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Why is Integration so painful?
The four reasons why integration can be painful for organisations.
Why is integration so painful?
Our experience from working with many organisations over the years has highlighted that integration can be a painful experience.
We’ve identified four reasons why integration can be painful
Helen explains what these are and why in our video below:
Integration Scorecard
How do you rate your organisation or team in its Integration prowess?
Integration Self-Assessment
How do you rate your Integration skills? Take the test and find out.
Giving and receiving feedback
People want to succeed at work so receiving no feedback could lead to them doubting their own abilities, believing that others are more qualified than them, feelings of anxiety about job security or promotion possibilities.
Pens in A Box Feedback Exercise
The pens in a box feedback exercise illustrates what it feels like to work blind vs being given high quality feedback.
The Importance of Giving and Receiving Feedback
We’ve all been there. Those times when you’ve slogged your guts out on a project or piece of work, you press save and send feeling pretty pleased with your efforts, only to receive a cursory ‘thank you’ email from your manager in response.
In the short term, some us with high emotional intelligence could possibly shrug it off temporarily and move on, but for most of us, this lack of feedback could open a huge can of worms.
People naturally want to succeed at work so receiving no feedback could lead to them doubting their own abilities, believing that others are more qualified than them, feelings of anxiety about job security or promotion possibilities. In a nutshell, not giving your team members constructive feedback, can leave them feeling rudderless!
4 reasons to give and receive feedback
Feedback is a gift; it provides valuable information that gives us an opportunity to look at ourselves in a different light.
It helps us to understand how others perceive us and the impact that our behavioural style or ways of working has on others.
Feedback can enable anyone to improve their focus and results - to grow.
Feedback is key to engaging people; we generally think about feedback between a manager and a team member. However, feedback can and should be given up, down and sideways.
How to effectively give and receive feedback
Feedback needs to be heard, understood and accepted. Those are the areas in our control, we have no control over whether the person that we’re giving feedback to chooses to act upon our feedback, that’s for them to decide.
There are a number of key principles for giving and receiving effective feedback:
be timely, do it regularly, be specific, be structured and use “I” statements ‘I was surprised when you criticised the team at today’s review’.It’s also important to think about the skills that we need to receive feedback, especially when it is something that we may not want to hear or when it’s given clumsily. Active listening, using questions to clarify the situation and focusing on managing our emotions can help us to open the gift of feedback more readily.
According to the Harvard Business Review, 72% of people feel their performance would improve if their managers provided corrective feedback. The same survey found that 57% of people prefer corrective feedback to purely praise and recognition.
Remembering to provide considered, constructive feedback for every task, to every employee and fostering a culture where team members provide feedback more freely is a powerful tool that could reap long term rewards across your organisation.
References:
Your Employees Want the Negative Feedback You Hate to Give (HBR, 2014)
What is the difference between Integration and Project Management?
Integration and project management are terms that are often confused, particularly when it comes to the skills and complexity required to fulfil the objective, but are quite different.
Same or different?
The management of integration and project management are often confused, particularly when it comes to the skills, the roles and responsibilities and the complexity required to fulfil the objective, but in reality they are quite different challenges altogether.
In a nutshell, here is the difference:
Integration: is the act of bringing together smaller components into a single system or entity that functions as one.
Project Management: is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements and end goals.
Well, that makes integration sound like a project doesn’t it? Correct! Integration can be a project with the goal to bring operational unity between people, engineering, systems, tools and a multitude of other components to achieve a permanent effect.
And, as pointed out by some of our colleagues in system engineering, integration can also be an element of a project to merge a project deliverable into the wider environment.
Here are three scenarios we have come across in pictures:
Here are the two compared further:
Integration
Integration is the achievement of permanent operational unity and harmonisation among:
functional specialists
teams
departments
systems
tools
technology
projects.
The scope of integration can apply across a team, department, business or a business supply chain ecosystem.
Project Management
Project management is the ability to deliver a project which typically has the following characteristics:
clearly defined client objectives
scope
budget
stakeholders
the management of risk
a project team
project resources
an end point
milestones and timescales
success criteria.
So, If integration is a project, why this article?
The table above makes it look like integration is primarily the goal of a project manager handling an integration project, so why this article?
Integration doesn’t just happen - it requires special focus from an organisation to get right:
integration requires a different skillset, of which project management is one
an integrator needs to be an influencer (without necessary having authority) at all levels and be equipped to have ‘difficult conversations’
integrators act along the value chain from raw materials to end-product - cutting across the silos or functional boundaries of an organisation. Organisations are generally not structured by value chains (more likely by function), therefore the integrator can be working against the grain of an organisation which takes resilience, courage and well-honed soft skills
the challenges of the integrator are more complex and require a different way of thinking and an adaptability beyond the boundaries of a project
integration is very much about the ‘bigger picture’, particularly the way that ‘change’ affects the lives of employees, organisational culture and ability to deliver for and delight customers.
