How to Lead a Team While Working from Home (From Someone Who’s Done it)

<< Back to Blog

Photo by Mimi Thian on Unsplash

With all of the media coverage of COVID-19 lately, you’ve probably seen a lot of articles about “social distancing” and “self quarantine”. Many states and local governments are enacting temporary bans on large assemblies of people. This means that if you work for a company with 100 or more employees in one space, you may be asked to work from home for the time being.

Working from home sounds very appealing to some. You can sleep a bit longer, roll out of bed, and work in your pajamas. For others, working remotely may seem kind of intimidating, especially for leaders. What if you run into distractions? What if you struggle to stay efficient? What if your team members are hitting roadblocks and you’re not there to help them?

As someone who not only worked from home for three years, but remotely led a team of creatives for two of those years, I’d like to put your mind at ease by sharing some of the strategies that helped me stay focused and motivated, even with distractions at home.

Nothing Works Without Trust

If you’re nervous about your team working from home because you don’t trust them to actually work, I have a legitimate question for you: Why did you even hire them in the first place?

Unless you’re leading a team of middle-schoolers, you should be able to trust them to do their job, no matter where they’re working. If you’re a manager that thinks your team won’t be as productive if they work from home, I have some news for you. A 2019 study showed that 85% of businesses that switched to a more flexible work-from-home policy saw an increase in productivity. Working from home also increases morale and reduces stress in employees. 

Learn to trust your employees. They’re adults, and they will appreciate being trusted to do their job from home.

A Little Structure Goes a Long Way

One thing that employees working from home for the first time might miss is a bit of structure in their schedules. Even if your team doesn’t typically hold many meetings in the office, it might help to schedule a quick conference call a few times a week to catch up on each other’s progress and support each other in your projects.

It might be worth building a habit of tracking your time if you don’t do so already. When I first started working remotely, I used Toggl to track the time I spent on each project and give my supervisors peace of mind regarding my productivity. Now, my whole team uses it to track their time spent on each client. It’s a great habit to build to hold yourself and your team accountable.

Set a Good Example

Another good habit to build when you work from home, aside from working a consistent schedule, is to get up and get ready for “work” the same way you would if you were going to the office. If your morning ritual includes showering, doing your hair and makeup, and getting dressed, it helps to do that even if you’re just going to be working from your couch for the day. 

It may not sound as much fun to work from home if you’re still wearing your office clothes and getting up around the same time, but it will really help you stay focused on work and set a good example for your team. 

People were always amazed to hear that I got up and got ready for work every day during my three years of working from home. Truthfully, it really helped me get in the “working” mindset and stay productive during my workday!

Be Strategic About Distractions

Surprisingly enough, having a distraction might help you be more productive. As Erik Devaney writes for HubSpot:

It's like Newton's law of inertia: If you're in motion, you'll stay in motion. If you're at rest, you'll stay at rest. And busy people are in fast-enough motion that they have the momentum to complete anything that comes across their desk.

If you’re dealing with a distraction, such as a child (or, in my case, a furbaby!), you can use breaks like kids’ naps or loads of laundry to go into ultra-efficiency mode with your work. Just make sure you’re focusing on one “distraction” at a time!

Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash

Think About Your Work Environment

If you’ll be working from home long-term, you’ll benefit greatly from creating a dedicated space to work. No need to invest in office furniture if you don’t have a desk; even just a spot at your dining room table will help you be more productive if you use it as your “working space”. 

However, some creative-types will benefit from switching things up now and again. I will sometimes take meetings off-site or allow the creatives on my team work from home if they’re needing some inspiration. 

If you find that your work environment is getting stale, go to a quiet coffee shop or your local library for a refreshing change. This is especially helpful if you tend to feed off of productive environments, like me.

Force Some Social Interaction & Communication Using Technology

The one thing I really missed when I was working remotely was the in-person collaboration that occurs with my team. I had to heavily rely on technology to still be able to communicate effectively with them to brainstorm new ideas, help each other through roadblocks, and really just avoid losing my sanity. Regular phone and video calls, daily emails, and group chat messages helped me navigate this. Here are some of the tools that helped me:

• Google Hangouts for chats and video calls with the team

• Zoom for meetings with outside clients

• Slack for messaging with large groups of people and teams

• Taskworld for assigning and collaborating on specific creative projects

Putting it All Together

The thought of being a leader while working from home shouldn’t feel so daunting, but it also shouldn’t be seen as a vacation. Some people will really thrive as both an employee and as a leader when they are asked to work from home, while others will find they really appreciate working at the office again. As a leader, it’s important to recognize this and to pay attention to which situations work best for your team. After all, providing that flexibility will make you much more valuable as an employer.

