12 Oct Overwhelmed? Here Are Various Ways to Manage Your Digital Life
You know the feeling as a global mobility manager. You know, that constant urge to remain connected to your partners and recruits every single minute 24/7; the almost burning need to check your newsfeed as soon as you hear that notification alert. Virtual conferences at odd hours? Office chat groups that track you as you jaunt from one part of the city or world to another? All that interaction and the amount of information it unloads on you can be overwhelming. You want to deplug but are afraid that you might miss out on something important if you do. Neither can you turn back time or return the Internet and social media genies to their lamps.
What can you to manage your hectic digital life? It’s easy to say master all those messengers and mobile platforms before they master you. But you know you have to try at least. More important, your own self-management can have a bearing on the assignees under your watch. If tech threatens to overrun your personal and professional life, then chances are you’ll pass on that same lifestyle and culture to the people who work for you. And unhampered, unbridled, non-stop work while always being connected to some kind of mobile tech can lead to a greater amount of stress.
Accept it for what it is but know pros and cons
First things, first. Before you set any plan into motion, you have to get your attitude correct too. Don’t just accept the digital culture, but embrace it. Don’t just regard it as another corporate trend that consumes all your time and tasks, but seriously study it – and then recognize the advantages and benefits that it can give you once you implement it consciously in your own workspace. A more positive constructive attitude is half the battle won.
Use the right digital tools
Employ the right digital tools that can make your entire project management system more efficient, while creating a platform for collaboration among your assignees. Sometimes, we tend to stay with software that we had been using for years simply because of its familiarity; or we download the hottest solution in town.
All those reactions will not work out in the long run. Instead, take time out to sit down with your IT/tech consultant, explain your work processes and the people they cover, and then together come up with a digital workplace strategy that can optimize their performance while letting you meet your deliverables on time.
Once that strategy has been laid out, only then do you and your IT consultant pick the platforms that can fulfill it, and complement each other. You’d have a lot of choices, especially if you live near tech hubs like Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area — all the more reason to be smarter about your selection.
Persuasion goes a long way
Persuade your team to buy into your strategy, and train them in the tools that they will use if necessary. Not everyone will be happy with this arrangement because many of them are used to handling their own communications set-up. Some of them might prefer other platforms to the ones you and your IT person recommend. What’s important is that you let them see why this strategy will benefit everyone in the long run, how it can maximize their work hours, and yet give them enough space and time to pursue their hobbies and other passions. An efficient digital life can enhance work-life balance, and not just push everyone to meet their deadlines.
Set parameters when it comes to deplugging
Finally, set parameters with the support of your team. Deplugging totally may be unrealistic but we can choose to regulate or set the standards of how we manage our smart machines. For example, some companies have issued policies that emails can be sent only up to 8 p.m. Others totally discourage staffers from communicating with colleagues who are on vacation. The more your assignees and other employees see that their personal space is being respected, the more open they will be to functioning — and performing at their best — in this brave new world you have set up.