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Time Management

Your Employees Need You To Believe That Working From Home Can Work

Man in chair looking at sticky notes with question marks on them

Are you a leader who has never believed in working from home? Like Marissa Mayer, former CEO of Yahoo! and my last corporate boss, you think that employees need to be in the office to get the job done. The trouble is with millions of workers now being told to work from home, working from home simply has to work.  It’s time for a mindset shift. I must add it is also the time to express the utmost compassion as we navigate this new way of working. We are all suffering different degrees of loss and how you serve as a leader will be remembered.

You may remember Ms. Mayer’s bold move in 2013 ordering all remote workers get back to the office or quit. Some reports suggest it was a much-needed effort to trim the workforce. Whatever the reason, it caused a huge uproar and admonishment from the likes of Richard Branson that it was a step backward.1  There is an abundance of research that confirms productivity and other measures are often improved when employees work from home, but that’s not the point of this post.

In 2008, my then leader became my last solely because of her conviction that employees must be in the office. My kids were three and five years old, and their dad had a demanding job requiring an almost two- and half-hour commute. I had worked from home successfully one day a week, for about a year and was performing well, but that didn’t matter. I was told I had to be in the office every day.

I had started to suffer some symptoms of burnout: headaches, trouble sleeping, low energy to name a few, and wanted to keep contributing if I could preserve my energy by continuing to work some of the time from home. I appealed to my boss’s analytical mind sharing an audit of my responsibilities which revealed that 90% of my interactive work was conducted over the phone or by email and only 10% was completed in person. Nope. Her reply to my offer to work from home 50% of the time was a hard “No”. I found it somewhat ironic that we were working for a company that sold the technology that enabled remote work.

Back to you. Let’s look at some of the concerns leaders have about people working from home. And by concerns, I really mean fears. Fears are based on beliefs, and it is those beliefs we must question, understand, and deal with. Along with each concern, I’ve included some questions you might ask yourself to help shift your thinking.

 

1. I can’t get anything done when I work from home, so how can anyone else?

Here you might be extrapolating your own beliefs about what works for you as being true for others.

Ask yourself:

  1. Am I being fair in thinking others will have the same challenges I do?
  2. How might I confirm that an employee is performing adequately?
  3. What communication could help me?
  4. What about different reporting?
  5. How will I bring this up if I am concerned?

2. I had to come into the office, so my team should, too.

In this case, you might be craving a sense of fairness.

Ask yourself:

  1. Is it reasonable to expect conditions to stay the same?
  2. Is it fair to restrict employees as if they are?
  3. What do I need to let go of to see this as an opportunity

 

3. If I can’t see someone working, how do I know they’re working?

This mindset reflects a lack of trust and possibly a need for control. It may have something to do with your own work style, but not necessarily. Note, the answer does not lie with an increase in remotely tracking work through random screenshots. Autonomy matters.

Ask yourself:

  1. What is causing me not to trust this employee?
  2. If there is a valid reason, can we build trust, or is this indicative of a bigger problem?
  3. If there isn’t, what can I do to experiment with trust?
  4. If I’m micromanaging, what effect could this have on my team?

 

4. I don’t think the team will collaborate effectively working from home.

There is no doubt in-person contact is the richest form we have but with video communication readily available we have a close second. Random interactions won’t happen, but it doesn’t mean you can’t encourage them.

Ask yourself:

  1. What can I do to stimulate informal communication?
  2. What formal initiatives could help encourage more effective collaboration?
  3. Could I improve psychological safety?
  4. Could I create more time to be creative, explore and experiment?
  5. How can employees be encouraged to build relationships at varying levels and across the organization?

 

5. We won’t have enough role modeling of leadership skills.

My former boss explained to me that this was her primary reason she wanted me in the office full time. We know from watching politics that leaders can be very effective from afar. So let’s not limit leadership by geography.

Ask yourself:

  1. What skills do I want to see shared?
  2. Between whom?
  3. In which other ways can this happen?

 

If you’ve been reluctant to embrace working from home, you owe it to your team to think more positively. Your team needs you to believe in them right now. It might require some creative thinking and thoughtful communication, and it will be worth it.

 

1 https://www.latimes.com/business/la-xpm-2013-feb-26-la-fi-yahoo-telecommuting-20130226-story.html


In April and May, 2020 I will be offering Live Q&A Zoom calls every Monday at noon EDT to answer questions on better working from home, personal productivity, and organization. Sign up by visiting www.clarekumar.com/workfromhome. You’ll receive my top “Three Ways to Better Work from Home” download and be invited to sign up for the session of your choice.

I also have a few spots open for private group coaching for individuals and leaders. Book a call with me to find out more.

