Working from home can be a welcome change – whether your workplace offers a flexible workplace schedule, allowing you to work from home some days while the kids are off for the summer, or this is your official office workplace.
While it has many benefits to you and your employer, be careful not to fall prey to distractions – One scenario….He sets his computer up on his dining room table, and is ready to get to work. Three hours later, however, he’s shocked to realize that he’s completed very little. What’s he been doing? Well, he had to make coffee. Then he did a load of laundry, took a phone call from a friend, and sorted through the mail when it arrived. One thing led to another, and now he’s really behind!
Working from home can be incredibly productive. But it’s also full of distractions. If you work from home, it’s up to you to make sure you’re doing a full day of focused, productive work. Below are some benefits and challenges to working from home and tips to help you be at your most productive during the day.
Benefits and Challenges
There are many benefits to working at home. For instance:
You can be more productive when you’re not distracted by casual phone calls, impromptu meetings at your desk, or interruptions from other team members.
You can be more relaxed and have better morale because your schedule is flexible and fits your needs. This can lead to less stress.
You can save money, including the costs of commuting, lunches out and work clothes.
You’ll have more time, as you won’t need to commute to work.
Of course, for all the benefits of working at home, there are also a number of challenges:
Working at home can be incredibly distracting if you’re not self-disciplined, especially if family members are also around during the day.
Without interaction with team members, you can feel isolated.
You may find it more difficult to be productive when you’re unsupervised. (This also includes “supervision” by the people you manage!)
Working from home can make it hard to separate work hours from off hours, causing you to work more.
People at the office can forget that you exist, meaning that you’re not selected for interesting or high profile projects.
Working at home is definitely not for everyone. Some people love the freedom and have the required self-discipline, while others need supervision to be effective, or yearn for the energy and camaraderie of a busy office environment.
Tips for working from home, whether temporarily or as part of your regular schedule:
Workspace – Having a productive and comfortable workspace is particularly important when working from home:
Have a dedicated workspace –preferably not your kitchen table! Ideally, this space should be a separate room with a door that you can close to shut off distractions. The more you make it feel like a real “office,” the more productive you’ll be and able to close the door after you, means you’re “off work.”
Get an ergonomic office chair – If your chair is uncomfortable, you’ll probably find plenty of reasons to get up and go somewhere else.
Make sure your “office” is a place where you enjoy spending time – Put some effort into making your working area appealing to you.
Organization – It’s important to keep your home office organized:
Make sure your desk is big enough – This will vary, depending on the type of work you do. Keep essential tools in an area that you can reach from your desk; this reduces frustration, and avoids the need to get up repeatedly when you need something.
Tidy your desk daily – Spend a few minutes at the end of each day clearing off your desk and filing papers.
Organize your information – If you work on several different projects at once, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and disorganized because you’re handling so much information. Pull out what you need as you work on it; everything else, file until you are ready for it.
Time Management – Good time management skills are essential for productive working at home:
Create structure for your day – Get up, take breaks, and quit working at the same time you would if you were at the office. This helps create a rhythm for your day and a sense of normalcy.
Prioritize daily tasks with a to-do list – Knowing that certain items must get done by the end of the day will help you avoid distractions.
Make a to-do list of “in between” items – These are tasks that won’t take more than 10 minutes to complete. For instance, if you have a conference call 15 minutes from now, you can choose one of these shorter tasks that you can complete quickly.
Keep a timesheet – It’s easy to lose track of how much time you’ve spent on a certain project or client. Avoid this by keeping detailed timesheets. By tracking your time, your organization will be able to see how you’ve spent it. You can also identify when you are most productive.
Communication-As you’re not “visible” in the office, communication is especially important when working from home:
Communicate effectively with your managers and co-workers – They need to know that you are, indeed, working productively and available, even when you’re not at the office! If possible, redirect your office phone extension to your home phone.
Use tools like Skype or instant messaging – These allow people to check in with you during the day if they have questions or need an update. You can always set your status to “busy” or “unavailable” if you want to focus on a particular piece of work.