Why is Integration Different?
By understanding the difference between project management and integration, companies can select the most appropriately skilled people to undertake the task.
Though integration and project management have many similarities and overlap, an integrator is much more than a project manager.
Integration is fundamentally about achieving change and permanent operational unity. Consequently, the integrator needs to be up to the task of bringing people, businesses, systems, technology, processes and projects together - they are like the glue that sticks the disparate pieces of the system together into a cohesive whole to deliver solutions that not only meet customer requirements but surprise and delight them too.
References
Business Integration and what it really means, IT Chronicles (2019)
The New Management Job: The Integrator, HBR (1967)
Relationships between Systems Engineering and Project Management, SEBoK
What is Project Management, PMI
With thanks to the many integrators within BAE Systems’ Mission Support team who helped in creating this article.
Integration SElF-ASSESSMENT
How do you rate your Integration skills? Take the test and find out.
InTegration ScoreCard
How do you rate your organisation or team in its Integration prowess?
Treehouse, helping to deliver transformation in Royal Navy training
Treehouse is part of Team iMAST (Intelligent Maritime Adaptive Synthetics and Training) - the innovation ecosystem which will collectively modernise and transform Royal Navy training over the next 12 years.
Treehouse is part of Team iMAST (Intelligent Maritime Adaptive Synthetics and Training) - the innovation ecosystem which will collectively modernise and transform Royal Navy training over the next 12 years.
About iMAST
iMAST was formed in 2019 by an industry and academic alliance including Babcock, QinetiQ, Thales, Centerprise International, Learning Technologies Group, University of Portsmouth and University of Strathclyde with the simple vision: working in true partnership with the customer to transform and modernise Royal Navy training in innovative ways that will deliver more, better trained Royal Navy people to the front line quicker.
The innovation ecosystem to support and deliver iMAST includes more than 50 experienced, specialist SMEs of which Treehouse is one, and a dedicated programme website announced the consortium in June 2020.
“iMAST is committed to playing its part in realising the vision of a modern Royal Navy; its people better trained and more capable than ever before and meeting today’s and the future’s operational needs.”
— John Howie: CEO Babcock Marine and Technology – lead contractor in the iMAST Alliance
The Treehouse Role - delivering innovation in training
We were selected to be involved as a result of our experience and expertise in unlocking opportunity and catalysing change through people. Our specific role, though changing and evolving as the programme develops, will be to:
Quickly and effectively gain powerful insights into what the trainers and trainees need.
Leveraging that insight to co-create with trainers and trainees a vision of what new solutions might look like.
Testing and refining the vision iteratively until the right solution is established.
How will we deliver this?
Crowdsourcing
Workshops
Interviews and Listening Groups
Analytics
Structured testing processes
The trick for a good programme is the blending together of insight at the individual level and then amalgamating into good principles for the programme as a whole. Agility at the individual level is key as it more accurately adds up to a training solution with outcomes contributing to an ever evolving yet ‘FutureFit’ Royal Navy service as a whole.
Why Treehouse?
We’re experts in empowering people and teams to unlock potential, growth and opportunity using proven tools to encourage different thinking, identifying fresh approaches and improve organisational effectiveness, innovation and collaboration.
We use insight as a springboard for everything we do. Within iMAST we’ll be using insight to co-create solutions that fit perfectly, hand in glove with focus on the individual to develop solutions that deliver results for the whole. The whole ends up being more than the sum of its parts.
We catalyse change, one person at a time.
Innovation EcoSYSTEM
A Treehouse solution to bring together your support network of both large and small organisations to work as a collaborative, innovative force
More Reading:
iMAST - intelligent Maritime Adaptive Synthetics & Training website
ADS Advance (15/06/2020): Industry and academic alliance aims at transforming Royal Navy training
Babcock press release (10/09/2019): Team iMAST sets out to provide a step-change for UK Royal Navy and Royal Marines Training
Integrating the Integrators
The increasingly complex and dynamic nature of organisations and projects accompanied with the rapid rate of technological change means clearly defined integrator roles are increasingly becoming a necessity in every business.
The Essential role of the integrator
In 1967, the Harvard Business Review published an article entitled ‘New management job: the integrator’. The authors suggested that within the next decade, “one of the critical organisation innovators would be the establishment of management positions, even formal departments, charged with the task of achieving integration.”
More than four decades on, it’s still rare that you’ll find a colleague with the job title of ‘integrator’ on their business card, let alone whole departments tasked with integration. Of course, every company and project has ‘integrators’- people with integration as part of their job description, but they are more likely to be engineers, data architects, project managers, systems engineers, change consultants, account managers to name just a few.
In reality, the title doesn’t actually matter, but the role is essential! The increasingly complex and dynamic nature of organisations and projects accompanied with the rapid rate of technological change means clearly defined, customer-centric, integrator roles are increasingly becoming a necessity in every business.
What is an integrator?
