johnmaconline

You gotta have the conversation with your spouse, partner, kids, and roommates. Even if your kids are very young. 

“When I’m sitting here, between these times, I’m working. Unless the house is on fire, or someone is bleeding, please don’t interrupt me.”

Start there. Make sure everyone has been told about your working hours, and your working space, and the expectation of no interruptions.

Of course, there will still be interruptions, and that’s OK. They are inevitable, even if the house isn’t on fire. When this happens, learn the phrase “Yes, but how about this evening or later today?” Or, “Yes, I would love to hear about that, but can we talk about it later?”

Here’s the key to using those phrases:  You must follow through. Don’t let them be an empty promise; you lose trust, and the phrases lose their power. Even 4-year-olds (especially 4-year-olds) will hold you to the fire on this. 

Unlike in an office where you are physically separate, your home and work lives are now integrated. Realistic boundaries have to reflect that. In the office, you get 8 hours. At home, maybe you get chunks of 1-3 hours. Find what works for both you and the others in your house. 

Give yourself and your family members grace and a period of transition. But set those boundaries.

Contrary to what you might fear, avoiding distractions when working remotely is not about self-discipline.

Thanks God, because if it was, I’d have no hope. I’m not a Navy Seal nor a Buddhist monk. I’m not disciplined enough.

The key to avoiding distractions is to create an environment that heads off your triggers. 

First, acknowledge that you have distraction triggers. It’s OK. Take a breath. We all have them. Once you acknowledge them, you can design an environment around them.

Is it the dishes in the sink or the lawn that needs mowing? Is it the email popup, or the text message buzz, or the Facebook messenger ding? Is it the kids walking in and asking what’s for lunch? Is it the incessant barking of the neighbor’s dog?

Now get to work buidling the right environment. Try stuff and test it. It may change over time. Over the next few days I will provide your with several pointers that helped me and can help you.

Start with creating a physical space for work. It may be the most important thing you can create to help eliminate distractions. 

Walking to and then sitting down at that space helps your mindset switch into work mode and signals to the others around you that you are now working. It’s worth giving up some area of your home to create this (semi-) permanent space. 

Don’t bring non-work related devices or distractions into that space. If you wouldn’t have it in your office, don’t have it on your desk at home. Either before you start the day, or at the conclusion of your day’s end, make this space conducive to your personal needs. 

For example, my wife requires a level of cleanliness in her space. If it’s a mess, she’s totally distracted and can’t get started. She must start the day with her space neat and tidy.

For me, it’s continuity from the previous day. When I sit down to start working, I want it to be like it was when I finished yesterday. That helps me jump right back into where I left off.

More to come…

Working from home, especially if it’s new for you, can present an almost paradoxical challenge to your productivity and energy. Especially in the afternoon.

Time works differently when working from home. 

A healthy and productive integrated work and home life schedule does not look like a commute to the office schedule. Working in an office has natural breaks built into the day, even if your normal routine is to work through lunch.

Working from home can bend linear time into an amorphic blob. 

Many days, you roll out of bed and right into work mode, and before you know it, it’s dark outside. You are often isolated from your team, and the household distractions that occur are counterproductive rather than naturally rejuvenating.

There is a pile of research from both the psychology and physiology angles indicating that physical exercise, especially something that you look forward to, helps boost your mood, energy, cognition, and mental acuity. 

These are the ingredients that keep you productive and happy during your workday. 

Taking a recess is about taking an intentional break from your work to do something that you look forward to in order to boost or regain your energy and creativity for the afternoon. If you use that break time to do something physical, you magnify the benefits.

What kind of break should you take? The one that you take.

Anything that you like to do can be a helpful recess, but you will get the most benefit out of something physical and outside. Get outside, get some fresh air. Maybe sweat a little or a lot. 

Feeling the benefits of recess, just like when you were in 5th grade doesn’t require something specific. It just requires that you do something you like so that you look forward to it and keep doing it.

And here’s one more suggestion for those of you whose schedule is stacked with one meeting after the other: 

Start declining meetings over lunch. You have my permission.

When the recess bell rings, don’t miss it.

It’s worth returning to why taking breaks, specifically a lunch break or some sort of recess, is critical to your success at mastering remote work.

To do so, let’s recall elementary school. Or at least my elementary school experience.

Fifth-grade was all about kickball. The way I remember it, the kickball game was the most important 30 minutes of the entire fifth-grade day. This was 1979, so unless it was pouring, we were going outside at recess, and there would be a kickball game. Dress appropriately.

The pre-game ritual started early in the day with trash-talking and anticipation of the impending contest. The lunch table was filled with underhanded draft negotiations just prior to the recess bell’s merciful release.

When the recess bell rang, it unleashed us to bolt outside, line up against the brick wall, and rush through the anti-climactic choosing of the mostly pre-negotiated teams.

And then we began.

The result was a glorious full-circle arc of anticipation, physical release, and the thrill of victory marred only slightly by the occasional trip to the nurse’s office for band-aids or finger splints.

The ending recess bell delivered our cohort of sweaty boys and girls back to the classroom. Some euphoric with the win. Others dejected and passing around the blame of the loss.

We were all physically spent yet mentally refreshed and ready to take on an afternoon of sitting in class and paying attention to the riveting lessons in language arts and the scientific method.

As it turns out, what’s good for readying a 5th grader for an afternoon of desk work is just as good at readying an adult for an afternoon of desk work.

More to come…

A quick but important divergence into the negative.

As a leader, you have a plethora of supervisory tools at your fingertips. The IT department can probably provide login reports, keystroke activity, and browser histories. Ignore them. Throw them away. Disable them.

