In this episode “Hardly Headliners”, meet the founders: CEO, Allison Braund-Harris and CTO, Roger Harris. Hardly Content Creator Leigh Hall learns more about them, both personally and professionally!
Transcript
Allison: Hi, I’m Allison, CEO of Hardly.
Roger: And I’m Roger, the CTO, and we’re excited to answer some questions.
Leigh: Hey guys it’s Leigh here, content creator for Hardly and today I’m going to be talking with Allison and Roger. So thank you guys for being our first Hardly Headliners— a series where we ask special guests 17 questions to get to know them better personally and professionally. So let’s get started!
1. As a kid I used to think that life would be perfect if I could just eat dessert before dinner. So I’m curious, what are your favorite sweets?
Roger: So I love a good New York style cheesecake. I’m weird where i just like it plain no toppings. Just give me that cheesecake and a good crust.
Allison: Yeah, he’s a vanilla guy and I’m kind of the “load everything up as much as possible” — even if it doesn’t really go well together. I’ve learned the hard way. Just the other day I paired blackberries with chocolate mint cookies and just don’t… just don’t do it.
2. If you could describe Hardly in one word, what would it be?
Allison: Simplicity. We want to make people’s life more simple.
Roger: That’s a good word. I honestly can’t think of a better one.
3. Hardly Headliners, what’s the most frustrating and most pleasant thing about working remotely?
Roger: One of the things I love is the sort of ease of being able to communicate with people.
even though that is spread across multiple apps one of the things I really miss is just that in-person uh communication and contact and hanging out with people at the lunch table
Allison: The spontaneity of interactions and shared experiences. Like being able to listen to the same music. All of that. I miss it. And I just love the fact that I can really decompress throughout the day. As an introvert, I feel like that’s really important and if you work in the office you never really have that decompression time.
4. Hardly’s tagline is workdays just got a whole lot better. What’s one thing that makes your workday better?
Roger: I don’t know… for me, it’s that first cup of cold brew in the morning that always starts my workday off well.
Allison: And for me, it’s the fifth cup of coffee in the morning. I used to listen to brown noise all the time when I was working and then I found a few different companies… um… what’s the one that it’s like flow tunes or something it focused the name of it but it saves my life and I no longer have to listen to just brown noise all throughout the day but I can still concentrate
5. When and where did you come up with the idea for Hardly? And be specific!
Allison: People have this vision of entrepreneurship that there’s like this eureka moment and you go and make it happen. When in reality you have a general idea of a problem and then you have to validate that and then you need to validate that there is a problem with the audience and then you have to validate that you’re creating a solution to fit that problem so really there wasn’t one moment but I think that it evolved over time
6. Headliners, there are a lot of products that have come out since the pandemic began. What gap do you see in the market or what need isn’t being met?
Roger: I think for me it goes back to that sort of physicality of interacting with people we have zoom we have a bunch of different video conferencing apps but all of them very much feel like you’re on display, uh you’re kind of putting on a show. — So something that would allow people to be a bit more social, and is a bit more laid back.
Allison: When everything is communicated over the computer, all of a sudden things that are super not important, like “50% off sales” get the exact same level of importance as, “help I need a file in 20 minutes!” It’s really difficult to prioritize that information when you only are working with a two-dimensional space.
7. Hardly Headliners, who are your technology mentors and why?
Allison: Steve Jobs. Just kidding!
Roger: That’s a tough one— the one the first one that springs to mind is actually my old boss Eddie because he was super smart super-capable. But also very down to earth. Would play chess games with you and he taught me a lot. He’s kind of somebody I want to become more like in my CTO position. Just being that mentor but also being very technically capable.
Allison: Kayla Matheus is a former CEO. And just a rock star in terms of hardware and behavior. Really just a great mentor to us. She’s been fabulous, as well as Carlos Lemas who we’ve been talking with since September and you’ve known for a decade. Oh my god, he’s been so patient with all of my dumb questions over the past seven or eight months.
I think we’re just focused on surrounding ourselves with smarter people than us and if we listen to them we’ll be okay.
Roger: but also Steve Jobs.
8. Starting a company isn’t for everyone. What’s the best part about being an entrepreneur?
Allison: When I came out of college I expected adulthood to give me more control, but it actually took a lot of my control away. All of a sudden, I had no ability to say, “well, I need to really take a breather I’m going to come in at 10.” That was out of my power, and I don’t want that to just be within my own power— I want to make sure that everyone in our company has the ability to set their own schedule work as hard as they need to and as little as they need to some days. Basically, I am creating the company that I really wish that I had when I was 22, and I’ve been struggling with to gain that autonomy for the past decade or so.
Roger: For me, it would probably be working on something you really are truly passionate about. It’s possible to do that without being in a startup or being an entrepreneur, however, sometimes it can be difficult to find the right company or even get accepted into that company. And so for me, being able to create something that I really love that I think is gonna help people— that I’m very passionate about is very rewarding for me.
9. If you could only listen to one song for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Roger: Such a hard this is such a difficult question, uh, I don’t think I could. I honestly don’t think I could.
Allison: You’d rather live in silence?
Roger: Yeah I would rather live in silence than be stuck listening to one song for the rest of my life because that one song would get very tiring very quickly whatever it is.
Allison: hmm..brown noise.
Roger: I was thinking about that.
Allison: (laughter) just brown noise for the rest of my life. Yeah, I think it was Spotify’s year-in-review one year. We looked back and it was like your most-listened-to song: “brown noise.”
This might be cheesy but I think it would be “Here Comes the Sun” because it’s positive, it doesn’t have any grating points to where I think it would annoy the crap out of me over time.
10. Who is the Hardly Dash for?
Roger: It is for people who want simplicity in their day of remote work — people who want to be more focused and more optimal in their working life.
Allison: if you’re the type that really needs prioritization of information— the stuff that you can’t ignore. Hardly Dash won’t let you ignore something that’s super important but will filter out all the stuff that’s not.
11. What’s your favorite productivity app?
Roger: I would say my favorite productivity app is probably Slack because it’s kind of a bit of everything in one— which is a good thing and a bad thing. But it does allow me to do my work, share files, have social chat with friends, make calls, video calls, and play games. A little bit of everything,
Allison: I wish that Zapier was my favorite app but it’s not. Like, I want it to save my life, but it breaks all the time.
12. So Hardly recently was a semi-finalist in the SXSW pitch competition. What was your experience creating a pitch video?
Allison: We were we were actually a semi-finalist in the AlphaLab Gear Hardware Cup competition and an alternate in the SXSW pitch competition. We had a debate around whether or not we should try to pitch together and or if I should just run with it. It’s really hard to pitch together. Within you know just a minute— which is what we had for SXSW and a 3-min pitch for AlphaLab Gear Hardware Cup—you have to synchronize so tightly in order to to get 2 people into a pitch. So we just decided that it’d be best if I took it on.
