Post Courtesy Harvard Business Review
by Dorie Clark
Working from home can be a coveted perk, allowing you to opt
out of rush-hour traffic and eliminate the tedious banalities of office life.
But it can also cut you off from the spontaneous interactions that can spark
new insights (part of the reason Marissa Mayer famously rescinded Yahoo’s
telecommuting policies). And, at times, the solitude may lead to isolation or
the feeling that you’re left out at work.
How can you combat loneliness and create positive
relationships with colleagues when you work from home full-time? I’ve worked
from home since 2006, when I launched my consulting and speaking business. Here
are three principles I’ve found to be effective in staving off isolation,
maintaining productivity, and surrounding oneself with a stimulating cadre of
colleagues.
First, since you’re not physically interacting with coworkers,
it’s important to seek out an online community of like-minded practitioners.
The technology changes over time — when I first launched my business, I
participated regularly in an online forum for solo consultants; today I
maintain an active Facebook community for participants in my “Recognized
Expert” online course. These discussion groups allow you to share successes and
challenges and ask sensitive questions that, especially because participants
are geographically dispersed, can be answered honestly and without feelings of
competition.
Second, it’s especially useful for at-home workers to
leverage video technology. Instead of phone calls, I’ll almost always book
Skype or Zoom meetings so that I can see the other person. This helps me read
their body language, ensures they’re more likely to remember and recognize me
(if we don’t know each other well already), and provides me with a facsimile of
in-person interaction. I’m admittedly an introvert, but at the end of a day
filled with video calls, I’m often socially exhausted and need downtime, just
as I would after a round of in-person meetings — so I think it’s doing the
trick.
Depending on your preferences, it can be useful to track
whether you prefer scheduling a smaller number of daily video interactions with
clients and colleagues (a “minimum effective dose”) or instead want to cluster
them on the same day. The latter will allow for larger blocks of creative time
on the days when you’re not in meetings (as I describe in this post on
scheduling meetings when you’re self-employed).
Finally, make a concerted effort to learn more about the
personal lives of your colleagues. When you work from home, there’s a natural
tendency to avoid “wasting time” with small talk; it may seem like a better
move to focus exclusively on work-related conversations. But that may be a
mistake.
As eminent psychologist Robert Cialdini told me, small talk
may seem trivial, but it’s actually the cement that creates rapport. “A
weakness of Americans,” he says, “is that we tend not to do what is done in
many other cultures — spending sociable time interacting with other people so
there is a context of commonality recognized by both parties, so subsequent
interactions go more smoothly.” Indeed, he cites research showing that when two
groups of MBA students who didn’t know each other were asked to perform a
negotiation over email, 55% of those who were told to “get straight down to
business” made a deal. Meanwhile, a full 90% of those who were encouraged to
share personal information and find commonalities with one another beforehand
were able to strike one, and their deals were 18% more beneficial to both
parties. That’s because, as Cialdini’s research shows, someone is far more
persuasive to you when you like them — and knowing more about them and how
you’re similar often hastens that process.
So before a meeting starts, ask your colleagues about their
recent vacation, their daughter’s sports matches, or their upcoming nuptials.
These small details can create bonds that enable you to build deeper
relationships that are both personally gratifying and professionally
beneficial.
A bit of loneliness may seem like an unavoidable trade-off
when you work from home, away from the buzz of the office. (Though it’s
important to note that not all social interactions have to be with humans: A
studyjointly run by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Harvard
T.H. Chan School of Public Health revealed that 87% of those who reported
experiencing “a great deal of stress” in the past month were able to reduce it
effectively by spending time with a pet, which may be even easier to accomplish
when working from home.)
But by following these strategies, you can ensure you’re
forming meaningful connections with like-minded colleagues, even if you’re not
face-to-face with them every day.
The above article is from HBR and the link to the original article is as below
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