The remote work environment is not a shop floor, nor is it a kindergarten classroom. You don’t need to maintain a watchful eye. You don’t need to ensure people are doing their jobs by making sure they’re online for the prescribed amount of time.

You might be tempted to create a standing Zoom meeting for the start of your workday or maybe mid-afternoon. If your project requires or runs better this way, then go for it. But if your true purpose is to ensure your team is working at what you consider the right time of the day, resist.

It’s not about supervisorship. It’s about respect and empowerment. It’s not about hours. It’s about impact.

Lead like a leader.

Provide more. Expect more. Get more.

Leading teams remotely is about, well, leadership. Specifically leadership in the new work paradigm. The new work paradigm calls for true leadership, not the supervisorship and micromanagement of org chart leadership. True leadership requires vision, connections, courage, respect, willingness to try things that might not work, and the ability to change one’s mind. 

Ensure each member knows what is expected of them and are empowered to control their own destiny. Empower through tools, responsibility, and trust.

Respect each team member’s schedule and the integration of work and home life. Consider alternate times for meetings. Does 7 am work better than 10 am now that no one is commuting? Use the tools to socialize everyone’s status throughout the day. 

A productive work community does not require a commitment to a daily schedule, but it does require a commitment to one another and to the mission. Encourage the commitment to one another and foster the commitment to the mission.

Developing and then keeping a productive and happy team is all about embracing the differences between the home and office environments, enhancing the benefits of working from home, and equipping your team to foster community and conversation. 

The schedules are jumbled. The distractions are greater. The isolation can be real. 

Acknowledge these challenges rather than ignore them.

Lead by example — work socially.

One of the keys to a cohesive, productive, and happy remote team is to foster community and conversation. Your team wants to feel cared for and cared about. You can do this through your actions and by encouraging everyone to work socially.

Start by putting a proper toolset in place, then use it correctly. Email ain’t it. Not for conversation anyway. Use tools such as Teams, Zoom, or Slack or even non-business tools such as WhatsApp (especially if you have a global team) for conversation. These tools make private and group conversations effortless and useful. Once you master them, it’s like you’re all sitting around the conference room table.

Establish daily contact. It doesn’t have to be intense, formal, nor even work-related. A few chat messages. A quick video session. Just like you might run into someone in the hall or walk by their desk.

Pull people into conversations on your messaging tool. Make sure they’re included and their voice is heard and valued. Actively seek out input from those who prefer to hide.

Once you master the art of working socially, your team will be on fire.

More to come…

The first step in successfully leading a remote team is to allow and help each team member to master it themselves.

Help them establish the same principles that you did:

1. Create a space
2. Find a routine
3. Take breaks
4. Work socially

Push for a budget. Your team needs quality gear and a comfortable setup to mimic an office vibe. Lobby for this. If they’re set up right, they’ll produce right.

Routine matters. Understand each member’s personal flow. Are they morning people or night owls? Schedule around these nuances. The aim is to integrate, not disrupt, their daily life.

Breaks aren’t optional. They’re necessary. Encourage your team to step away, recharge, and come back stronger. A walk around the block or a quick workout can do wonders for productivity. Make it a part of the work culture.

Social interaction keeps the team vibe alive. Use video calls, chat apps, or virtual meetups to keep everyone connected. Loneliness can be a creativity killer; keep the energy flowing.

You’re not just managing tasks; you’re curating an environment. Do it right and you’ll transform remote work from a challenge into a team superpower.

More to come…

Now that you’ve mastered your own remote work environment and practices, it’s time you figured out how best to lead your remote team.

I’ve been leading remote teams worldwide for the last decade, just as I’ve been working remotely myself. Here’s what I’ve learned.

Your goal for your remote team is really no different than if you all sat together in an office. You want to keep them productive, on target, and happy (maybe you don’t care about happy, but I do). The key is to embrace differences between the home and office environments, enhance the benefits of working from home, and to equip your team to foster community and conversation. 

Home life and work-life are now integrated, by definition. Rather than trying to ignore this integration, use it to everyone’s advantage. There is no more commute. The kitchen is steps away. Suddenly, the 3rd grade’s 20-minute presentation of Christopher Columbus’s arrival at the New World looks like something a parent can and should attend. Yes, you can take that 10 a.m. dentist appointment.

The workday might look different, and that’s OK if you know how to lead through it.

Isolation is real for your team. It’s a benefit for unencumbered focus time, but it can suck their life out when they need the energy and vibe of the team around them. 

Nail this leadership, and you’re not just running a remote team—you’re pioneering the future of work.

Mote to come…

I have found this one to be the most important one and the one that eludes most people.

The great news is that it’s not that hard, but it does take some awareness and intention. In fact, for introverts (like me), using your remote toolset to work socially can be better than sitting in an office full of people. Less distractions and more flow time. 

What does “work socially” mean?

Fostering conversation and community around work, but also around life.

How do you do that? By fostering community.

You probably have tools such as Slack, MS Teams, Zoom, etc. Use them instead of email for conversation. Email is a great tool, but not for fostering community. Email is for documentation, publishing, and formal external communication. 

These other tools make real-time conversation effortless. Real-time conversation helps develop a community. Use these tools to “overshare” what you are doing, ask questions of others, and generally create a transcript of the daily work and life conversation.

Turn your video on in meetings. If you have your video on, others feel more comfortable turning theirs on. When everyone has their video on, it’s like you’re sitting around the conference room table. And the potpourri of weird stuff in the background of your video? That just enhances the conversation.

Fostering and participating in conversation and community are the keys to working socially. And working socially is the single biggest factor that will help you master working from home.