Put simply, integrators are the glue that brings things together! Where visionaries are those that create the future, integrators are the ones that make it happen.
An integrator is a person who has the ability and skills to bring together various non-connected elements of a business, service or project, to deliver a final, coherent and successful solution for the customer.
Taking on any problems or needs that arise, through coordinating, collaborating and communicating, they find the solutions, keep projects on track and facilitate positive change.
The challenges facing integrators
Like the job title, the keys to success of an integrator are not clearly defined. Positive results are as much about a way of thinking as they are about defined skills, but what is consistent is that an integrator must be adaptable and have a desire to bring together non-connected elements of a solution or service to deliver success for their customer and consequently for their own business as well.
Integrators have to be resilient and know when to push forward and also when to pause and question. Transforming anything has its challenges and so understanding the ‘big picture’ is paramount. We are by nature sceptical of change in all areas of our lives, with business organisational culture and resistant employee attitudes often compounding the turmoil associated with any change. Integrators must be sensitive to this whilst retaining focus on the customers’ requirements and the internal teams’ needs to deliver it.
Integrators need to be excellent communicators, and most are, but that is just one part of the story. They also need to build a rapport with every stakeholder in a project. Only by developing this skill can they build trust and loyalty to harness the commitment that will ensure they receive the right communications, data and assistance required to achieve their objectives.
In today’s modern workplace there are many barriers to building these crucial communication channels:
Lack of access is a common challenge; getting face-to-face time with all stakeholders who will be affected by, and involved in, a project is difficult when many employees now work remotely.
Integrators are often joining as a team member on a project and do not have direct authority over the individuals and team concerned.
Asking employees to give time to assist in integration projects is not made a priority by managers.
Integrators are deemed to be an internal resource with some reluctance to put them in front of customers.
The integration function is not included at the right time. Integration is perceived to be what happens at the end when crucially it needs to be involved at the start through the whole chain thus removing much of the friction later on.
Scepticism and resistance to change amongst teams and individuals regularly needs to be overcome.
The under-valuing and misuse of the integrator’s role can result in a lack of trust, understanding and tensions. So what is the solution?
Managers need to realise the importance of integrators in any situation, champion their role and help pave the way to their success.
Keeping the customer at the heart of everything.
All team members must be encouraged to accept change and be brought into the objective so they can provide information, feedback and data - all essential to facilitate positive outcomes.
The integrators themselves need to be able to influence without authority, lead change, prioritise improving communication channels to foster collaboration, build long term trust and clear out obstacles to achieve solutions.
The workplace is evolving at a much greater pace than ever before and organisations are becoming increasingly complex. At the heart of this rapid change is technology. All sectors are facing some sort of digital transformation and only by preparing for, accepting and facilitating change will businesses be able to keep up.
In today’s rapidly changing work environment, the role of the integrator in any organisation is now crucial, not only to facilitate positive change, but also to help staff engage with and adjust to new ways of working, rather than seeing them as a threat.
Integration ScoreCard
How do you rate your organisation or team on its Integration prowess?
Integration Self-Assessment
How do you rate your Integration skills? Take the test and find out.
The most in demand skill? Being human
With the modern workplace becoming more digitalised and with artificial Intelligence promising so much, it raises the question of what skills and knowledge will be needed and valued in the future. It turns out what employers’ value most is our social and emotional skills.
The demand for ‘soft skills’ is on the up
The world is overflowing with technology and automation has replaced many manual or repetitive roles across all industries. With the modern workplace becoming more digitalised and with artificial Intelligence promising so much, it raises the question of what skills and knowledge will be needed and valued in the future. It turns out what employers’ value most is our social and emotional skills.
Uniquely human skills
A recent survey[i] revealed soft skills, such as listening skills, are most in demand by employers (74 percent), while quantitative skills and computer and technical skills were less so (47 percent and 50 percent, respectively).
According to the survey the top skills today’s employers are looking for in candidates include:
Listening Skills
74%
Attention to Detail
70%
Effective Communication
69%
Critical Thinking
67%
Interpersonal Skills
65%
Active Learning
65%
As the survey results show, employers aren't looking for the same level of deep knowledge and technical skill as they did in the past. The nature of work is evolving, which is partly why we have a skills gap. Manufacturing and factory jobs that once powered the economy have largely been automated. However, soft skills such as networking, building relationships and collaborating with others are the skills that automation or artificial intelligence just can’t replicate.
The power to relate
In the future emotional intelligence will take on new significance. As our use of technology expands, our human skills of compassion, empathy and the ability to relate to our colleagues will be the competitive edge in the workplace, not only for individuals but for entire organisations.
Unlock the PotentIal in your Workforce
Helping people, teams, organisations with soft skills is what we do.
It turns out that the most in demand skill needed in the future is the one thing humans are uniquely suited to master. Forward thinking employers should seize the opportunity to unlock the potential within their workforce and benefit from improved organisational effectiveness and collaboration.
