Note: Estimated read time for this article is 6-8 minutes
 
Colleagues,
 
I want to give a shout out to Dr. Jacque Jacobs. In addition to being a long-time friend and mentor, she has been helping me refine and edit the content in this series. Thank you, Jacque!
 
Yesterday we talked about routines. If you missed that you can read it on my blog here and watch the video here. Today, we will focus on spaces. Your routines create behavioral structures, and your spaces create physical structures for healthily leading from home.
 
Remember that we have three overarching themes:

1. Make intentional decisions
2. Limit distractions and transitions
3. Engage fully (and healthily)

 
In general, your “home office” will fall into one of three categories:

• A dedicated individual space is a true office in your home that can be sealed off from the rest of the home, like a converted bedroom or basement room. This is an ideal situation for maximizing your productivity.
• A dedicated shared space is a specific area that is yours, but which exists within a space that others use and cannot be easily sealed off, such as a desk in the family room. This presents challenges, especially in terms of distractions, but is workable.
• A non-dedicated space basically means that you work wherever you happen to be sitting (or standing). This is an unworkable situation that can negatively impact your health and ability to lead. This is not an acceptable option for any serious leader. Before you bristle, read on!

In this article, the term “home office” refers to your situation regardless of category.
 
Your home office should do several things for you:

1. Signaling to you (and others) that you are working
2. Limiting distractions and interruptions
3. Enhancing productivity and workflow
4. Helping you feel professional

 
Let’s look at each of these more closely.
 
Signaling Having a dedicated space (individual or shared) creates a physical signal that you are “at work.” Sitting down (or stepping up to your standing desk!) cues your mind to engage in your work. It serves as a notice to others that you are working, and that they need to observe any interruption protocols you have established (more on that in the video).
 
How-to:

1. Dedicated Individual Space: Shut the door!
2. Dedicated Shared Space: Establish a set procedure for informing others in the house that you are “going to work.” Turn off sources of noise and distraction (talk shows) Move to your workspace and settle in. You could use a specific type of music as a way to mask background noise and provide an additional cue to others. Put a note/door hanger to alert others who might enter.
3. Non-dedicated space: Create a dedicated space. If you can find a corner to set up a small desk or table, do it. If there is absolutely no room, choose a seat at your kitchen or dining room table. Use that same seat consistently. Consider using a seat that is not your normal seat for meals to emphasize the table as a workspace.

 
Limiting Physical signaling through being in an “office” space is a first step to limiting distractions and interruptions, especially those in your household environment. Complete a household check by eliminating noise and information distractions from sources outside of your space. Inform others that you are “going to work.” Complete a space check by eliminating sources of distraction within your dedicated space. There are two primary sources of distraction in your home office environment, personal clutter and communications.
 
Personal clutter may include actual objects (e.g., a stack of household bills, basket of laundry or pile of dirty dishes) or digital ones such as your news and social media feeds, personal browser pages (Amazon, airfare, more news, facebook, etc…). Try the following:

• De-clutter physical items by removing them from your space.
• Close out of all personal applications and browser windows. They really have no place in your workspace and undermine your productivity.
  • If you have tabs in a browser that “cannot” be closed, you can group those tabs separately from your professional ones and minimize that collection of tabs.
  • If you have a Mac, you can use the multiple desktops feature to keep personal stuff on a separate personal desktop (that’s what I do).

 
I was originally going to examine communications in detail right here but have decided to do a communications deep-dive on Friday instead. Until then, here are some communications things to think about:

1. Communications can intrude into your work via alerts.
2. Communications can extrude you from your work when you check to see what’s new.
3. Both of these issues interrupt your concentration and prevent you from getting into a flow state.
4. Ideally, you should turn off all notifications when you are doing priority work.
5. If that sounds insane, ask yourself why you need to be available while you are doing your most important work of the day. Hold onto those thoughts until Friday!