Filed Under: Coaching, Leadership, Time Management Tagged With: leadership, productivity, remote work, work from home

A daily to-do list to keep you focused – Your Focused Five™

When you’re not terribly busy or managing a light load, you might be able to remember everything you’re responsible for, but what happens when the pace picks up or you’ve got more plates to spin? Having a reliable practice in place can help take the pressure off. This applies to everyone from students to senior executives. Keeping track of tasks can be helped by having a task management Ritual you can count on.

Take a second and think about your to-do list. Is it scrawled on a scrap of paper, jotted down in a notebook, lurking in an online app, or perhaps just jumbled in your head? Is it a regular tool you use, or something you create in a crisis?

If you use it often and it’s working well for you, celebrate that. It’s quite a win, as many people struggle (including me) to find a system they enjoy.

 

Ask yourself three questions:

a) do you use your system regularly? If not there may be something to explore with mindset or the medium. It may not be the right format, but we’ll explore that in another post.

b) is it working for you? In other words, does it keep you on task and on track?

c) how does it make you feel? Do you feel good during and after using it?

Let’s explore the last question. If you’re looking at your to-do list and it leaves you feeling overwhelmed and like you’re not getting enough done, something needs to change. We simply don’t need the tools we choose to use leaving us feeling at all depleted afterward.

There is a need for two (or more) kinds of to-do lists. Just how many you need will depend on how you think and prefer to keep different tasks separately, but at minimum, I recommend having two lists.

The first, likely massive list, is what I call your Master To-Do List. It’s essentially a download of what’s on your mind. Whenever you’re feeling overwhelmed or like you’re forgetting things, it’s worthwhile pausing, and even though it feels stressful, investing the time in going through your inbox, calendar, notes on your desk, and mind to capture your intentions.  As Daniel J. Levitin explains in his book “An Organized Mind” (1),

“Writing things down conserves the mental energy expended in worrying that you might forget something and in trying not to forget it.”

But, I caution you in using this Master To-Do List when it comes to focusing on your daily activities. It is simply too big. Have you ever ordered a plate of food, perhaps a big bowl of pho (Vietnamese soup), and kept eating yet it looks like you’ve hardly consumed anything? It’s somehow highly ungratifying, no matter how tasty the food.

From your Master To-Do List, choose five important things you wish to complete in a day and write those down in a separate second list I call the “Focused Five“.

Why five? Five is a small enough number to actually get through. The act of selecting items forces you to identify the most important activities to attend to. You’ll enjoy the sense of accomplishment that comes from ticking everything off your list.

Keep this list right in front of you. Prop it up on your computer, leave it on your desk, or pop it into your wallet when you’re on the move. It’s a simple, low-tech way to keep your priorities top of mind.

I started out using index cards and then made a template to print my own cards to use each day. You can download it here.

If you get through your list, don’t forget to celebrate a little before choosing another item or two from your Master To-Do List.

Try it and I’d love to hear how it goes!

 

Source:

  1. Levitin, Daniel J. The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload. Dutton an Imprint of Penguin Random House, 2017 p 69

I work with organizations to deliver sustainable performance.  If you know of a forward-thinking company who wants to achieve objectives and help their leaders and teams avoid disengagement and burnout, book a Discovery Call to learn more about a range of engaging talks and effective coaching and consulting.

Filed Under: Business Organizing, Intention, Productivity, Time Management, Uncategorized

Four Ways to Have a Smooth and Productive Transition into Fall

Clare and Stephanie talking on couch
Stephanie Smyth of CP24 interviews Clare Kumar on getting organized for the fall. Photo: Screen capture of show on CP24

The change of seasons brings a change of schedule and some anxiety for all about how we’re going to manage it.

Watch the video here!

Here are some strategies which may help. If you’ve got others, please add a comment!

  1. Choose your outfit the night before.

It’s often beneficial to separate planning from execution. Planning requires decision making and sometimes problem solving. Execution is about completing tasks you know how to do. Since mornings are often more rushed, take time the evening before to select what you’re going to wear the next day . I check the weather and often plan from footwear up. Layering is your best friend for days which start out cool and warm up, or for transitions between hot weather and cool, air conditioned environments.

 

  1. Fuel up for your day.

Your brain is on average 2% of your body mass, yet consumes about 20% of your energy.1 Tune into what your body seeks to keep thinking clearly.  If you don’t want to eat a full breakfast before you leave for work or school, identify some portable, nutrient rich snacks which you can take with you.  You don’t want to end up depleted during your morning, or worse, “hangry”!

 

You might think caffeine is helping you boost your focus, but recent research suggests that it is simply an alleviation of your body’s craving for the substance. Consider cutting out caffeine to see if your mind is equally sharp without it.

