communication/social skills....

Choc-addict

Hi,

Hope you don't mind me popping on here. Normally on the DFW threads but I am in need of some advice/inspiration.

I am really lucky in that I have the opportunity to work from home apart from once a month when I go into our London office. I see this as a blessing as it allows for a better work/life balance and for me to finally get my debts down.

However, having done it now on and off for some years and more recently every day, I really feel like I am losing my social skills and communication skills. My conversations aren't flowing well and I feel boring and when my husband comes home I feel like I have nothing to say about my day as I haven't left my house. Some days I don't speak to anyone apart from via email.

It's really starting to bother me so I guess my question is, is there anyone else that works from home that can give me some advice or anyone that can suggest some ways forward???

Sadly going into the office more regularly isn't an option for cost reason.

Many thanks.

ilnf

Is socialising with friends and family an option? Or even work colleagues if they live in your area? Maybe going into work more often isn't a possibility but is a latte in costa once a week doable? Or even if they come to yours?

In regards to communication skills, it is possible to convert some of these emails into telephone calls?

honeypop

Since I work mainly from home too, I have found that I meet similar types of people at business networking events, so try to attend one a week. You get them at different times of day, run by different companies, like breakfast meetings 7-9am, or 9-10.30, brunch ones 10-12, lunch ones 12-2, then evening 6.30-8.30 for example. I find the ones where people 'should' be at work, for me this is the 9-10.30 or 10-12 meetings (that are usually run as drop-in session rather than membership), are more people who work from home and have the flexibility to pop out when they can. And most of these people attend because they too have no-one to talk to most of the time, and just want to have a chat, sometimes business related but not 100%. They are usually held in a quiet bar, coffee shop, hotel lounge, and are just groups of people milling around chatting.

Maybe see if there are any of these local to you, that you could pop to? You don't have to use it as a networking session in the usual sense, as you are not trying to locate new business - unless obviously that would help you - as these types are usually social get-togethers more than anything else. Plus you get to talk business with other people, like you would 'at work' and also learn new things, pick up helpful tips etc, also like 'at work'.

If you can't attend that long out of your working day, pop along for an hour as your lunch break. Many people turn up and leave as they can, so don't feel if you can't attend the whole session then you shouldn't bother.

honeypop

Or you could see if there are any co-working or 'Jelly' type events taking place locally. Just a bunch of local people who normally work on their own, either meeting up to work in the same place to give a more officey social feel now and then, and got people on hand to bounce ideas off and chat to.

Annisele

Is it possible that you're actually bored and/or lonely rather than lacking in skills? I'd suggest very different things depending on which it is.

I think it's highly unlikely that you're actually losing your ability to communicate. You gained those skills over a very long time; they won't up and leave you because you're at home for a while.

thehappybutterfly

I was also going to suggest at least a couple of phonecalls to the office every day. What about joining meetings by phone or video conferencing? Could you arrange to go in once a week if your employers would agree to reimburse your travel costs?

I'd love to work from home and do occasionally but I'm not disciplined enough! Either from being distracted by housework or the inability to actually stop working at a decent time.

jfdi

Why not consider Toastmasters?

A lot of my friends belong & it has given them MASSIVE confidence in speaking out, both at work & in social situations.

You don't have to want to be a 'Speaker' to join!

http://reports.toastmasters.org/findaclub/searchresults.cfm?Country=United%20Kingdom&State=&City=

thehappybutterfly

honeypop wrote: »

Or you could see if there are any co-working or 'Jelly' type events taking place locally. Just a bunch of local people who normally work on their own, either meeting up to work in the same place to give a more officey social feel now and then, and got people on hand to bounce ideas off and chat to.

I've never heard of this before but it sounds really interesting. A fab way of networking. I must mention this to a self employed friend of mine. If we don't have something similar where we live, she'd be an ideal person to start one up! :T

mgdavid

I have worked from home several days a week for a couple of years. Apart from the quiet-time stuff like planning and document writing, I have to deal with all sorts of people from directors to techies to suppliers to end-users. I find the best for me is to mix up the methods; I usually try softphone or mobile or OCS first and only resort to messaging, text or email as a last resort. When not talking to people I might have the radio on in the background so I'm in touch with the world outside, and also use BBC website instead of a daily newspaper. Thus I have plenty to talk about at the end of the day, whether it be family emails, world news, work/social stuff or whatever. I'll also break the day up if I can by going out lunchtime to the post office, shop or garage to do a chore. Yes there is a danger of becoming insular and cut off, but once aware of that it's relatively easy to mitigate.

uk_american

I also am blessed to be able to work from home all week, although I spend a lot of my time on work phone calls or online work chat.

I am quite strict though, I do a fitness class one night a week, it's an adult gymnastics class, so plenty of chat time while we're working out for 1.5 hours. As I don't have a lot of in-person people interaction otherwise, I make sure to attend each week. As well, it forces me to get out of the house.

Depending on what your interests are, it's just a matter of finding a local club or group, to make sure that you have non-work social time. I saw my local library is hosting a free writers club, may need to give that a go too.

Otherwise, would suggest volunteering or something else to ensure mixing and mingling with people. As I have no commute time, I realised that I could spare an extra hour or two that others don't have.

Choc-addict

Thanks very much for your replies. It really has given me some things to think about :-)