How to work effectively from home: 5 rules Bashny.Net

Work from home — not to work effectively. How to combine both, says the consultant in the performance Carson Tate. Where do you work now? On the couch? In the coffee shop, wearing headphones? On the terrace with your tablet? If you are working online — "remotely" — you are not alone.

But remote work as any other new placements, requires discipline and care. According to the Intuit research, almost a quarter of American workers are at least a few hours a week working remotely. 67% of companies allow at least some employees at least occasionally work from home. In 2008 it was 50%. 38% allow some employees to work from home regularly (23% in 2008).

In some companies, telecommuting is already an integral part of work organization. About 43% of the employees of the insurance company Aetna periodically work from home or other virtual environment. Software company GitHub claims that 260 of its employees are working around the world, and almost everything remotely. These and other organizations see remote work is a great way to maintain a healthy balance between work and personal life of employees. But this flexibility creates new challenges. Here are five strategies that help you work effectively away from the office.





1. Communicate thoroughly and often

"Communication is the largest obstacle, and the best way to achieve trust in distributed teams," says Sara Sutton fell, CEO of FlexJobs. It is wrong to use only one tool for communicating with colleagues. There is a place for email and chats, and phone and video conferencing. Just pick the tool that matches the nature of your message: e-mail for tactical information, updates to share; phone — for discussion and solutions to complex problems; video conferencing to discuss complex issues and exchange of unpleasant news. And most importantly — don't wait for your Manager or coworker start a conversation — run ahead and contact them yourself.

2. Take the initiative as Manager

If you are a Manager, it is difficult to demonstrate its presence and availability, working remotely. Regularly contact the members of the team, set them clear goals and expectations, offer support and help, show that you care about them as people, not as employees. "When team members work remotely, it is difficult to see the connection between their personal contribution and the overall success of the company," says Sutton fell. It is therefore very important to systematically reach out to people. When I worked remotely for the same company before opening my own business, my Manager agreed that we will communicate weekly by phone. One day in the month he spent with me in my area of sales and was always ready to help and cheer me up via e-mail and voice mail. He even knew my dog's name!

3. Take the initiative as a team member

Remote work is when you can't rely on random encounters with colleagues in the hallway to chat with them. So you need to consciously and deliberately address them, to keep in touch with them. When you have the next conference call, plug in a few minutes early to chat and get to know the latest news. Schedule a virtual lunch with colleagues. Ask the Manager to arrange regular calls or video conferencing, where you will share progress reports, discuss goals and new ideas. Otherwise, you will make sure that the sayings "out of sight, out of mind".

4. Go to the individual

Employees in one of the virtual teams I work with, sitting in six different countries. Many of them have never met personally with colleagues, while working together for more than five years. When a team led by new boss, she quickly realized that her subordinate should get to know each other not just professionally, so that between them there was a more solid working relationship based on trust. She begins each meeting — they are held in the form of a videoconference, to see each other — with the fact that one of the team members shows photos from your last vacation or talks about his favorite recipe. This may seem like a small thing, but this approach has strengthened the interest of employees in work, and they began to do better.

"We need to recreate the "chatter at the coffee machine," which naturally occurs in a conventional office," explains Sutton fell. Concentration at work is important, but if you spend a few moments to learn how colleagues spent the weekend, what they are interested in, how they're doing in the family, etc., this strengthens working relationships and creates a more effectively functioning team.

5. Let define how to measure performance

Much has been written about the decision of the head of Yahoo Marissa Mayer to reverse the remote work in the company.

But is it really a problem with the performance and motivation of the staff members were working remotely — or in corporate culture and ineffective management?

Sutton fell believes that the problem was in the lack of managerial control and the absence of clear concepts of performance, motivation and communication between employees.

The professional management of karly Ressler and Jody Thompson proposed an approach known as ROWE — "working environment focused on results": efficiency and productivity of employees is measured only by the results they have achieved. That staff was responsible for the result, you first need to clearly define the criteria for successful work and to convey what it is in each worker role.

The company Dynatronix, which has introduced this technique, now 90% of tasks completed on time, 20% more than before. The company transfers Choice Translating revenue grew by 13.3% after the transition to ROWE. This technique — to put it mildly, not the only one. Importantly, the replacement of vague expectations specific — this is especially important for distributed teams, where the negative effect of indistinct goals, often even more. This coin has a flip side. Personal responsibility extends during remote operation.

Your performance must meet your own standards, not to mention the standards of the company. Know your strengths and weaknesses and customize them to your schedule.

 

P. S. And remember, just changing your mind — together we change the world! ©

Source: ideanomics.ru/?p=4540