How to Quickly Adapt to Remote Working

Working remotely is a skill like any other that we need to learn and a culture we need to experience before we can succeed at it. This is especially true when one is suddenly thrown into this situation and needs to stay home to continue their professional work, and when going to the office is not even an option anymore.

The situation that the COVID-19 pandemic forces us into is not the same as working a Sunday afternoon at home to catch up on emails or even working from home once a week. It requires greater adjustments. The good news is, we become better at it the more often we do it. The following are a few suggestions to speed up that learning process.

Shift your mindset

Many wonder if they will have the discipline to separate their personal tasks from their work-to-dos while working remotely. How can they focus on work and not allow for distractions from a barking dog, noisy child or that pile of laundry that is sitting on the bathroom floor?

There are some steps that you can take to shift your mindset to a professional mode. And it does not have to be dramatically different than your regular morning routine. You simply need to find your personal “mindset shifter” that can transition you from personal to professional time within your own home.

One of the best ways to do so is to have a dedicated space in your home where you do your professional work. More importantly, you need to make it clear to your other household members that this is your workspace, and once you sit on that chair, you are “at work.” It may also help you to get into the work mindset by readying your workspace with whatever you need to start the work day, such as a freshly brewed cup of coffee or your favorite pen.

Workspace essentials

Creating a home office allows you to work in a personalized, comfortable space of your choice. Since you will work 8 to 10 hours in that spot per day, you may want to utilize the best place in your home to do so, and designate your second best place for spending personal time (e.g., reading nook, den, “man cave”). Keep them as separate as possible, and have your distracters, such as your mail and the bills you need to pay, out of sight when you are working. If you don’t have a spare room to use as an office, a simple desk or table setup will do, just make sure you recognize this as your “workspace.”

Good lighting is key; if you have a window for natural light, even better. And invest in a comfortable chair – your back will thank you. Consider investing in a second monitor as well; dual screens are more than a “nice to have” nowadays.

Ideally your work computer should be connected directly to the internet through an ethernet cable instead of Wi-Fi for a faster connection. Some routers allow you to prioritize certain devices within your home network, so another user in your home network does not use up all the bandwidth and you keep a certain minimum networking power.

Embrace technology

Use technology and the tools you have to the fullest, and in a smart way. Here are a few tips:

• Cloud – Consider working from cloud-based apps (like Office365 or G-Suite) rather than connecting to desktop apps via virtual networks, depending on your company’s IT infrastructure and policies.
• Document management – Whenever possible, use a central storage solution for easy file sharing, such as Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox, Box, Google Drive, or Citrix ShareFile, so you avoid sending around files that might end up having multiple versions. Version control will save you more time than you think.
• Communication and collaboration – Use a chat tool for quick questions or conversations. Easy tools for that are Microsoft Teams, Google Hangouts and Slack. These particular tools are especially useful if you need to get something set up quickly,  because you can use any of them as an all-in-one collaboration tool that enables chat, file sharing, audio and video conferencing all from the same software.
• Video conferencing – If you want to go pro on video conferencing, consider Zoom, Webex or GoToMeeting. Not all the features may be free on these video conferencing tools, but they all offer a basic free or trial version in order to test them out first before you pay for the license.

If you are going to be working remotely for a long period of time, it is important that you have a good video conferencing environment. This helps to keep some kind of continuity with your team, particularly if you were used to see each other daily in the office. But be strategic about it and use video where it is important and where it adds value to the meeting, not just because you have it.

For quick team meetings, an audio call is probably still the most efficient way to communicate. And your IT department may thank you, because video can easily use 20 times more bandwidth than audio. This can make a significant difference if the whole company is suddenly now working from home and requires much more networking power.

Master the teleconference

When you are working from home, the traditional meeting becomes either a one-on-one phone call or a group conference call with multiple people dialing in from various locations.

There are many tips and tricks on how to have effective conference calls. ProConference has a good list.

Here some additional tips and recommendations for conference calls:

• Dial in early, particularly if you are attending for the first time, similar to when you meet in person and do not know the surroundings or participants.
• Send files and meeting material, including an agenda, ahead of time. Use screen sharing only when it is necessary (e.g., if you want to show your audience what changes you are making and how). In most cases sending files prior to meetings will suffice and give your audience the chance to look at the materials and prepare before the meeting.
• Do not assume others recognize your voice. Introduce yourself at the beginning of the call and before you start talking or ask a question.
• Whenever possible, use a land line.
• Have a headset, rather than having your phone on speaker.
• When appropriate also consider recording your conference calls, so participants can listen to it again or make it available to others who were not able to attend the meeting. To make it effective for those that listen to a replay, keep the call simple and limit it to conversation only. If you are presenting a slide deck, always mention which page you are on. This makes it easier to follow on a replay.
• When you do use video conferencing, plan it well and carefully test it before you go live. You may also log in yourself from a different device as a regular participant, so can you always view what other participants see on the video conference.

We can’t talk about teleconferencing without mentioning the mute button. Yes, the mute button. Using it the wrong way may cause a very awkward situation. So the #1 rule goes without saying: Make sure you are on mute when you are not talking.

If you are leading the call, make sure you know how to mute and un-mute all participants, so you can quickly cut out all the background noise in case you need to do so. This gives you control of your call and allows you to get started without noise.

Managing a remote team

If you are leading a team, there are a few more things that you can do to help manage your employees and keep a “remote team spirit”:

• The goals need to be even more clear when teams work remotely. As a manager, have regular one-on-ones with each of your employees to discuss performance expectations, and be available in case they need to reach you.
• Have a daily brief conference call with your entire team. In a remote work setting it is almost impossible to over communicate. Even when you think that there is nothing to discuss, keep those regular meetings on the calendar. Maybe your call is finished in two minutes, but at least you give everyone the chance to check-in once a day and raise any questions or concerns they may have.
• A good rule of thumb is to have a 5-10 minute team call every day, and a 60-minute team call every other week. Consider video conferencing for certain meetings where it would add value. An occasional team video conference is also a good chance to socialize a bit, mention birthdays, announce promotions or give awards and recognition.

As I mentioned in the beginning, working from home is a culture, and within that, an environment of trust plays a vital role when managing teams remotely. You need to feel confident that each member of your team is doing their best to accomplish their goals and meet the deadlines. And your team needs to know that they can call on you to give them the trust and support they need to be successful in the remote work environment. Regular and transparent discussion about expectations and the workload will help you to build  this trust and confidence.

Last but not least

Don’t be too hard on yourself if things take longer than expected, or do not go well in the beginning. Remote working is a skill we all need to learn and each team needs time to adapt and find their best way of collaborating. The few simple rules above will, at a minimum, help you to avoid some of the all-too-common remote working pitfalls in this entertaining video clip.