The New Normal?
Monday marks the start of new work week. A chance to define those to do’s and to tackle that project. An entire week is ahead, it’s open for possibilities. Today we in the western world are waking up to a new normal. This Monday is defined by the past week of uncertainty, of what it means to be in the thick of a pandemic. Today a lot of people will wake up, make coffee and go to work — at home.
We are told that in varying degrees we need to be prepared for a new normal. Nothing that we do as we go about our day will be untouched. Working, going to school, shopping, socializing, visiting loved ones, traveling — all our daily activities and interactions are now different. All have a new element of personal and public safety in mind. But before this feels ‘normal’ it's going to feel off.
Remember your first day of school, of post secondary, of work, of marriage of any routine changing event? Were you completely settled from the moment it began? I seriously doubt it. Sure, sometimes there is an excitement of how new this is and how it challenges you. But the honeymoon phase (or the panic phase) doesn’t last forever. There are ups and downs as you adjust. The difference between these events and now? The fact that SO much is changing at once.
Just work from home. All classes are now online. Stop greeting each other with handshakes and hugs. No matter if it's a small habit or an all day activity, it takes time to adjust. While there are certain habits that require immediate change to ensure that we flatten the curve and keep everyone safe — other habits should be given some time and space. If the only ‘work from home’ or ‘distance learning’ you have done has been sporadic and done as an add-on to your day, doing it as a regular routine is going to take time. Give yourself some time to figure out how this is going to work.
Begin by establishing a space within your home that is a place of work. Creating this physical boundary will help your subconscious realize that this is ‘work’ time. It also helps others who are going to be home with you see that you are working. Define your tasks. Bring some of the normal from before into your new routine. Pick small workflows to accomplish in a similar manner. The home workflow is going to be different but the idea is to help normalize by being able to do things you do at work. Review your email, make some calls or work on a project document. Next you need to work on connecting with others at work.
If you are used to getting up and meeting at the coffee machine or chatting with people in the hallway, you need to find a new way to do that. Don’t try to replace this with texting or instant messaging. Pick up the phone or even better try video calls. The change here is that you don’t want to encourage everyone to spontaneously barge in on you. In the workplace there were cues that you were busy (sometimes people ignored those too) but now when we are in seperate locations people don’t have much of a clue. Tell them — or together plan to meet at certain times. If you lead a team, make this an agenda item.
Oh, and then there is the issue of tech. The tech you have at home may not be the same as the tech you have at work. While a lot of workflow is in the cloud — some of it is still ‘on premise’ and may not be able to be done without some other sort of remote access technology. Go easy on your IT team — they are no doubt scrambling to bring applications and scaling the network. However, don’t try to ‘go it alone’ without involving your IT folks. The temptation might be to sign up for all sorts of ‘free’ conferencing offers and try out new ways of doing projects. You could be opening yourself up to all sorts of new security challenges and end up scattering your work all over the place. This might be a time to try out new online tools — but this isn’t an urgent switch. Part of what you and your team might do this week is ‘meet’ (online) to build some of these new work habits. Reach out to those of us who’s normal it is to work remotely or from home. We are willing to help!
The new normal will take time to become … normal. Many have speculated that with so many shifts happening at once we will come out on the other side of this with a changed society. Old habits die hard. But change can be good. Together we will get through this — we might even discover that we can be more compassionate and connected even though we are maintaining some distance.
