Tag: productivity

How I get it done – finding balance and managing time as a working mom

Written by Hayley Rakus on February 15, 2024. Posted in Firm Culture.

I recently returned to The Reis Group after maternity leave. As a mother of three kids under the age of five and a Managing Supervisor at TRG, I juggle many roles in my personal and professional life.

As I’ve transitioned back to work, I’ve been reflecting on how we get it all done, as PR professionals and human beings. Regardless of what stage you’re at in your career, or whether you have kids or other dependents at home, managing your time and energy effectively is essential to success and overall happiness. While it usually seems impossible to attain that perfect balance between work and home, there are simple things we can do to make our lives more organized, more intentional and more satisfying.

Here are some of the best pieces of advice I’ve received from some well-balanced friends and role models over the course of my career that I’ve been reminding myself as I transition back to being a working mom:

Make your bed in the morning.

I’m proud to be married to an active-duty service member. While his military training has taught him many things, including how to fly a plane, one of the most impactful things it has taught him is to make his bed in the morning – every morning, no matter what. There is something powerful about starting off your day in this small, intentional, disciplined way. You set the tone for the rest of the day and no matter what happens, at least you’ve made your bed!

Learn the difference between what is urgent and what is important.

To successfully manage your workload, you need to understand the difference between an urgent task and an important one. Especially in the fast-paced world of PR, every incoming email can seem like a potential fire drill. We are inundated with client demands, a chaotic news cycle and near constant social media notifications, which means you need to get an ironclad grip on what’s important and what’s truly urgent so that you can prioritize your tasks and deliver on client goals. The same rule applies for your personal life and your relationships. Know what is really urgent and what is only important.

Here is a Harvard Business Review article, about the “Eisenhower Matrix,” a useful tool you can use to plot your tasks and help you visualize urgent vs. important.

Make a plan and work your plan.

My mom, who raised five kids while starting her own interior design business, reminds me of this whenever I’m feeling overwhelmed and stressed out – and it applies to every aspect of your life. From weekly meal planning to managing a complex client project – make your plan and then work that plan, one step at a time. At work, online project management tools can be helpful in breaking down bigger projects into manageable steps and visualizing the full scope of a project.

Take breaks!

No one is a robot. Breaks are important. We need fuel, fresh air and mental breathing room. This recent Harvard Business Review article, points out a key distinction: we have only a finite amount of time each day, but our energy can constantly be renewed. If we can manage our physical and mental energy better, we can get more done within the confines of our time. Even though it can seem impossible with a busy workload, we must make time to take a short walk. Do some stretching. Build breaks into your day or risk burning out. Still don’t believe me? This Harvard Business Review article spells out the importance of work breaks and how to make them count.

Keep your pencils sharp.

My grandfather, who worked at a New York City advertising agency during the “Madmen” era, used to give this advice. While we may not use pencils very much anymore, the implication is still sound. Present yourself well. Be polished. Spellcheck. In the era of endless distractions, stay focused and know what your goals are – both personally and professionally. Attention to detail really matters in PR and in life – demonstrate that you understand that and success will follow.

Being a Conscious Leader in Today’s PR Landscape

Written by Tiana Ware on February 2, 2024. Posted in Firm Culture.

As a GenZ-er early in my PR career, I am in the process of being transitioned into a role as an account manager. It’s a challenging and exciting prospect to begin to find my own voice and develop my own approach to management.

With the support of my managers at The Reis Group, I decided to attend a conference called Conscious People Management for Team Success to help me learn a management style to make my colleagues feel supported and inspired. The two-day conference was eye-opening, with a plethora of tips and tricks. But my main takeaway was an important lesson that will guide my personal development: Feedback is the most powerful and important gift that you can give—and receive.