 
Enhancing The physical layout of your space can make work easier or more difficult. Try and arrange furniture appropriately. be reflective about inefficiencies or challenges and consider changes to your equipment. For example, six months ago I bought an adjustable desktop so I could alternate between sitting and standing while at my computer. It was awesome and improved my health and my productivity. Last week I replaced that desktop with an adjustable table. Wow! I have so much more space! The result is that I can stay in my office when I need to write stuff out on paper or take notes. I can keep more material within easy arm’s reach. This saves me from having to move away from my work which aids flow and productivity.
 
Professionalizing Imagine sitting on your couch in your PJs amidst a pile of laundry, paint swatches for your living room, and equipment for your favorite hobby. Now imagine sitting in an office chair at your computer in your business attire amidst your professional books, diploma(s) and teacher/leader memorabilia. The second scenario is a lot easier if you have a dedicated individual space, but have you moved some of the important trappings of your leadership into your home office? Even in a dedicated shared space, you can “stage” the space like a movie set. Hang your diploma(s) on the wall above your computer. Stack your three favorite leadership books on side of your desk. Choose one meaningful piece of “favorite teacher” memorabilia and set it on your desktop or even mount it on the edge of the monitor. The point is that you want to provide subtle emotional cues that reinforce your professionalism and will aid in your focus.
 
Best practices:

• Create as much physical separation as possible
• Ruthlessly eliminate distractions
• Be intentional about communications
• Professionalize your workspace

 
Logistics:

• Remember that you can view a video that expands on this content at my YouTube channel here. If you subscribe to the channel you will automatically get alerts for each new video.
• You can opt in to a 160-character daily text message that recaps the critical points of each day’s content by texting “lead” (without quotes) to 8559091152.
• You can register for the April 2, 2:00 meeting here.
• As always, you can email me at fbuskey@gmail.com

 
Do good and be well,
 
Frederick

Colleagues,

Today we begin our 4-part series on caring for yourself.
 
Assumptions: You are (a) working from home, (b) you don’t usually work from home, and (c) that you are putting the needs of others in front of your own needs.
 
Over the next four days we’ll look at establishing healthy routines, creating healthy spaces, engaging in renewal, and increasing healthy leadership practices. On Thursday afternoon we’ll conclude with a 2:00 virtual meeting.
 
We will also examine three overarching themes:

1. Make intentional decisions
2. Limit distractions and transitions
3. Engage fully (and healthily)

 
We have had to react to a new way of leading and working, but now it is time to be intentional. Intentional choices will result in better leadership.
 
Every break in concentration requires refocusing. This is as true for scanning an email notification or news headline as it is for taking a phone call or interacting with someone in your environment. Each time you refocus you lose time and your ability to concentrate is degraded. A series of breaks creates a cascading effect that undermines your ability to engage thoughtfully and intentionally. After you finish with this article you can jump here to read a research summary about the cost of disruptions.
 
Closely related to distraction is the concept of being fully present for each task and each interaction. Being fully present offers performance and mental health benefits but is challenging in the digital age and might be even more so when leading from home.
 
Routines are the practices we engage in on a daily basis. Think about routines as being a set of dominoes. If you start your first routine correctly, the rest of them should follow as long as you’ve set them up well. When you execute your first routine, it becomes easier to do the second, and then the third, and so on.
 
Why are we starting with routines?

• Your normal routines are likely obsolete
• Without routines, we become more reactive and less intentional
• Working from home carries increased distractions, and routines can help

 
Like a sailboat with no rudder, we go wherever the wind takes us without solid routines. In short, it is very difficult to act strategically without having routines.
 
There are four critical parts of the day for routines:

1. Transition to work
2. Morning productivity
3. Afternoon productivity
4. Transition from work

 
This sequence assumes a standard day focused on being most productive in the morning. Rearrange elements to suit your schedule and times of peak performance. If you are still functioning in crisis mode, these practices are still relevant but will be harder to execute.
 