It’s difficult because you feel the pressure to really say all that you can about the company, but it’s only 3 minutes so you have to prioritize. And of course, there are going to be things that you leave out because of that. My goal is that if we can just get people interested enough they’ll want to learn about all the other stuff that we had to leave out along the way.
13. Who was the most inspiring speaker at SXSW?
Allison: I really love Debbie Millman’s talk on the future of work and what she felt like she lost and gained and the pandemic. She’s always a really amazing speaker if you do not listen to her Design Matters podcast you should!
14. What was your experience talking with investors virtually?
Allison: I think that we do have all of the tools at our fingertips to share our deck and collaborate and show off our product online and I don’t know if we would be able to do that a year ago because I would be worried that the investor may not be comfortable with the Zoom and all of these things. But now that we’re all comfortable it’s kind of amazing being able to move from one investor meeting to another back to back to back to back when before I would have to go to their offices and basically worry myself to death about the commute getting there.
15. Did you have any ah-ha moments during the conference?
Allison: It was when we organized the SXSW pitch happy hour and we got to interact socially with a lot of the other SXSW pitchers— of course, over Zoom. And oh my god, it was just this moment of “wow, these people are so intelligent. so smart holy crap how did we get into this at all.” Major imposter syndrome.
Roger: Definitely agree, I’m more just amazed at the work that people are doing in this sphere of like technology and culture and improving society and really everything I mean if we are of course looking to improve remote work which affects a lot of people but these people were solving climate crises um social injustice crises and everything in between it was really amazing to be part of that.
16. Hardly Headliners— What is your favorite feature of the Hardly Dash?
Roger: Just having a button that allows you to mute yourself in meetings. It seems way too complicated the hotkeys across the different apps are all different. You think it should be “M” for mute, it’s not, so just having that physical key that also shows with the led lights whether you are muted or not I think is going to be a big help.
Allison: The LED lights around the Dash really signal you in a variety of different ways from across the room. We can actually catch your attention close up and make sure that you are aware of something that that really needs your focus. So we’re creating that prioritization of information, and that visual signaling to even other people in your home. So they know that when you’re muted or unmuted so they can actually come up and talk to you.
17. Lastly, I gotta know… who’s nerdier?
Allison: This is an endless battle.
Roger: It is, and I think we have come to the conclusion that we are both incredibly nerdy in different ways. I’m a big nerd when it comes to video games, music, I love D&D, and you…
Allison: I’ve been talking. You tell them what I’m better at.
Roger: I’ll tell you she’s a much bigger sci-fi and fantasy nerd. Big book nerd. We both love coming together in that sphere of sci-fi and fantasy and movies and TV shows. We both cosplay when we went to Comic-Con and Dragon-Con.
Allison: We will continue to go to. and we also went to BookCon multiple years in a row and that was my fault.
Roger: I supported you then.
Allison: Yes, it was actually a much calmer conference than Comic-Con— same genuine nerdiness, but much calmer.
Leigh: Yeah, thanks so much for talking with us. Hope you guys enjoy getting to know the CEO and CTO of Hardly. To learn more, check out our blog at hardly-work.com and don’t forget to press the like button or drop a comment if you want more video content from the Hardly team. Until next time!
Roger: I think that’s a wrap.
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Last week, I had the pleasure of speaking with Ryan Lynch, Chief Strategy Officer at Beardwood&Co, about our theme of the month: creativity. In true remote-work fashion, there was a small scheduling mishap triggered by technology. The traditional binds of a Monday through Friday, 9-5 workday were broken, and we used Zoom to bridge the 7,000-mile gap between us.
As we’ve learned from 2020 and beyond, flexibility and adaptability are a must. After struggling to find a time when both of us were available, we settled on a Friday morning for him and Friday evening for me. Unfortunately, in an effort to remove themselves from the meeting, our mutual contact accidentally cancelled it on our calendars, too. Fortunately, we quickly rescheduled without harm or foul.
I grabbed a cup of tea the next morning and positioned my computer on a stack of books. I strategically maneuvered my camera so that my professional blouse would show and my Saturday morning sweatpants remained unseen. I thought…
“Maybe being creative isn’t about having grand moments of genius after exiting a meditative trance. Maybe it is the small moments of resourcefulness prompted by daily challenges.”
Definitions
Lynch echoed this sentiment in his initial definition of creativity: “The human ability to problem solve.” Further intrigued by the question, he looked up the Oxford definition of creativity:
cre·a·tiv·i·ty /ˌkrēāˈtivədē/ noun the use of the imagination or original ideas, especially in the production of an artistic work.
“firms are keen to encourage creativity”
His filter on the definition was to take out the “artistic work” and “original ideas”, simplifying it to “the use of the imagination in the production of a human endeavor.”
In the editing of this definition, Lynch revealed something rather illuminating. Original ideas are overrated. The underrated skill of having the right idea at the right time is what breeds success. Like puzzle pieces, the two definitions of creativity complement each other and address the need for creativity within remote work.
Deadlines
Imagination is most beneficial when it is used to problem solve in a timely fashion. Lynch acknowledged time as a factor in creativity in his response to the question: What drives it? His answer caught me off guard: Deadlines.
When I chuckled, he explained further. He likened the process of being forced to produce to that of coal being put under pressure, resulting in a diamond. In a time crunch, we have no choice but to think outside of the box and make it work by any means necessary. After being put on the spot, he created a signature quote:
“Creativity is best under pressure.”
Deadlines aren’t the only thing that promote imaginative solutions. Lynch’s mantra for fostering creativity is, “Failure is cool!” He stimulates creativity by encouraging others in the workplace to take risks and, as a leader, saying, “Oh, look, I failed, and here’s what I learned from it.”
As we know, perfection is the antithesis of production. Therefore, it makes sense that only in an environment where daring greatly is encouraged, and error is allowed, that creativity can flourish.
Ditching traditions that no longer serve us
Equally as important as embracing failure as a necessary part of creativity is knowing when existing processes are failing. We discussed how Lynch had been creative recently, and we inevitably turned towards the pandemic as an example. Lynch characterized the pandemic as a “massive ball of accelerating change” that has inspired new neural pathways in our brain in an effort to solve new problems, ultimately requiring creativity.
One creative moment came out of realizing that Beardwood&Co long-standing, Thursday night happy hour was no longer working in a virtual environment—even after 6 months of trying. Wanting to maintain a time and place where staff could be human and not talk about business, his team came up with an “inspiration hour” on Fridays where they eat lunch. Team members learn about life through guest speakers, clients, and friends.
Different humans need different stimulants
For Lynch, a walk in a green space gets the creative juices flowing. For some of his clients, it is the ability to share ideas visually or discuss projects with other brilliant minds in real time.