Five Struggles You’ll Face as a Female Professional (And How to Face Them)

<< Back to Blog

Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash

In honor of International Women’s Day today, I wanted to shed some light on some of the issues that women face while advancing their career, in any industry. I have faced many of these struggles myself, but I wasn’t always so sure how to deal with them. 

Whether you’re a fellow female or nonbinary professional that faces these struggles, or a male professional that is looking to support more of your fellow coworkers, here are just a few of the struggles women face in the workplace, and how to deal with them.

1. The “double bind”.

In a 2019 interview with the New York Times, Katherine Phillips discusses the “double bind” that working women face:

If they’re perceived as nice and warm and nurturing, as they’re expected to be, they don’t show what it takes to move into a leadership position. But when they take charge to get things done, they’re often seen as angrier or more aggressive than men. It’s like a tightrope women are asked to walk: Veer just a bit one way or the other, and they may fall off.

Although the double bind appears in other aspects of a woman’s career, such as asking for a raise (more on that below), this specific example rings true in leadership. It starts at a young age, too. Young girls that are assertive are seen as “bossy”, while young boys that display the same behaviors are seen as “future leaders”. The result is that female leaders are either seen as competent or likeable, but never both.

How to deal: Be an advocate for other women’s advancement in their own careers. Speak up against words or phrases in the workplace that bolster the bias. In my personal opinion, things like “she’s so emotional” or “she’s very abrasive” require responses like “By ‘emotional’ you must mean ‘passionate’” or “I think ‘assertive’ is a better word.” Also, make sure to celebrate the successes of other women in the workplace. Build (or find) a strong community of women that actively advocate for each other!

2. Experiencing burnout.

“Burnout” is a syndrome related to a lack of motivation and feelings of hopelessness. It’s linked to work-related stress by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Although men work more hours each week on average, women are actually more likely to experience burnout. This is in part due to the frustration that comes from being less likely to be given positions of power.

Burnout can have some damaging effects not only on a woman’s mental health, but also her career. With more women experiencing this syndrome, this means there are more women that choose to change careers and start all over, making it even more difficult to advance their career.

How to deal: Practice self-care and other stress-management activities to prevent bringing work home as much as possible—at least the bad parts. Prioritize yourself in your free time whenever you can. 

At the same time, it’s important to recognize when enough is enough. Sharpen your skills and start looking for new opportunities with employers that celebrate women and provide a better work-life balance.

3. Being paid less money for the same work.

Not only are women still getting passed up for promotions more than men, they are still being paid less than their male counterparts that do the same work. It’s 2020 and studies still show that the gender wage gap is still a very real thing, but why?

The answer lies in the double bind we talked about earlier. When negotiating salary, women that ask for more experience social consequences. Less people are willing to be on their team. This doesn’t ring true for men, and it’s why many women just accept what they’re offered rather than negotiating a higher salary.

How to deal: Ask. For. The. Raise. Supporting yourself and knowing your worth is so much more important than being accepted by biased coworkers. Along the same vein, be sure you’re not also practicing this bias; encourage and advocate for your female counterparts that negotiate better pay. As women, we need to work together and do what we can to shrink the gender pay gap.

4. Not having a female mentor.

One thing I regret when I began my career in marketing was not looking for a female mentor sooner. With more men in power than women, it can be tricky to find a strong female mentor that knows you and your goals and will push you to reach them. Although there is nothing wrong with having a mentor in your career who is male, it can be challenging for men to fully understand the struggles that you face as a woman.

How to deal: Freda Lewis-Hall, Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Pfizer, advises building a “board of directors” for your career. Here is what this board consists of:

1. Mentors - who “know your heart” and can give you advice not just in your career, but in your personal life too.

2. Coaches - who “help you close specific gaps” in your skillset.

3. Sponsors - who will “put their name on the line for you” and advocate for you for new opportunities.

4. Role Models - who you may not have ever met, but still choose to emulate.

Prioritize networking with other female professionals—both within and outside of your industry—to build this “board of directors”. These roles can be filled by both men and women, and don’t need to be filled by those who “rank” higher than you in your career either!

Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash

5. Guilt about your work-life balance and having a family.

Women are still largely seen as caretakers in the household. Sure, we are typically more nurturing than men, but that doesn’t mean we should feel so guilty about working just as many hours (or less hours) than men do!

Men still experience guilt when they’re at work and away from their families or children, but our society doesn’t feed into this guilt with men the way they do with women. Women today are still asked to essentially choose between being a mom or having a successful career, and it doesn’t help that the US has one of the worst maternity leave policies in the world (with a grand total of zero weeks of paid maternity leave). 

