Very thankful

“Thanksgiving after all, is a word of action.” -W.J. Cameron

There’s no better time to reflect on all that work-at-home has provided me and give thanks for the life it allows me to lead. Too often, we don’t step back and realize what a gift we’ve been given, and working from home is truly that. So looking back at some moments from this year…

I am thankful that I was home with Gidget in her final months. In between meetings, I was able to take her outside and clean up any accidents. And while on meetings, I was able to hold her in my arms and help her feel secure and loved. My husband and I are both convinced that she would have left us much earlier if she had not had mommy at home to help. It was no disruption to my work day, but made a huge impact on her quality of life.

I am thankful that I was home when my husband had his shoulder surgery. Again during breaks, I was able to get him his meds, change his ice, help him get around, and so on during those first weeks of recovery. Had I not been working from home, I likely would have had to take time off to be at home. This way, I was able to do all of my work and take care of him when he needed help.

I am thankful that the late nights, early mornings, working lunches, and weekends were conveniently in my home. I don’t enjoy when those happen, but it it’s part of the job sometimes. Instead of spending time commuting for extra work, I was able to just work. Instead of worrying about safety in a dark building in a dark parking lot all alone, I was home and secure. Instead of feeling isolated from my family and neglectful, I was still able to pet Lucy and talk with my husband. That takes a little of the sting out!

I am thankful that I can wear comfy clothes each day. It saves a ton on wardrobe money! But it also allows me to take Lucy for a walk during lunch or get work done around the house with ease. In doing so, emptying the dishwasher and doing laundry during my lunchbreak saved me time in the evening to spend with my family and friends.

I am thankful that I was at home while we had our deck project taking place. I was able to check in on the progress of the build and correct any issues in a timely manner, and see things in their “in between” state, catching issues that may have been covered up. This wasn’t a picnic, and drove me a little crazy, but I’m glad I was able to ensure things were done properly.

I am thankful that my lunchbreaks are “my” time. In addition to chores and taking walks, I am able to just chill in front of the TV if I need a break. During the summer, I was able to go tend to my yard and enjoy that new deck. And I was able to visit with my niece and nephew, whom I absolutely adore! They brighten any day!

I am thankful that on those rainy and snowy days, I don’t have to drive. I’m not fond of driving on slippery surfaces (dating back to a horrible wreck in college), and not having to deal with that keeps so much stress away. Not to mention, I get more time being productive at work rather than doubling my time in traffic. And, believe it or not, I’m thankful even for the “snow days”, where I still have to work when others don’t. I’ll gladly work on those quiet days and keep the wheels on the bus in trade for everything I get back.

I am thankful that when my grandmother fell at my parent’s house, I was able to get right over there. No driving, no fuss. I was out the door and able to help in 5 minutes. I’m sure my mom is thankful for that as well!

I am thankful for the opportunity to explore this new work-at-home passion. Because of this arrangement, I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to write, present, and coach on this subject and open up a career path and affinity for helping others that I wouldn’t have seen otherwise. I’ve met many new people, and hopefully had a positive influence on most. Most of these folks I’ve never even met!

I am thankful for the extra time I have in the morning before work, because I am not driving, to spend working on my volunteer activities. I’ve donated over 300 hours of my time this year to charity, compared to last year’s 30 hours. Each extra minute I have not in traffic, not walking to a building, not putting on makeup can become a minute used to help others.

I am thankful for a year in my new role and the ability to continue to be a valued contributor. Distance has not kept me from making an impact. In many cases, I believe the quiet time, comfortable space, and ability to concentrate has made that impact far greater than if I had been in the office.

I am so very, very thankful that I get to work from home each day.

Collaboration is Intentional

Recently, a large Fortune Top 50 company pulled back its Work At Home program, citing collaboration as the reason. They stated that productivity by this segment was proven and wasn’t the concern. It was very specifically the collaboration. Naturally, that brought forth concern to many in similar organizations about the future of at-home programs where they work.

Think back to a time when you worked in a building with other people. Did you know all of them? Did you talk to all of them? Even if so, was the conversation really “collaboration”?

Let’s remind ourselves first on what collaboration really means. Collaboration is a verb, and is defined as working with another person or group in order to achieve or do something. The origin of the word, when broken down to its Latin roots means “to labor together”.

So, back to the earlier question – The conversations you had in the break room were likely not collaboration. They were conversations. They helped fulfill your sense of belonging and engagement, which are important, but there is no product as a result of that interaction. You didn’t walk away with a new gizmo or idea. You had the together part taken care of, but not the labor.

Now that we understand that casual chitchat is different, let’s focus on what actually would be considered collaboration. Clearly, you are employed because you bring something of value to the table. Same goes for those around you. And in theory, your collective minds will smoosh your ideas together and come up with new things and innovative solutions. So, you can read between the lines with this move that the company in question feels like they are not seeing as many ground-breaking steps forward as they would like.

But is that because people work at home? Collaboration doesn’t just happen. And it isn’t a product of proximity. Even in the office, you had to be intentional. You locked yourself away in a conference room drawing on the board and bouncing ideas around. You set up meetings and scheduled time to pull your colleagues together to explore a topic. Your partnership was planned and purposeful.

This doesn’t change because you work at home. You have all of the tools that you need. You have calendars to schedule meetings. You have IM to ping spontaneous ideas around. You have phones to talk to one another. You have webcams and video chat to see each other. You have annotation tools and whiteboards to scribble mutual ideas.

The ONLY plausible reason for collaboration failing when you work at home is – YOU. You stopped trying. You don’t put in the effort. You use your situation as an excuse. You became lazy.

If collaboration always takes effort, and the tools are ubiquitous, then that’s the only logical conclusion. Therefore, if you are worried about losing your at-home situation, you better take stock in what you are doing each day to collaborate. Are you really collaborating, or just communicating?