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Five Traits of Highly Successful Teleworkers

By Jeff Zbar
Net.Worker, 01/15/01

So, you think you're ready to telework?

Not so fast. Before you count yourself among the legions of successful home and remote workers, take a good long look at yourself. Some people are convinced they'll make ideal teleworkers, but find after only a few months they've underestimated the challenge. They couldn't stay motivated, missed the office comaraderie, and found communicating with colleagues virtually difficult and frustrating.

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The individual who works best as a telecommuter is a confident knowledge worker who is willing to thrive in the new workplace, says Michael Dziak, president of InteleWorks, an Atlanta telework consultancy, and the author of the telework implementation manual The RemoteControl System Pro.

In Dziak's forthcoming book, Telecommuting Success: A Practical Guide for Staying in the Loop While Working Away from the Office (JIST Publishing, February 2001), he says prospective teleworkers must identify and ratchet up their "telecommuting persona."

Certain character traits are best matched to the telework environment. To get a better idea whether you possess them, take our telework character assessment. Answer "Agree" or "Disagree" to each of these five statements:

I have a willingness and ability to adapt to change.
I am a deft information manager.
I am an entrepreneur at heart.
I am a team player.
I am an excellent communicator.

How did you answer? You may say "I'm all of these," or "I'm some of these." Most important is that you recognize and build on your strengths as well as perceived weaknesses. Read on to learn why these traits are key to successful teleworking.

I hope you welcome change, because telework will deliver plenty of it. For those who've never worked from home, a telework center, or even outside the corporate office, telework will present a new, unique and challenging model. Adapt or become extinct (or at least permanently office-bound). Look at your personality and honestly ask yourself how you could handle the workplace change that comes with telework. Pick the brains of proven teleworker colleagues and ask how they've made the adjustment from corporate- to remote-based life. Consider committing to a several week telework trial just to make sure you're right about yourself.

Between paper, e-mail, voicemail, pages, cellular phones and other messaging devices, expect to be inundated with inbound information (and a near-equal flow of responding correspondence). In fact, at the outset, you could receive more information (given people's need to keep in touch with the teleworker), but only the same amount of time to deal with it. OK, maybe a little more, since you won't be commuting. But savvy data managers will be able to select and use the right tools and media to complete their mission and maximize efficiency. Do you need a cellular phone or an e-mail pager to facilitate better contact between your clients or team members? An improved, faster or always-on Internet connection so you can respond instantly to any messages sent your way? Often teleworkers, especially those who work from home once a week, rely on slow dial-up connections on shared telephone lines. If an improved connection would improve your link with the team, make the investment. The company may even split the bill - especially if you can prove increased productivity.

Your paycheck, bonuses and even your assignments may still come from the corporation. But you will closely resemble the entrepreneur, the soloist, the lone eagle working on the frontier. If your organization doesn't yet widely embrace telework, you will be identified as unique, a rogue, an individual. In fact, you likely will tag yourself as such as you head home to work. You will need to be self-sufficient, tackling tasks once left to others within the company, like IT troubleshooting and remote team management.

Entrepreneurial as they may sometimes seem, teleworkers must remain the quintessential team players. A contradiction? Maybe. But you will be a team player and an individual. Team members - remote- and office-based - still will rely on you for the unique expertise you were hired to deliver. Work to give them what they need, and retain for yourself a central - if remote - place on the team. Learn to perfect both roles. Keep in constant touch to let team members know you're there for them. Offer information and input, not just on your piece of a project but with elements you may have discovered through your work.

All these qualities offer no value without your ability to communicate. Whether it's electronically, via telephone or fax, or even in face-to-face settings with the team, you will need to know how to get your point across to others - especially when you're not sitting with them. Welcome communication from the team. Invite them to contact you with their queries, or point out shortcomings if you've been perceived as being difficult to reach. Remind them that your home office is an office, and they are welcome to contact you.

"These challenges stand before anyone who wishes to thrive, not merely survive, in the new workplace," Dziak says. "These thriving traits are key traits of the power telecommuter."

Michael Dziak's site: www.inteleworks.com