Transition to Work
This is the single most important set of routines due to the domino effect.  If you stumble on the first step, it can make the rest of the day rocky. Here are some suggestions for routines to include in your transition from waking to working:

1. Turn off news sources, it will free your mind for more productive tasks. Set limits with others in your home to get current news at specific times (e.g. noon, evening).
2. Structure your routines so that they naturally take you from wakefulness to work. This might look like:
   1. Serving others in your home (partners and children).
   2. Taking care of physical needs.
   3. Mental care and preparation (praying, meditating, reflecting, reading). I’ll talk a lot more about this in the video!
3. Enter your space ready to work.

 
Morning Productivity
Have a set order for getting started. Some of the steps you may take:

1. Check your calendar
2. Plan your day
   1. Identify ONE thing that must get done
   2. Block your day in to general themes or specific time slots
3. Check communications and respond only to the highest priorities
   1. Your email is not your to-do list. Be intentional about what email (and other communications) you respond to and which ones you can address later.
   2. This might be your biggest challenge area – be intentional.
4. 4.Focus on your priority task (assuming this requires your peak performance)
5. 5.Engage in important communications or other tasks

 
Afternoon Productivity
One of the inescapable facts of leading from home is that there are more distractions. Being militant about sealing off blocks of work time is critical. If you need to do non-work things during the day, try and do them in a set block. Importantly, build a trigger at the end of the block that pushes you into your afternoon work. Accept that the afternoon block may be “squishier”, but you can anticipate certain types of work.

1. Try and contain meetings to set time periods.
2. Attend to more tedious items, especially things that can be accomplished in small chunks of time.

 
Transition from Work
This is critical for your mental health. Your work may require you to do things in the evening, and if that is the case, build in an evening work block with its own routines. It is imperative to create clean breaks between professional and private time and to adhere to them to the greatest degree possible.

1. Plan your work for the following day
2. Review the current day and reflect on your performance
3. Shut down your communications

 
Best practices for routines:

• Be explicit with yourself and others about your routines.
• Be consistent with the sequence.
• Be intentional. If you need to break a routine, know why you are breaking it.
• Build in triggers that signal a transition or remind you to get back on task.
• Limit interruptions and transitions!

 
Logistics:

• Remember that you can view a video that expands on this content at my YouTube channel here. If you subscribe to the channel you will automatically get alerts for each new video.
• You can opt in to a 160-character daily text message that recaps the critical points of each day’s content by texting “lead” (without quotes) to 8559091152.
• You can register for the April 2, 2:00 meeting here.
• As always, you can email me at fbuskey@gmail.com

 
Do good and be well,
 
Frederick

Colleagues,
 
It’s Friday, and for me that always means it is time to reflect. In my conversations with leaders, it feels like we are beginning to settle into a “new normal.” That doesn’t mean that things aren’t still evolving and changing daily, but it does mean that it looks like we’ll be doing this for a while.
 
While unique challenges will doubtless arise, it is time to start refining your systems and reordering your life, or at least your leadership. On Monday, we’ll begin a series focused on taking care of yourself while leading from home. Here are the topics:

• Monday: Establishing healthy and productive routines
• Tuesday: Structuring your work-from-home space
• Wednesday: Renewing yourself
• Thursday: Leadership practices to increase mental and emotional resilience

 
In addition to this blog, you can sign up for my emails, text message summaries, videos and a webinar. Links are below.
 
Given where we’ve been and where we are headed, this particular Friday is a great time to reflect on your routines. Reflect on these questions:

1. If you’ve recently transitioned to working more from home, how have your routines changed?
2. Do you actually have routines in place for leading from home?
3. What’s working?
4. What has surprised you?
5. What needs to change?

 
Reflecting on these things today will lay a great foundation for actually establishing and adjusting new routines as we begin that work on Monday.
 
Have a great weekend, do good, and be well.
 
Frederick

Links:
Want text messages? Text “lead” (without quotes) to 8559091152
Want daily content email? Subscribe to my special edition email here. 
Want to watch the videos? Subscribe to my YouTube channel here.
Want to listen to the audio? Sorry, I’m still working on that!
Want to participate in a group? Sign up for the group Strategically Leading Together
Want to interact in live time on Thursday, April 2 at 2:00? Register here. ​

Colleagues,
 
Welcome to a regular Thursday edition. I just wanted to point that out as I’ve been sending a lot of special editions your way.
 