The point is, assuming a one-size-fits-all strategy isn’t so successful. Lynch argues “different humans respond to different things and need different stimulants” to help them enter their most creative headspace. As an overarching principle, Lynch advocates putting yourself in the shoes of the person you are talking to:
“What are they all about?
Where did they come from?
How do they think?
How do they solve problems?”
By doing so, you are able to tap into what inspires them and what creative inspiration they are able to offer back.
Dreaming of the future
While Lynch likes to remain platform agnostic, he does dream of using V/R to push the boundaries of creativity through collaboration.
“Take me to a William Gibson future, and I’m all in” he said candidly.
Earlier in the interview, we agreed one area in dire need of innovation was recreating the feeling of human connection in virtual spaces. Fortunately, VR has this capability. Currently, Lynch uses noisy hand clappers and stuffed animals to demonstrate emotion and heighten connection. However, a tool that could provide a metaverse where interaction is seamless would take co-creation to the next level.
Lastly, Lynch mentions “play” as a salient ingredient in cooking-up a cauldron of creativity. With all of the deadlines and productivity propaganda, us adults sometimes forget that silliness and lighthearted energy are needed for the secret sauce.
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As a blogger, learning to overcome writer’s block is a necessity. For me, it’s not so much the blank page. It’s the lack of creative triggers around me that make it difficult to get into a good writing flow. Companies and employees have always been focused on productivity (which seems like the right choice if Maslow had a business world hierarchy). However, creativity is also a key ingredient for success. While shoving a desk against any wall with an outlet might have worked at first, it is time to upgrade our home office into a permanent setup that inspires creativity.
It's about balance
Over the summer, I picked up watercolor as a COVID-19 hobby to replace the time I would normally be out and about. One of my friends who frequently produces artistic genius told me:
“The secret to igniting creativity was to have the perfect balance of nothing and something around you.”
I know. It didn’t make any sense to me either at first. However, after reflecting upon this list of strategies, I’ve found her words summed it up perfectly. Check out our suggestions for how you can level-up your home office to a chamber of creativity:
Stimulate your 5 senses
Fast Company claims that sight might have the greatest impact on our state of mind. Anything from painting an accent wall in your office to changing the color of your computer screen can help you elicit a new idea. Bringing visually stimulating artwork into space can spark creativity as well, as long as it’s not distracting.
If inspiring images aren’t your thing, try decorating with words of wisdom. Sometimes an inspirational quote or a profound poem is just what we need to get the creative juices flowing.
While sight might be Fast Company’s first pick, I would argue sound is the most powerful tool in inspiring creativity. It could be the soothing sounds of Bach or the poppy, feel-good beats of Dua Lipa that put you in the right headspace to bring new energy to your work. A study in the Journal of Consumer Research found ambient noise is the best sound to evoke creativity. Try typing in sounds of the forest or beach on YouTube, and play it on a low volume.
For scent, try lighting a cinnamon or vanilla candle to enhance your creativity. In terms of touch, make sure the temperature of your workspace is ideal for you. If you are too hot, you will feel agitated. But, too cold, and your body will be using so much energy to stay warm. There won’t be enough energy to engage in out-of-the-box thinking.
Also, don’t forget to literally fuel your creative mind with the right foods (aka, taste!). Junk food can make us feel sluggish. Instead, prime your mind with healthy carbohydrates and natural sugars from fruit to keep you alert and energized.
Declutter your home office
A mess of a desk is a mess of a mind. Creativity requires clarity, which means a clear workspace. While this doesn’t mean your home office should be void of personality, making sure everything is in its place before you brainstorm will help you focus on the project rather than the coffee-stained stack of papers from an assignment that was completed weeks ago. I’ve found the easiest way to keep my workspace clear is storage. Shove stray items into some high-quality plastic bins that fit perfectly under your desk. This simple action will help you fake cleanliness on days when you just can’t Marie Kondo your life. A couple of items from The Container Store will help your creativity go from zero to 100 real quick!
Go green
No, don’t paint your office green; what I mean is to breathe some new life into it with plants. Medium even calls potted plants creativity heroes. Prominent CEOs, such as Tim Cook, and leaders in tech like Amazon claim that surrounding themselves and their employees with nature inspires innovation.
Not convinced? CNN reports environmental psychologists have a growing body of research that suggests biophilic design supports cognitive functioning, stress reduction, and well-being, which can all contribute to ingenuity. Don’t be discouraged if gardening is not your thing. Even a small succulent that only needs to be watered once in a blue moon will do the trick!
Choose a window, instead of a wall
At the very least, if you are trying to increase creative vibes, move away from the blank wall. Not only is natural light better for our functioning, but a view of the outdoors can help us expand our minds.
Donald Rattner writes that design strategists—in conjunction with psychologists—have found that our perception of the expansiveness of our physical space dictates our perception of our mental space. In simplistic terms, the more physical space we think we have, the more inclined we are to generating original and useful ideas. You can’t get more expansive than the great outdoors, so facing a window or opening up french doors to your backyard could be a game-changer.
Albert Einstein said, “Creativity is contagious, pass it on.” Following this spirit, share this article with friends and coworkers so they can foster creativity in their home offices, too!
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As I work through my final semester of graduate school, I’ve been thinking more and more about my work skills. I try to avoid panicking, as cover letters, LinkedIn profiles, and interview questions swirl around in my head. Yet, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed after a 3-year hiatus.
This weekend, I decided to play some Lizzo, grab my favorite tea, and knock the dust off of the most recent version of my resume. As I read it over, I pondered how the hiring process might have changed due to the pandemic. I mulled over whether the soft skills I had listed at the bottom of my resume were still impressive in this new landscape of hybrid work.
Do companies care if you are personable anymore? Does saying you are proficient in the Microsoft Suite seem amateur these days?
There are a few skills that signal to companies that you can be successful working from home. To help you position yourself as an hybrid work candidate, here are the top five skills HR managers are looking for in hybrid workers:
Top-notch written communication
Before COVID, you were probably able to get away with convoluted emails because your coworkers could easily obtain clarification if needed. Now, your ability to communicate efficiently and effectively via email is crucial.
As Forbes put it, “Can you accurately and succinctly convey and interpret thoughts and ideas through digital messages?” If you aren’t so confident in this area, spend additional time crafting messages until you get the hang of it. The ability to communicate your needs, ideas, and questions digitally is highly desirable.
Proficiency in digital platforms
Technical knowledge is more important than ever now-a-days. As I mentioned in last week’s article, being “behind the curve” on learning new software and digital platforms is a sure way to make yourself obsolete.
The success of communication, collaboration, workflow, and management is greatly dependent on employees’ mastery of digital tools. Companies want to ensure new employees know how to use tech to work faster and smarter (or are at least game to learn). Take time to practice using applications like Zoom, Slack, Hootsuite, Canva, Asana, and the Google Suite so that you know how to use each to their fullest potential.