Nearly three years into my health care PR career, I’ve been learning the great value of clear and intentional feedback. My supervisors’ suggestions are helping me grow my skillset and increase my efficiency while continuing to produce high-quality work. Through this process, I’ve realized that my perfectionist tendencies sometimes cause me to spend longer than necessary on a project. I needed to spend less time with some tasks because it was impacting deadlines and the overall momentum of projects. To remedy this, they provided a few examples of smart strategies that can help: Give myself strict timeframes for each task. Create a plan for my day before jumping into assignments so that my daily priorities are clear.

A great takeaway from these conversations was realizing the value of good feedback. I didn’t feel that I’d been judged or criticized. Instead, they affirmed my experience by acknowledging that balancing thoughtful work and getting the job done quickly and efficiently can be difficult, especially when you want to deliver for the team and, ultimately, the client.

My managers focused on being solution-oriented, and building on my strengths. They also provided great suggestions, like sharing their own tools for time management, creating daily to-do lists and setting up weekly team check-ins.

Learning the value of receiving feedback is one thing, but the idea of being in a managerial role and giving feedback in potentially uncomfortable conversations felt pretty intimidating.

As I’m transitioning to an account manager role, I’m wondering how to approach these difficult and vital conversations. How do I develop the best possible tone and the most useful structure for these feedback sessions? Management consultants preach various tactics, but I needed to figure out my own way.

The leader of the Conscious People Management for Team Success seminar stressed that these conversations should be focused and specific, positioned in a way that propels both individual and team growth. She suggested four steps:

Share actionable insights.
Highlight data for development.
Provide information that enables improvement.
Brainstorm ideas to help you grow.

Soon after the seminar, I had the chance to give feedback to a colleague. Before I met with her, I sat down and listed what she did well with an assignment because I knew she’d put in a lot of effort. Then I noted the three specific areas that needed work, and I thought about what she could do to improve. Then, I planned to give her encouragement by reiterating the good things she did and being upbeat about what she needed to do moving forward.

With the tips I’d learned, I felt prepared to have a productive conversation. We first discussed areas where she shined. I also asked about her own self-evaluation so I could better understand where she was coming from. I was quickly able to identify some confusion about the assignment and areas of disconnect. We were able to find a few specific examples of how she could improve her work.

We both left the conversation feeling positive and motivated. I had reminded myself to stick to my plan to lead with empathy and understanding. For me, the biggest triumph from that conversation was that she felt supported and inspired to take on similar tasks moving forward and wasn’t discouraged or defeated by the feedback.

My first experience with giving feedback was a learning opportunity for both of us. Rethinking the concept of feedback to see it as a “gift” is a powerful way to make our teams stronger. It fosters trust and inspiration among us, which allows us to better serve our clients. Most importantly, it serves as a reminder that no matter where you are in your career, there is always so much more to learn, and being open to it can help strengthen you as a person and a teammate.

5 Tips for Growing into Your New Role at Work

Written by Alyssa Slovin on September 13, 2023. Posted in Firm Culture.

After graduating college and starting my first full-time salaried position last May, I was excited to learn the ins and outs of health care public relations. My managers and peers have truly taken me under their wing, and everyone has been an amazing mentor and resource. On top of that, we frequently hold office-wide professional development sessions to continue building our PR skillsets.

After a year and a promotion to Account Executive, I am still always learning new strategies and tactics, now focusing on account-management skills. Our managers are preparing the account team to better understand how to practice client relations and balance multiple timelines. Learning foundational public relations knowledge is key, and practicing management techniques is just as crucial to our personal development.

Here are five tips for growing into your new role at work:

Don’t be afraid to ask all your questions. You’ve probably received this advice before, but it’s worth repeating: this is the best way for you to determine exactly what your manager wants. So, it takes away any guesswork on your end. Instead of spending your time trying to decode their request, it’s much quicker and easier to ask for clarification.

This is not necessarily where your questions should end, though. If time allows, try asking about how this work fits into the larger plan for this client or project. Even if your tasks are smaller scale for now, you can create something that is more tailored and relevant to the bigger picture if you have more context.

Follow up on your work. If you haven’t received any feedback on a completed assignment, consider following up on it. Your manager may not have had time to send you feedback in the moment, but your follow up gives them the opportunity to let you know what you might need to improve next time.

