The international COVID-19 pandemic, and the ensuing lockdowns, have absolutely transformed the way in which many companies do business, ranging from shutdowns, to major adjustments to health and safety protocol, and more.
One of the key changes that has unfolded, has been that a very large number of people have been working remotely for the past several months – and many are set to continue doing so for the foreseeable future.
What’s more, many commentators on the subject feel confident that this reliance on remote working during the quarantine period will lead to longer-term systematic changes in the working practices of many companies – with a greater degree of flexibility being offered for remote working as a whole, and with an increased number of roles perhaps shifting to an at least partly remote working schedule.
There are already many services at the moment which can be handled entirely, or almost entirely, remotely. Managed IT solutions including network security, for example, fall into this camp.
As the near future is likely to see a much greater emphasis placed on autonomous working situations and arrangements, here are a few tips for preparing yourself for the shift.
To be as effective as possible with as little supervision and oversight as possible, one of the best things you can do is to become decently proficient in a broad professional skill set, so that you have a greater breadth of experiences and insights to draw on.
It may be that your current job role will provide an opportunity for optional training and skill development. If this is the case, you should certainly take advantage of that fact, and participate in as many training courses as you can.
But even if your current job role doesn’t offer such a scheme, and even if you are working in a more tenuous freelance capacity, you should certainly explore online courses for greater skill development.
You could, for example, learn the fundamentals of coding via Codecademy. Or, you might want to investigate any number of different courses through Coursera.
Or, for that matter, you might want to study another language – something that, while not a job specific skill in and of itself, can certainly make you more capable and useful in many job roles.
In short, you want to become someone with a broad and dynamic grasp of a wide range of different subjects, and valuable insights as well, so that you will be valued and effective in even the most autonomous capacity.
There’s a good chance that any autonomous working situations you find yourself in going forward, will involve working remotely from home and having to manage your own schedule, timetable, and workflow, while simultaneously remaining accountable without much oversight.
In order to work as effectively as possible from home, you should absolutely make it a point of priority to set up an effective home office space. Ideally, you will have an entire room dedicated to this purpose, but if space constraints don’t allow for this option, you need to at least create a little niche or alcove in one of the rooms of your home, that is meticulously organised and adapted for work.
A home office space should serve the key function of reducing distraction, and signalling to you – on a deep psychological level – that you are in a “professional space,” and that you need to work accordingly.
Not only should your home office space have all the tools that you need in order to perform your job effectively, but it should also be as tidy and organised as possible, and should have as few distractions present as possible.
It’s all too easy to get sidetracked when you aren’t being observed by your colleagues or managers in person. So, structure your home office environment to assist you in this regard as much as possible.
Working autonomously essentially means being able to effectively manage many incoming tasks, duties, tidbits of information, and requests, without becoming lost in the chaos.
In fact, although this is one of the key hurdles that people trip over when they begin working in a more autonomous capacity, it doesn’t have to be as difficult as it often seems.
A large part of the key in resolving this potential issue is to be found in using an effective task management system that has been tried and proven in high demand settings.
In the business world, David Allen’s Getting Things Done method is perhaps the most consistently preferred system with executives of all stripes, and it is specifically focused on quickly processing incoming tasks into the correct categories, identifying next action steps, and figuring out which priority tasks to emphasise at the moment.
There are many different resources available today dedicated to helping people to explore their side hustles, pet projects, and the hobbies they are passionate about.
When working in an autonomous capacity – and with the business landscape looking set to move further in that direction – working on your own side projects achieves a few useful purposes.
For one thing, it helps you to hone the skill of being self-organised and self-driven, in general. It’s essentially “practice.”
For another thing, it helps keep you motivated and enthusiastic, even if you are occasionally disheartened by the stresses and complexities of your ordinary working situation.
Thirdly, working on your own side projects might serve as something of a hedge against uncertainty – particularly in the cases where the side project in question is some form of entrepreneurial business venture that might, over time, develop to become profitable.
Even if your side project isn’t a small business venture, however, simply dedicating your time, energy, and focus to a particular project can help you to develop a broader skill set, and better analytical skills.
