Remote Working Rules: 3 Etiquette Tips for Keeping Connected
There have been many times in my working life where I’ve felt pretty isolated. Moving to Regina for my first field role (…new city…one friend…only a sad little guppy as a pet…), being part of a team who were all in the office while I was home-based, and starting a solopreneur speaking business while on maternity leave. With the state of the world today, I can’t imagine the isolation, the loneliness that many sales reps must be feeling. Especially if you’re experiencing the stark contrast of going from working in an open-office team-based environment to being on your own virtual island of one. Making the jump to remote working can be tricky to navigate. Is there such a thing as too much Slack chatter? Should I check in with my boss every week, every day or every hour? We want to stay connected but we also want to take advantage of the productivity benefits working from home can have (provided your kids aren’t constantly driving you nuts…). Here are a couple of etiquette guidelines for working remotely that has helped me balance the two…
1) Spill the Tea…Positively
I’m usually not one to advocate gossip…but let’s be honest, who doesn’t love being in ‘the know’? Gossiping with colleagues allows us to bond socially, feel connected and helps us figure out what’s socially normal (R. Ali, M. Alshehre, 2017). I was surprised to learn that only ~15% of gossip is negative and most of it is actually neutral (only 9% is positive…let’s get that number up!) (M. Robbins, A. Karan, 2020). Reach out to a colleague; share that juicy tidbit guilt-free! Just try to stay out of the shit spiral…if you find yourself or a peer continuously spreading negative information or talking about how terrible everything is, you’re negating the positive effects of gossip.
2) Tune your Work Friend Frequency
Be honest, how often did you find yourself in someone’s office and get that nagging feeling that they maaaaaybe want you to leave? Or maybe you’re the one sitting at your desk subtly putting your top-of-the-line noise-canceling headphones on, hoping Sandy will take the hint? In a world that is now virtual, it’s going to be tougher to read and send those social cues. The key is finding a colleague who wants to ‘check-in’ with the same frequency you do. Have the conversation up-front and ask your work buddies how often they’d like to chat. Also, it doesn’t always have to be video chat (particularly if you’re sick of putting on the teleworker tuxedo…blazer on top, sweats on the bottom), a text or IM can work just as well.
3) Invite Yourself In and Opt-Out
One challenge with remote teams is making sure everyone who needs to be included in decision-making is included on calls. For some reason, it’s easier to leave someone out of the metaphorical meeting room when that room only exists in cyberspace. If you get wind of an important meeting happening that you should be on, don’t stew, invite yourself! Alternatively, if you’re starting to feel like sitting on video chat for 15 hours a day is straining your threshold for productivity (not to mention your eyes…) then empower yourself to opt-out of meetings. If you’re only invited as an FYI, then ask the meeting organizer to send out the key decisions made afterward.
We all trying to stay in balance, but unexpected or changed circumstances can easily throw us out of whack. Most importantly, when or if you’re feeling alone or overstimulated don’t be afraid to ask for what you need.
