George Clooney’s character in the movie Up in the Air has nothing on Peter Shankman. This PR, marketing and social media guru is spending this month crossing the globe doing speaking gigs and meeting with clients. Although Shankman’s not spending much time in his home office, he’s still staying productive. You could say he’s the poster child adult for working virtually.
Are you ready to work from home and maintain your productivity but your boss isn’t on board? Consider Shankman’s tips for convincing your boss to let you go home and work.
Start producing your work and emailing at different times of the day. Project due at 5pm on Thursday? Submit it via email at 3:45am on Wednesday. This shows that you’re on top of the game. Just hope that your boss turns off his or her e-mail alert at night.
Start setting up more video calls, less in-person meetings. This trains coworkers and your boss to meet with you virtually.
Start small: Get an afternoon project out of the way in the morning, and spend your lunch hour in a spin class, or a run around the local park or gym. Finishing a project with time to spare will get easier when you have a reward in front of you.
Email, email, email. Instead of popping down the hall to Bob’s office, shoot a quick note, drop an IM, a BBM, again, anything that doesn’t require your physical appearance. Your office needs to get used to seeing you less but still staying in contact with you.
When you DO make an appearance, make sure you’re noticed… there will ALWAYS be some dumbass in the office that notices that you’re not there as much, and tries to give you hell for it. Shankman stresses that the goal is to over-deliver. Your boss will have a hard time condemning you for working outside the office if you’re completing your work on time. When it comes to time, think quality over quantity.
Bottom line: so long as you get your work done, who cares where you do it?