Today we’ll look at strategy 6 for developing your leadership in 2020, but first a quick recap on what’s happening here at Strategic Leadership Consulting:

• On Tuesday we had our first Zoom meet up that included eight leaders from education and non-profit organizations in both South and North Carolina.
• Next week I’ll be launching a daily series on self-care for the homebound leader. You can read more about this program on my blog here.
• On Thursday, April 2 at 2:00 we will have our second meet up on Zoom. Please register here. 
• This is the first edition of The Present Leader’s Ledger. I've merged my two distinct audiences (P-12 education and everyone else) as this is a time when we all need to pull together.

Before we begin unpacking strategy 6, quickly generate a list of 5-15 people who you trust. These are people with whom you can be vulnerable. Take no more than three minutes and do it before you read any further!
 
Go ahead, do it now!
 
Really!
Did you make your list? Okay...

Goals that we keep to ourselves are invisible. The only accountability we have is to ourselves, and when things get urgent, accountability becomes less important. That’s why we need help.
 
If you are serious about improving in your focus area, you need help. You need an accountability partner. Important qualifications for being an accountability partner:

• They must have your complete trust.
• They must be willing to ask you hard questions and to push back.
• They need to care about your growth.
• They need to be a good listener.
• It helps if they themselves are reflective.

Your partner can be someone within your workspace, someone in a similar position in another organization, a friend, a relative or life partner, or even a parent.
 
Go back to that list of names you generated (you did do that, right?). They should all meet the first criteria. Now work through the other criteria and see who you are left with. Hopefully you have a couple of options.
 
Once you have identified an accountability partner, do the following:

• Share your issue, focus area, strategies, and one word with them
• Ask them to help hold you accountable
• Determine how they can hold you accountable
• Set up a regular time to touch base (weekly, monthly)

Do good and be well,

Frederick

​Click on the link to view a short video about my accountability parter!
You’ll also find short (3-8 minutes) videos that elaborate on each strategy and there are discussion forums you can participate in if you’d like to learn from and share with other leaders. 

Colleagues,
 
I’ve been working hard to learn how I might best support your leadership in this unique time. After many conversations with leaders from different areas, I’ve decided to place a priority on two things: building community and helping you to take care of yourselves.
 
In a time of physical isolation and unprecedented needs from those you work with and serve, helping you to stay connected and healthy makes sense.
 
Beginning next week, I’ll be increasing my content offerings to include:

1. A 160-character text message about the day’s theme
2. A 300-500 word email/blog post expanding on the theme
3. A daily video/audio podcast with additional information on the theme

 
The content topics for next week are:

• Monday: Building healthy and productive work-from-home routines
• Tuesday: Structuring your work-from-home space
• Wednesday: Renewing yourself
• Thursday: Leadership practices to increase mental and emotional resilience

 
Also on Thursday, we will have another 2:00 meet up on Zoom. This week’s inaugural meet up was a big success and participants wanted it to continue. Please consider joining us and bring someone along. Register here.
 
Finally, I have set up a group on GroupMe called Strategically Leading Together. This is an informal way that we can keep in touch with each other without clogging up inboxes.
 
In summation, you can choose to access content by signing up for emails, texts, video, a discussion group, and a Thursday meet up (see links below). 
 
I’m working hard to meet your needs. If I’m getting it right, please send an affirmation my way. If I’m not getting it right, please send me a suggestion. Either way, you can send me an email by clicking here.
 
Thanks for all you are doing to serve others.

Frederick

Links:
Want text messages? Text “lead” (without quotes) to 8559091152
Want daily content email? Subscribe to my special edition email here. 
Want to watch the videos? Subscribe to my YouTube channel here.
Want to listen to the audio? Sorry, I’m still working on that!
Want to participate in a group? Sign up for the group Strategically Leading Together
Want to interact in live time on Thursday, April 2 at 2:00? Register here. ​