Following up not only shows your interest in growing your skill set, but it also demonstrates that you’re on top of your work. It can also position you as the point person for this topic if and when this type of work continues.

Track your to-dos and update your team. Keep track of your to-dos in an organized manner so you aren’t relying on reminders from your team to know what assignments are coming due. At TRG, we use Breeze, an online task-management system that we can organize by client. I also find that keeping a daily to-do list helps me prioritize and use my time efficiently every day.

If a deadline is coming up and your task is taking longer than expected, send a quick message to your account manager or team members who are relying on that work. Whether it’s a hard or soft deadline, this keeps your team from wondering and allows them to plan accordingly.

Take on new tasks, but be up front about other deadlines. When you are given a new task that wasn’t in your original plan, try to fit it into your schedule. It’s important to be a team player, and this new project could be a great learning opportunity or could bring a new perspective to a project. But if it really doesn’t work with your other assignments, don’t be afraid to speak up. Ask how flexible the deadline is, or how long they expect it may take. Producing one on-time and top-notch assignment is better than two rushed projects.

Share new ideas without worrying if they are good enough. As a new team member, it can feel daunting to present new ideas to your team. But if you have one, let your account lead know. They want you to engage in your work and make it your own – that’s why you are a part of the team.

Try to have some additional logistical information on your new idea if possible, but sometimes just joining the brainstorm can spark the inspirations for an innovative new project.

Growing into a new role at work can be challenging, especially if you’re accustomed to turning in your assignments and moving on to the next task. Developing your account-management and client-relations skills early on in your career will set you and your team up for success.

Four considerations to integrate AI into your health care PR practices

Written by Stacy Skelly on July 12, 2023. Posted in Firm Culture.

For the public relations industry, as for nearly every sector right now, artificial intelligence remains largely an unknown. AI’s ethical use is hotly debated. Its capability to accelerate our work is unmatched. Yet none of us can fully comprehend the impact it will have on health care PR practices or on health care overall.

In fact, the Federal Trade Commission is currently investigating generative AI platform ChatGPT. According to The New York Times, the investigation is based on “its collection of data and its publication of false information on individuals.” With the increasing adoption of this technology, it is crucial that we stay up to date with the advancements but remain cautious of the results.

That’s why our TRG team is staying connected to the changing nature of AI and know there are multiple avenues to explore:

AI-based services create new efficiencies for our team. We’ve been using it to create new efficiencies and enable our employees to spend their time on higher-level thinking. For example, our team now uses an AI-based service that transcribes voluminous material within minutes, enabling our staff to spend more time on higher-impact work such as our message-testing and commentary-development processes.

Generative AI, like ChatGPT, is a great tool for brainstorming. AI can elevate brainstorming to a new level. Stuck on how to reach a new audience? Looking for ideas on a tag line? Considering what tactics might work for a PR campaign? Now, a simple online query can eliminate the challenge of a blank screen and get those creative juices flowing. We intend to use ChatGPT to jump-start the creative process when needed. But this comes with a caveat: nothing generated by these programs should be taken at face value and used without careful checking. We also will not input confidential internal or client data into these platforms, which could then make that information available to others.

Accuracy is an issue and needs to be monitored. Another huge challenge with these programs is their potential to spread misinformation and disinformation and promote biases. In fact, AI sites even caution that their outputs might contain factual errors. So, while it might seem like the sky is falling—and the robots will soon be cranking out press releases and messaging platforms—there’s no replicating the human touch. We still have expertise and know-how that ChatGPT doesn’t. And it is our responsibility to ensure client content is accurate and fair. We’ll also be working with our vendors to closely monitor their use of AI.

Staying ahead of the technology will make us better PR pros. It would be easy to try to ignore the trend toward AI and let somebody else figure it out. But at TRG, we are always seeking innovative ways to meet client needs. AI has the potential to boost our creativity and speed our workflow as we give our clients cutting-edge communications advice. My research in ChatGPT, for instance, recently helped me provide guidance to a client considering the best way to announce AI enhancements to its own technology platforms.