Self-sufficiency
The transition to hybrid work comes with a lot of “figure it out” and “learn on the job” moments. You need the ability to problem solve without the help of your superiors or colleagues.
While others want to help, working hybrid means others are frequently inaccessible to answer questions or provide guidance in real-time. As a result, one of the work skills you must have is the ability to work independently. Employers are eager to hire people who are self-reliant and proactive. Show them this describes you by mentioning times you took action without instruction from others in previous positions.
Excellent time management
Time management has always been important. However, staying focused has never been so difficult. When you work from home, it presents a whole new set of challenges. You are not locked in a room full of others working diligently from 9-5 each day. There is peer pressure to watch Netflix, do some online shopping, or talking on the phone during work hours.
Therefore, you have to block out the distractions, not procrastinate, and get the job done. In your CV, discuss your ability to multitask and follow through on short- and long-term projects. This will demonstrate your excellent time management skills.
Need some extra help blocking out distractions? Check out our Hardly app!
Self-motivation
The Muse recommends job-seekers show they are “motivated about the job, the company, and the industry you are applying for.” In a hybrid environment, it can be difficult to stay driven or excited about the work you are doing.
Similar to football games without chanting, signs, and other forms of fandom, it’s hard to get hyped up about work. Therefore, hiring managers are looking for people who can insight passion in themselves and others. They want to know you’re committed to the cause and that you can be productive without constant oversight from team members. To demonstrate this, use the interview as an opportunity to share how you will be an asset to the company.
Hopefully, you already have most of these hybrid-work skills. If not, we hope you gained some new strategies to improve them before your next job search. Let us know in the comments if there are other must-have skills hybrid workers need in this new job market.
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I have now lived through two iconic New Years. The first was from 1999 to 2000. I brought in the new millennium with close family friends dancing around the basement to the YMCA and drinking sparkling cider. It was a seven-year-olds dream.
The second was a couple of days ago, again in a basement (bar), but this time with a shot of sake, a bunch of ski bums, and friends in Hakuba, Japan. Even with the language barrier, it was clear everyone was ecstatic that the year from hell was finally over and hopeful that 2021 would bring new beginnings. But, when the clock struck midnight, the masks didn’t come off, COVID-19 did not disappear, and quarantining did not end.
Change doesn’t just come about; we have to set goals and then actively pursue them to evoke it. But sometimes achieving our goals is not so easy. Raise your hand if you’ve made a New Year’s resolution and then woken up three weeks later and realized that you’ve fallen back into old habits. Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Which is why I’m letting you in on my top two secrets for successful goal setting.
Keep it small, in fact, make it micro
If you’re a high achiever you might be tempted to skip this tip, but sometimes the more ambitious we are, the more likely we are to fall into a self-defeating cycle. High expectations of ourselves lead us to set whale-sized goals when our plates only have room for shrimpy ones. But just because you don’t go big doesn’t mean you have to go home. I suggest breaking down a monstrous goal into a micro one. Tim Herrea in the NY Times describes it simply:
“For any task you have to complete, break it down into the smallest possible units of progress and attack them one at a time.”
For example, one of my goals is to drink more water. My initial thought was to shoot for a gallon a day. While this might not be unreasonable for some, it is a significant amount for me (I know, I’m so bad). Just thinking about it, the goal started to feel troublesome rather than motivating. I already knew I was on the wrong track.
I remembered Sabina Nawaz wrote in HBR the key to micro-goals is making them “ridiculously small” and attaching them to a daily habit you do without thinking. By doing this, you take away barriers to getting started which is the hardest part of building habits, according to James Clear. James uses Newton’s Laws to hack productivity. Therefore, an appropriate micro-goal would be to drink one bottle of water while driving to pick my husband up from work each evening. Not only does this require minimal effort, but it’s also connected to a mindless task.
Make it SMART-R
This one is a tried and true classic, but I have a spin on it. I was reminded of the SMART technique a couple of weeks ago when it was part of the curriculum I taught for my Healthy Thinking group. It goes like this: S is for specific, M for measurable, A for attainable, R for relevant, and T for time-bound.
While these are must-haves, I have found that the added R for “rewarded” has a huge effect on my success rate. It all comes back to behavioral theory. If you reward a behavior, your brain tells you to do it again. If you punish a behavior, your brain tells you to reevaluate your actions. While some may say there is enough satisfaction in achieving the goal itself, I say the more incentive the merrier. But, watch out for counterproductive rewards. You don’t want to treat yourself to three slices of cheesecake if you have been working towards eating clean. Instead, reward yourself with something in line with your goal such as a new outfit or a Vitamix.
With these tips, you’ll be able to achieve whatever you set your mind to this year. And remember, all gains are gains, no matter how small!
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The coronavirus swept the globe in the spring of 2020. What we thought would be a temporary illness for some has become a pandemic for all, for months on end. While the continuous spread of the virus might be coming to an end shortly, the wounds are deep. Work-wise, the impact is mixed; some negative and some positive. As I began pondering the future of work post-pandemic, I found I had more questions than answers.
If you read my article from last week, you know that remote workers aren’t interested in going back to the office full-time. However, they are also missing the collaboration and community that in-person interactions bring. Companies are happy to reduce their expenses by not paying for large office buildings while maintaining a productive workforce. But they also recognize the need for some physical space at least part-time.
The future of work will move towards a hybrid model. Gone are the days where all employees commute to the same building and sit at the same desk from 9-5. However, working in isolation from makeshift home offices 100% of the time will not become the new normal. Companies will allow purpose to dictate the use of office space and employees will have a choice. But more is unknown than known about work in 2021; these are the macro questions I’m grappling with…
Will remote work be an equalizer or widen the gap?
Remote work might provide more opportunities for underrepresented populations to thrive in the white-collar job market. On the other hand, going virtual might be one more thing that boxes them out. Specifically, I am interested in the impact remote work will have on women and gender inequality in the workforce. In a BBC interview, Melinda Gates said that women were clustered in low-paying jobs pre-pandemic, and therefore were 1.8 times more likely to lose their jobs. Women who didn’t lose their jobs were forced into balancing housework and work in an environment where they are both constant and competing.
In my eyes, there are two potential paths. First, remote work will help partners share household duties more equitably. Plus, the flexibility will prevent women from having to make difficult choices between children and career. Without long commutes and strict office hours, both parents will have the ability to work full-time if they choose, and participate in household chores such as cooking dinner, doing laundry, and picking up the kids. Men can spend more time inside the home engaging with their children and contributing to household chores, giving women more time to advance in their careers.
However, just because they can doesn’t mean they will. Jean-Nicolas Reyt states that women have a more difficult time advancing professionally because they are more likely to prioritize their family responsibilities over their careers. In the future, working from home might intensify these feelings making women less present, focused, and productive.
