How to Stay Productive When You Work Remotely, According to HubSpot's Leadership Development Expert

One of the best training sessions I've attended for my career was thePeopleFuel®️程序由能源项目at HubSpot.

Here, I learned that to be most productive at work, I needed to manage my活力，，，，not mytime。

The training was led byNick Congelosi，HubSpot的管理和领导力发展负责人。

His team is responsible for overseeing global leadership development across HubSpot with workshops, certifications, and trainings like PeopleFuel®️.

当我离开那个研讨会时，我有信心可以振兴工作日。

That's why I decided to grab a virtual coffee with Congelosi and learn all about his best tips for staying productive when you work from home.

Below, let's review Congelosi's remote work productivity tips, how to stay productive during remote meetings, and best practices for running a productive remote training session.

1. Place a side table next to your desk.

您曾经在混乱的桌子上工作吗？我知道我有，这就是我知道它会分散注意力的方式。

To help you stay focused during your day, Congelosi recommends placing a side table next to your desk about an arm's length away.

You can place your notebook and to-do list on this table, so whatever you're working on is the only thing on your desk. If it's your computer, only have one tab open (or however many you actually need to get that one task done).

This should help limit distractions when you're working on a certain task.

However, if you're in a meeting, but need something to do with your hands, you can use a pen or pencil so you won't be distracted.

2. Create clear stopping points.

When you work in an office, there are usually organic stopping points throughout your day. However, when you work remotely, those breaks don't happen naturally.

康格洛西说：“我们一直都在听到人们工作更多的时间或工作的夜间工作。”

To avoid this, you should designate clear stopping points. For instance, Congelosi has stopping points at 10:30 a.m., noon, 3:30 p.m., and 5:30 p.m.

Unless you're working on something mission critical, be religious about taking these breaks. You can go for a five minute walk or just get up and stretch.

3.牢记短期和长期（STLT）的好处。

当您的动力和能量低时，可能很难保持生产力。

If this happens, Congelosi recommends thinking about the short and long-term benefits of the task at hand.

This can remind you why you're doing what you're doing, keep your motivation up, and increase productivity.

Congelosi personally calls out these benefits in his notebook.

"You need to zoom out so that we can be more specific about what we're zooming in on. As I zoom out, it's going to help me reprioritize. It's going to help me be more task focused," Congelosi says. "It's going to help me remember why I'm here and what I'm doing. So I think that that's a huge, huge element that happens when you identify those short term and long term outcomes."

While you don't need to do this for every task, it's important to do when you lose sight of what you're doing or feel scatterbrained.

4. Own your calendar.

To own your calendar, you should have your non-negotiables already booked. For instance, Congelosi blocks off his calendar on Friday's from 2-5 p.m. so he can wind down for the week.

Congelosi说：“我建议您预订您的午餐时间和休息时间。

Additionally, Congelosi recommends not scheduling back-to-back meetings. You can use Speedy Meetings in Google to help with this.

WithSpeedy Meetings，您的日历将默认为25和50分钟的会议（而不是30分钟或一个小时），因此会议之间有时间。您将不必再次赶到在线会议。

5. Use a notebook or to-do list app.

If you've ever felt scatterbrained, you know that it's important to have lists and keep track of everything you need to do.

One thing you can do is use a notebook. You can write out your to-do list or just brainstorm ideas.

To do this online, you can use a to-do list app. Congelosi recommends theMicrosoft to-do app。

6. Take more breaks.

In HubSpot's Remote Work Report, we found that45％的远程工人需要不到一个小时的午餐时间，而25％的工人在午餐中工作。

Additionally,58％的远程集线器每天要休息1-2，其中29％的比例为3-5，而10％的休息。

When you don't take enough breaks throughout the day, you're actually sacrificing more than productivity.

While work culture has told us to ignore our body, Congelosi recommends taking more breaks throughout the day and listening to your physiology.

您可以计划在最有生产力的时间左右的休息时间。

If you do a time audit and/or know when you're most productive, you can ensure that you're working during that time, and taking breaks during unproductive times.

7. Don't forget about work life balance.

According to HubSpot's findings,communication with co-workers, feelings of loneliness, and overworking are challenges that remote workers face daily。

We know this is a problem, but how can you increase your emotional energy throughout the day?

Congelosi says companies need to focus more on work/life balance because those that still work on a "factory clock" don't have high retention rates.

To increase emotional energy throughout the day, try these tactics:

• Reach out to your team.
• 在懈怠时对同事说早上好。
• Leaders should leave loudly. If you're a manager, message your team at the end of the day and let them know that you're signing off.
• Exercise, even if it's just a 10 minute walk.
• 找到您喜欢的爱好。Congelosi说：“对于那些孤独的人来说，我很好奇他们的身份和自我价值是否在工作中。如果是，那是不对的。”
• Appreciate people. Take a few minutes to write a note of appreciation twice a week. This brings about inclusion, connection, and belonging.

At the end of the day, Congelosi says "You get what you give."

8.养成持久的习惯。

You might be thinking that a lot of these tips are based around building new habits. However, building a habit that will last isn't easy.

One of the best ways to build a new habit is to self-incentivize. For example, once you get a certain task done, you can reward yourself with a new book (or whatever it is that'll work for you).

If self-incentivizing isn't doable for you, you can try to build one habit that will enable other habits.

For instance, if you focus on building the habit of keeping autonomy over your calendar, that will enable other habits such as taking more breaks or exercising throughout the day.

Congelosi says, "Be kind to yourself and allow your habits to change. If they don't stick, they're not the right habit for you."

9.给您的员工资源。bob体育苹果系统下载安装

作为经理，您需要为您的员工提供成果所需的资源。bob体育苹果系统下载安装

康洛西说：“你have to，，，，have to，，，，have to拥有您实际上给员工的资源。”

For example, when you give an assignment, you should tell your employee what the goal is and then give them examples of what it should look like.

