How to maintain the benefits of coworking whilst on lockdown
In this time of lockdown as those who can are working from home, many find themselves split into 2 camps.
The first group are those who have done this all before, where working from home is or was the normal. Those freelancers who understand the dodgy internet connect, the call of the fridge, the not getting dressed all day. Those who already know how to video conference, have a laptop, are proficient in tools such as slack. Many of whom have in recent times found a coworking space to work from, to combat the downside of working remotely.
The second group are those who have never worked from home before, who have always had an office based role as part of a larger business, who haven’t freelanced, or remote worked. Who don’t yet know the importance of getting dressed each morning, of limiting the food intake, ignoring the washing that needs putting out. Those who are used to the chat around the kettle, speedy wifi, comfortable office chairs, separation of home and work life.
Perhaps the second group are finding it harder to adjust right now, the changes to their daily working lives far higher, their ability to change everything being tested firmly. However, on the flip side those workers are also starting to appreciate the finer elements of remote working, no lengthy commute, no at desk interruptions by colleagues (ignoring the kids, cat etc.) getting to choose their own music to listen to.
Whichever camp you fall into, there are no doubt a range of things you are missing and craving for in your daily work lives right now to ease your efficiency, improve your output, enhance your mental health.
As a business set up solely to fill these gaps for people who remote work as the norm, we thought we would use our expertise to give you all some tips on how to try and regain some of the benefits of coworking whilst on lockdown, as we are all going to be here for a while yet!
Some of our recommendations are firmly tongue in cheek by the way, there are some things that just cannot be replaced, and we all need a little humour right now!
People
One of THE most important elements of a balanced work life is the presence of other people. People to interact with, to talk to about work, to solve problems with, to learn from. Working from home limits the people around you to bounce ideas off, collaborate with, listen to. Of course, those people you would normally do this with, your coworkers are all still there, it just takes a little more planning to find the time and right space to interact with them. Here are our tips on making sure you get the people interaction you need.
Face To Face Meetings
Most great ideas, solutions to a problem, understanding of an issue result out of a face to face meeting, whether that is a one to one, or a team meeting, time spent with other people listening & responding efficiently is crucial. Relying solely on written communication can often lead to misunderstanding, lack of context, removal of empathy AND ridiculously long email trails. To combat the loss of personal contact in this modern age all we have to do is take the conversation online. There are a plethora of tools available to allow people to connect face to face online. However, many are finding that just throwing a number of people together via ZOOM, Skype or Google Meet and expecting a meeting to run in exactly the same way just wont work. There is lag, people accidently mute themselves, tech fails and everyone talks over the top of each other. If you are using video conferencing to have a meeting make sure you have the following in place:
An agenda. Don’t just throw everyone together. Make sure you have a plan of what you are going to run through in the meeting and what outputs you need. Share this with everyone who will be attending the meeting so everyone is clear on the purpose of the call.
A meeting chair as with any face to face meeting, a successful online meeting should have a leader, someone who is steering the agenda, making sure everyone’s voices are heard.
All faces visible at all times. Don’t have so many people in the meeting that you cannot have their faces visible at all times. If people feel they cannot be viewed they will disengage with the meeting. This would not happen if you were all in a room together.
Don’t have too many people on the call. Just because you can do it online, don’t have a meeting with 30+ people and expect to get a sensible conversation going. You wouldn’t expect to have 30 people in a face to face meeting in the office would you?
Keep to time. This is just as important as with any face to face meeting. Don’t overrun just because people are less likely to have something else to do. Keep it to time and on topic.
Limit background noise. There is nothing worse than a remote meeting where all you can hear is peoples background noise. Expect everyone to have found somewhere quiet to take the meeting and ideally have a background to their video with no distracting movement.
Asking & Listening
We often use our coworkers as a sounding board, to ask advice or opinion. In an office or coworking environment we are used to being able to just go up to people and ask. Not so easy when you are working in isolation… or is it? Don’t just resort to email to ask people off the cuff questions, we are all dealing with email overload at the best of times. Try the following instead.
Utilise an instant message tool. Think of the people you most value the opinion of at work. Who do you often share advice & knowledge with? Can you set up a group chat to ask those questions when needed. Whether it be WhatsApp, Slack, Messenger these are all great places you can put minds together for quick off the cuff chats and document shares. You don’t have to be IN them all the time but managing the dipping in and out to see what the conversation is can be really beneficial for all, as well as a social interaction so missing from your day to day at the moment.
Ask Google. We are not being funny here but how many times a day in a normal office does someone ask a question that they could easily find the answer to themselves? Perhaps now is the chance to really have a think and be a little more self-sufficient. Or just use www.letmegooglethatforyou.com........ Perhaps see what Alexa or Siri think?
Ask your household. Often we don’t discuss work with those that we live with, we want to separate work life from home life or we think that as they don’t work in the same field their opinion isn’t valid. However, often bouncing ideas off someone outside of your business can lead to interesting and new opinions or learning from transferrable skills. If you stick to work questions during the day only, you might be pleasantly surprised by the input you can get from housemates & family. Just don’t wake your partner with a burning question on marketing strategy at 2am in the morning.
Sign up to some webinars. There have never been so many places you can get free advice online as there are right now. Why not utilise the time you may have spent bouncing ideas off your workmates actually doing some proactive upskilling online? What do you want to know more about? Just go to good old Google and search for a topic + webinar. We guarantee you will find something you can book onto and learn something new for free. Just think how impressed your coworkers or boss will be when you go back with an “encyclopedic knowledge of project management” or a finely honed skill in “PowerPoint animations.”
