Karen Condor On How To Successfully Navigate The Opportunities & Challenges Of Working Remotely Or From Home

Leaders should encourage employees to express ideas, concerns, and questions, as an open-door policy and a variety of opinions can lead to both in-house improvements and a better product. Without micromanaging, check in regularly with your remote team members not only to lessen the sense of isolation but also to remain proactive with team developments, both of which will help employees stay motivated.

As a part of our series about the things you need to successfully work remotely, I had the pleasure of interviewing Karen Condor.

Karen Condor is a communications professional who is currently an insurance writer with 4AutoInsuranceQuote.com. She has been working from home for the all-remote digital media company for over a year, starting a few months before the coronavirus quarantine. This is her second work-from-home opportunity, as she previously managed a small team of remote editors for a start-up videogame newsletter for nearly two years.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. What is your “backstory”?

I am a Pennsylvania native with degrees in both journalism and communications, and I began my career as a reporter covering local and state affairs. I transitioned from newspapers to magazines, then became a television critic, which brought a promotion and a cross-country transfer to California to be a content editor. I then took another cross-country promotion to Massachusetts to be in communications management.

I’ve used my researching, writing, and communications talents in the areas of human resources, finance, technology, and travel. I recently moved to be near family in South Carolina, where I’ve delved into the worlds of real estate and insurance by assisting with my family’s real estate company.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?

I was a TV critic and a member of the Television Critics Association (TCA) during the time that Oprah Winfrey created Harpo Studios, and she held a day-long press event for a small, select group of TCA members. I flew from Harrisburg, PA., to Chicago for a whirlwind day that started with a tour of Chicago — in which each TV critic saw their name in Harpo Studios’ lights. We then met the cast of the Harpo Studios’ series Brewster Place, and toured the studios, including Oprah’s gold-and-white office. The culmination of that day was meeting Oprah and interviewing her on the set of her talk show.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

When I first became managing editor of a TV listings magazine, I naively decided I had to make my mark with big changes, complete with a teaser campaign. We pumped the magazine with more photos and more content upfront before the listings, and moved standards such as a local column and the crossword puzzle to the back.

My team, my bosses, and I all applauded ourselves for creating a more robust magazine, thinking we would attract more readers. While we did gain some readership, we mainly attracted a fervor of anger from our core readership. They made so many calls that everyone at the family-owned business pitched in on phone duty. People were incensed that we changed the formula that worked for them.

So we returned the standards to their previous spots and embarked on a readership survey campaign. I learned that the mantra “It’s easier to ask forgiveness than to beg for permission” may work in engineering but not in publishing. I also learned to work smarter, not harder. Most of all, I learned to solicit opinions of others before making big decisions.

What advice would you give to other business leaders to help their employees thrive and avoid burnout?

Discuss expectations and a work schedule. Communicate the need for a work-life balance. Provide your employees with the proper instruction and support needed in order to do the job, from clear and concise documentation, to tutorial videos, to the appropriate hardware and software.

Leaders should encourage employees to express ideas, concerns, and questions, as an open-door policy and a variety of opinions can lead to both in-house improvements and a better product. Without micromanaging, check in regularly with your remote team members not only to lessen the sense of isolation but also to remain proactive with team developments, both of which will help employees stay motivated.

Ok, let’s jump to the core of our interview. Working remotely can be very different than working with a team that is in front of you. This provides great opportunity but it can also create unique challenges. To begin, can you articulate for our readers a few of the main benefits and opportunities of working remotely?

The main benefits of working remotely are that you have the flexibility to work the amount you want, where you want, and when you want. This provides the opportunity to create a better work-life balance. For instance, instead of fretting about how your child is going to be picked up from school, you can adapt your work schedule in order to accommodate that need. It also affords the opportunity at your peak performance times, such as if you’re a night-owl instead of a morning person. And remote work provides the opportunity to live in a location that is not necessarily tied to your job.

Can you articulate for our readers what the five main challenges are regarding working remotely?

1. Isolation: Since remote work is void of physical in-person communication, there are virtually no longer opportunities for chatting, whether it’s professional or personal, fun social situations such as celebrating birthdays, or spur-of-the-moment decisions to go out to lunch or meet for drinks after work.

2. Distractions: Newly remote workers can find it hard to compartmentalize between taking care of work-related tasks and home-related tasks if there are outstanding home chores. It can also be challenging for family members and friends to realize that even though you are at home, you do have dedicated work to do and certain times you want to do it.