 

  1. Create a task management system.

When schedules change and we take on new challenges, there is often a worry about keeping on top of everything. Because our brains are challenged to remember everything, as Daniel Levitin suggests in his book, “The Organized Mind”, “Writing things down conserves the mental energy expended in worrying that you might forget something and in trying not to forget it.2

 

Having a system that works for you is critical to staying on top of things, and comforting because you know you depend on it. Key elements of a system include a place to gather your intentions – a “to do list”, a calendar to make time less abstract, and notifications to cue your attention.

 

When building your task management system, pay attention to how you like to work. There is no right and wrong between paper and online solutions. What is important is that it is accessible when you need it, easy to interact with, and redundant (possible to recover information if lost).

 

  1. Avoid making a mess.

When arriving home, it’s easy to plop down our backpacks, briefcases, lunch and gym bags, kick off our shoes, throw off our coats, hats and sunglasses and toss our keys.  Generally, though, this approach leads to chaos.  Turn your “drop and dash” into “stop and stash”!

 

To avoid a stressful entry way, make sure every item you come in with has an easy home to land in. Drawers or hooks near the front door for keys. Cubbies or hooks for backpacks. Use a magazine holder for mail and papers parents need to review. Offer a bin per person for accessories.  Unpack your lunch bag and prepare it for its next use right away. This especially important on Friday nights to avoid unpleasant surprises!!

 

Changing behaviours takes time, so a little lot of coaching is likely required of housemates as you adopt the system. Not only with it keep the entryway clear, everyone will know where items are when they’re running out the door!

 

NEW – In recent months I’ve created new workshops which have been well received by clients such as Facebook Canada and Ryerson University. If your organization is looking for an informative, engaging talk on boosting productivity, becoming more organized or better managing work-life integration, please pass on my contact information, or connect us and I’ll be happy to follow up. With many thanks.

 

SOURCES:

  1. Appraising the brain’s energy budget. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
  2. Levitin, D. (2014). The Organized Mind, Allen Lane, Penguin Canada Books

Filed Under: Arrange, Home Organizing, Organizing with Kids, Productivity, Time Management, Wellness Tagged With: fall, nutrition, organize, productivity, task management

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Productivity catalyst, highly sensitive executive coach, and speaker, Clare Kumar cultivates sustainable performance in busy professionals so they can keep making rich contributions in all areas of life and achieve greater fulfillment.

She inspires leaders, professionals, employees and entrepreneurs to respect humanity and boost performance through marrying productivity and pleasure. After all, why shouldn’t you have fun while getting things done?

 

From the Blog

Highly Sensitive Patient Care – How much information do you want to share?

The SEED Model™ of High Sensitivity

LG Home Office Makeover Contest

how do you build connection with a dispersed workf how do you build connection with a dispersed workforce?
that’s exactly what Sally Page, co-founder of @work.tripp and I explore in the latest episode of the Happy Space Podcast.

“there is something very beautiful that happens when a team comes together in terms of their motivation and their kind of performance, when they really come together with purpose…but it’s really hard to do”

and i think it’s important to recognize that simply being together in an office, does not connection make. Dr. Vivek Murthy, when he was the 19th Surgeon General in the US, called out loneliness as an epidemic - before the pandemic. 

Sally recommends:

🧠intentionally crafting connection by building experiences, especially out of the office.

📅choosing a cadence depending on the growth stage of the team or project. quarterly is often ideal.

🎯 focusing on one key thing during the offsite. connection itself can be the goal.

🌳getting out into nature. many studies reveal the benefits and a change of scenery is more memorable.

what are you noticing about building connection at work?

🔗to podcast in bio

#connection #teambuilding #leadership #startup #worktripp #HSP #HappySpacePodcast #happyspacepod #coach
"stay away from the extroverts" said, Tom Peters w "stay away from the extroverts" said, Tom Peters
wait, what? this extrovert had a moment in our podcast interview.

read on to find out what happened in our conversation and why now, Tom says, “look for the quiet and sensitive”!

when I read "Tom Peters' Compact Guide to Excellence", my jaw dropped when he proclaimed that Susan Cain's book "Quiet" is the best business book of this century. the book opened Tom's eyes to the value of quiet, introverted people which had been completely missing from his and many organization's thinking.

in our conversation, when Tom suggested we "stay away from extroverts", being extroverted myself, i was compelled to lobby for sensitive extroverts and offer a counter-thought:

what if it isn't introversion and "quiet" that we need to value?

