Just as the transition to remote work prompted us to create space and structure in our homes to balance the demands of work and our family’s needs, the transition back to the workplace is an opportunity to design our work environment so that we can be both productive and satisfied in each area of life. For some, the return to work may actually mean working from home more often than before. So, this is an opportunity to take what we have learned from the temporary measures now in place at home and consider what is needed for the next season. For those returning to an office, in addition to the protocols for cleaning work spaces and navigating the elevator bay, it’s important to consider our habits at work and the way we engage and communicate with members of our team, when some are now at a distance.
Husch Blackwell offers a number of resources for companies preparing to bring their workforce back to their primary work locations. As someone who is a long-term caregiver and has had to learn to work remotely from hospital wards and while caring for a loved one at home, I also want to share some tactics that have helped me work productively and find balance during these transitional seasons. Many of these practices are encapsulated in the work of Stoa Partners, whose webinar I recently attended courtesy of Elevate Services, the book Make Time, from Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky and the Creative Confidence podcasts from IDEO U. While I find each of these perspectives complimentary, their individual focus is different – on productivity, satisfaction in life and creativity over distance. Finding the right balance in each situation and season can be challenging, but with a degree of intentionality and an experimental mindset, each of us can pivot as our situation unfolds.
Our Brains are Wired for Work and Play
Dr. Sahar Yousef and Lucas Miller, co-founders of Stoa Partners, are two cognitive neuroscientists who teach a class on “Becoming Superhuman” at work at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. Their premise, one that is shared by the authors of Make Time, is that our behavior is driven by our neural networks. In an office environment our neural patterns trigger more productive work, whereas at home they signal time to play, rest and enjoy life with our families. This is essentially why the fast transition to work from home was so disruptive, as our brains attempted to adapt to working in a play environment. However, the opportunity to work in these new physical and virtual settings is also the key to uncovering our default tendencies and unlocking new creative ways to get the job done.
During the last two months a number of my colleagues and friends have spoken about their temporary WFH solutions from standing up card tables in bedrooms, monitors in kitchens and even working from one’s car. For those who continue to work from home over the longer term, having a dedicated workspace that limits visual and auditory distractions is fundamental to focused work. For instance, I have found that dual monitors borrowed from the office block out visual distractions in addition to expanding my screen real estate. Beyond our work spaces each of us can also use routines and visual triggers to cue our brains to enter and leave work mode. This can be as simple as placing a tablecloth or coffee mug in our workspace to listening to a playlist or going for a walk in lieu of an evening commute. I have used visual triggers, such as a model red canoe on my desk, for years as a prompt to embrace an explorer or growth mindset.
Limiting distractions is both crucial to enhancing productivity and a real challenge at home with kids, pets and other family responsibilities. Knapp and Zeratsky point to research and their own experiences in Silicon Valley designing hyper-engaging products, to convey the power distraction has over our attention. Both Make Time and Stoa Partners recommend setting boundaries at home – from adopting classroom ground rules to noise-cancelling headphones and do not disturb signs - that help create uninterrupted time for Zoom meetings, focused individual work and creative exercises. As some members of a household transition back to the workplace, these tactics may need to change as timing and responsibilities adjust. Sacha Connor, Founder and CEO of Virtual Work Insider and featured guest on one IDEO U podcast, reminds us to be patient with ourselves as we experiment and test these ideas to find those that work the best during the transition to and from remote work.
For those returning to an office, now is the time to experiment with ways to reduce distractions from our smart phones and experiment with more productive ways to schedule our time. Stoa Partners points to one study by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin who found that the mere presence of a smart phone in one’s visual field, even when it’s turned off and face down, reduced one’s cognitive capacity. With regard to our use of time, each of the authors point to research by Harvard Business School and elsewhere that demonstrates how multi-tasking incurs switching costs, and how periodic, 90 minute mono-task sessions improve focus and productivity. I have found that simple tactics like charging my phone out of sight, closing email during focused 90 minute work sessions, parking interruptive ideas in a journal and taking short recovery breaks and walks are effective ways to reduce distraction and improve focus.
Distance Bias
As we struggle with Zoom fatigue and long for more regular, personal interaction with our colleagues, we should consider that the workplaces we return to may very well be more of a hybrid environment, than the office we left for remote work. As some of our team remains remote, we need to be cognizant of “distance bias,” a term the NeuroLeadership Institute describes as our preference to value those closest to us. One of the lesson’s I have learned on my journey is more empathy towards team members who remain distant from the rest of the group. This was brought home over the last couple of months on a call when a colleague answered the phone saying, “it’s so good to hear another person’s voice.” In the evenings when I am out cycling, I have heard the same sentiment from people who are just happy to see another soul. One empathy exercise IDEO recommends is to place yourself in the “location minority,” and think through how a team member would like to be communicated with when they are remote and some of your team is together in the office.
As teams partially return to work, distance bias will continue to play a role in the way we prepare for meetings and encourage engagement in online platforms. In addition to asking whether we need another virtual meeting, Sacha Connor also recommends using the 5P’s (Purpose, Planning, Preparation, Participation, and P.S.) to make virtual meetings run more effectively. For those using Microsoft Teams inclusivity is a particular challenge, since the platform only highlights the last four people who have spoken. That said, technology solutions like Zoom and Microsoft Teams also offer tools to enhance meetings, such as whiteboards, break-out rooms to brainstorm or synthesize feedback and chat channels to encourage follow-up conversations. Husch Blackwell’s Legal Operations team has used group chat features a number of times during the last six weeks to build on other team member’s ideas for clients. Continuing to create a virtual space for all team members to share ideas and feedback after some return to the office may become the new normal for team meetings.
Highlights, M.I.T.’s and Focus Sprints
Both Stoa Partners and the authors of Make Time agree that the single most important tactic to embrace during the transition either back to the office or to a more permanent remote workplace is the daily routine of highlighting the one thing that deserves your attention and focus and will provide a sense of accomplishment when completed. Whether a highlight is finishing a proposal, drafting a brief, reading to your child or walking though a park, it is important to write down your highlight for the day and schedule uninterrupted time to complete it. To accomplish your Most Important Thing (MIT), Stoa Partners recommends a technique called the Focus Sprint and has seen an increase in individual productivity by 26% when used consistently. Knapp and Zeratsky experimented with a similar technique at Google Ventures as they conducted their Design Sprints and offer a range of strategies in Make Time to both choose and protect your highlight from distractions and experience those moments in a joyful way.
As we enter the next phase of the COVID-19 crisis and some of us return to our primary place of work while others continue to work from home, we should take this opportunity to examine our “defaults” in the parlance of Make Time. From our work spaces and digital hygiene to our focus for the day, our goal should be to design our work setting so that we are most productive and satisfied, where we can balance the demands of work and the playfulness of home and not forget the lesson’s learned from sheltering in place