How to deal: Samantha Walravens, author of Torn: True Stories of Kids, Career & the Conflict of Modern Motherhood, provides some tips in an article for Johnson & Johnson: Set clear boundaries between work and home, and make sure to communicate with your boss or your partner at home if you need help with something. Keep in mind that any time you’re prioritizing the needs of your family, there is no need to feel guilty. Also, don’t compare yourself to other women that you might think are “superwoman”. Instead, cheer her on and support her.

Sometimes the hardest part of dealing with these struggles is thinking you’re alone in fighting these battles. Keep in mind that other women and nonbinary professionals across the country deal with these issues every day. Seek out support from these other professionals by going to female-focused networking events and building a support system. You don’t have to face these issues alone!

Five Ways to Overcome the Sunday Scaries

<< Back to Blog

Photo by Victoria Heath on Unsplash

It’s Sunday afternoon, and your mind is racing. 

You want to enjoy the rest of your weekend, but all you can think about is the start of the work week tomorrow. You might be regretting that you weren’t more productive this weekend or thinking about your growing task list for the work week. This anticipatory anxiety could cut your relaxing, already-too-short weekend even shorter than it needs to be.

If you find yourself experiencing similar feelings on Sundays, you’re not alone. According to a recent study by LinkedIn, 80% of professionals experience something called the “Sunday Scaries”, which is a feeling of anxiety that builds up around the end of the weekend.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that you hate your job. This “low-grade, existential dread”—as one professional describes it in an article by The Atlantic—comes in anticipation of having to be “on” for five days in a row, which feels like a lot of pressure after a weekend of being “off”.

Transitioning from a weekend of freedom to the work week of responsibilities is never very pleasant, but it doesn’t have to fill you with dread. Here are some tactics that can help you overcome the Sunday Scaries.

1. Use your Fridays to make Monday more bearable.

Many professionals use Friday as a “catch-up” day to finish up any projects that need some loose ends tied up. Take it a step further and begin to plan the next work week before it even starts! Write down a list of tasks and goals for the week on Friday afternoon so that when you come in on Monday, you already have an idea of what to focus on.

Take it a step further on Fridays by asking yourself if there are any items on that task list that you can get a head start on. Don’t let your brain turn off for the weekend before starting (or even completing!) one of those tasks. You’ve won Monday morning before you’ve had your coffee!

2. Plan something (other than chores) for Sunday.

Take some time on Sunday to do something you actually enjoy. I love writing, and that’s why I write my blog posts on Sunday afternoons. It keeps my mind from worrying about the upcoming work week, and it really relaxes me.

Other things you can plan are a nice walk outside with the dog, lunch or dinner with a friend, a movie with your partner, or cooking your favorite meal. Stop freaking out about the task list that you may or may not have gotten to this weekend and spend some time actually relaxing. If you’ve spent ANY time of your weekend relaxing, you’ve already been more productive by taking care of yourself!

3. Focus more on the positives about Mondays.

Tackle Monday mornings on Sunday by practicing positive self talk. Find the things you really like about your job and put more focus on thinking about those things and creating more to look forward to. These positives can be anything from working on a fun project to enjoying the delicious (free) coffee from the office’s new coffee machine. 

Make your Mondays even better by building the habit of putting on a motivational podcast for your morning commute or grabbing a bagel from your favorite coffee joint on the way. Treating yourself isn’t only reserved for the weekends!

If you struggle with finding the positives of your job, change your focus to your longer-term professional goals. If you’re trying to get promoted, focus on the tasks you will complete this week to help you get there. If you’re looking at other opportunities, think about what you are and can be doing to gain new skills needed for another role.

4. Develop a relaxing routine to help you wind down.

Find something you can do on Sunday night to help you clear your head and transition to a productive week. I’m not saying to start a yoga and meditation routine, although that is one direction you can go! 

This routine should primarily focus on relaxation, and different people find different things to be relaxing. You might make some tea, take a bath, and watch YouTube videos, or you might go for a run. The important thing is that it’s some sort of structure to your night that helps you transition to more structure in your upcoming work week.

Photo by Bino Le on Unsplash

5. Get plenty of sleep on Sunday nights.

Shooting for 8 hours of sleep might seem like a no-brainer, but it can be difficult to put into practice when your mind is racing and you can’t fall asleep. Make sure to turn off the electronic devices and get to bed a little earlier than usual on Sunday night to ensure that you’re able to start Monday off well-rested and energized. Some will carve out some time before bed to write down their thoughts in a journal to help clear their mind. Either way, remember that sleep is the best medicine, so make sure to prioritize that over your to-do list.