Don’t forget the great range of online talks & workshops we are providing at Rume2 at the moment. Find the details on our Community Calendar page.
Office Bants
Yes we are all missing the Monday morning catch up on weekend jolly’s, a robust discourse on the latest EastEnders episode, or the sharing of “constructive criticism” of fellow coworkers…. Those odd 5 minutes of light relief and office gossip. Well fear not, you don’t need to go without, you just have to preplan them a little. Arrange a Monday morning online non work chat with your favourite bants buddies, a Friday afternoon Zoom with a beer. Make sure you keep that friendly relationship with your coworkers throughout this period. All work and no play will make time REALLY drag. On the plus side you don’t need to cross the office to avoid Derek from accounts 5 hour account of his gardening activity at the weekend any more (please excuse the blatant stereotyping!!)
If you find you are still suffering withdrawal symptoms from those funny colleagues of yours you could always schedule in a couple of episodes of The Office each work to remind yourself how it really is MUCH better to only have yourself for company at work 😉
Environment
One of the most important factors of a good workplace is the environment. Working from somewhere warm and comfortable is important, but so is being in an environment that inspires you, makes you feel proactive, creative. Whilst there is no point in spending a huge sum of money on creating that dream studio in the garden for (what we hope is) a temporary situation we do have some tips on how you can try and set up a proper work station at home.
Find somewhere a little more secluded. Is there somewhere you can set up where you can shut the door for a little piece and quiet? Avoid the thoroughfare of garden to toilet that your children may be using up to 300 times a day? Limit the background TV, teenagers appalling taste in music or the rumble of the washing machine? Even if it is in your bedroom, do try and find a small space you can call your own where you can zone into your work, take calls and most importantly can resist the sound of that fridge being opened!
Unclutter your workspace. Even if it is throwing everything that was on the desk you are using into a cupboard until lockdown finishes, an uncluttered workspace limits distractions and allows you to focus more on the job in hand.
Natural light. If possible try to be near a window. No-one wants to be shut away for a couple of months with no view of the world outside or fresh air. Good oxygen is crucial to maintaining concentration.
Find a plant. Being near a plant will help oxygen levels but they are also calming to be around and frankly look lovely as well. Nature has a way of reminding you of the possibility of growth even when everything around you might feel it is going in the opposite way.
Posture. Try and make sure you can maintain good posture. Find a chair you can sit comfortable in for a few hours at a time and if you need it use a riser or separate screen, so you are facing forward and not looking down all the time when working.
Have something nice on the wall that you like looking at. We all need to take regular breaks from our screen for our concentration and for our eyes. Its good to get up and walk around but if you just need that nano break have something up on the wall you can look at that gives you joy or stimulates the mind. Even better change it on a weekly basis. Variety is the spice of life after all.
Commute
If there is one thing that a commute is good for, it’s the separation of work from home. A chance to decompress at the end of the day or to ramp up into work mode on the morning. It is often a rude shock to the system to go straight from breakfast to sitting at a computer and definitely harder to relax going straight from the screen to supper with the family in the evening. Here are our alternatives to that period many of you will be missing:
Go for a walk. We are all only allowed one piece of exercise a day at the moment, but can you utilise this at a time you would be on the commute. Perhaps at the end of the working day get out on the daily dog walk, or cycle to get work out of your system.
Listen to a podcast or some music. The commute is often a time we catch up on our favourite shows or listen to our favourite music. What is stopping you turning the lap top off and going and sitting in the garden or by a window and listening to something completely non work related for a moment.
Stretch. Take 10 mins to go in the garden and stretch and breathe deeply before or after work, perhaps you are into mediation or mindfulness practice. Any of these are a great way of decompressing or ramping up from work before we hit home or family life.
For the other elements of commuting that many of you are currently missing try the following:
Go and stand outside of your house for approximately 15 minutes preferably in rain or wind and get a member of your household to shout out of the window constantly announcing your method of transport is delayed by a further 5 minutes until you give up and go back indoors.
Stand in the shower holding onto the shower head with one hand whilst using your phone with the other hand without moving for approx. 1 hour a day.
Go and sit in your car on the driveway put on your favourite drive time show and take the car in and out of handbrake, neutral and 1st gear every 2 minutes for a minimum of 25 minutes. Honk the horn every now and then, and perhaps once a week let your kids argue in the back of the car for the full 25 minutes.
At the end of each of the above put at least a tenner in a pot and at the end of each week burn it.
Ok ok yes the last lot were a joke BUT come on people who is really missing all the joys of a commute? Perhaps one of the positive outcomes of 2020 will be less need for anyone to commute so much.
In fact, a big cultural shift towards more remote working may be of huge benefit to a number of people. Imagine a world where a couple of days or more a week no-one has to go to their normal office. They can work remotely either from home or better still a local coworking space and enjoy the best of both worlds:
Save money on the commute
Work in a beautiful inspiring environment
Switch up the interesting people you get to work around
Enjoy all the office bants
Walk to work for the ultimate de-stress
Enjoy super-fast internet
Stay away from the temptation of the fridge but still have access to freshly roasted coffee, healthy snacks and Friday beers.
Join in a wealth of free knowledge share and social events with fellow coworkers
In short revolutionise your working week whilst maintaining or even improving the output your business is used to from you.
It’s worth considering hey!!
For those of you who already know the joy of working in a coworking space like Rume2 well we just look forward very much to welcoming you back ASAP.