My career in public relations has already seen massive shifts in how we do our work. AI is the next frontier. Rather than retreating from the unknowns, we believe that learning how AI can improve our skills will only make us better communicators.

Good Project Management is an Art – Not a Science

Written by Kathleen Petty on August 3, 2022. Posted in Firm Culture.

Deadlines, discipline, and organization – these are the tenets of good project management that most can agree on. But as a vice president at a health care PR firm in Washington DC, I’ve learned that good project management goes beyond these principles. It’s more than keeping diligent timelines. There is also an art to it. Project management is essentially about people; and I’ve found there are six key principles to doing it successfully: getting your team started as soon as possible, setting your team up for success, looking for barriers and roadblocks before they happen, maintaining open communication with your team, leaning into your team’s strengths, and always keeping the budget in mind along the way. Doing these six things helps us produce efficient, high-quality work that keeps our clients happy.

1. Time is Your Greatest Asset
As anyone who works in health care communications knows, time is not always on your side. We work in a fast-paced environment that doesn’t often allow for careful planning, so it’s vital to use whatever time we do have to our advantage. Don’t get caught thinking that if something is due in a few months, you can “get to it later.” The time you have right now is your greatest asset so the more lead time you give your team, the better. Even if you feel like you can’t fully start the project, set up a timeline for deliverables; think through background research that your team could be doing to help set up a solid foundation for the hard work ahead. Whatever time you do have is a gift, so don’t wait!

2. Set Up Your Team for Success
This may be the most crucial part of good project management. First, ensure everyone has the background information they need to understand the overarching goal of the project. This will help guide people and ensure the end-goal is met. It’s also important to provide people with clear instructions and the materials they need right from the start. It helps instill confidence, allowing people to do their best work. It also cuts down on wasted time that would have been spent correcting mistakes and fiddling with nagging minor issues. Get ahead of all of that by giving your team everything they need upfront to be successful.

3. Look for Barriers Ahead of Time
Before assigning work to your team members, put yourself in their shoes as if you were going to do the work yourself. What questions will they have that you can be ready to answer? What can you address up front in the materials and information you give them? Additionally, think through the issues the team could run into as they begin the work. What advice can you give them right now to head off any roadblocks? For instance, if you’re asking the team to conduct a media audit of a client’s issue, spend a few minutes thinking through the process. Could the search terms you’re giving them produce too many articles to count? Or no coverage at all? If that’s the case, what will they need to know to adapt their process?

Once you identify a few of these potential problems, address them during your initial meeting so the team can develop the tools they need to solve them.

4. Communicate Often
Don’t wait until deadlines are looming to check in on your team’s progress. Having consistent, clear, and open communication can make sure everyone’s on the right track from the start. If you remove yourself from the process, your timeline may be derailed. This could lead to you and the team scrambling to deal with trouble as your deadline is fast approaching. Plan to check in one or two days after the team has begun work. It’s best to have in-person (or video) check-ins as opposed to relying on email. This builds team identity and encourages more personal communication and problem-solving together.

5. Lean into the Team’s Strengths
We all have qualities that set us apart from others as well as a variety of “strengths” that help us to excel in certain capacities. At The Reis Group, we identified each team member’s individual strengths during our recent team retreat through Clifton StrengthsFinder. It’s an assessment to help you discover what you do best and to learn how to develop your talents and maximize your potential. According to this assessment, my top five strengths are: empathy, individualization, connectedness, restorative, and positivity. The odds of someone getting the same list of strengths in that order is 1 in 33 million. Everyone will have varying strengths that complement each other. It’s important to learn what people excel at, and what they enjoy doing so that you can tap into those strengths and maximize each person’s opportunity for success. Doing so will help keep the team motivated and ensure they feel valued.