8 top tips on managing and motivating a remote team
Managing and motivating a remote team requires the development of strong team dynamics. Here are our top eight tips on how your team cannot only survive but thrive in the current environment.
A challenge for teams now working remotely
Developing strong team dynamics
Webinar on May 20th 2020 11:00 -12:00 & June 4th 2020 14:00 - 15:00.
The current pandemic has brought about change to many workplaces at an unprecedented rate. Teams that once worked physically together are now working remotely and learning how to collaborate virtually. Fortunately, there are many tools and systems that can encourage remote collaboration.
However, remaining focused and productive can be a challenge for teams who are unaccustomed to working remotely and miss the social aspect of office life. Equally, for managers used to sharing an office with their team and seeing them face-to-face on a regular basis, providing effective management remotely can be difficult. Managing and motivating a remote team requires the development of strong team dynamics. Here are our top eight tips on how your team cannot only survive but thrive in the current environment.
Work towards a shared purpose. Think creatively.
1. Revisit and communicate your team’s purpose
A common purpose unites a team, regardless of how geographically dispersed the members may be. The pandemic has created change and uncertainty not only in the way we are currently working but across all aspects of everyday life. If your team’s purpose has changed, now is the time to communicate this and update employees on what the new normal will look like. Everyone needs to understand the new focus and be working towards a shared purpose, behaviour and objective.
Work with your team to identify and understand short- or long-term project constraints.
Create a team charter as a "roadmap" to help paint a compelling picture of the future that will inspire team members to persevere. Not only will this motivate the team to look forward beyond the now, it will also provide clear decision-making guidelines for all members of the team.
Think broadly and creatively to spot new opportunities to pivot your team for future success.
Now more than ever it’s important to be transparent about the current situation, share what you know and if things are still unclear share this information too. Honesty and transparency will continue to engender trust between you and your team in these challenging times.
Learn about everyone. Understand they all have different needs.
2. Learn about every member of the team
Many of us leave our troubles at home when we head into work, however when having to work from home this option disappears. Remote working will prove challenging for all team members in one way or another. Some will have additional responsibilities such as childcare, home-schooling or caring and shopping for a vulnerable family member. Other team members may live alone and be battling loneliness. This is unprecedented times and being socially distant from our support networks is a struggle for all of us.
Lead the way by providing both practical and emotional support, but also encourage team members to be considerate to one another. This is an opportunity to reset or improve relationships.
Ensure team members have the support and equipment they need to work effectively. This includes any training they may need to use online systems and applications.
Has your company used psychometric tools such as INSIGHTS or MBTI to understand preferred ways of working? If so, encourage the team to revisit these in the context of the new environment so they can consider and share what helps them to work effectively.
Look for warning signs that employees may be struggling such as reduced output; short and abrupt emails; reluctance to engage in telephone calls or video conference calls; shortage of new ideas.
One of the most upsetting aspects of lockdown is an increase in domestic abuse, staying at home isn’t safe for everyone. If you are worried, check-in regularly with the team member so they know they are supported and provide details of appropriate professional help in their area.
Make sure you are available. Keep lines of communication open.
3. Be available for your team
Now more than ever, clear, honest and open communication is absolutely vital.
Send emails or post videos about your reasoning, intentions and expectations.
Encourage collaboration by making it easy for your team to know your thoughts and contribute their own.
Have a daily virtual huddle to keep connected as a team, to check-in on each other’s well-being and keep workflow on track. It needn’t be long, but regularity is key.
Keep the rhythm of regular one-to-ones going as these are the best place to help support your team and identify if they are struggling and need more support.
Role model the approach you want the team to take. As a leader, you control the weather. How you behave will influence how your team operates.
Manage team relationships. Keep them on task.
4. Manage team relationships
Managing relationships between team members can be challenging enough within a shared office space. With the team now working remotely, it creates a whole new dynamic and previous ways of working may no longer be applicable. The team may go through a new 'forming, storming, norming, performing' cycle as they learn how to work together remotely. Now is the time to consider which stage your team is in and develop practical steps to move them towards the performing stage. Productivity is not only good for business, it’s important for morale, we all want to feel like we are achieving something.
Encourage informal meetings, information sharing, and huddles between team members. This is not only a great way to brainstorm ideas but it also prevents feelings of isolation and any negativity from creeping in.
Continue to build a learning team. Get everyone to sign up to a webinar and share their learning or invite someone from another team or a supplier or customer to share their expertise. This pandemic has driven an unprecedented change but in the long-term it can result in stronger relationships - across teams, supply chains and with our customers.
Aim for speed over perfection.
Trust your teams to make decisions and act on them.
5. Find a balance between speed and perfection
Most organisations do not have the systems and analytics necessary to deliver perfect information on how their business operations will be impacted by a global pandemic. There will be many unknowns and plenty of ambiguity. Learning to accept and adapt with imperfect information will be key to your team's success.