Will companies start to employ a more international workforce and what does that mean for domestic workers?
Remote work has expanded opportunities for international teams, but are domestic employees still more desirable? This year, our company hired four international employees, all in different time zones. From Thailand to Japan to London, Hardly has been able to pull talent from every end of the globe. Part of me thinks we are trendsetters. Without location being a factor, the talent pool is only narrowed by language and experience. With new platforms to make working with international teams seamless, distance will play a less prominent role in hiring.
Now, we have a “virtual first” style of work: designed for the remote worker rather than adapted. Everything will be saved to a cloud, and onboarding processes will be automated. Hiring international remote workers won’t require managers to do duplicative work or go out of their way, it will just be the standard. While there are many positives to hiring internationally, there could be negative consequences for the domestic workforce. US workers might be pushed out by companies trying to maximize profits by hiring people from countries where the cost of living is significantly lower and therefore, so is their wage. But currently, companies are rewarded for supporting America and Americans through job creation. Just like there has been a push to buy local, hiring local might become a new grassroots movement.
In the future, will workers and companies alike be dehumanized?
The pandemic has caused many of us to become more humanitarian. While some believe a shutdown is the best way to save lives, others believe keeping the economy running is the protection we need. Either way, we all agree that human lives have value and should therefore be treated with care. But what makes someone human and what makes us care about them? Without the break room chats or company holiday parties, the person on the other side of the email becomes faceless.
Some say they know less about their coworkers since working from home. People don’t discuss their children in passing, their quirky habits aren’t observable from across the room, and personality goes unseen with more communication via email. Without the ability to connect in-person, we run the risk of being degraded to worker bees.
However, some have had the opposite experience. Zoom has provided them a window into coworkers’ lives outside of the office in a very real way. A colorful painting in a colleague’s living room may lead to a conversation about their experience in Thailand, or seeing books may lead to a conversation of Russian authors.
If video chats and Slack conversations aren’t enough to help management form relationships with their team, they might not be as empathetic when a personal matter comes up. Employees won’t feel cared for and therefore won’t feel connected. On the company side, a lack of physical spaces makes it more difficult to embody a mission or culture. In other words, companies could become empty shells where people simply work to earn a paycheck and nothing more. A soulless company attracts soulless employees who only complete the bare minimum because they don’t believe in the work they are doing. To avoid this, companies will have to encourage coworkers to converse on a personal level and find a way to keep the company’s personality alive and well in a virtual setting.
Final word
If I’m honest, I have so many more questions about the future of work. Will people become more or less defined by their work? Will there be a great migration from urban areas to small suburbs? What new skills do you need to be a competitive candidate in the remote work scene? These topics may be seeds for next year’s articles but until then, use them as food for thought and if you have any predictions about the future of work, leave us a comment on our social media below!
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There is a lot of buzz about how working from home affects our mental health, but there is less discussion around how remote work affects our physical health. Over the past week, I have been trying to answer this question:
Is remote work better or worse for your physical health?
It boils down to whether you establish good habits or poor ones. Working remotely typically affords us more flexibility and time to make healthy choices. But with freedom comes responsibility; we can no longer justify fast-food lunches, a lack of sleep due to a commute, or back pain because the issued chairs are uncomfortable, and we are chained to our desk. While remote work provides a lot of opportunities to make better choices regarding our physical health, it can be harder to create good habits at home. For every way in which working remotely can improve your physical health, it can also damage it. To prevent you from choosing the wrong side of the coin, here are the dos and don’ts of how to make remote work benefit your body rather than destroy it.
RECOMMENDATION #1
Replace your commute with more sleep
Skipping the commute is one of the advantages of working from home. That means a later alarm and the opportunity to catch more Zzzzs. There is a significant amount of evidence that suggests a good night’s sleep seriously boosts productivity. One study of U.S. workers found significantly worse productivity, performance, and safety outcomes among those who slept less. In addition, long-term sleep deprivation is found to be associated with health problems like weight gain, blood sugar dysregulation, indigestion & gastric problems, heart diseases, etc. Overall, sleep quality and duration has a direct impact on our functioning on multiple levels. Those few extra minutes in the morning could make a bigger difference than you think.
RECOMMENDATION #2
Don't snack throughout the day
One of the things I struggled with the most when I started working remotely was snacking. I was constantly eating anything and everything in my cabinets just because it was there. When I was working at the office, I only ate what I packed for lunch, but working from home it was like I had all the chips and granola bars at my fingertips. I gained 10 lbs after the first three months of working at home.
Limit yourself to 2 healthy snacks per day: 1 between breakfast and lunch and 1 between lunch and the end of the day. Anything more is typically out of boredom, not hunger. Instead, focus your energy on making a nutritious lunch. One huge benefit of working from home is that you don’t have to wake up earlier to pack your lunch or be tempted by fast-food around your workplace. Remote work allows us to enjoy a healthy breakfast and lunch, which ultimately decreases the likelihood of obesity. An article in Health Magazine states people who commute through areas surrounded by drive-thrus are more likely to stop at them and have higher BMIs. This study even found commuters with the most exposure to takeout joints were almost twice as likely to be obese.
RECOMMENDATION #3
Make your remote work space ergonomic
Step one is to get a good chair. For the best posture, make sure to get a chair that is height adjustable and has lumbar support. It might also be beneficial to have a standing desk. The more variety, the better. The optimal position is one where your feet touch the floor. Keyboard and mouse placement is also crucial for comfort and preventing yourself from looking like the hunchback of Notre Dame. Ideally, your keyboard should be positioned away from you and slightly down. Next, your keyboard and mouse should be shoulder-distance apart. This will ensure you aren’t reaching unnecessarily. Finally, position your screen where you can sit back in your chair and still see clearly. This will prevent you from craning your neck. Magical, instant remote work health!
CHECK OUT THIS ARTICLE TO BETTER YOUR EMPLOYEE’S WELLBEING!
RECOMMENDATION #4
Stay active
Remote work = we are moving even less. When working in the office, you might have to walk from the metro station, get up to go to the copier machine or a colleague’s desk a couple of times a day, or walk to the coffee shop across the street every day. BGR states, “sitting for such long periods can have significant and adverse effects, resulting in higher risks of muscular-skeletal disorders, obesity, diabetes, cancer, heart disease and more.” A simple solution is to build in time for physical activity each day. Whether it is a walk or a gym session, a moving body is healthier. Don’t have time for an hour-long high-intensity session? Every hour, just get up and walk around your house for 5 minutes.
