The Virus Impact: 10 tips to cope from home

Shyam Malhotra is a New Delhi based Executive and Business Coach. Here he shares his insights on how to deal with the new lockdown reality that has gripped the globe after the Covid-19 pandemic.

The flavour of coaching—like everything else in the world—has shifted to the The Virus Impact. Many of my clients are working from home for the last few weeks. Some have taken to it rather easily. Others have had challenges. And our discussions have —as they should—revolved around these developments.

There is also a good chance that this may continue for some time. So here are some learnings/ conclusions/insights from these discussions. These have been shared by my clients. I have just put them together here.

One: Working from home is not the same as working anytime from home. A routine is useful—some even insist it is essential. You must have a set number of hours and set times. And some of those must be normal official working hours—nine to five as they say. Bottom line—make a routine—and make all efforts to stick to it.

Two: If you are not living alone, others at home must be informed that these are work hours. Even after that do be prepared for the occasional curious visit from the children as you are making a serious point on a video call. Or the dog barking somewhere. Or the spouse making a request for answering the door for the next hour or so. Or some other similar event which is unexpected. There is no reason that this should disturb more than the intrusive phone call, the urgent meeting called by super boss, the unexpected crib session about the new project—and other such events at office. But somehow it does disturb more. The mind needs some retraining—quickly.

Three: Most suggest a small desk to work from. The dining table just does not work. Of course, there may be space or other logistical issues in exercising this option. But if it is available—take it. One client gave away the study to the children. He had mixed feelings about this subsequently.

Four: A couple of them found the ritual of dressing for work rather useful. Somehow their mind worked better when they were not in pyjamas or in shorts. So do experiment to find your own comfort fit.

Five: One client mentioned that the environment is just not right for work. Yes—offices have an air of work around them. Homes do not. Maybe you can create a bit of office at home. Maybe you cannot. But the mind certainly needs to be manipulated to accept the new environment and keep going. It is a bit like working at the airport—except that the hours are much longer.

Six: Normal IT support is not available. If the Internet is slow or Windows starts updating or Microsoft Teams plays truant, you are very much on your own. At least one client presentation had to be conducted on WhatsApp with a Reliance Jio connection from the balcony where the signal was a little stronger. If you can, do try and increase your familiarity with your devices.

Seven: Other support systems like tea, cafeteria etc are also missing. The do it on your own habit has to kick in—quickly.

Eight: Remember that a home has its own rules and routines. The cleaning will happen at 11 am—in case the help is still available. The vegetable vendor will come at 3 pm. The water will run out in the afternoon. So, your routine must be a sub routine to this routine. It does not work any other way. Stop trying.

Nine: One of the people I spoke to stays alone—and now must cook, clean and cry on her own. She shared that she had managed the logistics, but the sheer loneliness was killing. No amount of video calls with friends and family helped. She said she had never missed her house help more. And then ruefully added that most of her colleagues (she works in the India office of a European company) had no such option in any case. So, she was being rather ungrateful in whining about this. She has promised herself that she will not whine till May 3rd, 2020—when the lockdown is supposed to be lifted.

Ten: Another senior manager is a workaholic in good times. Now he said he is working harder! His team—which is also working from home in different parts of the world—has simply nothing else to do. No parties, no dates, no gym, no eating out—so all they do is work. He is having a problem keeping pace with them. So working from home was becoming a bit of a nightmare. He promised to bit build in a bit of off time. A break which was not watching the latest virus updates on television. Or making sense of senseless and raucous debates on Breaking News TV channels.

The answer to all the above which emerged in the coaching conversations was rather simple.

Be adaptable. Accept the reality. Move on.

But simple answers are often not easy to implement.

Must stop now. Got a dishwasher to load!

Shyam Malhotra can be reached at shyam@pobox.com