此外，您可以使用的另一种资源是公共董事会，以增加团队之间的协作。

Congelosi says, "Be clear about the goal, but flexible about how to get there."

Now that we're ready to take on the day as productive remote employees, you might be wondering,"How does this apply to meetings?"

Below, let's review a few tips on how to stay productive during a remote meeting.

如何在远程会议上保持生产力

1. Have an agenda.

Of course, the obvious way to remain productive during a remote meeting is to make sure you have an agenda. Before you go into any meeting, you should be clear about what you're talking about.

制定议程将帮助您保持正轨，因此您不会忘记任何事情。

2.添加结构。

议程将帮助您为会议添加结构。例如，您实际上应该写下五分钟的随机赶上对话。

This will help people on your team self-regulate, so you don't have to go through the awkwardness of transitioning from chit-chat to business.

3. Keep balance of power in mind.

作为一名远程员工，当一些同事在办公室里，而您是唯一参与会议的偏远人士时，这可能会很尴尬。

If you're going to have a mix of remote and in-office employees, Congelosi says it might be better to just have everyone dial in remotely. This will level the playing field for your team and make your meeting run more smoothly.

4. Use the seconds counter on your computer clock.

When you're running a gigantic meeting, it's important to keep track of time. One thing that Congelosi does is use the seconds counter on his computer clock.

"We find ourselves often at moments like, ‘Shoot, it's 12:59', but it's really 12:59 and 59 seconds which is no time," he adds.

使用Seconds Counter将帮助您跟踪您实际上在议程中的某个主题上剩下的时间。

5. Be intentional about psychological safety among your team.

在遥远的会议上，当两个人赶上某事时，您可能会觉得水冷器很尴尬，但其他所有人都很安静。或者，也许有多个人立即对某人做出反应，引起混乱。

尽管这些问题常常被误解为一个偏远问题，但康洛西说，这实际上是一个包容性问题。

He adds, "Nothing on camera is subtle. That spotlight effect is really, really hard to deal with."

That's why it's important for managers to focus on the psychological safety of their team.

"The option to be included is paramountly critical," Congelosi says.

为了改善远程会议中的心理安全，请尝试以下策略：

• Round-robin conversation.When you ask a question or you're doing an ice breaker, go round-robin so everyone has a chance to speak.
• 当谈话排除人时，提出其他问题。例如，如果人们在谈论并非所有人都知道的事情（最新音乐，体育，电视节目），管理人员可以问类似的事情"It sounds like that team certainly has put in a lot of effort. Where else have you seen that?"这有助于讨论变得更大picture, and not the"thing"那不包括人。
• 使用“与我一起工作”文档。These documents are helpful for managers to use so everyone knows how everyone works. It's also a great way to get to know people. Additionally, this helps employees build trust and psychological safety with their manager and team. Congelosi says, "We spend so much of our lives trying to glean through magic who you are as a person. There's a lot of cognitive effort you spend trying to read people. Let's just talk about it."
• Talk about norms.团队相互建立规范很重要。例如，如果某人在开会前安静地坐着舒适地坐着，但是您的团队中的其他人希望订婚，那么对于经理来说，知道这一点并设定规范很重要，因此期望不确定。
• Do a ‘This or That' activity.This is a great low risk activity that can help build psychological safety. With ‘This or That,' you just go around and ask your team this or that questions.
• 通过“我是...但是我不是”活动。有了这项活动，您团队中的人们会四处说：“我是……但我不是”陈述。例如，我可以说的一个低风险声明是"I am from Orange County, but I've never seen Laguna Beach."This activity is high risk, but it's great for building psychological safety. Congelosi says, "Managers need to assess the risk level of an activity and think about it in sequence. Start low risk and move up from there."

现在我们知道如何在工作日和远程会议中保持生产力，您可能会在想，"What else is there?"

好吧,如果你已经训练或运行boarding remotely, you might be wondering how to do it productively. Below, let's review a few of Congelosi's top remote training productivity tips.

Remote Training Productivity Tips

1.找一个生产者。

If you've had to run a training session with more than 20 people, you should consider getting a producer. This person will monitor the chat, answer questions, and send links to resources that are discussed in the session.

For example, if the trainer references a book, the producer will send a link to the book in the chat.

2. Know what the best user experience is.

尽管Congelosi通常建议您脱离幻灯片，但如果您必须使用幻灯片，请确保您知道如何确保对观众的最佳用户体验。

For example, if you're on Zoom, you should take time at the beginning of your training to make sure everyone has a side-by-side view set up.

3.注释您的幻灯片。

不要害怕注释您的幻灯片。当您进行远程培训时，很难通过幻灯片进行幻灯片。

The annotation feature will help you run a more agile training.

4.使用白板功能。

When I asked Congelosi about trying new things in remote meetings, he told me a story aboutLarry King。

He said King's first words on the radio were, "I don't know what I'm doing, but I want to do it well."

Running a remote training session can be like that. If you haven't used the whiteboard feature before, you might be scared to try it because it's new.

However, Congelosi says to take advantage of the fact that we're in an unprecedented time.

"Take the risk. If you're a virtual trainer, moderator, interviewer...take the risk with Zoom, and use the whiteboard.," he says.

5. Set expectations.

人们期望您告诉他们期望的东西。如果您以前从未做过任何事情，那么您可以对此保持诚实和真实。

While there's a balance between self-confidence and self-awareness, being vulnerable in an appropriate way is encouraged.

在远程对经理或emp并不总是容易loyees. Staying productive can even seem like an elusive goal at times. However, forming small habits every day can help you achieve success when you're working remotely.