6. Don’t Forget About the Budget
In public relations (or any client-service industry), we have a tendency to want to say “yes” to anything our clients want. However, having a budget is crucial for ensuring staff’s time is valued. From the start, set expectations by telling each team member how many hours they should spend on the work. As you’re managing projects, check on their work hours to make sure no one is getting carried away. Not only is it a sign that the budget may be in trouble, it’s also a signal to you as a manager that your team is running into issues that need to be addressed; or that they might not have the correct direction from you to get the job done in a timely manner. Checking in and having open communication with your team will help identify any issues before the project and budget spiral out of control.

Managing tight timelines and client expectations are crucial aspects of project management, but we often lose sight of the nuances of “team management” as well. They go hand-in-hand. So, while it’s important to hone your skills in meeting deadlines and allocating work, it’s just as important to learn how to foster a supportive environment for the entire team. When we all have the tools to do good work, we all win.

I’ve got too much on my plate! Lessons on Effective Time Management

Written by Emma Barker on February 11, 2022. Posted in Firm Culture.

At some point, we all find ourselves pulled in what feels like a million different directions at work. For me, working at a fast-paced, award-winning health care communications agency means a variety of clients to serve, supervisors to please, and constant deadlines to meet.

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, and often, just when you think you can breathe, you get tapped for another assignment. How can you manage your time, when it feels like you don’t even have the time to figure it out?

Since starting here at The Reis Group a year ago, I’ve learned a lot from my colleagues. Not only have I absorbed media skills, but I’ve bolstered my time-management abilities as well. I would argue that this skill may be the most vital to our success. We all have competing priorities from a demanding set of clients, and without effective time management, we would not be the top-notch PR agency that we are.

Each of my colleagues has a unique way to manage their time. Who better to learn from than them? Here are the best lessons I’ve learned so far:

Ask for deadlines and prioritize your time. My teammates know that I like to ask for deadlines on all my tasks. Firm due dates help me to develop personal timelines for all my assignments. My various supervisors don’t know that I have X assignment due on Wednesday, so I have to compare due dates and determine how to prioritize my week.

Be flexible and realistic. Deadlines are important, but I must acknowledge when a timeframe may prevent me from delivering my best work. I have certainly been guilty of letting my drive to finish a task affect the quality of my work. Luckily, I have a supportive team who can catch my mistakes, but I need to be sure that I am checking my own work and providing high-quality deliverables that fit our high standards—even if that means taking an extra day.

Expect the unexpected and build in catch-up time. At the beginning of each week, I assess all the assignments I need to complete and take a look at the meetings I have. I build in time to complete and review my deliverables and block off time for assignments I’ve left on the back burner. This blocked time allows me to get ahead where I can and provides useful openings in my schedule to work on any unexpected tasks that arise.

Let others know when an urgent client need arises—and be empathetic when the same happens with your colleagues. Agency work is unpredictable, and it is inevitable that we will receive urgent requests from clients. It’s vital that we communicate with our team members when time-sensitive demands arise. We’re working with a variety of clients who each deserve our full attention, so we must be willing to pitch in to help our colleagues when they suddenly face an unexpected deadline.

If you ever feel you have too much on your plate, try some of these tips to make your work more manageable. Successful time management is an essential piece of The Reis Group’s ability to deliver high-quality service to leading foundations, medical societies, associations, health systems, federal agencies, coalitions and universities . The lessons I’ve learned from my colleagues have helped me grow as a communications professional and as a productive team member.

8 Ways to Squeeze in Time for Professional Progress

Written by Jessica Thibault on April 14, 2021. Posted in Firm Culture.

Even with less commute time, there still never seems to be quite enough hours in the workday. However, by incorporating some strategy, you can continue your professional development without too much trouble. After fully embracing the term “maximizing” to describe my life approach, I’ve come up with ways to make time for the important things, including my numerous passions and beloved relationships.