Although there are many great benefits of having a 9-to-5 job with a regular schedule, it also has its own setbacks. The American work culture is plagued with a lot of pressure on professionals to be ultra productive during their Monday-through-Friday work week. The Sunday Scaries may trouble most professionals, but there are ways to prevent them from cutting our weekends short!

[FREE Worksheet] How to Ask for a Raise in Your Annual Performance Review

<< Back to Blog

Photo by Freshh Connection on Unsplash

According to Harvard Business Review, men and women ask for raises just as frequently as one another. However, women who ask for a raise are successful 15% of the time, while men are successful 20% of the time. This may seem like a minimal difference, but when you think about this occurring every year, the differences can really add up. It’s more important than ever for women to keep asking for that raise each year (or at the conclusion of a successful project) in order to help close the gender pay gap. 

In my personal experience, women feel super uncomfortable with this conversation. At the request of one of my subscribers, I wanted to talk about some best practices for preparing for your annual review, which typically entails asking for a raise. As someone who has been on both sides of the table in this situation, I recommend spending a decent amount of time on preparing for your annual review by answering some questions about what you’ve spent time on since your last review.

Re-evaluate your official responsibilities.

Hopefully you have an official job description that explicitly outlines your responsibilities and metrics for success. How does this description align with what you have been spending time on this past year? Have you been doing more outside of your normal duties? Are there job responsibilities that you should pay more attention to? Don’t be afraid to highlight those as well, as you will want to come out of this review with a clear plan of action and list of goals. Plus, it shows that you’re dedicated to continuous improvement as an employee.

Additionally, take a look at your strong points. What part of your job have you done exceptionally well at? Identify some good characteristics that make you a strong member of the team.

What have you accomplished since your last review?

Take a good look at the major projects you’ve been working on in the past year. Which of these have been completed? What were the results for the organization? How many of these projects did you take a leading role on? Start by listing every project you can think of, then narrowing down the list to 3-5 major accomplishments that you can spend some time discussing.

Many supervisors tend to be data-driven, so highlight the projects that you have successful metrics on. Your managers will be impressed with any data that you’ve collected, especially if it hasn’t already been brought to their attention before. This helps further the case that you deserve a raise.

What goals did you set in your last review? Did you reach them?

If this isn’t your first performance review at your company, you probably have a list of goals that were set in your last review. Which of these goals did you reach? If applicable, you can also talk about how you helped any teammates reach their goals as well.

For the goals that you didn’t reach, why were you unsuccessful? This could be a good opportunity to get some guidance from management. However, there may be circumstances that were outside of your control that prevented you from reaching these goals, which leads us to the next question.

What resources do you need more of to do your job?

Your annual review is as much of a review of your managers’ performance as it is your own. Give honest feedback to your supervisor(s) about what resources or attention you need from them to help you reach your goals for the next year. 
This isn’t a time to be passive aggressive or complain about circumstances outside of the company’s control, however. Be respectful and constructive in your feedback, and you can’t go wrong. Any reasonable manager will appreciate honesty and action items of their own.

Photo by Dylan Gillis on Unsplash

What are some goals you can work on in the next year?

You’ll probably finalize these goals in conjunction with your supervisor(s) in your review, but it’s a good idea to go into it with some ideas. Again, this shows that you’ve put some thought and preparation into this review and that you’re dedicated to success.

Bring it all together and ask for the raise!

All that’s left now is to write down and practice how you will ask for a raise. Check out my free worksheet linked below that will help you work through each of these questions. Then, do some research on average salaries of other professionals in your area with similar roles. Use this to base your asking rate off of (and make sure to cite your sources when asking for the raise in your review).

You don’t want to go into your review without a number in mind. This is the time to be aggressive and confident! Your supervisor(s) will probably come back with a counter-offer, so don’t sell yourself short. 

Although many people find asking for a raise—or talking about money in general—super uncomfortable. The more you practice and take control of the situation, the easier it will become each year. Trust me,  your managers will love when you come into your reviews prepared. It not only helps the meeting run more smoothly, but reminds them why they hired you in the first place!

Free Annual Review Worksheet:

Fill out the form below to grab a free copy of my annual performance review worksheet!