Go into the office on a regular basis – Where possible, do make the effort to go into the office one or more days each week. Not only will this help you remind others that you exist, it helps with the social relationships
Time tips
Train your children to let you work – Working from home with young children in the house can be especially challenging, and it’s almost impossible to do work of any quality while you’re looking after them. Make sure that you have appropriate childcare in place, and teach your children that when you’re in your office, you’re “away.” Put a sign on the door to help them remember. Although don’t be too rigid here: one of the real joys of working from home is, for example, being around to welcome your children home from school. Make sure that you take a little time to enjoy simple pleasures like these!).
Beware the Internet! – If you find yourself drawn, for example, to Internet news sites, use some of the time you save commuting to read these in-depth before the start of the working day. They’ll have little attraction if you’ve already read the most interesting content. And if you’re still struggling, you can use tools like Freedom and Anti-Social to block Internet or social media access for a pre-determined length of time.
Set alarms – If you tend to waste too much time on the Internet or with other distractions, then set an alarm clock or kitchen timer for one hour at a time. Do one hour of focused work – and when the alarm goes off, reward yourself with 5 or 10 minutes of doing whatever distracts you. Then set the timer for another hour of work.
Dress in work clothes – You’ll probably feel more productive if you dress just as if you were going into the office.
Home working is becoming more and more common. Make sure you have a dedicated, comfortable workspace that you like. Schedule your day just like you would at the office. If you often lose focus, identify what’s distracting you and try to eliminate it from your day. And, if possible, get involved socially with your team. Working from home can be isolating, so you need to make an extra effort to build your work relationships.
Disengaged employees bring down morale, productivity and cost money – replacing an employee can set a company back more than three times the employee’s annual salary, according to a Gallup report.
Many companies have discovered a surefire way to increase employee engagement – corporate volunteer programs. These programs allow employers to connect with their employees by supporting charitable pursuits important to them.
How does workplace volunteering translate into better workplace engagement?
1. Employee volunteer programs lend purpose and meaning.
Commitment to one’s work gives employees a sense of purpose, and companies are learning that an excellent conduit to this feeling is involvement in cause. Seventy-one percent of employees who participated in an LBG Associates survey about employee volunteer programs indicated that they felt more positive about their company as a result of these programs. Many business leaders find that purpose-driven work through cause is linked to boosted morale and productivity, which inevitably affects corporate bottom lines. Organizations are realizing that if you give employees the opportunity to give back, they’ll have a renewed appreciation for the importance of their jobs.
2. Employee volunteer programs are a critical tool for employee recruitment and retention.
Employees want to take pride in their work and company, and when they do, they tend to stay. Volunteer programs are a superb channel to create an engaged corporate culture that attracts top talent and keeps them on the job. Corporate volunteerism report by Deloitte showed that workplace volunteer programs are important even to those who don’t typically volunteer in their private time; 61% of millennials who rarely or never volunteer would consider a company’s commitment to the community when making a job decision.
3. Employee volunteer programs provide strong platforms for leadership and skills development.
An employee volunteer program allows workers to expand skills, build upon strengths and connect with their community. Indeed, 90% of human resources professionals say that pro-bono volunteering is an effective way to develop leadership skills. Volunteering can also develop soft skills that are instrumental in a business environment, such as problem-solving, mentoring and communications. That’s why these programs are excellent breeding grounds for new talent, allowing a neutral space for employee training and growth at a relatively low cost to the company.
Some other important benefits include:
Employee development
Encouraging teamwork
Improved communication
Building brand awareness
Improved employee retention
Providing subject matter for corporate content creation
While company volunteer program strategies may vary, one thing is certain: engaging employees through volunteering infuses jobs with purpose-filled work that increases workers’ chances of remaining happy, productive and loyal.