Counter balance the ambiguity by using creative thinking tools such as brainstorming, mind mapping or six-thinking-hats to generate possibilities. Then move swiftly into action by executing on your top three ideas.
Devolve decision making by encouraging your team members to take the initiative and trust them to develop creative approaches to problems or opportunities.
Focus on clarifying the objectives that matter and the lines that cannot be crossed to give your teams space to respond to the new normal and to innovate.
Give feedback and reward performance.
6. Give feedback and reward performance
Providing feedback is always important however in the current climate people are likely to be more sensitive if they’re feeling isolated or anxious.
Tailor your feedback, whether its praise or criticism, to take this into account when talking or writing.
Ensure you communicate regularly, not just when things go wrong.
Check your biases: Are you giving fair and honest feedback? Is your feedback too ‘soft’ because you want to be liked, or too ‘hard’ because you haven’t given clear instructions or provided the right resources?
Be specific, it’s rarely helpful to give vague or ambiguous feedback to remote workers, whether it’s positive or negative.
Let your team members know exactly what performance traits you want them to continue. “That report was really well researched and organised. It will help us understand which customers we need to contact immediately".
Ensure you are inviting two-way communication, this will help you understand if your feedback has been understood and accepted. A new perspective may help you to see things in a different light.
Here’s a fun exercise for teams to illustrate what it feels like when you are working blind and not getting any indication of how well you are doing: Pens in a Box.
Focus on goals not activity. Manage expectations.
7. Focus on goals not activity
It’s important to manage expectations and remain focused on goals when managing a remote team. Concentrate on what is being accomplished, rather than how working hours are being used. Trust your employees to work independently and hold themselves accountable for their work. If a situation arises where an employee isn’t performing, then you can consider increasing supervision.
Rather than expect your team to work 8 to 5, understand their constraints and allow them the flexibility of structuring their day as this will enable them to be more productive. One of the advantages of working from home is having the flexibility to work around commitments that are in conflict with an eight-to-five routine, such as childcare and home-schooling. Agree some overlapping time for meetings and accept any video calls may include the occasional child or pet!
Research suggests the stereotype of the laid-back remote worker lounging on the sofa, watching TV, gaming or surfing the internet are not only unfair but inaccurate. In most cases, remote workers are diligently performing and, in some cases, taking fewer breaks and switching off far later from work. So, focus on what your team is accomplishing in their new way of working and not any negative stereotypes.
Take care of yourself. Don't work day and night and keep to core hours.
8. Take care of yourself
You are the vital linchpin holding all this together, so take care of yourself! Your leadership, skills, knowledge and talent are vital to your team now more than ever, so ensure you prioritise your own health and wellbeing.
Be aware of working longer hours, decide on your core hours and stick to them.
Remember to ask for support when you need it. Maintaining the welfare and performance of your team is a huge responsibility so ensure you have a support network.
Look for people to learn from both within your organisation and outside of it. Talk to them, ask for advice, and listen carefully. Consider looking for a mentor or a coach.
Sorry … Blatant sales pitch from Treehouse 😊. We run tailored Executive Coaching courses – get in touch if you are in need of a boost!!
Look to the future
Many organisations have achieved the impossible by remotely enabling a workforce in just days. Managers and employees have stepped up and are performing in challenging times. Take a moment to congratulate yourself on getting this far, on adapting to a truly unique situation so quickly. Consider what has worked well for your team and what could be improved upon. Most importantly, keep in mind that the unique situation caused by the global pandemic will one day end. The result of all your efforts will be stronger more emphatic relationships based on mutual respect and trust.
Further Reading:
If you want tips on how to prioritise your time, set goals and work productively, why not read the Treehouse guide on How to stay focused working from home.
Developing Strong Team Dynamics
Webinar on May 20th 2020 11:00 -12:00 & June 4th 2020 14:00 - 15:00.
Top tips to help you work from home productively
Whether you are a seasoned pro or a newbie to working remotely, these are challenging times. Here are some top tips to help you stay efficient and avoid going stir-crazy.
Top tips to help you work from home productivelY without impacting your personal life
10 Top tips for staying focused working from home
Download our Infographic
The world has suddenly changed overnight and completely without warning.
Many people have unexpectedly found themselves working from home, some for the first time in their professional lives. Whether you are a seasoned pro or a newbie to working remotely, these are challenging times. Here are some top tips to help you stay efficient and avoid going stir-crazy.
1. Develop a healthy work/life balance
One of the challenges with working from home is work and home life merge. Before you know it, you are starting work early, finishing late and not taking many breaks during the day. Not only is this not healthy, it becomes really unproductive.
Use the time you would have spent commuting to fit in some exercise. A morning workout is perfect for getting mind and body energised and ready to be productive.
If during the course of the day you find yourself losing focus, check that you're not pushing yourself too hard.
Don’t overcompensate for not being in the office by working longer and missing breaks, everyone needs a bit of downtime.
Agree an end time for your working day and stick to it.
