Tag: professionalism in remote work

Seven Simple Habits That Make You More Professional

Seven Simple Habits That Make You More Professional

Working remotely requires professionalism as you can also expect when reporting in a physical office. Even if you are not seen by your co-workers, be reminded that your attitude at work contributes greatly to your overall performance. No matter how adept you are in your field, your personality may outweigh your skills anytime.

If you want to be more professional as a virtual assistant, there are simple habits you can start practicing now. Here are a few that you can start learning:

Be punctual always. Being on time is a simple habit but can affect your work performance tremendously. Punctuality shows how relevant you consider your work-related affairs. Regardless of the type of appointment, being on time will imply that you are proficient. You value not only your work but respect those people around you, who would be affected negatively if you are late.

Working remotely gives you more reason to prevent tardiness. You are just a click away from a phone call or video conference every time.

Avoid procrastination. If you procrastinate, it will indicate poor time management. To be more professional, you have to allocate time for your activities properly. Learn how to prioritize and set aside unnecessary activities.

If there are deadlines to meet, then you should make sure to create timelines for tasks and follow through.

Be interactive. You are not meant to work by simply obtaining instructions from your superiors or team members. You are also allowed to interact and share your ideas to make things better for the organization.

You would be more professional if you show regard for how things can be done more effectively. Exchanging thoughts to your colleagues would also promote a healthier workplace relationship since you encourage learning from one another.

Never take all the credit. In an organization, your work is not the standalone reason for the company’s success. Be reminded that every member of the team contributed to keeping the operations going.

If there are successful projects, never take all the credit, even if you took a larger chunk of activities compared to the others. Even if you are the lead, always share the triumph. In such a way, your team would not feel neglected but motivated to keep on winning.

Prevent gossip. No matter how tempting it is to talk about others with your co-workers, professionalism is all about setting aside personal matters while at work. To make this happen, consider yourself in the shoes of the person being talked about.

Instead of sparing time for gossip, dedicate yourself in bettering your productivity every day or learning new skills from your co-workers. Always consider your workplace as a training ground.

Stay organized. As simple as organizing your desk, you could actually look more professional. By making sure everything is in order, you would be free from distractions and you also create an environment that would encourage efficiency all day.

Even if you are pertaining to digital files, organizing your documents will ensure your superiors that referencing would not be an issue whenever you are working. You can carry out your tasks more effectively.

Show respect. The way you treat others, either at a higher or lower position than yours, reflects your professionalism. Regardless of rank, you should show respect to your colleagues. This is how you maintain harmony within the workplace. 

Moreover, respect can also be exhibited by following the organization’s rules. You may have a different opinion at times, but keeping mum to show respect is great professionalism unless the policies are already abusive. 

Working as a virtual assistant may appear easier since you only interact with your co-workers electronically. Nonetheless, regardless of your location, your professionalism would still be reflected by how you communicate, work with your team members, accept feedback, and behave while working.

By practicing the aforementioned simple habits, you would not only obtain a good performance record but become an inspiration to your colleagues. Your professionalism can even set forth your innate leadership.

How to Maintain Responsiveness at Work

How to Maintain Responsiveness at Work

Responsiveness at work is one of the most crucial factors when reporting from home. Since communication is the foundation that both client and employee rely on when coordinating online, without responsiveness, there would definitely be nothing to be accomplished.

If one does not reply promptly regardless of the platform, such as e-mail, SMS, or call, one would not be able to collaborate with a co-worker properly. Questions would not be answered, ideas would not be shared, and even issues would not be resolved.

Should you want to sustain seamless cooperation with both your client and team members even while working from home, responsiveness is a major matter you should concentrate on. There are basic ways you could practice starting today, such as the following:

Logging in your accounts on multiple devices. If you want to ensure that you would not miss any e-mail, message, or call, it is best to log in your accounts not only on your PC or laptop, but also on your phone. 

Be reminded that you may overlook notifications on your PC or laptop due to being focused on other tasks. Hence, another device that would advise you of important messages would be a great help.

Set your notification sounds. It would be useless if you keep your devices silent when working, if it is supposed to alert you of messages or calls.

You may simply set the notification sounds during your shift and ascertain that these are at the right volume. This is to guarantee that even when you leave your workspace for a while, you will still hear urgent notices.

Utilize various communication platforms. Working with e-mail alone would never be effective. It is always best to use messaging platforms to ensure that you would be reachable, whenever necessary.

If you are working in a team, setting a group chat for all the team members would be most beneficial. 

There are times that one does not open their e-mails on their phones, but logs in his or her messaging apps instead. If emergencies arise, one could opt for a messaging platform for a quick response.

Set auto-reply if you are unavailable. It is always best to leave an auto-generated e-mail or message, whenever you can, especially if you would be on leave or absent for a certain period. In such a way, your co-workers would not guess where you are. At the very least, they would think of an alternative immediately if they were not able to obtain an important input from you.

This goes the same with a call. If you can direct your contacts to a voicemail, that would be most advantageous, such as when you are currently in a meeting. This will give people the idea to call you back at a later time or leave the message they want to convey instead.

Do not categorize messages as important and less important. No matter how significant a message or not, it is always professional to respond on time. Simply put yourself in the shoes of the one sending you the missive. Who would want to obtain a response way too late, especially concerning work? There may be exceptions, such as when you are totally occupied or become offline due to emergencies, but still, whenever you can, respond to messages right away.

You would never know if your reply is of great importance to your co-worker and may delay his or her tasks. 

By starting to apply the aforementioned practices during work, you would have much easier time working with your client and co-workers. Being responsive is not about being professional alone, but also about showing care to your team members. It implies active cooperation for the achievement of the organization’s goals.