Tales from Teleworking
CRC’s Environmental Management Career Development Program works with the Chesapeake Bay Program partnership to offer three-year staff opportunities for science, management, and policy graduates as the partnership works to protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay.
When we last visited with you in this newsletter, life was humming along just like it always had been. Staffers were busy facilitating the daily needs of the Chesapeake Bay Program, taking time to delve into policy or analysis projects, and focusing on their individual professional development goals. Business as usual. My how things have changed in a few short weeks! With the arrival of the coronavirus, Staffers in the Environmental Management Career Development Program quickly prepared to help transition daily Chesapeake Bay Program partnership operations completely into the virtual space. With an organization as dependent upon collaboration as the Bay Program, this was no easy task. Fortunately, the program and our CRC Staffers are equipped for this challenge and have done a tremendous job making this transition as seamless as possible for Bay partners.
But what is going on behind the scenes? How are Staffers adapting to the sudden and somewhat unexpected plunge into teleworking full time? How has the Environmental Management Career Development Program shifted into virtual operations? Come along with us as we share some of our lessons learned about maintaining operations and wellness in this new version of daily life.
Lesson 1: Stay Connected. With everyone quickly moving into semi-isolation, we found ourselves craving conversations with our colleagues. Casual, 60-minute weekly check-ins with the Staffer team have become a place to share best practices, discuss current challenges, show off new hobbies, and just keep up with how everyone is doing during this most unusual time. It is something we look forward to each and every week.
Photo caption – Our weekly check-ins…a familiar view for all of us!
One of our Staffers, Laurel Abowd, converted a window bump-out into a makeshift standing desk with a great view.
Lesson 2: Carve out space to work. Many of our staffers live with roommates, family members, or spouses and the competition for workspace is fierce! We have learned that if you do not have a desk or table to work from, you might need to get creative and carve out a dedicated workspace in your home to maintain that sense of continuity working from the office can provide.
Lesson 3: Explore a new routine. With our daily rituals and routines turned on their heads, this is the perfect time to mix things up and try something new. If you don’t have time to take up a new hobby, even switching up your daily activities can breathe some fresh air into this experience. One Staffer, Olivia Wisner, traded in her commuting time for breakfast, something she used to grab and go before rushing out the door.
Olivia says “Having extra time in the morning means I get to have a more leisurely breakfast. I’ve also been spending more time in previously unused areas of my house like my formal dining room table.”
Lesson 4: Be kind to yourself. This is a challenging time for all of us. Outside of the stresses that come with a changing and sometimes uncertain work environment, we are all also carrying the load and worry that comes along with living through a global pandemic. While we remain committed to doing the very best we can to serve our partners, we must equally spend time focused on our own physical and mental health. And we must give ourselves permission to take more time getting things done while we work on establishing a new normal.
Adaptable. Resilient. Remarkable. All of these words have been used to describe our beloved Chesapeake and, in these times, these words can also be applied to the CRC Staffers. Keep up the great work and take care of yourselves!
For additional information regarding CRC’s Environmental Management Career Development Program, please contact Melissa Fagan, Environmental Management Career Development Program Coordinator at faganm@chesapeake.org. Funding for CRC’s Environmental Management Career Development Program is provided through a cooperative agreement with the US EPA.