RECOMMENDATION #5
Eye health is remote work wealth
Between the Zoom meetings and constant emails, all of our eyes are glued to screens for extended periods of time. The first thing you can do? Blink! This will keep your eyes moisturized, making them less irritated and less likely to feel like SpongeBob SquarePants without water. Forbes also suggests using the 20/20/20 rule. Every 20 minutes take 20 seconds to look at least 20 feet away. It gives your eyes a chance to recuperate from the harsh lighting in a minimal amount of time.
Try out these tips for staying healthy while working remotely and comment below what your favorite technique is! The goal is to crush your work, not let you work crush you.
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Remote work distractions used to be the death of me. Like a little puppy, I could stray off course at the slightest sight or sound of anything remotely interesting. If an ad popped up, I’d click on it. Phone rang? I’d answer it. If I heard a tiny bit of noise outside, I’d run to the window to see what it was. I struggled to get into the same rhythm of productivity at home as I was used to in the office.
There was always another activity distracting me from the task at hand.
When I first transitioned to working from home, I was watching TV constantly, doing household chores during team meetings, and ended up with millions of open tabs— social media, online shopping, and news articles. These habits were like gateway drugs to getting nothing work-related accomplished.
Instead of working a typical 9-5 work day, I was working 12-hours a day because it was taking me so much longer to finish the assigned tasks.
This meant there was no separation between personal and professional time and work was always on my mind. A month later, my inability to focus caused me to miss a concert my boyfriend had planned for date night. I realized if I was going to be a successful remote worker, I needed to learn to remove distractions before I got fired! So, here are my 10 tips to ditch the distractions and enhance your focus to better your productivity.
Day 1: Create a dedicated workspace for remote work
Environment is everything.
If I can see the messy kitchen or busy street, I set myself up for failure. But everyone is different! Gaining an understanding of the type of environment you need to be successful is key. While a private, home office complete with color-coded stick notes, two screens, and a home espresso maker is out of reach for most, we can dedicate an area of our apartment or house as a work zone. In my 650 square-foot apartment, my workspace is my dining room table. It faces away from the television, forces me to sit up straight, and gives me enough space to spread out my tea, laptop, and any books I might need to reference.
Day 2: Create a morning ritual
Our brain works in patterns.
To signal bedtime, most of us brush our teeth, turn off the lights, and set an alarm. By doing these activities every night, our mind and body already know what to expect. To set yourself up for success you have to train your brain to know it is time for work— no distractions allowed. Every morning before work, I drink a cup of hot lemon water, listen to John Mayer, and call my Mom. When the conversation is over, I know it is time to get down to business. As long as my routine isn’t interrupted, I can get into a work groove right away.
Day 3: Create a plan of action
If you don’t know what you are doing, the universe will find something for you to do. In other words, making a schedule at the beginning of the day is crucial to staying focused.
Write down everything you plan to accomplish during the workday and when you plan to execute each task.
Make this fun by writing your schedule on a chalkboard or using an app like ToDoist where task creation and completion are interactive. You know you are an adult when there is nothing more gratifying than crossing items off of a checklist.
Day 4: Get your sillies out
I learned this trick from tutoring kids who struggled with ADHD. Before getting started and about halfway through our session I would have my students stand up and shake their entire body. They could fall on the floor, make funny faces, or run around as long and they were releasing that extra energy all of us have that makes it hard to sit still. Now, the adult version of this could look like working out, taking a walk, or dancing to your favorite song before you sit down to begin remote work. The key here is to set a time limit for the activity so that playtime doesn’t spill into work time.
Day 5: Remove Social Distractions
As embarrassed as I am to admit it, I’m a scroller. I can spend an hour looking at Instagram, watching videos on Youtube and TikTok, and reading posts on Facebook without noticing time has passed. Chamath Palihapitiya, former VP of User Growth at Facebook says that social media leverages the very same neural circuitry used by slot machines and cocaine to keep us engaged. In simple terms, it’s addictive. Even if you have the intention of just checking up on one friend, logging onto social media can derail your entire day.
If stopping remote work distractions “cold turkey” isn’t your thing, try enabling a screen timer to help you become more aware of how much time you are spending on social media and slowly pare down your usage. Or, check out the Hardly app! Hardly helps you customize your notifications across all the apps you already use. Your attention is your choice!
I promise, if you put the notifications on pause, your productivity will skyrocket.
Day 6: Avoid doing household chores
When I made the switch from in-office work to remote work, my natural inclination was to figure out how I could weave dishes, laundry, and vacuuming into my workday. Boy was that a mistake. I found myself spending nearly 50% of my time on household chores and continuously interrupting my workflow to attend to domestic duties.
At the end of the day, I felt more burnt out because I was exhausting myself by burning the candle at both ends.
Day 7: Don’t multi-task
I believe effective multitasking is a myth.
David Burkus, a best-selling author and speaker, finds task switching is more similar to juggling than multitasking in that we are not doing two or more tasks with the same sufficient focus, we are instead going back and forth paying just enough attention to each to not drop the ball. At home, there are even more activities vying for our attention than in the office so it is important to commit to a task, laser in on it, and complete it before moving on to something else. Try enabling the “do not disturb” feature on email and chat platforms to prevent the urge to move from one task to another. Believe us, controlling your alerts helps! We created an app to help you customize the alerts you want to receive at any moment. Check out the Hardly App here.
Day 8: Set micro-goals
Have you ever noticed that you perk up and get a little boost of energy when you accomplish a task? Well, that isn’t a coincidence; it is neurological. Your brain releases a load of dopamine, often known as the “feel good” transmitter when you finish an assignment. James Clear, an author whose theory on the power micro-progress is rooted in Isaac Newton’s laws of motion, preaches that breaking down tasks into small achievable goals leads to higher productivity. In an interview with CBS News, he says
“If you can see yourself getting these small wins, then you have a reason to continue working, and if you start in just a small way, you’re going to want to keep going.”
So, instead of telling yourself to complete an entire client deliverable by the end of the day, just focus on completing one PowerPoint slide in 10 minutes then pat yourself on the back. You’ve conquered your remote work distractions!
Day 9: Use the Pomodoro technique
The Pomodoro technique is a popular time-management method created by Francesco Cirillo. I can confirm it’s a winner. I was able to stay focused and subsequently finish work in about three-fourths the amount of time I thought they would take. Essentially, the goal is to work in timed intervals that are spaced out by short breaks. The technique trains the brain to work in short sprints which ensures you are consistently productive. Set your timer for 25 minutes. For 25-minutes, you cannot let yourself succumb to remote work distractions. When the “Pomodoro” rings, put a check on your paper and take a 5-minute break. After four sets, take a slightly longer break for about 15-30 minutes. Wash and repeat! (So simple, a monkey could do it?)
Day 10: Incentivize yourself
As much as we would all like to consider ourselves to be complex multi-dimensional beings, we are as simple as dogs when it comes to our reward systems. To stay focused throughout the day, treat yourself to a coffee break or your favorite TV show but only after you reach a specific milestone. The anticipation of the reward will keep you on task and keep distractions at bay.