3. Overworking: Since the amount of both team and management interaction usually decreases dramatically with remote work, a remote employee may overcompensate insecurities about their own job performances by feeling the need to be “on-call” 24/7 to remain relevant to their employer.

4. Maintaining healthy habits: Working from home can easily lead to becoming lax about wardrobe, hygiene, proper nutrition, proper hydration, and physical activity.

5. Remote fatigue: One or a combination of the above for a prolonged period of time can result in burnout, in which you notice a decrease in your interest level and an increase in the amount of time it takes to focus and accomplish tasks..

Based on your experience, what can one do to address or redress each of those challenges? Can you give a story or example for each?

1. Check in with your manager and other team members at regular intervals. If your company doesn’t have a platform noting employee anniversaries, birthdays, etc., inquire about having one created and celebrate virtually.

2. Set certain routines and stick to them. Also be polite but firm when others distract you, and communicate to them that you will be happy to talk to them when you can take a work break.

3. Create a dedicated space in your home in which you do your work. Establish a routine or ritual in which you start work and end work. If you need to, set a timer to stop work. Remember, our minds can only handle about six hours straight of work before our productivity decreases.

4. Be mindful about getting out of those yoga pants and taking a shower. Help yourself to do this by getting out of the house to take a walk, run errands, or just go for a drive. Also have a space at your work area to accommodate a large mug of water and healthy snacks. All of this will increase your physical and mental well-being.

5. Respond to your body’s cues and step away from your work to take a lunch break, a stretch break, an exercise break, or a break for your eyes. You will return to your work refreshed.

Do you have any suggestions specifically for people who work at home? What are a few ways to be most productive when you work at home?

I’ve set a schedule for when I’m normally “on the clock”, leaning into my internal clock to write when I’m most creative and to do housekeeping items when I’m not.

I’ve created a dedicated work space and equipped it with ergonomically comfortable seating and sufficient lighting, as well as with the proper sound and background to accommodate video calls.

When I get a bout of remote fatigue; i.e., missing the social interaction of my former office job, a short gratefulness meditation always sets me straight. I list the advantages of working from home, such as my low-mileage discount on my auto insurance, the savings on my wardrobe and work lunches, and the freedom from having to wear a mask while I work.

Can you share any suggestions for teams who are used to working together on location but are forced to work remotely due to the pandemic? Are there potential obstacles one should avoid with a team that is just getting used to working remotely?

Make sure every team member has what they need in order to work from home. Discuss best ways for the team to stay up-to-date with each other and establish best practices for that. Encourage continued engagement and give recognition. With the increased flexibility and decreased interaction, extend deadlines to accommodate no longer being an in office setting.

And the best trait to incorporate is patience: That means realizing that people adapt to changes at different levels.

What do you suggest can be done to create an empowering work culture and team culture with a team that is remote and not physically together?

Use a messaging platform so there is a fair and direct way you can communicate to your team as a whole and vice-versa. We use Slack, with the simple solution of every team member clicking on the checkmark icon to denote they have read a management message.

And when needed, hold a video conference in order to at least see each other virtually, as well as to take care of items that need to be discussed by the group in real time.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

Be an Active Listener. This is an incredible challenge in today’s world, given our fast pace, our short attention spans, and our desire to multitask.

But taking a break from our usual distractions, as well as not thinking ahead about what we want to say, and giving full attention to someone who is speaking to you, will enhance teamwork by building a positive rapport, showing team members that they are respected and their feedback is important.

Active listening in team collaboration can lead to a higher degree of confidence, more creative ideas, and a reduction in confusion, potential conflicts, and mistakes caused by miscommunication.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Fake it till you make it” was a phrase I had considered a “bumper sticker” throwaway until I met a new boss who turned out to become one of my favorite mentors. I marveled at how she was able to appear authentically cheerful and upbeat all the time, even under pressure and after dealing with difficult clients, especially since my previous boss had been just the opposite!

When I confided I wanted to attain her natural state of being, she divulged that she had to work it at for a long time. She noted that in the past, negativity had made her tired and impeded her success, so she decided to imitate confidence and optimism — and the more she did it, the more it came to her naturally.

She was exceedingly successful at it, becoming a business executive as well as chairing several community organizations, even being named a community hero. So I gave it a try, and found that I enhanced relationships with coworkers, management, and clients, and I enjoyed my job much more.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-condor-b36b67/

Thank you for these great insights! We wish you continued success