- Communicate with your team more often
You no longer see them in the break room or pop by their desk so you are missing those informal conversations where you learn more about each other and you also solve challenges that you are stuck on. It becomes easy to get disconnected. Take the time to chat with each other, you would be doing it at the office, so keep doing it now. Most teamwork tools allow you to chat, call, and even video call. Use the tools.
- Separate work from home even while working from home
If you can, create a separate workspace so that you can actually go to work and get away from home. You do not have to leave, just find a quiet place. If you do not have a separate room, request that others in the house remain quiet while you are working. If you did not mow your lawn between meetings at the office, do not do it at home.
- Set some rules for kids/pets/spouses
This is the difficult part. With everyone at home, they will think that you are not working. Set up times where they can ask you questions or interrupt you. Try to keep the cats out of your video conference calls, they will take all of the attention away from you.
- Set rules for yourself
Even more difficult is setting rules for yourself. Yes, you need some rules to follow to keep yourself on track. Set specific times for breaks and let your team know when you will be away. Remember, you are still working and others probably rely on you. Set specific start and end times for your day and stick to them. Do not just run errands in the middle of the day if you would not do that while in the office. Get out of your PJ’s and get dressed to go to work, it will help you get your mind ready for work.
- If you need help working with remote tools, ask!
Some of the tools that you need for remote work will be new to you. If you cannot figure them out, get someone to help you. You definitely don’t want to accidentally leave your Zoom meeting running in the background while you talk trash about your boss. Some VPN or remote software can be difficult to set up. Get IT to help you instead of getting frustrated. Get everything set up and tested before your first meeting so that you are not scrambling at the last second.