0920_September Comstock's Magazine September 2020 | Page 50

WORKPLACE
ideo meetings. Laptops
on the sofa. Awkward,
stale jokes about “working
in my pajamas.” Many of
us have been there for some
time, and some of us will stay
there — working from home, pajamas
and all — for months or even years.
A study from Global Workplace
Analytics estimates companies will
save, on average, $11,000 per year for
every employee who shifts to part-time
telecommuting. The report says the
primary savings come from increased
productivity, lower real estate costs,
reduced absenteeism and turnover, and
better disaster preparedness.
This coronavirus pandemic could
mark the biggest shift to the workplace
since the adoption of computers,
ushering in changes that could ripple
across the physical design of offices,
employee productivity and organizational
effectiveness.
Are we more productive when
working from home because we ditch
our commutes and spend less time
in meetings? Or do we get less done,
because it’s easier to loaf? “It depends,”
says Lisa Montanaro, a Sacramento
productivity consultant. Some of her
clients say they’re more productive
from home, others say the opposite.
“It so depends on the person,” agrees
Cami McLaren, a performance coach
in Sacramento who works with attorneys
and other professionals. “Some
people are much more disciplined than
others, and working from home is not
going to work for a lot of people.”
If one of the factors of remote working
success is self-discipline, another
is the employee’s social inclinations.
“If they’re introverted, they could be
doing really well at home, as they’re
not forced to be in big group meetings,”
says Montanaro. “And maybe the
extrovert is missing the social activity
of being around people.” (Perhaps the
biggest factor of remote-work productivity
is out of many employees’ hands:
child care duties, which are most often
borne by women. But to explore a postpandemic
workplace, we’ll assume this
HOW TO IMPROVE
Videoconferencing
Steve Cozart, the cofounder of Brain
Squared Solutions (a California-based
leadership coaching consultancy) and
an executive coach for the UC Davis
Center of Human Services, shares
strategies for better videoconferencing.
1. Keep them short, keep them
frequent. “The brain can only handle
what the butt can absorb,” says
Cozart, as we get restless and fatigued
when meetings drag. “You want quicker,
more focused meetings,” with 30
minutes as an ideal target.
2. Leverage videoconferencing’s
native advantages. The downsides of
videoconferencing are obvious (lack of
in-person connection), but the format
does offer some bells and whistles. Use
them. Cozart says to use screen sharing
to always keep the agenda on display,
which is more effective than simply
sending in advance, as (let’s be honest)
they’re often ignored. And while there’s
no need to necessarily create an oldschool
PowerPoint presentation, Cozart
suggests liberally using the screenshare
feature to show photos, videos or
even memes to bring personality to the
meeting. “People are not in that room
with you, and you have to hold their
attention,” he says. “Use your media.
Use your videos.”
3. Divide and conquer. Instead of one
chaotic video meeting with 50 people,
split them into smaller teams to make
them more manageable.
4. Ask questions for accountability.
It’s easy to zone out. Cozart recommends
that at the end of the call,
managers go around the virtual room
and ask people, “What’s your deliverable?”
Better yet, “Mary, what’s
Joe’s deliverable?” (With the wrong
delivery, this can come off as grating
or even paternalistic, so do this with
humor and a light touch.)
5. Escape the platform. Cozart suggests
interrupting the ho-hum meeting
with online icebreakers, specifically at
the site Kahoot.com, which offers quick
virtual games you can play in small
teams. “People just love that stuff,” he
says. “They’re starved for something
different outside the platform.”
– Jeff Wilser
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50 comstocksmag.com | September 2020