💡 TIPS OF THE MONTH - WFH while staying balanced, engaged, and effective - By @ABacchi035478 (Community Member)
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Hello everyone! Have you – like myself – started to navigate remote work for the first time given the COVID-19 situation? Let's hear from @ABacchi035478 (Community Member), one of the security leaders and WFH expert in our Community who shares his insights from years of full-time remote experience:
🔹 How to achieve work-life balance
- Set aside a space dedicated to working. I use one of our guest bedrooms as my office – where I can close the door while I am working and close it on the other side when I am finished working. Having that dedicated space away from the TV and other distractions is a key part of working from home.
🔹 How to stay connected and engaged
- Get your core team to participate in a persistent group chat app (like Slack or MS Teams), encourage collaboration and a little goofing off to happen in that chat because that turns into your water cooler and a way to stay connected with your colleagues.
- Use video conferencing - I see it as the evolution of collaboration where each person can show their body language and communicate at a different level than just on the phone.
🔹 How to conduct effective video conferencing
- Get the webcam to be almost at eye level and looking directly into the camera, so don’t have it off the side – That will make it feel more natural for your teammates.
- Turn off “self-view” if possible – The self-view can be distracting and I find myself looking at the tiny little box of myself more than the team. So turning it off is best – you don’t walk into a conference room with a mirror, do you?
Does any of his tips resonate with you? Do you have other productivity, engagement, or security tips about WFH that you'd like to share your peers? Leave a comment below 🙂
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Hi @ABacchi035478 (Community Member),
Some excellent tips, thanks for sharing. I can relate to having a dedicated work environment as it helps me to mentally separate work from non-work, and the use of a flag (i.e a closed door) to let family know when you are busy and don't want to be disturbed. I'm going to try your recommendation to turn off self-view and see how that improves my meetings, thanks for this handy tip. Another thing I would add to this list is to be present, by that I mean try to resist the urge to read emails, or type whilst in meetings as it is not giving the team the full attention they deserve, but so easily done!
Thanks again,
Anthony
Excellent tips @ABacchi035478 (Community Member) and @Anthony Fielding (Veracode) .
As a remote worker for the past 3 years I do all of that. I think my biggest tip would be enjoy WFH. Try it fully, do one of the following things:
* Force yourself to take breaks.
It can be tempting, especially with the extreme connectedness of our lives and without any office distractions to just keep working and forget the time. But make sure you take regular breaks. I like coffee so mine tend to centre around coffee breaks and lunch, but you may enjoy going for an afternoon run.
* Make your lives easier by picking up minor chores while you're on a break
I just came back from lunch and made my wife and sons lunch and unloaded the dishwasher.
I'll turn on the washer or dryer as I'm walking past to grab coffee or pick up some stray toys.
Obviously, there is another side to this, you have to be able to say 'not now' to bigger chores but little things can add up and make everyones life just a little more enjoyable.
* Connect with your loved one during a break
Whenever I step out of the office I track down my wife or one of my sons and give them a hug or ask them how their doing. When I'm not in the office, I'm generally carrying a 6mo baby around and trying my best not just eat him up.
* Enjoy your lack of commute time
The time you spent on commuting is yours, it's a price you paid to be in the office.
It's tempting to spend that time working (and I'm certainly guilty of the 'just one more thing' syndrome) but make an effort to spend that time doing something fun like playing tag with your kids or spending more time breakfast or dinner.
* Have everything just the way you like it
Enjoy things warm? Turn up the temperature. Like heavy metal? Blast it out your speakers!
Who knows, pretty soon, you may not want to go back.
Cheers,
Boy
Thanks for sharing! As someone who's been WFH for a long time, sometimes you forget to do things like taking a break. Good reminders!