Times are weird in this era, as a giant pandemic known as the COVID19 struck the world violently. There is currently no cure to this new disease and could be life threatening for the older people. Businesses are starting to close, all mass events, in which people are seriously in danger of contracting the virus, are getting canceled all over the world. What started as a local problem to the Chinese government is now a responsibility for all.
Even though things are closing and people cannot leave their homes, economy is still running and you must pay your bills at the end of the month, so how in the world are going to get past this series of tragic events? Home office is the answer. Many companies and organizations are already in transition for the times to come until COVID-19 is contained. If you have a hard time with working in solitude at home, you are in luck this time around!
I worked for Apple Education for over 2 years and I’ll tell you one thing: I almost never saw my work colleagues and I was the only responsible person for my job in my workplace. I worked for the Campus Rep program, in which one student is selected to represent the brand in their university and find ways to make exposure to Apple’s core education initiatives. I’ll tell you about how I worked remotely and at the end I’ll throw some useful tips for working and managing inside your home.
When I entered the job I only had one physical event to attend: a massive training course given at Mexico City, in which all 40 members of the program, including leaders and managers, came together to ensure that everyone was well prepared for the job. Only 5 days I saw the team and the rest of the semester I worked at my university. Every activity I planned was physically unsupervised, I arranged my work schedules, and only once per week I had a meeting with my manager. Turned out this freedom granted me flexibility and space to enjoy all the things I like in life, along with work.
After a year in the program, the team lead saw potential in me, so he decided to invite me to work as a Senior Campus Rep, which are the managers that hold the program together. I was very excited, and as in my last position, I learned even more about remote communication and managing from anywhere. I now was the one who had a team on my back, and I was to ensure that they were trained, motivated and had the right strategies for getting successful at their universities, while I was also working on my projects at Tec de Monterrey.
Sounds like a very complicated job, but once I figured out the strategies for working remotely, I managed to get my team on board, get excellent results and still have time to spare for personal activities. Here are the five most important things that I learned during my job at Apple:
1- Be responsible with your tasks
As always, a great power comes with a great responsibility. Having to be all the day at home can be refreshing, because you can enjoy time with your family, practice a personal hobby, or sleeping spare time. I’ll tell you one thing: you must be very well organized with your times, because distractions are everywhere and there is no boss to tell you to get to work. You must be your own boss and get the job done in time and form.
2- Bond with your team, even remotely
My team was the best in the whole program for one simple reason: we were friends, even if we lived in different cities and never saw physically. I spent a lot of time in team meetings where we could do fun activities together, know each other, and get the chance to build trust and bond. I think this is equally as important as job related meetings, so have your spaces reserved for these type of meetings.
3- Think different
Not everything in work has to be the way traditional companies project it: boring, repetitive. Instead, play by your own rules and have fun in the process. Each week we had a different theme in which we would work on: one week we were the avengers and in our team meeting we had to dress up like a superhero, or in another we were members of the royalty, so our communication would have to be with the nicest manners and traditions. We all can change the way we do things to enjoy them more. Question yourself: How can I turn this boring activity into an enjoyable one with one simple change?
4- Overcommunication
As also told in last episode of CBC’s Spark, over-communication is essential for good quality work. We tend to suppose that people already know certain things about a deliverable, or that we will work in this certain way, but the truth is that the clearer the message, the better the flow of the team. Also, you must ideate a place for storing all the documents in the cloud, so that everyone in your team or organization can have access to it without making an extense journey searching for a file.
5- Plan before virtual meetings
Just as this applies in real life scenarios, we can speed up the time in which we meet a person by thinking ahead. Plan a list of topics that you want to cover during your meeting, during your work plot questions and in the meeting take them out to clarify them. This will hit on wasted time because if a conversation about something is over we move to the next thing on the list. This strategy can also be applied to discuss more topics in the same amount of time that you are used to.
Perspective is everything when looking at the world: we, humans, have the power to decide on everything in our lives. Every situation you are placed on, was in part your decision, so there are not excuses for passing a hard time working at home. I hope that with these strategies you can extend your productivity with the home-office method and also enjoy it as much as working close to your colleagues.
Parra's Project Management Blog 