Last month I shared with you my Top 10 Favorite Books; I received so many emails about that list that I thought I would share with you my Top 7 Favorite Podcasts:
This is Your Life by Michael Hyatt – Leadership Focus
Ted Radio Hour: NPR (Ted Talks) – Wide range of topics all by outstanding speakers
EntreLeadership by Dave Ramsey – Leadership and Business topics
Beyond the To-Do List – Productivity Focus
Andy Stanley Leadership – Leadership
Seth Goden Start-Up School – Business Focus
Read to Lead – Book Reviews
Podcasts are the key to my continuous learning. What I like about listening to podcasts is that I can subscribe to my favorite industry experts and depending on my mood, I can listen as I go about my day.
For those of you who are “non-techy” like me. Don’t be afraid of podcasts. It’s sooo easy, it only takes 4 steps:
Download a podcast app to you phone (since I have an iPhone, I use Apple podcasts)
Search for one of the titles above
“Subscribe”
Listen
Seriously, this is the easiest way to learn, grow and ignite your creativity… give this a try and let me know how it works for you or better yet, share your favorite podcast! I love seeing comments or getting email from you.
How would you describe a strong leader? In one leadership study, qualities such as assertiveness, adaptability, intelligence and conscientiousness were cited as the most important. “Research clearly shows that transformational leaders – leaders who are positive, inspiring, and who empower and develop followers – are better leaders,” explains psychologist and leadership expert Ronald E. Riggio. “They are more valued by followers and have higher performing teams.”
So what can you do embrace these characteristics and become a better leader? Transformational leaders are usually described as enthusiastic, passionate, genuine and energetic. These leaders are not just concerned about helping the group achieve its goals; they also care about helping each member of the group reach his or her full potential.
Consider some of the following tips for how to become a better leader and think about ways that you can implement these strategies in your daily life.
1. Learn More About Your Leadership Style
Understanding your current leadership style is essential. What are your strengths? Which areas need some improvement? One way to start assessing your skills is to take a DiSC Assessment to get a general idea of how you lead. Once you have completed the DiSC, read about the major characteristics of your dominant style. Are these qualities helping or hindering your leadership? Once you’ve determine which areas need some work, you can begin looking for ways to improve your leadership abilities.
2. Encourage Creativity
Intellectual stimulation is one of the hallmarks of transformational leadership. Followers need to be encouraged to express their creativity. Effective leaders should offer new challenges with ample support to achieve these goals. One way to foster creativity is to offer challenges to group members, making sure that the goals are within the grasp of their abilities. The purpose of this type of exercise is to get people to stretch their limits, but to not become discouraged by barriers to success.
3. Serve As a Role Model
Idealized influence is another of the four key components of transformational leadership. Transformational leaders exemplify the behaviors and characteristics that they encourage in their followers. They walk the walk and talk the talk. As a result, group members admire these leaders and work to emulate these behaviors. If you want to become a better leader, work on modeling the qualities that you would like to see in your team members.
4. Be Passionate
Would you look to someone for guidance and leadership if they did not truly care about the goals of the group? Of course not! Great leaders are not just focused on getting group members to finish tasks; they have a genuine passion and enthusiasm for the projects they work on. Start by thinking of different ways that you can express your zeal. Let people know that you care about their progress. When one person shares something with the rest of the group, be sure to tell them how much you appreciate such contributions.
5. Listen and Communicate Effectively
Another important characteristic of transformational leadership involves a focus on providing one-on-one communication with group members. Good leaders should express sincere care and concern for the members of their group both verbally and nonverbally. By keeping the lines of communication open, these leaders can ensure that group members feel able to make contributions and receive recognition for their achievements.
6. Have a Positive Attitude
Transformational leaders have an upbeat, optimistic attitude that serves as a source of inspiration for followers. If leaders seem discouraged or apathetic, members of the group are likely to also become uninspired. Even when things look bleak and your followers start to feel disheartened, try to stay positive. This does not mean viewing things through rose-colored glasses. It simply means maintaining a sense of optimism and hope in the face of challenges.
7. Encourage People to Make Contributions
Let the members of your team know that you welcome their ideas. Leaders who encourage involvement from group members are often referred to as democratic or participative leaders. While they retain the final say over all decisions, they encourage team members to take an active role in coming up with ideas and plans. Research has shown that using a democratic leadership style leads to greater commitment, more creative problem-solving and improved productivity.
