I’m spending a few minutes every day sharing my ideas and experiences as a remote worker. Today, I’m thinking about the way my team seems to be adjusting so quickly to their new normal.
My team has been fully remote for 3 days, and they’re already quite good at it. I’m sure there are plenty of work processes to figure out in the coming days/weeks. But my work experience as one of the people who is always remote has actually improved. This has nothing to do with me and everything to do with the creativity and adaptability of the team.
Here are a few more remote work practices I’ve picked up from my team this week.
Say Good Morning and Good Night
What do you do when you arrive in the office? You probably say some version of “good morning” to your team members. Do the same thing when you sign on from home. We’re using Slack with dedicated team channels. Today, everyone posted a photo of themselves holding their coffee mugs as a morning greeting. It was a definite boost to start the day. Saying “good night” also helps people realize when you become unavailable for the rest of the day, especially if work schedules are now less predictable.
Pets, Pets, Pets
#pets may be the busiest channel in our Slack instance throughout the day. People are snapping quick photos of how their pets are playing a role in their remote work. Sometimes, it’s a quick game of fetch. Sometimes it’s a pair of sleeping cats. Sometimes it time for a walk. Again, this new type of casual engagement provides a nice boost as the day goes on. And it doesn’t just have to be about pets. It could be about anything people are experiencing while working from home. But pets are always good!
Virtual Social Half Hour
My team has scheduled a dedicated 30-minutes at the end of the week to come together as a group and just talk. Beverages are optional. This is something that commonly happened in the office, but it doesn’t have to stop now that we are all at home. It’s also a positive way to transition from the work week into the weekend.
Thank you to my team and everyone who is working through this disruption in their own way. If there is anything I can do to help, please let me know.
Check out past entries in this blog series on remote work:
