Our team here at Share Moving Media is currently working remotely and know from talking to many of you that your organizations are working remotely as well. So, we got to thinking… this is a challenging and vastly different time for all of us and we thought it would be helpful if we compiled some tips for the change in times right now, both business and personal. I would venture to say that we are currently in an unprecedented time of blurred lines between personal and business lives (I’m looking at you- working parent who is now working from home AND ensuring that your kids are maintaining their school work).
We want to tackle this transitional time from many angles and hopefully share ideas on how to make the most of the situation while we are in it together.
This week, we’re talking about our new normal of working from home and getting our offices set up. We’ve included some ideas below and Graham Garrison from our team weighs in with a little reminder for all of us.
Working from Home- The new normal
1. Communication tools
We all need interaction and to stay connected. And while working from home may make that a little tougher, the technology at our fingertips can help us feel connected, while remaining socially distant.
- Microsoft Teams -a great internal chat and screenshare tool if your company uses Microsoft office
- Slack – designed to replace email as your primary method of communication and sharing. Its workspaces allow you to organize communications by channels for group discussions and allows for private messages to share information, files, and more all in one place.
- Zoom– With both free and paid options, this video conferencing tool allows you to connect via phone, screenshare, and video with your customers and colleagues
- Go to meeting– This web conference platform has options for small to large meetings and webinars and integrates easily with many calendar tools for easy scheduling
- Marco Polo– Missing your coworkers and want to make them smile? This great video messaging app you to have an ongoing conversation via short videos in one running conversation reel. This one also doubles as a tool to use with your family and friends so that you can still stay connected during this time (and can send fun videos of your family to grandparents, friends, etc.)
- Basecamp– this tool allows you to break work into separate projects that contain everything related to the work at hand (all the people, discussions, file, task, etc.).
2. Productivity
- Block out your calendar- with less time traveling, we might have a little more office time to get deliberate about scheduling out our days
- Keep a routine
- Get dressed for the day- sometimes it really is just a mindset thing, but if you dress for the day (vs. staying in your pajamas), you might find that your mind stays more focused on business
3. Working at home with your kids
- Try to carve your home into zones to keep a little bit of separation for people
- Keep to a schedule
4.Setting up your home office
- If you are staying in a bit this weekend, it could be a great time get your home office set up so that it functions really well and so that you can use video conferencing tools to still engage with your colleagues and customers while remaining professional
Over the coming weeks, we will be sending helpful tips from our team members that you might consider during this time of COVID-19 quarantine. What are some hacks or tools that you have found helpful during this time? We’d love to hear from you!