Make plans for your after-work hours with friends and family, or dedicate time to your hobby or exercise. If you have something planned for the end of your workday, you'll be more likely to log off and stop working.
2. Switch into business mode
The thought of staying in your pyjamas all day might be appealing but it doesn’t mentally prepare you for the day ahead. Also, it’s not a great look on web conferencing calls! Set yourself a start time for the day and aim to be showered and dressed by this time every working day. Not only will this provide a structure to your day but it will help you get into the right frame of mind to crack on with your job.
3. Create a work space
Creating a space where you can set yourself up for the day is absolutely vital to your productivity. Ideally, your workspace would be in a separate area to where you and other members of the household relax, prepare food or sleep. This would limit the number of interruptions and help everyone’s productivity! A room like a spare bedroom or dining room where you can close the door and transition into work mode would be perfect. However, if this isn’t possible, identify an area in your home where you can easily set up and pack away your work items at the start and end of each day.
Comfort is important, so check you can sit comfortably, that your screen/keyboard is at the right height. If working at a laptop, it might be worth investing in a screen, keyboard and mouse if the remote working scenario is to become more permanent. It is also worth considering investing in a high-quality office chair to minimise back and neck strain.
4. Get organised
Start each day as you mean to go on by dedicating the first 15 minutes of your working day to focus on what you need to get done. Review your tasks and set priorities of what needs to be completed by the end of the day. Use whatever system feels right for you; whether that be pen and paper or an app.
Once a task is completed, tick it off your list, the act of doing this will keep you motivated.
At the end of each day, spend a few minutes clearing down your physical and virtual desktop. File away or delete any emails that are resolved, make notes for activities you might be in the middle of, file away documents and clear away empty coffee cups.
With a clear mind and clean work station you can walk away from your desk and switch off for the day.
5. Set goals
Setting yourself targets and goals is always good practice however it’s even more important when working from home.
Having a clear goal will enable you to build a shared understanding with your line manager and team on what the priorities are and where effort should be focused. Additionally, the key to productivity and achieving goals is ensuring you have access to all the applications, tools, systems and documents that will enable you to work effectively and productively from home.
We are in unprecedented times; some companies are better prepared to remotely enable the workforce than others. So one of your goals could be adapting to home working and collaborating with your colleagues to ensure everyone is set up in the best way to work together.
6. Manage your time
Working from home is an adjustment so it’s important to come up with a new schedule of how you will work alone and remotely with others. Identify the hours you are at your most productive, for example early mornings or late afternoon, these are your golden hours. Match your most significant – or most challenging – work to the time of day when you're at your best and avoid interruptions during this time.
Team collaboration is important in many roles however this doesn’t mean you are available to be interrupted at all times. Use whatever tools or applications available to publicise the hours you are busy and when you are free so that team members can be mindful and respectful of your time.
7. Minimise distractions
Pinpoint your major distractions and eliminate them before you settle down to work. If an untidy kitchen is an irritation preventing you from concentrating and prioritising work, then clean the kitchen! This will leave you with a clean mind (and kitchen!) allowing you to settle down and focus on work.
Many home workers find that playing music or an audiobook during the work day helps to increase their focus. For others, only total silence will do. If your home environment has lots of distracting background noise, consider wearing headphones to dampen the sound.
Social media can be a huge distraction, so think carefully about how often you are dipping in to various apps. Consider allocating time slots, for example morning, lunch time and at the end of the day rather than dipping in and out throughout the day. Additionally, decide which notifications to keep on, and which to mute until later.
8. Take charge of communications
It’s easy to feel disenfranchised from the team when working alone from home but there are so many ways to stay in touch. In the early days you will probably need to experiment with communication tools and find appropriate times to "check in" with your peers and team members. Aim to avoid unnecessary distractions, but equally don’t "disappear."
Make time for online team meetings to manage communication, prepare an agenda but also allow space and time for questions. Over time, you'll discover the right levels of interaction and this will build collaboration and trust within the team. It will also combat any micromanagement from managers who previously may have relied solely on presenteeism to manage the team.
9. Stay motivated
Not everyone works in the same way, so take note of what works for you and build on it. Suddenly shifting to working from home is a big change, so make whatever adjustments needed to help you relax into your new working arrangement. Working from home is very different to working in an office, it’s easy to underestimate the importance of daily contact with colleagues that you regularly work with. Use online tools to keep in touch and make time to speak to colleagues over the phone or using WhatsApp, FaceTime or Skype. This not only helps with productivity it also boosts morale.
10. Reward yourself
Find ways to make each task more enjoyable and rewarding in itself. Use mind maps, creative thinking tools such as related world and brainstorming with colleagues to avoid staring at a computer screen for long periods of time. Ask for feedback from colleagues about what's working well, what isn’t working so well and how things can be changed going forwards.
Lastly, give yourself 'treats' when you've completed a task successfully; enjoy a cup of your favourite coffee, dance to a top tune, plant seeds in a window box or have a slice of cake!
