare or, you know, the school. So you have to think about getting creative with that. You have to lay some ground rules. Like let the kids, the family, the wife, the husband, the dog know that you have some boundaries. You have things that you have to do. So you lay the rules and let them know it. Kate, this is what I'm gonna be working. This is. You know what I'm focused on? I'll be done at this time, you know, whatever it is, so set those boundaries for yourself and your family and you'll be more successful, actually. Get ready for work. I know this sounds crazy, right? You're like, why would I get ready for work because I'm working at home. I'm not gonna lie like, of course, the first couple of days. It's great to just be like total PJ mode because you can. And you're like, Yeah, I don't have to get dressed up for work, but PJ's eventually cause depression. I know it sounds weird, but they do because they just put your whole mind and body in this, um slow, tired, unproductive place and you might not be showering is that you might not be. You know, you're not primping, you're not getting ready. And so maybe you're not feeling is good about yourself so consciously, and you don't even realize it. Also, you might end up on an impromptu video chat that you weren't planning on Someone that you're working with may say, Hey, let's jump on a call. Hey, why don't we just go ahead and jump on Skype on zoom or face time? Because they want to encourage that face time, communication and you're in your PJs with your bedhead. And now you have to whip up together something for a call. So if nothing else from the waist up, good, decent, get ready for work established office hours. That's when it kind of goes back to the boundary thing. And this is for your sanity and others expectations as well. Some people, if they don't establish office hours, they honestly end up working 24 7 because they can't shut it off. So don't do that, Okay? That's gonna burn you out. Said the environment, create a work space you could. You know, I know you may not have a home office, but if you have a table that you're establishing or a place in your bedroom you're establishing some place that's gonna be your space. Make that your work space. It could be hard if you just jumped into teleworking because of the Corona virus, but you'll thank yourself later, and you'll regret it if you don't. This helps you keep your work step all organized and helps you separate work from home. Not to mention it's a cure for overall distraction. Because of you have your work stuff mixed in with your daily life stuff and then the kids stuff. You know it can really be distracting and get mixed up and you'll lose lose traction. Keep the lines of communication open now just because you're off site doesn't mean that you're off line. So be available as you would if you were working normal office hours and available or unavailable when you wouldn't be. In other words, you know, if your people are used to you being available from this hour to that hour, go ahead and stick to that. If that's what you guys were doing and then just because you're at home doing this tell a work thing doesn't mean that if they reach out to you in the middle of the night that you're supposed to go ahead and answer, you know, respected the on and the off. With all the technology out there, we have no excuse for not staying in contact. We can even hold face to face meetings. Zoom is really great for that. Or you can just go simple old school with a facetime call just to get that feel for who you're talking with, as if you were to pop into their office, get out of your house slash office often give yourself a break and get outside regularly. Otherwise you end up never disconnecting from the office, and it will drag you down. People who break it up our way. More productive overall. Nephew aren't focused. If you can't seem to focus on your work, stop. Don't put in hours just to put in hours. The blessing of the teller work schedule is usually that it could be flexible. Keep in mind expectations of those that you're working with our clients you're serving. But if you have task that don't have to be done during a certain time of day with them into what works for you. If there's a certain time you're more productive at home than you were at the office and you know that that works for you, then do that figure out a way to be your best self while doing this. Tell a work thing. And this this is such an opportunity. And I keep saying that this is an opportunity to show what organizations can do remotely. You have a chance to be creative in ways that you never could have been in the office. And you know what? The number one priority Purkiss. No impromptu B s story telling sessions at the office that end up sucking hours of your day away. You know what I'm talking about, you know, the body that stops at your desk and wants to dump a load of gossip or tell old stories. And three hours later, you guys were still sitting there and then you take off to go to lunch. Like, you know, the productivity I'm talking about that gets slammed when your day just turns into that. But that means said you also don't have that opportunity to have those B s sessions and to have that camaraderie, so find a way to keep fitting that in. This also minimizes office water cooler gossip. And who wouldn't like a little less of that, though I know that some of you live on it. I know you were out there, so I'm sorry, but I know that you guys will find a way to scratch that gossiping itch, even though I know you will. So take this teleworking opportunity as a chance to involve your family if they aren't used to what you're doing at work. If the kids were confused and they don't know what's going on or they can't seem to find a way to leave you alone or they can't figure it out, involve them in some things when you can let them see what you're working on, let them see what you're gone doing all day, every day. Involve them in a project. Get their feedback like for my son, Um, podcasting. I will if he's, you know, it's an and bummed, because I can't do something that I'm working on something. When I get a chance will say, Hey, buddy, let's sit down and lets us do recording and make a little podcast episode And he just loves that. And when he's involved in knowing what my mission is and what I'm doing, he understands it and gives me a little more leeway. So that's pretty awesome. But grass, this is an opportunity. Take care of your family. Stay healthy, respect this hold distancing thing. It's so strange, but let's embrace it and make it into something really great. I really think that we can and I have more. Resource is on abby bolt dot com that I can help you with, and if there's something that I can help you with individually, please reach out to me and check out our people dot com. I would love to help you out, and you know, Just help it be a better place. So with that, you guys choose the hard right over easy silence. And don't forget to lead with fire.