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:
In general, your “home office” will fall into one of three categories:
Your home office should do several things for you:
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:
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:
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:
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:
Logistics:
Do good and be well, Frederick
0 Comments
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:
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?
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:
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:
Morning Productivity Have a set order for getting started. Some of the steps you may take:
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.
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.
Best practices for routines:
Logistics:
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:
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:
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:
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:
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:
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:
The content topics for next week are:
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. |
Categories
All
Archives
February 2025
|