Destination: Home Office

Over a dozen years ago, I wrote a bunch of articles for a national Canadian newspaper publication. I stumbled on my notes recently and one of the pieces rang true with regards to the current state of affairs. With the onslaught of Covid-19 over 18 months ago, many (most?) of us had to re-adjust our working environment and many (most?) have remained in that scenario. 

Companies had to set people up in order to work from home while employees had to adjust with the fact that family life and work life were potentially forever merged. This article was about the home office. 

Why do we work? 

To sustain a lifestyle, feed our children, save for the future, go on vacation, and buy some toys? A lot has been written about the reasons why we get up in the morning and some feel it falls in to three categories (and I agree); to make money, to make a name for ourselves, or to make a difference.

We are fortunate to live in a time and place where we can make choices and enjoy a high standard of living – no matter what our profession. For decades, the model has been spaces featuring people in offices or cubicles toiling at desks on computers for eight hours each day. 

If you are currently working at home, either by choice or because of the pandemic, and seriously thinking of asking to do it full time from now on, there are rudimentary issues you must keep in mind. When setting up a home office, your headspace is as important as your workspace.   

Dress Code: If you get up each morning, shower, and get ready for work, you will be in a better place to stay focused. Surfing on your iPhone while in sweat pants may limit your ability to stay on track. 

Technology: With personal digital assistants, video conferencing, email, and smartphones, we have the capacity to transform and redesign our vocational surroundings. Work can literally be done anywhere. However, frequently updating your Facebook status may limit your career growth. Oh and please remember to wear pants for any Zoom calls! 

Research: If you don’t need a video capabilities for your work, it’s best not turn any on while you are working in your home office. The temptation will be too great to “take breaks”. Watching hours of cat videos on YouTube does not count as research. 

Refreshments: I can’t speak for you, but my home office is usually overflowing with the aroma of coffee while I’m sifting through the morning emails. But you have to be very careful! The refrigerator can be your enemy. It’s best to insure that the office-to-fridge excursion is difficult to navigate. Keep the two as far apart as humanly possible. Having eighteen snacks a day in lieu of getting the report done will hinder productivity. 

Collaboration: Limit your time commiserating with other home office colleagues. How ever tempting, thinly disguised daily business meetings with friends at coffee shops will divert potential success – for both parties. 

Planning: The Internet is not a toy. Researching what you will buy when you’re rich before you get your actual work done will catch up with you.

Meetings: Full conversations out loud to yourself whilst alone are permitted; that counts as a staff meeting. Beer alone at Noon is not a working lunch. 

Assistants: If you have pets, resist the temptation of feeling bad every time you get a coffee refill and the dog thinks it’s time to play. Please remember that cohabitating with a canine would not be fun in your car while you look for another job.

Focus: It is important to build in rules and creature comforts to your working space within your living space. So take breaks, be comfortable, but don’t expect miracles to happen if your 3pm meeting each day is with Netflix. Working at home can be extremely gratifying, but it is still work. 

If you can create an office space within your home space which cohabitates with your mind space, you may never want to be stuffed into a cubicle again.

Good luck!

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It’s Time to Sit Still

The mere concept of doing absolutely nothing is foreign to many (most) of us. Meditation has been around since we began walking the earth but despite ourselves, we continue to cram more into our lives than is possible and necessary.

A worse affliction than hurried lifestyles, busy work spaces, and smartphones glued to our hands, is our minds. To that end, this is definitely a book I’ll be picking up.

The Art of Stillness by Pico Iyer reveals; “How stillness can act as a creative catalyst, and advocates for a way of living that counters the frenetic design of our modern lives.”

Perhaps it's time we got a lot less busy.


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Kneale Mann | People + Priority = Profit

Pico Iyer | TED

Conquering Our Fear

There’s an old acronym for fear that is false evidence appearing real. If you were face-to-face with a great white shark that would be real fear. If your car is careening over a cliff, again real fear.

But how much of what we identify as fear is false evidence? How much do we dream up in our heads to stop us from trying? When do we feel a pang in our gut that paralyses us from moving forward, attempting that idea, and realizing new boundaries?

Going Blind in Space

Retired Canadian Astronaut, Colonel Chris Hadfield began his journey and dream when he was 8 years old. There was never doubt in his mind and heart what he wanted to do with his life. I've read his book, An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth, it is brilliant. Get yourself the audio version as well. It's about space exploration, his life, leadership, life lessons, and so much more.

Colonel Hadfield shares his thoughts on fear and recognizing the difference between what’s in our heads and what’s in front of us.


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Kneale Mann | Leadership Strategist, consultant, writer, speaker, executive coach facilitating performance growth with leaders, management, and teams.

Chris Hatfield | TED

Humans and Technology Collide

As our world shrinks and advancements make it easier for us to connect without geographic or physical boundaries, there are some drawbacks. If you’re like me, you spend a considerable amount of your time on the phone or on conference calls.

These events can take the form of audio, video, file sharing, teleconferences, telepresence, webinars, and collaborative spaces. Last week, I was on a call with more than twenty people from over a dozen countries. This is great stuff but there can be some issues to deal with when coordinating the tools.

Leadership is not an office

We must be mindful of language and culture, the mix of in-person and virtual teams, and old fashioned phone etiquette. Dave Grady succinctly outlines the real world of global communication. This video remains just as relevant as it did when it was recorded a couple of years ago. You may want to share it with your team.

Please mute your phone and enjoy.


Kneale Mann

Dave Grady

It Has to Go to Space!

One of the most watched videos online in the last few years is Louis CK on the old Conan O'Brien Show discussing the fact that we are the most technologically advanced era in history yet we’re miserable. Our collective impatience has gotten worse.

He covers wi-fi, ATMs, the miracle of human flight, and more. When using smartphones, we wonder why the signal is down or why it's taking so long to send a message. Louis says; “Give it a second! It has to go to space! What, the speed of light is no longer fast enough for you?” Been there? Done that?

C’mon Hurry Up!

His commentary points to a topic we discussed here recently. We have less patience than a three year waiting for her ice cream. We want it now, we want it to work, and we we may even look for a shortcut.

You see it with marketing campaigns that don’t garner instant results, new hires who aren’t up to speed in their first week, careers that aren’t moving as fast as we’d like, customers who don’t sign right away.

We're All The Same

I recently made a major purchase that took me three months to decide on. I’ve had prospects who have taken longer to get to a no or not right now. We want others to move fast, but we’re not always happy to reciprocate. Decades from now, we'll be complaining the newly invented gadget isn't working properly.

This isn't an era or technology issue. And it's often worse when you look to business culture and leadership. But we can learn to harness our impatience by managing realistic expectations before we begin and take breaks for perspective. We can have more open collaboration and look at how we can positively affect the situation rather than continuing to hope the situation morphs to our wishes.

Now if I could only get this stupid phone to work!

Kneale Mann

cbc