Try all of these tips in one day or introduce each method one at a time for ten consecutive days to improve your level of focus. You can even split the list in half and share it with a friend. Each of you can experiment with one task Monday through Friday and report back which ones worked best for your remote work situation. Remember doing something for 21 days straight creates a habit. We love to hear from our readers, so if you have any focusing tips to add or if you tried these tips, leave your comments below and let us know how it is working for you!
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When I imagined graduate school, I didn’t imagine the distance-work and the loneliness that would soon follow. I envisioned study groups at the homes of my classmates complete with wine and charcuterie boards, meeting my professors for coffee while discussing new theoretical research, and attending social science conferences with fellow honor society members. My classmates and I would share the blessings and the burdens of being Masters of Social Work students as we were all committed to the same purpose — to enhance human well-being and empower those who are vulnerable and oppressed through mental health.
However, my graduate school experience looks very different than what I daydreamed. I opted for a more flexible option than the in-person setting, an online program from Catholic University so that I could move across the world with my husband. While I was ecstatic that I would still be able to move my career forward through this program, I was bummed that I would be “repping” my Catholic University cardinal sweatshirt all by myself without another student nearby. As the program progressed in a remote environment, I soon felt isolated and lacked a sense of belonging. Interactions with classmates were only through formal discussion board posts that did not encourage organic conversation or collaboration and lectures were prerecorded or in the form of PowerPoints. There was zero facetime with classmates and professors; it was as if I was going through the curriculum alone. I became disengaged and only did the bare minimum to get decent grades rather than diving into the material with excitement and a thirst for growth. Something had to change.
Distance work can cause similar feelings of loneliness and detachment.
Who doesn’t want to skip the commute and take the first call of the day in pajamas from the couch? Working remotely affords so many of us an enhanced quality of life. Many consider distance work to be a perk of the job – being able to work where you are happiest whether that is in your home office or on a beach chair in Tulum. That sounds amazing, right? However, one of the challenges we often forget to consider is how isolating working outside the office can truly be. Isolation can lead to a sense of loneliness, even if you are a part of a large team.
The good news is these feelings aren’t inevitable. This week I interviewed Dr. Tom Guariello, psychologist and professor at New York’s School of Visual Arts Masters in Branding program, on the topic. I have developed some tips and tricks to help conquer feelings of loneliness and boost your sense of belonging.
Step 1: Talk about it
Stop the silence and speak up about how you feel.
In Buffer’s 2018 State of Remote Work Report, they learned 20% of distance workers felt that loneliness was one of their biggest struggles with working outside the office. What does this mean? You are not alone! Chances are some of your colleagues feel the same way and are waiting for someone to share that they, too, miss chatting by the coffee machine and the weekly dessert hour (nothing beats sweet treat Friday!). By voicing your challenges related to loneliness, you can actually build a stronger relationship with your coworkers. Your openness could lead to more discussion and subsequently make you feel connected after all.
But your colleagues aren’t the only ones you should talk to. My advice is to seek support from your boss as well. Their job is not only to ensure you are getting projects done on time but to also keep tabs on whether you feel happy with your work environment and culture. If you are craving more interaction with team members, host a weekly brainstorm over Zoom or provide edits over the phone rather than through email.
A good company cares about its workers and should welcome the opportunity to address whatever concerns you have around isolation.
Step 2: Connect with coworkers on a more personal level
One of the reasons you might be feeling lonely is because you find that working from home means all of your conversations with colleagues center around work. While being an employee at the same company is the initial connecting point, relationships are formed by learning more about the people themselves, not just the work they do. In order to regain that sense of community, you have to make a concerted effort to get to know your fellow distance workers on a deeper level. Do they have a family? What do they do for fun? Do you have anything in common? These are questions that were typically answered organically during face-to-face interactions in the break room.
Luckily, casual interactions can happen in a variety of virtual spaces as well. It just takes a bit more planning and intention. Dr. Guarriello is an advocate for very small change.
His advice is to look for little opportunities for connectivity by figuring out where you intersect with others, even if your Venn diagrams only overlap 5%.
Use this small amount as the foundation or jump off point and build a positive relationship from there. Try inviting one distanced coworker to a 30-minute virtual coffee break or vent session via Google Hangout each week, or start off your Monday morning by sending a “How was your weekend?” message via your company’s chat platform. Dr. Guarriello even suggests asking coworkers, “What is the coolest thing that happened to you in the last 24 hours?” as a meeting ice breaker. Another option is to kill two birds with one stone:
Satisfy your craving for meaningful conversation and practice your distance networking skills by activating some of those dormant LinkedIn connections.
Fruitful networking requires nurturing relationships, not simply making a request and forgetting about it. Try sending out 2 different invite requests, a regular 30 minute touch point and a happy hour invite to people you genuinely want to bond with in your professional network. People like to work with those they feel a connection to so getting to know their interests in addition to their resume is beneficial. Plus, who doesn’t like getting business done with a glass of vino in hand during these Linkedin meet-ups?
Step 3: Find meaning in your work
Dr. Guarriello shared that belonging is fostered through clarity of purpose. In other words, feeling passionate about your company’s vision and mission is key. Colleagues who share a mutual commitment to producing work that mirrors the company’s overarching goals have a stronger connection. Take some time to reflect on why your work is meaningful and how your contribution brings value to the team and company. Discuss your thoughts with your coworkers and brainstorm ways in which you can collaborate at a higher level to help each other live up to that commitment and common purpose.
Step 4: Stay engaged with friends and family outside of work
Lastly, socializing outside of the workplace is a must. Let’s face it, most of us have acquaintances at work, but our best friends may be from other parts of our lives. Distance work allows us the flexibility to meet up with neighborhood friends for lunch or FaceTime family members in different time zones during the day. So, make the most of it, and keep those relationships outside of work alive. Personally, I plan two periodic after-work outings and virtual chat sessions with friends or family members who I don’t often get to see each week.
Sick of connecting with loved ones over food and alcohol? Try starting a hobby together.
My grandmother and I started practicing our creative writing once a week by simply responding to a one-word prompt for 5 minutes and then sharing our prose. Not only are we bonding over an activity that stimulates our minds, but we aren’t ruining our fitness goals in the process!
P.S. Find the upside in solitude
While distance work loneliness does have its downsides, solitude can be advantageous— not just lonely. If you are lucky enough to have a quiet space to work in your house you might find that the seclusion increases your productivity. While it might have taken you 3 hours to write a memo before, not being interrupted by coworkers allows you to finish your work in only two. Another benefit of distance work is not being watched by superiors. If you are anything like me, I enjoy working in spurts and taking frequent breaks. In the office setting, I hated having to prove to others that I was getting my work done by being chained to my desk. And that can be lonely in a different way.