Three Steps to Eliminating Impostor Syndrome

<< Back to Blog

Photo by Hailey Reed on Unsplash

If you’re a high-achieving professional that has ever doubted yourself and the accomplishments that you’ve made in your career, you have likely experienced impostor syndrome. First identified by scientists in the 1970s, impostor syndrome refers to a particular form of self-doubt: feeling like you’re unqualified for your current position, or that you’re a fraud or a failure despite evidence that proves otherwise. Even achievers like Maya Angelou and Albert Einstein showed signs of this phenomenon after all that they had accomplished in their lives. 

A 2011 study estimates that 70% of people will experience impostor syndrome at some point in their lifetime. Beth Andrix Monaghan, CEO and Co-Founder of InkHouse, points out that this behavior often follows high-achieving women. This is due to an inherited societal prejudice against women in positions of power, causing us to scrutinize ourselves more closely for shortcomings and mistakes. 

Since I was promoted to my current position as Marketing Manager at Mobile Defenders, there have been plenty of times where I suffered from impostor syndrome. I felt like I only got where I am because of some sort of quota for women in management positions at the company. I know that no such quota exists, and that my ability to manage projects and connect with our customer base is what got me here. Even so, I would sometimes find myself wanting to perfect every single project that I touched in order to prove to others—and myself—that I earned my place in my leadership position.

What does Impostor Syndrome feel like?

If you Google “impostor syndrome”, you’ll probably stumble across a number of links to quizzes that will tell you if you suffer from this phenomenon. Really, though, it boils down to asking yourself some questions.

• Do you feel like you’ve somehow cheated to get to the position that you are in?

• Do you feel like you’re not qualified for your current position?

• Do you feel like a fraud and that it’s only a matter of time before people find you out?

• Do you feel like you’ve gotten where you are in your career because of chance or luck?

If you’ve answered “yes” to any of these questions, it’s likely that you’ve suffered from impostor syndrome. 

Dr. Valerie Young is an expert in this phenomenon. She discovered that those suffering from impostor syndrome mainly fall into one of five categories:

1. The Perfectionist, who focuses on how something is done, and doesn’t rest until the task is 100% completed perfectly.

2. The Superwoman/man, whose concern is how many roles they can juggle at once, and measures success this way. 

3. The Natural Genius, who cares most about how and when things are completed, but also how easily this success is achieved. 

4. The Soloist, who is focused on who completes the task, and sees success in figuring things out and doing them alone.

5. The Expert is concerned about what and how much someone knows about something. They are similar to the perfectionist but are more focused on knowing everything about something.

It may not be as obvious to you which type of impostor syndrome you suffer from, and that’s okay. For me, I sometimes feel like I am a combination of all five of these personality types. Thankfully, there is a simple mindset change that can solve for any of these personality types. 

How can I overcome Impostor Syndrome?

Kara Loewentheil offers a great three-step process for dealing with impostor syndrome, but first, she explains what doesn’t solve impostor syndrome. Things like validation from others may provide some initial relief, but are typically immediately self-discounted. Additionally, telling yourself positive things like “I am really great at what I do” doesn’t work long-term when you don’t really believe it.

Kara’s solution requires victims of impostor syndrome to rewire their brain and their thoughts to gradually boost their self-confidence. Here is her three-step process, which she calls the Thought Ladder:

Photo by Artem Maltsev on Unsplash

1. First, pick one thought that you have about yourself. This can be something like “I am unqualified for my job” or “Everyone else in my department is so much smarter and more successful than me.” Stick with only one thought at a time, and put this thought at the bottom of the ladder.

2. Second, brainstorm your Goal Thought, or what you wish you really believed about yourself. Think of something like “I earned my way to this leadership position” or “I am just as successful, if not more successful, than everyone else in my department.” This Goal Thought goes at the very top of your ladder.

3. Lastly, think of thoughts you can start to believe right now. These can be a bit more neutral, but they help you work your way to believing your Goal Thought. These thoughts can be things like “I just had a really positive performance review” or “My supervisor promoted me to this position because I work hard.” These thoughts don’t have to make you feel incredible, but they can help you feel better than the thought at the bottom of your ladder. Think of them as a bridge between your current thought and your Goal Thought.

You can repeat this process with as many negative thoughts that you have. Write down your Ladder Thoughts where you can easily remember them, such as on your bathroom mirror or as a reminder on your phone. 

I had been a victim of the impostor syndrome without even realizing it. Even when I would receive praise and positive feedback from my peers and supervisors, I still struggled with believing that I was truly deserving of the praise. It helped to finally understand that this behavior is not only common amongst other professionals, but that there are steps that I can take to combat it. 

If you think you might have impostor syndrome, you’re not alone! Follow Kara’s three-step Thought Ladder process, and remind yourself every day that you’re better than your mind might have you believe.