Schedule yourself. Set a pop-up reminder to get yourself to think about or invest in professional development. This could be blocking out 30 minutes once a week for some professional development reading on LinkedIn, a monthly pop-up reminding you to make progress towards your annual goals, or anything in between.
Find an industry-focused email newsletter worth reading, like Michael Smart’s Thursday emails. Start by picking just one that is worthwhile, and don’t be afraid to unsubscribe and try something different if it starts to feel like additional clutter.
Find someone further along in their career who is willing to provide casual mentorship. Now that we’re used to remote meetings, ask about some quick check-in calls before work, over your lunch break, or in the evening, maybe bimonthly or once a quarter. This will keep it from being too cumbersome for either of you.
Listen to industry podcasts or audiobooks on your walks, workouts, drives, or while making meals or folding laundry. Make your chore time extra-productive.
Follow key hashtags or join an industry group on LinkedIn. You’ll stay relatively informed without trying too hard.
Ask someone to keep you accountable. If your former coworker is willing to check in occasionally to see whether you’ve been keeping your list of work wins up-to-date, you’re more likely to do it (and figure out the most painless way for you to maintain the practice.)
Whenever you wrap up a small project, ask for any feedback to make the next project better. Be sure to also share feedback with others to encourage improvement and grow your working relationships.
Volunteer to support a one-time event or for a committee with a minimal time commitment. Choose an event during a time of year that is less busy or a commitment that is infrequent enough to keep it manageable.

I like to pursue many goals at once and have found that with the right planning and reminders, big things are usually more feasible than they sound. If you have any favorite strategies for fitting in professional development or any favorite podcasts or newsletters, please share them. We’ve got this!

Working—and growing—during a pandemic as a newly minted health care PR professional

Written by Sloane Fisher on May 7, 2020. Posted in Firm Culture.

COVID-19 has upended office life and we are all living with a new normal. As a young PR professional working in health care communications, I’m looking for ways to learn new skills and break through the pandemonium to continue to grow. When we began working remotely full time, I was worried that my professional development would be stunted, but I quickly discovered three ways of continuing to grow–and maintain sanity–during this chaotic time: getting face time with mentors, setting goals, and taking time to breathe fresh air.

Getting Facetime with Mentors

The pandemic has thrown schedules into disarray, canceled events, and suddenly shifted focus for our health care-focused clients. For me, it also means that working closely with mentors to get feedback and improve my skills is more difficult than ever. I’ve quickly learned to provide my team leaders more time to review my materials and to schedule time to discuss changes. Being more proactive about asking questions and seeking out new tasks is key to maintaining the vital momentum of learning.

Working at a PR agency allows constant interaction with coworkers, and I usually can just walk into someone’s office whenever I have questions. Now, it’s limited to emails and video chats. The video gives me important face time for a richer mentorship experience that helps me understand a boss’s revision and master a new skill.

Setting Goals

Before COVID-19, setting goals helped me plan my days, understand what areas I need to improve on, and think about how I can achieve those goals. With all the chaos and extra time, the first week working from home felt somewhat empty and directionless. Working at home reveals many distractions in my apartment, not to mention those in the outside world. But setting some personal benchmarks has helped me keep on track with my daily work and my broader professional goals. These benchmarks have included checking in with team leaders to get feedback and give updates on my work, make progress checks to meet my deadlines, and dedicate myself to learning new skills such as crafting new business proposals and mastering best practices for writing commentaries. I’ve also applied this goal-setting to my personal life to make the best use of all my unexpected free time.

Breathing Fresh Air

Among my new daily goals is to get outside whenever I can. It’s no secret that fresh air and exercise are vital for a healthy life, but it’s not easy when you’re locked down. Invigorating yourself and promoting mindfulness—while self-isolating—can be as simple as going for a walk or run, or just opening a window. I count myself as particularly lucky because I live on the top floor of a building with a beautiful rooftop for quick breaks when I feel cooped up. I can re-center my mind and come back to work feeling relaxed and refocused. You can too!

Your professional development doesn’t have to be put on hold during quarantine. You just need to work around these new barriers and, with your mentors, find new ways of growing. Being organized and mindful of your mental and physical health will help move you forward in learning new skills and proving yourself as a PR professional.

Passion Points: What Drives You?

