Musings of a Telework Manager

Denise Starling, executive director of Livable Buckhead, a self-identified extroverted introvert, has been working on Buckhead’s transportation and air quality issues since she led the formation of the Buckhead Area Transportation Management Association in 1999. In 2011, she spearheaded the formation of Livable Buckhead with the expanded mission community sustainability. 

The story begins a mere two decades ago. Livable Buckhead, then Buckhead Area Transportation Management Association (BATMA), a one-person nonprofit was launched to combat congestion by working with employers to get people out of their cars (which includes promoting telework in case I need to point that out). So, we have it all figured out by now, right?  Yeah you go with that…

Sure – we know the game, we know the rules and we know how it works. We even had THE LEADNG NATIONAL TELEWORK EXPERT set up our program so our whole staff is allowed to work from home one day a week. Heck – our PR person even lives in a whole different state and we are still a media machine! Our top management believes in it, we do it regularly, we hosted the regional telework seminar and we get freakin’ paid to promote it to other people and companies. Oh yeah – we got this.

So I thought…

But then COVID-19 goes and throws all the rules completely out the window! What we are doing right now violates Every. Single. Rule. of teleworking!

• You don’t have young kids home when you telework
• You do have an appropriately appointed office
• You do separate work from home life.
• You don’t telework on Mondays and Fridays to extend your weekend
• You don’t telework in a coffee shop

“Drink your juice Shelby”, my staff says…

If you want the short version, what started out in denial, proceeded to a minor freakout, then progressed to a short-lived and mild sh*t show has ended up going very well for us. We are a better team; we are more effectively collaborating, and I think we all even appreciate each other a lot more. And truth be told, I have been forced to be a more proactive and better manager.

Here are some Ah-ha things for me:

• Communication is more important when you aren’t in the same office. It must be very intentional and frequent.
• Everyone needs some social interaction – Even my anti-social introverts have found that they need people at least sometimes. People work better when they have personal rapport.
• Technology is critical. You must have remote access to your server, solid and reliable internet connectivity and bandwidth, and access to all your software programs.
• Your home office needs to have some basic stuff – like a stapler, paper, ink cartridges, a scanner/printer.
• Doing a daily task list and having your direct reports do them as well is amazing.
• You must have virtual meeting capability. I have been on Zoom, Skype, Teams all this week and virtual meetings are the best thing since sliced bread. And it does matter if you have your camera on or not. Turn it on. Right now, people need normalcy and connection – your camera being off prevents that.

LBI Staff Anna working from home with a cute companion.

If you haven’t heard enough of my bellyaching yet – here’s a deeper dive into how the sh*t show goes down in my office.  As of this writing time is now irrelevant and completely unintelligible, so the following are loosely defined…

Week 1ish –Total lack of awareness.  What the heck is going on in China? Corona? Yeah, I like that beer – oh we are not talking about the beer? Wow I hope they keep that sh*t over there and don’t bring it to the US!  (Note the absence of any concerns for business continuity or anyone else in the world for that matter.)

Week 2ish – Growing awareness.  Umm- what is happening – it is now in Seattle?? This might be a little worse than I thought. Aww crap – that was my spring break plan!  No matter – surely it will be done by then. (Note the absence of any concerns about business/thoughts of preparation or anyone else in the world still.)

Week 3ish – School is out.  WTF??? Are you kidding me? This just got real. How the heck am I going to get any work done with my son at home? I still go into the office most days but tell others to telework as much as possible. Our events director begins to freak out about impacts to our upcoming events which we have just gone through the painstaking activity of scheduling evenly throughout the year and have almost every detail in place. We decide to delay the launch of our new macdaddy microtransit buc service, we think about the upcoming committee meetings we have and cancel them all. And we begin to realize that we need a way to do webinars and virtual meetings thanks to our communications guy.   (Note – a glimmer of understanding but some concern for others but still mostly all about me)

Week 4 – Shelter in Place.  – Huh??  Does not compute. What do you mean I can’t go into the office??  How is that even possible? Stay home? All the time???? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Oh, you’re not? Well ok then… our new reality starts.

If you’re a manger trying to navigate these crazy virtual waters, we are here with free support. Check out Livable Buchkead’s employer telework resource page. There we have webinar training, a telework quick start guide and much more. You can also access our our free telework consulting services through the page.