Disclaimer: If you do reward yourself with a slice of cake, don’t forget our advice in point 1 about exercise….
Pens in a box Feedback Exercise
Ever felt you aren’t getting any feedback on the work you do? Even the extent where you do know if the work you’ve done is right or wrong?
Pens in a Box
Ever felt you aren’t getting any feedback on the work you do?
Do you know if the work you’ve done is right or wrong?
What happens if the only feedback you give is good feedback? Is it the same?
The pens in a box exercise aims to illustrate what it feels like when you are working blind or not getting any indication of how well you are doing?
Who is this exercise for?
Pens in a box is great for people in management roles e.g. team managers, project managers, scrum masters and other similar positions. The main aim is to convince that in-the-moment feedback is essential on both 1-2-1 or group levels, and best not saved up for review meetings. And also what the implications are when no feedback is given.
The Object
The objective of the exercise is for a thrower to get as many pens in the box as they can. The thrower stands on a spot and throws the pens in the box whilst blindfolded.
Ask for three volunteers to be the throwers.
They leave the room while you brief the rest that no-one may say anything to the blindfolded person. The first blindfolded person then comes back in and stands on the spot and tries to throw the pens in the box.
Now brief the rest that they are only allowed to give positive encouragement. The second blindfolded person comes back in and stands on the spot and tries to throw the pens in the box.
Now brief the rest that they are allowed to answer any of the blindfolded person’s questions fully. The third blindfolded person comes back in and stands on the spot and tries to throw the pens in the box.
What did you observe? Did they get any pens in the box?
How did each of the blindfolded people feel?
How does everyone else feel when they see no feedback is given?
What parallels can you draw with how you give feedback?
The Implications
What are the implications of not giving feedback, here’s an extensive list. Individuals can feel:
no one is caring about the work they are doing nor the quality
de-motivated
isolated
not valued
there is no means of asking for help
left in the lurch
they are being dumped on
vulnerable, is their position at risk?
frustrated
they are flying blind
stressed, particularly if they don’t know how to do the work given
upset and angry, when the manager does the work for them
and more!
Feedback is gift, if you truly value your people then they deserve it.
Helen Westendorp, Treehouse
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Related worlds
Have you ever struggled to find a solution to a problem? You’ve gone round and round the houses, but end up back at the same place. Well now consider this, who or what else has already solved the issue?
Finding Solutions to Problems
Have you ever struggled to find a solution to a problem? You’ve gone round and round the houses, but end up back at the same place. Well now consider this, who or what else has already solved the issue?
A great example of this type of thinking is the connection between fighter jet pilots and giraffes.
Fighter jet pilots can pull up to 9G vertically, which as thrilling as it may be, makes them vulnerable as the force pushes all the blood from their brain to their feet causing them to pass out - ultimately effecting their chances of survival in a dog fight. So, how can we stop blood pooling at the feet? This is where we look to giraffes!
Have you ever wondered how a giraffe stops itself from passing out?
Giraffe’s are about 5 metres tall and the pressure differences between the top of the giraffe’s head and the bottom of it’s feet can reach over 1,000 pounds a square foot - so how an earth do they avoid passing out? Well, the secret is the extremely tight skin on their legs - this forces the blood to stay up towards the heart and the brain, avoiding any pooling at their feet!
So why might this information be useful to a fighter pilot?!
Using the physiology of a giraffe, a G-combatting suit was created, worn by both combat pilots and also astronauts. When you pull a G-force manoeuvre the suit pressurises, squeezing your legs, pushing the blood back up to the brain so that the heart can’t pump it downwards, and that’s how we retain the blood in our brain and remain conscious.
This is a great example of our related world tool – where you ask a clear question and then look for who or what else has solved that issue or similar, in this case the giraffe.
It’s amazing to think that giraffes have helped fighter pilots - who would ever have imagined?!
Giving your brain time to think
Have you ever found it hard to focus? Or struggled to find the space to give your brain time to think? If so, have you ever thought about sitting with a cardboard box on your head?! Believe it or not, one of my clients swears by this technique…
Finding the time to focus
Being in an open plan office is distracting - I’ve seen the brain scans to prove it! Your brain simply doesn’t work as well as it could.
Have you ever found it hard to focus? Or struggled to find the space to give your brain time to think? If so, have you ever thought about sitting with a cardboard box on your head?! Believe it or not, one of my clients swears by this technique! Whenever he needs time to think, he pops a box on his head to help channel his thoughts.
Now I’ll admit, this is a somewhat unorthodox way of helping you re-gain focus but by giving your brain time to think you can release the power of your unconscious mind, making spontaneous connections and thus increasing your productivity.
Create yourself some space
Taking space is something we do automatically in our downtime and sleep, but frequently in the world of work and in our busy lives, we don’t have enough space, so the power of our unconscious is underused. We often feel it is irresponsible or lazy to give ourselves space, but that space is in fact, exceptionally productive.