Learning to say “no” is one of the most challenging, yet useful skills you can develop in both your personal and professional life. Here are a few reasons why:
Acknowledge that you cannot do everything. When you say “yes” to everyone, you leave yourself trapped with little time. Saying “no” will give you more time to focus of existing obligations and important priorities.
Remember that “no” is not always a negative thing. When you say “no” to extra requests, you are actually saying “yes” to a reasonable workload. The alternative often means burying yourself in hours of extra work and fretting over deadlines just because couldn’t turn someone down.
If you are worried about meeting expectations or finishing on time, be upfront and say “no”, rather than over-promising and under-delivering.
Realize you cannot please everyone and that you have to draw the line somewhere. If you say “yes” to everything, people may be more likely to take advantage of you.
Beware that people who say “yes” to everything often become overly stressed, run down, and frequently sick as a result of overcommitting.
In many cases, saying “no” can instantly relieve stress and make you a happier person overall.
Saying “no” to temptation can help you stay on the track and achieve your health goals.
By saying “no”, you open the door of opportunity for others to step up and get involved or do their part.
Here are a few tips on how to say “no” gracefully:
Be firm, calm, and polite.
Provide a brief explanation of why you cannot do something.
Do not apologize too much. Just give a simple response.
Consider offering alternatives, such as “I do not have time to work on this until tomorrow, but <NAME> said she has some free time today if you need it right away.”
Remember, saying “no” to one request will often allow you to say “yes” to others.
WARNING: The story you are about to read could be disturbing to most people – reader discretion is advised.
Regardless of what your organization does or sells, your brand is really what your customers believe about you. A smart, forward-thinking big box electronics retailer, known for marketing strategy, creative advertising, and attracting the best talent, had enjoyed the top position in the electronics category for years. The last 24 months they have struggled as they continue to lose market share and perform poorly financially. Hundreds upon hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent in creating, marketing & advertising their brand. Last week I saw a television commercial for the retailer and I was immediately reminded of the ridiculous experience I’d had with them – and it reinforced my commitment to never shop there again. It happened again when I came across their newspaper insert. It made me wonder if customer experiences like mine could have played a part in their current position.
AM I ON CANDID CAMERA?
“I don’t know who told you that, but that’s not correct – your contract will probably not cover the repairs”, says the twenty-something girl with an unconcerned air as I stand there with my computer. I wait for her to continue the sentence with “but help me understand what’s happening & we’ll figure out how we can help” or something similar – but there is nothing. We are already 5 minutes into the conversation about how I had purchased a service contract that covers the computer I bought at this store. All I care about is getting the computer to work because I am realizing that most of my life is connected to something saved on this computer. When I called in the tech on the phone had called the symptoms I was experiencing the “blue screen of death”, and am anxious to know if the hard drive is bad and I’ve lost all of the information I hadn’t backed up in the last 3-4 weeks. I tell the girl, “The guy I worked with was named Dan – maybe I should talk to him and he’ll remember the discussion.” This is where it all starts to go terribly wrong.
“We don’t have a guy named Dan working here – I have no idea who you’re talking about. We have a lot of turnover. If you want help you’ll have to talk to me.” Standing beside me, my 12-year-old nephew quietly gasps at the rude tone she is using. Keeping my mission in mind, I ignore the tone and the erroneous information about their turnover problem, and press ahead, “When I called they said it may just be the battery. Can I get someone to test it – can you put in a good battery to see if that fixes the problem?” In a sarcastically sweet voice she says, “Certainly – if you just fill out this form, then we will get back to you in 3-5 days.” I ask, “Can’t we just test it quickly now to see if that’s what it is, and I can just buy a new battery?” She rolls her eyes, sighs loudly, and in an exasperated tone, waving her arm to indicate the space around her replies, “Ma’am there is no way we can keep all the different kinds of computer batteries in stock – we will have to order it. We would have to have a building 3 times this size to store all of the equipment we might need. Do you want to leave it or not?” My nephew utters, “Uh oh” and anticipating what might come next, moves over to the rack of video games nearby and out of the potential line of fire.
