If you are like me, one simple way to separate work and home is to get dressed, walk out the front door and work from somewhere else – in an office, a coffee shop, library, a park - anywhere really, as long as it isn’t at home. This is my way of setting boundaries. 

Studies by Ashforth, et al (2000) and the University of Zurich (Wepfer et al, 2018) have illustrated the importance of boundary management and wellbeing recovery strategies to achieve better general wellbeing and productivity in life. 

These studies show the importance of setting both:

• physical and
• psychological boundaries

for effectively achieving a level of work and life wellbeing. 

Physical space

1. Separate work-space 
2. Number of people in home (less = easier to set boundaries)       

Psychological space

1. Say no    

Time space

1. Scheduled work hours – willpower/discipline to stick with them
2. Set guidelines e.g. no work on Saturday (no matter what). Lunch times, break times (With activities other than work)                                                  
3. Diarise pleasure activities – gaming, walking, reading, brain puzzles, cooking, eating, learning, shopping, swimming, golf, exercise.

All these suggestions are great practical tips…..and they all mirror the neuro science evidence based knowledge relating to boundary management & maximising the brains level of attention…which is

1. Physical space – Separate areas for work in the home environment.
2. Mind space  – your ability to concentrate, self-regulate, control impulses and be mindful.
3. Time space – time limits and time structure between  work, family, and personal wellbeing.

We have 5 more tips that will help you focus, concentrate effectively and maintain high levels of attention.

The Neuro science based knowledge 

5 tips for maintaining high levels of attention: 

1. Work on one task at a time

Establish work routines where you only focus attention on one task, goal at a time. We can all multi-task a little, however, it means we may recall less and burn up energy faster. 

Reduce distractions - close all ‘pop-ups’ and ‘alerts on your computer or smart phone unless they are to alert you to stop and change activity. 

1. Take micro-breaks

1. Aim to finish meetings early. 

If you have one-hour meetings in your schedule – aim to finish the meeting in 45 minutes. Each time you do this, take a 15-minute micro-break. 

1. Take time to reflect

Our brain needs time to process the events of the day. Create a time in the middle or end of your workday to reflect, make notes, record actions, check and reset your schedule and check your emotions and energy levels. 

1. Set goals

Have daily goals to complete. Have a goal for each meeting you attend. Set both wellbeing goals and work goals each day for yourself. 

This episode provides tips for presenting virtually. It is presented in three segments:

• Organising your virtual presentation
• Conducting your best virtual presentation
• Engaging the audience throughout the virtual presentation

Unlike face to face presentations where you have direct feedback from audience reaction, a large visual area to move in and inclusion in the energy within the room, virtual presentations require heightened use of tone & sound, minimal visual body cues and increased use of targeted images...and a dose of technology knowhow.

Organising:

Choose roles - Roles – speaker, producer, moderator, timekeeper.

Speaker sequence

Create opening/closing statements

Anticipate FAQ’s (prepare your responses)

Rehearse online (check tone/slide sequence/image quality/sound/pace)

Rehearse online (check tone/slide sequence/image quality/sound/pace)

Conducting:

Secure internet connection (prepare for worst and copy slides to one other computer (producer)

Positioning & background

Lighting

Know technology – spotlighting, share screen, troubleshoot with audience, breakout, chat, reactions

Look into computer camera

Be yourself -relaxed (turn your view of yourself off to stop looking at yourself and playing with your glasses/hair/clothing).

Engaging the audience

Every 8-10 mins is the rule of thumb

Engage at the very beginning – find out something about the audience by asking :what they know about the topic, how they feel about the topic or how high their energy levels are (Slido poll, ask for comments,)

Use your voice (not body) to project energy

Use images (sight major sense)

• Use some of the 161 interactive tools available (Break out rooms, chat, annotate, polls/Slido QR codes, short videos (Less than 2.5 mins)
• Use presentation producer for – chat, break out rooms, time. Presentation speaker/s for – slides and presenting. Presentation moderator for Q&A - directs questions to specific team member/s, time-keeper.

Leading in a hybrid work environment

Over the course of the past 18 months organisational leaders have been implementing changes to the way we work.

Firstly, they adapted to the working from home situation by providing employees with access to equipment, data, files, security, images, information, and documents. They also created systems guidelines and protocols for communications and IT security.

Secondly, leaders were active in providing well-being activities to maintain employee mental health. They offered virtual team events, apps and online training webinars and sessions.

Currently, in our business of developing future leaders and coaching executives, we are noticing a rise in requests for how to sustain team engagement, development, and productivity in the hybrid work environment.

Australian research has shown 78% of workers say they are more productive or just as productive when they work from home. 

Recruitment agencies have reported that organisations that advertise flexible workdays are attracting the most talent in today’s recruitment market.

A Price Waterhouse Coopers employee engagement survey determined most workers did not want to return to the office 5 days a week – employees are seeking a 3:2 or 4:1 model, this is what we call the hybrid work environment.

What does this hybrid workplace model mean for the leadership role?

A leader’s role is still to create shared meaning around organisational purpose and to be able to express it clearly and concisely. Without meaning (purpose) employees will flounder – not flourish.

They still need to create and maintain psychological safety for the team and part of that is implementing routine and consistency.

There are currently 161 collaboration software tools on the market. Find ones that work for your organisation and embrace them.

Here are some points of focus a leader of a hybrid work environment will need to consider.

• Increasing virtual touch points that create and reinforce meaning and employee engagement.
• Revise work into projects with SMART goals. Use measures that include quality, team involvement, deadlines, and development opportunities.
• Increase engagement for motivation and wellbeing.
• Increase relationship communications.
• Do more personal scheduling (planning).

Examples of what successful leaders are doing.

Create rules of engagement with the team – e.g., communications to be fair, honest, open, virtual meetings attendees must turn video function to ON, etc

Hold 8-minute meetings – this leader and their team hold an 8 o’clock meeting (for 8 minutes every workday morning. The meeting is where tasks are delegated, questions are answered, and progress status is reported.

45 minute weekly virtual meeting – all team members attend (video must be ON), 30 seconds allocated to all for the giving of ‘High 5’ to another team member. (Someone is given time keeping duties to keep this on track. The whole meeting s dedicated to team member wellbeing – no WIP talks.

On a scale of 1-10 rate – how you are feeling today (this week) or status of project (1 is going no where and 10 is completed), access to resources, timeliness of communication responses, how you feel about being a member of this team, how your communications with your buddy are going etc.

Meetings are designated for specific purposes e.g., virtual meetings cover routine catch ups and f2f is for creative work.

A leader freed up their time on Zoom by allocating buddies within the team so they could check in n each other daily.

One leader opens zoom for 2 hours in the middle of the day for any of their team to ‘drop in’ (it’s the virtual equivalent of the open-door policy in the office.

One organisation gave leaders access to an app for recording coaching and development meetings.

What skills do I need as a leader in a hybrid workplace?

Mostly communication skills are required (your technical skills specific to your job are of course still relevant).

• Relationship building & maintenance
• Coaching
• Facilitating
• Setting goals
• Influencing
• Digital
• Planning/scheduling

The first 3 are particularly relevant at present. If you have the skills to build and maintain relationships (think rapport, trust, feedback, empathy) coach others and facilitate an engaging meeting you have the means to express purpose and meaning, engage individuals and groups around a common goal, monitor and measure progress and quality and sustain a productive team environment.