Sources:
Tannenbaum, Arielle. “A Guide to Conquering Remote Work Loneliness From Remote Workers.” Buffer Resources, Buffer Resources, 13 June 2018, buffer.com/resources/remote-work-loneliness/.
Interview with Tom Guarriello
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The pandemic has taught all of us a variety of lessons, but one of the more unexpected truths it has highlighted is how greatly globalization impacts us all. For me personally, globalization has touched my life in the most positive and influential ways. It has afforded me the opportunity to make international friends while on vacation, study abroad in China (coincidentally where I met my husband), and now live in Japan for three years. Being that I don’t speak Japanese, continuing to work for an American company was pretty much my only option. But, having international team members is not every company’s cup of green tea.
While living abroad has made my personal life highly Instagram-able, it has made my professional one much more challenging
Just before coming to Japan nearly two and a half years ago, the market research firm I was a contractor for decided to drop me due to the relocation. They thought communication and task management would be too taxing on the team. They cited the major time difference, contrasting holidays, limited real-time communication, and mismatched software and tools I had at my disposal. However, the recent surge in remote work due to COVID-19 has required many businesses to work with international remote teams. With the right attitude, technology, and practice, a seamless, effective partnership with international remote teams is achievable. So, my old company obviously missed out.
1) Establish Common Ground
Keep teams on the same page by writing a communication rule book. Include the big picture of the company, including mission statements and company culture. Also make space for the details such as daily practices and expectations. For example, ensure all employees are aware of the company’s value on quality control over speed or innovation.
Update your software! I can’t stress enough how frustrating it was for my project team to have a less updated version of PowerPoint than I had. All those tedious hours of formatting and animation went right out the window when they opened my presentation. On the flip side, the team shared sample templates for everything from proposals to focus group discussion guides. This meant that when I sent an assignment for review, they were able to spend less time editing. The moral of the story is, sharing is caring.
2) Develop Empathy and Trust
As a remote international team member, I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to build real relationships with my coworkers. I have found that the better you know someone, the better job you want to do because you actually care about their opinion. You also gain a more holistic perspective of their motivators, strengths, and communication style. This makes teamwork one-thousand times easier and more enjoyable. In an article focused on what makes global teams work, HBR found the key ingredient for success lies in the level of social distance. In other words, the greater the emotional connection between team members, the more effective they become.
Develop emotional connections through empathy and trust. Companies need to increase facetime, encourage informal communication, and value productivity over perfection. While the time difference does make communication challenging, virtual face-to-face meetings are crucial. Can’t synchronize? Send video messages instead of text. It’s easy to feel detached from someone we only talk to on the phone or send e-mails to, but once we know their face we become significantly more engaged and trusting.
3) Encourage positive interactions
All work, all the time makes people antisocial. Promote small talk to build trust and empathy. Companies should lead meetings with five minutes of informal conversation or create a Slack channel where coworkers can talk about their vacations, tv shows, or pets. When we find out a coworker has similar hobbies as us, has an anniversary coming up, or is even going through family hardship, we are more likely to be understanding.
Lastly, trust is the consequence of empathy. Stress to employees that perfection stifles productivity and we can only produce great work across teams with practice. Ripping someone to shreds if they make a mistake is counterproductive. Instead, using empathy will incite your coworkers across the globe to complete tasks without unnecessary hesitation. This also leads to trusting one another’s critics as constructive rather than superfluous. Remember, you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.
4) Communicate Frequently While Maintaining Boundaries
Without desk-side chats or impromptu meetings, you need to communicate frequently and with intention. Reinforcing the same message in a variety of ways helps to minimize confusion. If a task is lost in translation, completion can be delayed not only for a couple of hours but for days due to the time difference. I found it incredibly helpful to practice active-listening with my boss at the end of meetings. First, she would summarize what my responsibilities were. Then I would restate what I heard to make sure I didn’t forget or misinterpret anything. It is also helpful to have team members acknowledge the receipt of an email or message. Even though this might seem excessive at first, it gives the team member on the other side peace of mind that their message was seen.
Setting boundaries for communication is important, since working with team members in different time zones can have your phone buzzing with notifications late into the night. Let’s be honest, our anxiety is heightened the moment our screen lights up with a work email and ruins date night vibes. Especially when working from home, it is difficult to separate personal time from work. The National Association of Foreign Student Advisors (NAFSA) recently wrote an article about managing remote and global teams. They emphasized the importance of tempering demands for communication too far outside of “normal” working hours by clearly defining rest periods to safeguard team morale. Peer pressure to respond at all times of the day is real. Leadership being transparent about taking breaks or time off is necessary to instill work-life balance for international remote teams.
5) Share the Burden
One thing that can be really irritating as a foreign team member is always having to assume the burden for the time difference. If you need to have two team meetings a week, try to make one more convenient for the east coast team and the other more convenient for the west coast team, so everyone feels there is a balance.
Preplan as much as possible so that one team is not always bearing the brunt of a tight deadline. When I was working in market research in D.C., I remember our L.A. office always complaining when a presentation was due “end of day” east coast time. It left them scrambling to fit 8 hours’ worth of work into 5. To prevent the overseas group from always working under a time crunch, set them up for success by creating deadlines with their time difference in mind.
6) Brainstorm the Benefits
Finally, attitude is everything. Help team members get excited about the perks of working with international remote team members. As an aspiring social worker, I have become very familiar with cognitive restructuring (a fancy term for changing a negative perspective into a positive one). For example, you can view working in different time zones as an inconvenience, or as an added bonus since work can continue while you are asleep. Try not to complain about having to wake up early for a meeting at 7 am. Instead, think about how this allows you to clock out 2 hours earlier and make that Pilates class you have been wanting to try.
International teams also bring fresh and diverse perspectives, voices, and inspiration. Take working for a branding company, for example. I would be able to incorporate the Japanese attention to detail, floral patterns, and origami into new packaging designs that others may not have ever been exposed to. Culture fosters creation which is something all businesses can capitalize on when having team members from a mixture of countries.
Lastly, having global teams expands your reach. In this vast, remote world we now live in, everyone—and I mean everyone—is a consumer. The other day, an ad popped up on my computer for a designer bag that I had never heard of. Turns out the company was based in Kenya. Having international teams can help you tap into a wider market by providing insight on how to appeal to them, ultimately leading to an increase in revenue.
Sources
Neeley, Tsedal. “Global Teams That Work.” Harvard Business Review, Harvard Business Publishing, Oct. 2015, hbr.org/2015/10/global-teams-that-work.
Sandberg, Jessica. “Best Practices for Managing Remote and Global Teams.” NAFSA: Association of International Educators, 1 Apr. 2020, www.nafsa.org/ie-magazine/2020/4/1/best-practices-managing-remote-and-global-teams.
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