(i have rarely been accused of being too quiet, despite my middle name meaning "peace" - nice try, mum and dad!)

what if it is sensitivity?

highly sensitive people are superb noticers, process information more deeply, and are adept at synthesizing information. they also innately bring the much-needed empathy required in today’s challenging work world. the 30% of sensitive people who are extroverts (6% of the general population) are a special asset to any organization.

that said, HSPs also need more time to rest and recover during the work day. without that, we are at risk of burning out.

Tom reflects, "I said to somebody, I'm so sensitive to what's going on that I'm always overloading."

Tom immediately revised his "linguistic expression" to say, "look for the quiet and sensitive". I guess I ought to still work on being a bit quieter. ☺

have a listen as Tom and I explore what he calls “extreme humanism”. if we can create work experiences that respect humanity, imagine what we can accomplish.

we can definitely use more Tom Peters-like people in the world.

i'd love to hear what you think. please comment below or on your fave podcast platform.

🔗 link in bio

#hsp #hspcoach #clarekumar #highlysensitiveperson #inclusivity #empathy #sensitivity #leadership #extremehumanism #humanity #productivity
Instagram post 18351377770059912 Instagram post 18351377770059912
Tom Peters is intellectually irritated! he has bee Tom Peters is intellectually irritated! he has been fighting for extreme humanism for 45 years. 

“the message is clear. the message is simple. the message is powerful..."

future of work champions - what can we do to help Tom out? 
comment below!

🔗 in bio for full episode

#futureofwork #humanism #insearchofexcellence
Tom Peters has been revered in the world of busine Tom Peters has been revered in the world of business management ever since releasing the 1982 book In Search of Excellence with co-author Robert Waterman. selling shy of 5 million copies, it is recognized as one of the most influential management works.

in our conversation, we explore Tom’s deep respect for humanity which he refers to as Extreme Humanism. we dive into sensitivity, his fondness for “quiet” people, inclusivity, and the power of female leaders. we tackle the challenges of managing by zooming around and the need for a new kind of leader. 

while some understand a different leadership mindset is required for the current world of work, many don’t. we are, indeed, still in search of excellence.

🔗 to podcast🎙 in bio

#hsp #hspcoach #clarekumar #highlysensitiveperson #inclusivity #empathy #sensitivity #leadership #extremehumanism #humanity
if you want a 4-day week or are curious about impl if you want a 4-day week or are curious about implementing one, you’ll want to join Joe O’Connor an i as we unpack the in-demand 4-day week. 

Mon Mar 13 - noon - 1 pm EDT

the largest trial of the concept wrapped up recently in the UK and Joe was intimately involved. get the inside scoop and your questions answered. 

you’ll also have a chance to win a Sensory Matrix Assessment (you have to stay till the end!)

register via HappySpaceHotTopics.com

#flexibility #4dayweek #worklifeintegration
ooh, it was refreshing to feel spring in the air a ooh, it was refreshing to feel spring in the air at the
@homedepotcanada spring showcase.

from smart lighting, to durable and stylish outdoor furniture (metal that really looks like wood), to new storage solutions from @ryobi_canada 

chatting with the knowledgeable buyers and product specialists to learn what’s new and share some ideas was a highlight. as was seeing media friends. so good to see you IRL!

#FromDoToDone
“the number one thing you do if you want to impr “the number one thing you do if you want to improve performance is promote more women,” says Tom.

the corporate world can often be hard to navigate as a woman. inviting the compassion, understanding, and advocacy of our allies is what we need to design inclusive performance for all.

let’s keep our voices strong throughout the year.

this clip is from the upcoming episode of the Happy Space Podcast, "Still in Search of Excellence" with Tom Peters, dropping march 13th, 2023.

join Tom and me as we explore leadership as influenced by the pandemic, tensions between leaders and the workforce, and how to manage by Zooming around. we also find out why is Tom Peters "intellectually irritated"?

tune in on march 13th on your podcast player of choice, Youtube or www.clarekumar/podcast.

and if you're free, join us on monday at noon EDT for the Happy Space Hot Topics conversation unpacking the 4-day week with special guest Joe O'Connor, former CEO of 4-Day Week.

register via http://www.happyspacehottopics.com/ and be entered to win a prize. (you must be in attendance to win!)

#ALLin #inclusivity #women #leadership
a few hours drive east along the lake and happy to a few hours drive east along the lake and happy to be meeting my clients in Kingston. 

you’ll hear me talking a lot about remote work but sometimes it really is worth travelling to be in person. 

i encourage leaders to be intentional about why they bring people together in person. mix task and team, content and connection, function and fun and there is a greater chance employees will want to participate. 

#acknowledgetheask and make it worthwhile to show up. 

budget for the travel time, energy and expense required. recognize you’re making a withdrawal on personal time. 

design for well-being and performance will flow…
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