Being in home office for more than a decade (fully at home – 600 km away from my (no longer existing physical) workplace in headquarters) – here are some tips, to make life better during Corona Isolation
e.g. better food when having no/little time to cook:
- experiment with healthy food (fast food is not a long term solution) – faster, but healthy food recommendations without cantine:
- smoothies with fresh ingredience, nuts… (if you hate milk, use joghurt or fruit juice)
- soups can be prepared (bigger amount) – just need to be heated up
- wraps, sandwiches can be prepared very fast
- salads in any kind (fruit salad, vegetable salad, fish salad)
- try also international: couscous, sushi, tortilla, pancace/crepes, egg receipies, pies, sprouts, roots, casseroles
My Top 10 Recommendations for Home Office:
LEARN – EXPERIMENT – ASK!
- don’t be afraid to ask for help!!!!
- experiment – now it is the best time for throwing away old expectations!
- don’t ask IF it will work – but HOW you/we can MAKE it work!
- be open and learn from others – there is no shame in being curious!
- use free time for rising your maturity – learn use the many platforms out there:
LinkedIn, YouTube, Udemy, Video2Brain, Kahn Academy…
1. Experiment with your work setup at home
- find a place with no window in front or in back of your computer
- the best sitting position, is the next one – so change places frequently
- think of cables (no one should fall) and a good table setup
- being constantly in video conferences – think about noise or you disturbing others
2. Create Work/Life Balance Boundaries
- Separate work and private life (not working in bed or in sleep wear)
- Don’t work in your bedroom (if possible)
- have a set of energy spending and structuring rituals (eating, taking a walk, gynmastic, reading, socializing)
- Life = work + familiy/friends + you + health + learning … balance! (sort it as you have it – think about it)
- Take care of your relationships – they are essential
3. Prepare for you meetings
- As collaboration time is „reduced“ to virtual calls, meetings, conferences, make it valuable for both sides
- check your tech-setup – dedicate devices only for work, to have them always ready
- know your gadgets – in 9 out of 10, there is a solution found by knowhow, workaround, skills, asking for help
- schedule your work AND important things in your life – plan
4. Create accountability for Yourself
- Note down ALL tasks (Helpful Apps: ToDo App, Planner, OneNote, Evernote, Wunderlist, ToDoist, )
- Do planning every morning and check in the evening what remained open
- Work on your diszipline (inner accountability substitudes external force/control/rules)
- getting things done gives you self-effectiveness and the (needed) feeling of having impact
- Take care of distractions, notifications
5. Be visible, valuable, supportive
- Reputation in home office works digital: sharing/creating value = reputation
- Keep your profiles up to date (LinkedIn, Xing, Twitter, internal Kontakt platforms…) – about me should reflect what you do: promote yourself
- Tagging your own profile with your skills, compentence, expertise, projects… helps the organization „remembering you“
- commenting and creating articles, wikis, blogs allow others to „follow“ you: Leaders have followers!
- Learn Twitter
- Learn LinkedIn
- Understand Blogging
6. Communicate clearly and efficiently
- as time is short, think about your impact and personal (department/project) goals and how to achieve them (efficiently)
- use the right tool/channel for the desired goal (Teams chat, Teams, Slack, Video, ESN (Status Messages, Blog, Wiki, Forum) – Slido, Mentimeter, Stream, YouTube, Zoom, Skype, Trello, Planner)
- if more than one person involved no eMail but Group chat!
- if need of getting diverse feedback > ESN Blog or Forum or ask your external networks (how to build a network)
- consolidate only for you: personal OneNote, Evernote, for your Team „only“: Teams OneNote or shared files, for a greater audience (For One Another): Wiki, Blog, Platforms – be aware of what is allowed (compliance, data protection, security)
- draft important statements and review them – maybe challenge them with others before using
- setup a virtual coffee corner – where people can meet regularly without agenda (staying up to date on unplanned topics)
- getting feedback in bigger teams via forms or polls
7. Protect your health
- Sitting on a kitchen table for 8+ hours = unhealthy and very likely cause short and long term health issues
- have regular breaks, walk around, strech, if possible work standing for 10 Minutes per hour (no problem when in a call)
- calls without the need of taking notes or sharing your screen can also be done „going for a walk“ (in calm areas)
- experiment with healthy food (fast food is not a long term solution) – faster, but healthy food recommendations without cantine:
- smoothies with fresh ingredience, nuts… (if you hate milk, use joghurt or fruit juice)
- soups can be prepared (bigger amount) – just need to be heated up
- wraps, sandwiches can be prepared very fast
- salads in any kind (fruit salad, vegetable salad, fish salad)
- try also international: couscous, sushi, tortilla, pancace/crepes, egg receipies, pies, sprouts, roots, casseroles
- get sun and fresh air – frequently open window, work on balcony or outside (sun is essential for your health)
- invest in your health – get healthy chair, fitting desk, a good light
8. Set clear responsibilities
- coincidence (meeting someone in the coffee corner) is unlikely to help you protect you from missing target dates or deliveries
- organize your work in your teams – be clear who does what until when
- organize your private life and activities/responsibilities – recommend:
have a physical (or digital) planner board:
planned, done, wishes – with names – daily standup (5 min) who takes care of kids – when, trash, food, shopping, cleaning… - plan your free time – have something all look forward too
- create a „box“ and collect wishes from everyone in the family – once you have time, pull an action and do it (often people lack ideas, when time has come)
9. Communicate, align
- This is the best time to start your working out loud circle
- ensure regular exchange with your teams – include a bigger part for „miscellanious“ – in new situations relationships need to be strong to prohibit isolation or missunderstanding
- create your „glossary“ or ask about the „meaning“ of terms being used (specifically new ones) – there are often different perspectives on one word (transparency = big brother or fundament of social learning?)
- align in all directions – ensure your leader knows what you do, miss, need including holistic frame conditions, your team knows when to reach you and how
- communicate your priority channel – and when you can NOT be reached
10. Socialize
- Science tells us, relationships are the fundament of health, happyness … and success (think about the iceberg model of communication)
- recommendation to setup a Virtual Coffee Corner, where colleagues can meet: create a channel in your Teams and offer time slots, where people can meet, help each other, exchange…
- connect with people also outside of your teams
- use ESN tagging to find others in the organization with the same topics or interesting topics > follow, invite in your network, talk
- asking for help is great to build relationships
10+1. Have fun
- creating a pleasant, valuable, appreciative atmosphere in calls makes people „wanting“ to be part of it
- negative topics, problems or re-organization are no fun, but how we deal with it, can make a big difference – sometimes a good joke can lighten up
I often use the question „how would you love to work?“ opens positive perspectives – ideally being respected and translated into actions – but „knowing“ about each other helps to feel better.
You are not alone!
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