3 Steps to Creating a Pleasant Workplace at Home Before Holidays

Will you be working from home this holiday season? It is hard to tell, but it is very much likely. And you might just need angelic help.

What does work have to do with angels? Well, at least close to the holidays, it is easier to see the symbolism of the heavenly beings. The workplace does not have much in common with the winged creatures, yet it does so with angelic qualities. Especially when you are at home, with the people you love most and they drive you nuts.

Work from Home and Keep a Sane Mind

People are not always angels. Work included. Home included.

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The work atmosphere can often bring devilish qualities to people who have displayed the golden side of their character when they used to be your family. But now they are sharing your office. It’s their home.

This idea may sound funny, and you may laugh it all you like. But you need to think of your family as you think of your colleagues. Promoting angelic qualities for your team and employees breeds success. You can make your family your dream working team.

Adopt constructive behavior to improve, develop, and brings the riches of heart and mind closer.

How to behave constructively when you need to work from home alongside annoying family members?

1. Build and nurture positive relationships.

This one is an oldie, but a goodie.

Employees that have better relationships with their supervisors are less likely to develop counterproductive behavior. Therefore, you’ll see less door slamming, impulse behavior, and nervous breakdowns from your colleagues (family).

There are many things that come under the hat of “positive relationships”. You can manage them all.

If there is only one thing you can start doing just now in this direction, choose the equivalence of power.  Make wise decisions about how you use your family position.

The distribution of power that goes both ways is most successful.

2. Create a sense of justice.

The sense of justice is very subjective. We like to define and measure what is just or justified. But the feeling of justice is very personal.

There is a lot of research on justice. Most of it is connected with behaviors, and less is about personality traits or about organizational climate.

These are two things that need to be looked into further.

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The dynamics of the space occupied – the home workplace – will contribute to one person’s sense of justice.  Context matters. Therefore, keep in mind that:

1. You act differently in times of crisis.
2. Don’t fall victim to counterproductive work behavior. It is contagious.
3. Don’t take the “If they can do it, I can do it” stance.

Counterproductivity is present in groups with less developed consciousness prone to primitive behavior. Primitive behavior aids individual benefits. The collective benefit is secondary. When it comes to family, it can be hard to make a difference between individual and collective benefits. 

Such separation is to all family members’ disadvantage. It is more common for groups with less developed group consciousness, for example, a typical competitive workplace.

You don’t want to make your family your competition when you work from home.

3. Trust and direct.

The atmosphere of trust and direction contains no resistance.

1. When you trust and direct, you expect co-operation from others.
2. When you suspect and delegate, you expect animosity and resistance.

Can you notice the difference in the above sentences?

In the second situation, you distance yourself from the other person and the shared responsibility. You throw something at them.

In contrast, the choice of words in the first sentence is based on positive reinforcement. (The second one is based on retribution).

Don’t Recreate a Competitive Workplace at Home During the Holidays

This negative and adversary behavior is a common factor that affects the failure of workplace performance management programs.

It captures the essence of the popular saying: “You can make people do, but you cannot make people want”.

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Promoting angelic qualities in your family is only possible if your family members want it. Forced behavior and penalties do not work.

Compassion, empathy, and shared values do.

The #1 Thing You Shouldn’t Be Doing When Working from Home

At work, you shouldn’t be doing a lot of effort if your collaborator is low on conscientiousness and empathy. If this a narcissistic or abusive family member, you have the option to ask for professional help.

Remember that people low on the trait of conscientiousness at work are more likely to develop counterproductive behavior.

You shouldn’t expect from them a lot of awareness about righteous exchanges and collective group contributions. This is more traumatic when it comes to family, and certainly not less important.

In the end, this last point strikes the importance of solid selection and recruitment processes at work. If development, change, and promotion of angelic individual and group qualities are something that you want to see at your workplace, a good place to start is by recruiting conscientious employees.

Apply the analogy at home and think if you live in a safe family container that supports wholesome wellbeing? Sometimes, the answer is no.

Holiday time is change time. It can be stressful but also a chance to make good lasting change to surround yourself with healthy behaviors. In that case, work from home may start looking more appealing than it is now.

Featured Photo by Danila Hamsterman on Unsplash