Last week I had the pleasure and privilege of speaking as a faculty member for NEHRA‘s highly regarded Executive HR Women’s Program. It was supposed to be a live, three-hour interactive workshop in Waltham, MA at the lovely Forefront Center for Meetings and Conferences. Instead it was a live, three-hour interactive workshop on Zoom broadcast from my kitchen in West Boylston, MA with participants calling in from all over the state and beyond.
Distanced But Not Disconnected
Shortly before the program was to be held, NEHRA’s intrepid organizers – Sarah Mann, Nancy Persson and Tracy Burns – sent word to the scheduled facilitators that we may need to shift gears due to the growing concern regarding the virus and the need for social distancing. They asked if we were up for delivering online. We were.
We started the call with a moment of mindfulness (thanks to Sarah) and a round-robin of gratitude. The participants were 20+ senior human resources professionals already weary from the week’s exertions around employee communication, workforce logistics, policy modifications and employee relations. And to a person, each was grateful for the opportunity to connect; to spend the time and attention with each other in community, in support, in mutual understanding.
I’m working from home today, can we reschedule our meeting?
I’ve never understood the rationale behind this question. Why, with our technology and constant technological connection to our screens, would we ever have to reschedule a one on one meeting just because someone was working from home? Maybe it means something different to different people. Perhaps it meant, “I’m canceling my scheduled appointments so I can focus on other stuff” or “I’m caring for a child or elder and trying to get a modicum of work done in between”. Or maybe it meant “I’m working from home but I also don’t yet know how to do that seamlessly so I’m going wait for another time to figure that out”.
Whatever it meant, it can’t mean that anymore. Working from home has been – for quite some time – a just-as-productive endeavor as being live and in person. But like anything else, you need the right equipment, the right rules and the right attitude. And now, since we need to do it, we’ll figure that stuff out.
Physically Distanced and Super Connected
Over the past 10 years I have worked closely with Helle Bundgaard of Motivation Factor™. She lives in Denmark. I am an hour outside of Boston. We have designed programs, solved problems, written copy and resolved conflicts together. We’ve gone from using the phone to Skype to What’s App to FaceTime and now Zoom as we navigated the tech we needed to stay in touch. It takes some ingenuity and patience but it can be done.
People Managers and HR Professionals
Use this time – especially if this crisis has freed up some for you – to stay connected and reconnect. As a manager, be a role model for your team. Play with the technology or take a LinkedIn or Udemy course on virtual meetings. Open to the possibilities of establishing meaningful one on one conversations with your employees. Start a team check in to share tips on working from home and staying focused or sharing funny stories about how it’s hard or weird.
Strategic HR Pros know that connection is serious business. Take this time to connect with your peers on the leadership team or through the management ranks. Schedule a Zoom call, ask how they are, ask how their team is faring, provide some resources to help pave the way to productivity while we’re in captivity.
Where There’s a Will, There are Cookies
Working from home is not new for me so the day-to-day hasn’t felt much different. But the other day, my parents stopped by and flung a batch of homemade cookies to us from six feet away. That was new.
Stay healthy. Stay Connected. Be Uncommon.
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