I am so angry that I know I shouldn’t speak immediately so I just stare at her. After a moment I respond in a purposefully even tone, “I am a consultant that works with companies to help them teach their team members how to provide good customer service. So far this conversation has been very dissatisfying and is not working for me. I need you to find someone else to speak with me.” She says, “Great! You just made me feel really good about myself – thanks a lot!” I actually look around to see if there are hidden cameras – maybe I’m being filmed for one of those shows that set people up to see if they can get them to lose their tempers?
Turning and walking away, I head for the nearest employee, who finds the manager for me. He is unsurprised, and listens passively as I describe my experience. He does not really apologize, but introduces me to a lovely young woman named Sarah who is concerned with understanding what’s happening & with helping me. She says, “I am sorry they have been trying to work with Erin for a year, and she still has trouble with customers sometimes.” WHAT?!! A year? Are you kidding me? While I wait for Sarah to run some quick tests on the battery (which apparently they DO have in the store), I feel badly seeing two elderly people walking out of the front door looking confused and discouraged after talking with Erin. Over the next 15 minutes I witness three more people struggle to work with Erin and her attitude. I am astonished. Luckily Sarah is great to work with, and after 5 days they fixed my computer which was mostly covered under the service contract after all.
MARKETING OR UN-MARKETING?
Even though it turned out alright, I will never buy anything at that store again. This company is not aware or not concerned with the customer experience that Erin is providing. Either way I choose not to deal with a company that is obviously not connected, engaged or interested in their customers. In fact every time I see their logo, pass a store or see an advertisement for them, I am reminded of how I will never shop there again – in effect they are actually spending money to remind me to keep away. It really hit me: In my case all that money has been spent to reinforce a completely opposite message & brand than the one they intend. Makes you wonder how much is being spent by all marketers, to actually remind people about why they remain ex-customers, rather than the messages they intend to market. My family will never buy the following items from the store: computer, television, iPhone, iPad, washing machine & dryer, vacuum, stove, refrigerator, dishwasher, PlayStation, X-Box, video, DVD, headphones … that’s a lot of money that one household will not spend with that retailer. Multiply that by the number of people Erin has dealt with in the year that she’s worked there. Multiply that by the number of “Erins” they have working for them company-wide.
CUSTOMER SERVICE IS YOUR BRAND
Poor customer service isn’t always as apparent as it was with Erin. It can be quieter, like a sense the customer gets that an employee is not interested or doesn’t seem to care one way or another. How much could disconnected, disengaged employees be costing organizations every year? How much could they be costing your organization?
Multiple-time entrepreneur, business guru, founder of the wildly successful shoe e-tailer Zappo’s, and author of Delivering Happiness, Tony Hsiesh (pronounced “shay”) believes that Customer Service IS Your Brand. Founding Zappo’s in 1999 and selling it 10 years later for $1.2 BILLION while staying at the top of every customer service list published, he emphasizes the critical importance the culture of responsibility and connection to their customers is for his company and the role it plays in their success.
Zappo’s has a list of 10 core values that they live by. In order to determine what these values were going to be, Tony shared a blank notebook, asking every employee to write what kind of company they wanted to be a part of, and the values that they thought the company should be guided by. The book was then collected and then answers were boiled down to these top 10:
ZAPPO’S CORE VALUES
Deliver WOW Through Service
Embrace and Drive Change
Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
Pursue Growth and Learning
Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication
Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
Do More With Less
Be Passionate and Determined
Be Humble
Hsiesh believes that the right culture is so important to the success of the company, that if someone they hire ends up not fitting or supporting the values, he views them as dangerous and actually pays them to leave. What are your organizations core values? Are your team members connected to them in a personal way? Do they guide their decisions and actions each day? Are they so important that you’d pay someone to leave if they were “qualified” but didn’t fit into your culture?
Acknowledge that you cannot do everything. When you say “yes” to everyone, you leave yourself trapped with little time. Saying “no” will give you more time to focus of existing obligations and important priorities.