Possibly the single greatest challenge associated with being a virtual team member and working
remotely is time management. To start, it’s vital to balance your work and non-work hours.
Without clear boundaries, everything can suffer, both your productivity on the job and your
personal life.
Protect your work time, but always with an eye towards ensuring that work doesn't keep
you for meeting your personal needs. It can be easy to allow work to intrude on sleep,
relaxation, and family, or personal time. Set limits and adhere to them. If need be,
work with your team leader to establish or temper priorities and expectations. Deadlines
must be met of course, but so too must personal needs and obligations.
To help do so, establish your peak performance times. It's unrealistic to think you can work
at the same pace consistently. Most people have periods of high and low activity during
the day. Your peak performance time may depend on you and the typical variations in your
energy level. Or it may depend on external factors such as family, colleagues work hours,
or meetings. It's useful to map out interruptions you experience frequently, such as specific
demands of home life or times when you regularly receive an influx of email. This can help
you establish the times when you're most able to focus and work productively, minimizing
distractions.
Further, it's important to plan regular breaks. People working from home tend to overlook
or ignore the importance of breaks, but that's an unhealthy and ultimately counterproductive
approach. Taking short intervals to step away for a few moments during the work day helps
you recharge. Studies suggest it helps govern the release of dopamine, which plays a role
in energy and motivation.
As a general rule, it's recommended to take ten to 20-minute breaks every two hours or
so. Don't wait until you feel stressed or fatigued. Instead, plan your breaks and take
them on schedule. Take a short walk, read a book. Watch a video or read a news article
online, something to break the tension and briefly shift your focus away from what you
have been working on. That being said, you must also learn to be adaptable when work
schedules change or the project requires it.
Conference calls that require the attendance of team mates from Mumbai and Memphis are
going to necessitate flexibility on the part of both. It's a given for most virtual teams.
You should expect your schedule to be interrupted by unexpected events and demands on your time.
From the sudden need for a status call, to new work assignments with tight deadlines,
to changing priorities.
If possible, add buffer time into your schedule to allow for unplanned activities. Buffer
time simply allows for a little extra time between tasks. Time management research suggests
that those who rush from one task to the next often feel their work suffers from not taking
the time to mentally transition from one to the next. This buffering also allows you to
accommodate emergencies and unexpected work related disruptions.
It builds time into your day for making adjustments as needed. Not only to keep pace with your
work flow, but also while handling issues that naturally arise over the course of a
business day. And ultimately, the point is to manage your time in such a way as to have
a productive business day while avoiding fatigue and burn out.
Working remotely as part of a virtual team is challenging. It's up to you as a remote
employee to rise to the challenges and manage your time to make your work situation productive
and fulfilling for your company and yourself.