Category: Millenials

Working from Home: Tips for Sanity

I read this article last Friday and decided to add my own spin!

https://www.fastcompany.com/90476020/working-from-home-7-smart-tips-to-help-you-get-more-done?utm_campaign=eem524%3A524%3As00%3A20200312_fc&utm_medium=Compass&utm_source=newsletter

 

The 7 smart tips in the article referenced above are:

  1. Get Dressed
  2. Create a Dedicated Workspace
  3. Set and Maintain Your Normal Hours
  4. Focus on Your Output
  5. Eat Healthy Lunches
  6. Schedule More Check-ins with Your Team
  7. Limit Distractions

These are all basic strategies for working remotely and some are easier to implement than others. Since I have been working remotely for the past 8 years, and across many time zones, I thought I would share some other ideas that have been helpful in keeping me engaged in work and with my teams, as well as balanced my family life.

Enhanced Communication

We all know to some extent that much of our daily communication at the office is non-verbal. We see a co-worker with clenched teeth, or notice an entire team disappear for 2 hours. These are non-verbal cues that help us to do some interpersonal research and interaction to ensure that we are completing our deliverable with the most relevant information available. When we return home at the end of the day, we see the non-verbals of our family members, and no doubt turn to the happiest member for some stress relief (maybe the family dog?)!

When all of our time is spent away from the office, we miss out on those non-verbal cues, so enhanced communication becomes helpful and effective. When we are suddenly available 24/7 to our household, expectations need to be set, so that everyone understands what appropriate work boundaries are during lockdown.

Here are some suggestions for teams:

  • If possible, use a shared app for managing projects or tasks such as Monday.com. You can use this as your virtual office, see input, comments and status
  • If an app is not right for your team, a daily morning email can work well
    • Keep it short
    • Include explanations, why, steps, instructions, etc.
    • Bullet what you can
    • Use meaningful subject headers, such as Status: Project #1 [date]
    • Encourage your team to ask questions
    • Provide information for next conference call or video call
  • End of the Day Summary to Manager
    • Include status of deliverables
    • Issues/challenges
    • Needs
    • Accomplishments
  • Daily morning huddle call

 

Here are suggestions for families:

  • Family meeting to set schedule, expectations, answer questions
  • Clearly identify workspace and expectations surrounding this space
    • g. “The dining table is my workspace from 8 – 5”
    • “I will put everything away by 5:30”
    • “While I am on conference calls it’s time for you to play in your fort”
    • “We will eat lunch from 12 – 1 picnic style”

You get the idea and of course you will have an entirely different scenario at your home!

  • Collaboratively get ideas for how to manage household tasks
  • Meet daily for a family huddle with lots of hugs and cuddles
    • Gently remind family of expectations
    • Ask what’s working well
    • Ask for issues/challenges
    • Ask for other input
  • If it isn’t working well, be sure to problem solve
  • Make changes as appropriate

 

Enhanced communication works well most of the time and especially now, to be sure we don’t start losing our sanity, we need to “use it or lose it!”

Traveling While Sick: Tips & Observations

The morning of my flight from Johannesburg, South Africa to Frankfurt, Germany I started an earnest sinus infection/summer cold. Here’s what I did right and what I would change if I had to do it all over again…

This is what worked well:

  • Scheduled 24-hour layover in new hotel
  • Hall’s cough drops in a carry-on bag
  • Advil in a carry-on bag
  • Z-pack antibiotics (proactively prescribed from fantastic nurse practitioner)
  • Giant bottle of water to take on the plane
  • Best carry-on bag design
  • Cash
  • Shopping in airport
  • Very-close-to-airport hotel

What I would change:

  • Type of hotel
  • Should have been located near some restaurants

So, I stayed at a sister brand hotel– it was really new, and really cute. Hip. Trendy. Lower cost. Here’s why:

  • No in-room coffee
  • No executive lounge
  • No room service
  • No restaurant
  • No wi-fi in room

I learned on this trip just how spoiled I am with a full-service hotel, meaning the big, full service with a restaurant, a snack room, an executive lounge, room service, coffee-at-will in my room. In these big hotels, I can work in the room, in the lounge, in the lobby, but in these trendy scaled down hotels, it is designed for a different crowd. Folks who have kids, don’t work from their room, are not spending any time in their room except to shower and to sleep.

So, I dragged myself around the coffee bar/check-in a few times during the day, looking so pathetic, the guest manager/clerk helped me microwave my soup, find the spoons, and made me coffee. I ended up sleeping throughout the day and night, recovering from the crud that had ushered me out of Africa.

Moxy Hotel, Frankfurt, Germany
Welcome to the 2nd Floor!

Note: I have found incredible hospitality at the hotels that I have stayed at — caring people, ready to help. Because I have been a road warrior, I have had several instances of being quite ill during my stays throughout the United States and Europe. Here’s a shout out to every room service person who helped me with hot water and lemon, disinfecting the bathroom [don’t ask], the folks in the restaurant who prescribed lime juice with salt for my throat so I could deliver training to a crowd, and proceeded to procure it for me from the kitchen, and I could go on…Everyone at these places deserves to be treated kindly and with respect. I love you all in the hospitality industry!!!!

 

Shout out to the room decor designers! This is what I was waking up to when I was so sick in Frankfurt, Germany at the Moxy Hotel.

cute boy mural

Communication: Consulting your Adulting Millenial Hipsters

Consulting with your hipsters
Presentation for hipster couples to discuss. Couples Work Plan

I absolutely love this generation of “kids” –they are a kinder, more emotionally aware group in general. However, they are also putting the “hippie” back in “hipster” to put it gently. Many of these kids are having some challenges finding their way, so I have put together a quick .pdf of a PowerPoint presentation that I made for one of my boys.

I have been working diligently since the kids were pre-teens to be the best parent and guide that I can possible be through frequent-healthy communication, and safe emotional guidance aka lots of listening.

I have also taken to heart the book of Proverbs in the bestseller, The Bible. As a parent helping my offspring find a career that will be satisfying, pay the bills, and fulfill the purpose that has been put into the hard drive programming, can be tricky. Mostly, there must be a giant load of trust in God, in his ways, his process, and that He is able to work outside of any parental fear, anxiety, nagging, et al.

So, here is the free download, Couples Work Plan. It was very helpful to my son and I hope you can find some ideas to use in your own consultation with your adultings.