Space gives your unconscious brain time to think. Instead of constantly pulling information into your conscious brain, you take some space to ensure your brain can properly process and distil matters, enabling you to make new connections between seemingly unrelated thoughts — and allowing a bubble of insight to surface. Without space we’re simply not as smart!
Take some downtime
Taking some time out or downtime is an incredibly powerful aspect of the creative process. That space harnesses your brain’s power to come up with that lightning bolt of inspiration!
Whilst putting a cardboard box on your head may not be your thing, try building space into your daily routine. Get into healthy habits that work well for you whatever you’re doing and wherever you are. As a simple example, you might spend 20 minutes going for a walk after every 90 minutes of concentrated deskwork: this is taking space. Acquire good sleeping habits and good posture. Eat healthily and do regular exercise. Learn stress control and mindfulness practices. Enjoy life and be playful. Hug your partner. Appreciate humour, wit and laughter. Keep your brain active by doing puzzles and stretching your memory. Keep learning. And even on the busiest days you can always go and make a cup of tea!
Brick walls
You know you’ve hit a brick wall when you’ve reached a point at work where you’ve got a problem that you can’t see your way around. You’ve tried over and over again, but no luck. You find yourself hitting your head against a brick wall. We’ve all been in that situation…
Those problems you can’t get around
You know you’ve hit a brick wall when you’ve reached a point at work where you’ve got a problem that you can’t see your way around. You’ve tried over and over again, but no luck. You find yourself hitting your head against a brick wall. We’ve all been in that situation.
The key is to remember “if you stop hitting your head against the brick wall, the pain goes away”.
How to tackle brick walls
Here’s a tip to how I tackle this situation:
The first step is recognising you are doing it? Recognise that’s where the pain is.
Stop and take a break. Have a cup of tea or a chat with a colleague. Maybe go for a walk.
Think about what the problem is and not how to solve it. What’s the real problem? Articulate it so that it is clear in your head, what the problem is that you are trying to solve.
Is it the problem, or is it the symptom? Is there a deeper problem underlying the one you have recognised? If you fix that would it make a big difference to the situation?
Think about what’s causing the problem to continue being a problem? Define the root of the problem.
Try tackling one of the symptoms of the problem to try and and help. You may find yourself in a different place.
Step back and Re-Energise
By redefining the problem you may find another way around it. Once you have taken a step back, relaxed and re-energised you will think more objectively about the problem and be able to come up with new ideas and solutions.
So in summary: Stop, take some time out and get some new stimulus into your brain. You won’t solve the problem by banging your head against a brick wall.
Health & Well Being
We often find that those working in high pressured jobs tend to work all hours under the sun, constantly firefighting the challenges they are faced with and never feeling like they have the time to really slow down or stop. Sound familiar?
Pressured environments
We often find that those working in high pressured jobs tend to work all hours under the sun, constantly firefighting the challenges they are faced with and never feeling like they have the time to really slow down or stop. Sound familiar?
At times like these, although it may feel like you are doing the best you can, the likelihood is you’re burning out, not thinking straight and therefore you can’t apply your skills and knowledge efficiently or effectively.
Give yourself space, take a break
Despite there never seeming to be enough hours in a day, it’s important to take a break – grab some food, go for a walk, chat with a friend - try stopping, even if just for 5 minutes and take a step back. You’ll be surprised by the results!
Overworking makes for an unsustainable work/life balance, where both sides of the balance are affected, and not in a good way. To be truly productive it’s important to make sure you take time out!
The Insight Gift
How much do you really know about your customer? If you had to buy them the perfect gift, would you know what to get?
Get to know your customer
How much do you really know about your customer? If you had to buy them the perfect gift, would you know what to get?
Imagine you’re buying a present for someone you don’t know very well…you might choose some wine or a nice box of chocolates, as you know you can’t really go wrong with these! But, had you have known them better, you could have bought them something a little more personal – maybe some new trainers to help with their upcoming marathon or a new paintbrush that really helps with their usual style of painting. It’s far more meaningful and shows you’ve really thought about them!
So, why not take five minutes out to get to know your customer? Ask them a few open questions like, ‘What do you get up to in your spare time?’ or ‘If you could wave a magic wand, what would you do?’.
Understanding what makes your customer tick
Gaining insight allows you the opportunity to offer the perfect gift. For example, if someone hardly sees their partner because of their job and commitments to their kids, the offer of a trusted babysitter and a weekend away would fill them with joy! By posing this more insightful, thoughtful present, they feel a sense of being treasured and understood. You’ve spent time thinking about them and helped solve a problem.
Offer your customers something meaningful
It’s important to know what makes your customers tick, so that what you can offer them is meaningful and they’ll take you up on it without even thinking.
Think about your business or product as a gift – what do your customers really want? Not something typical that you’d offer to others, but something they’d find really compelling.
They’ll bite your hand off for it, they’ll remember you and they’ll come back for more. That’s the gift of insight.