Written by Tamara Moore on June 27, 2017. Posted in Firm Culture.

Health care PR, particularly in these politically turbulent and uncertain times, has become a 24/7 business. You’re expected to be supernaturally connected to your smartphone, your email, and all the key websites of the instantaneously changing news cycle. Not only is this unrealistic; it’s unwise, and even unhealthy. Research shows that a myopic and hyper-vigilant focus on work actually can lead to diminished productivity and reduced creativity. At The Reis Group, we encourage every team member to strive for balance: Embrace your passion. Get out of the office. Get to know something about each other beyond their coffee order.

As a working mom, my passion is my family. My favorite time of day is any minute the four of us are together – whether we’re acting out some wild scenario that my four-year-old has dreamed up, finding (or making) puddles to jump in, or having a dance party. This family time truly allows me to recharge, refocus, and get a better grasp on what’s really important to me.

The conveniences of a modern, progressive office with flex schedules, tele-work and relaxed summer hours allow our team to embrace our professional and personal passions in equal measure.

These passion-points are a source of creative energy. They’re what drive us to keep going at the end of a hard day. They excite us, spurring our most imaginative moments. And give us sharper focus, keeping our attention through long meetings.

These personal preferences and individual passions – whether it’s coffee, fitness, travel, photography, storytelling, wellbeing, psychology or politics – allow each of us to be more. Our team chemistry is the heart and soul of The Reis Group. It is our thinking, knowledge, energy and creativity that endear us to – and inspire loyalty from – our clients, set us apart from other firms, and create a fun and supportive culture.

We do more than “show up.” We push ourselves beyond what’s expected to be at the top of our game. This collective inner drive connects each individual with our broader culture.

We work hard. We play hard. For our clients, and for ourselves.

Take a look at our passion points:

The Art of Working Remotely

Written by Lauren Musiol on April 4, 2017. Posted in Firm Culture.

According to GlobalWorkplaceAnalytics.com, 50% of the U.S. workforce holds a job that is compatible with at least partial telework, and approximately 20-25% of the workforce teleworks with some frequency. This is a more than 100% increase since 2005, and represents a major shift in workplace dynamics.

Every industry is different, but in the world of health care public relations, our regular work day is constantly changing and allowing for greater flexibility. As someone who has been working remotely full-time for the last five years, I’ve identified several tips for ensuring a successful work-from-home experience.

Be prepared–and then prepare some more. When you work remotely – whether full-time or one day a week – you need to ensure that all calls and meetings, both internal and external, run smoothly and successfully. This requires some extra preparation on your part. From making sure that you and your colleagues have all the necessary materials that will be discussed to ensuring the technology you are using works correctly (Ahem… make sure your phone charger is always handy), it is your responsibility to make sure the experience is as seamless as possible.
Make sure you have the proper equipment. Working from home should be an extension of your regular workday, just without the commute or the water cooler chatter. So it is vital to that you have all the proper equipment, from computer to phone to software. You must be able to access all documents just as you would if you were in the office, so that it’s always “business as usual” regardless of your physical location. The ability to quickly and easily share screens with my colleagues has been extremely helpful to me, as I have navigated the work-from-home landscape.
Don’t underestimate the power of the telephone. Picking up the phone and talking to your colleagues is a huge part of successfully working remotely. While so much of what we do can be communicated via email, there is inherent value to actually talking with your colleagues, building relationships, and clearing up any miscommunication that may occur via email.
Minimize distractions. Make sure you have a thoughtfully designated space for your work area. Whether it be an entire office in your house, a desk in a spare bedroom, or a back corner table at a local coffee shop, it’s important to designate the best space for work to ensure productivity. You know your work style best, so make sure you choose a spot that’s compatible with your needs, and with whatever’s on your plate for that day. For example, if you know you are giving an important presentation over the phone, the local coffee shop may not be the best location, as the background may be distracting and can seem unprofessional.

Do you have telework benefits at your company? What are your tips for success?

Also, consider taking this quiz to see if working remotely is a good fit for you.