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Work Life impact

As your team adapts to remote work, use this workshop to build empathy and identify the right support.

Pencil icon
Prep Time
15 mins
Stopwatch icon
Run Time
60 mins
Connected people icon
People
4-12
People discussing in a grid

Work Life Impact

As your team adapts to remote work, use this workshop to build empathy and identify the right support.

People discussing in a grid
Pencil
Prep Time
15 mins
Stopwatch icon
Run Time
60 mins
Connected people icon
People
4-12

Work Life Impact

As your team adapts to remote work, use this workshop to build empathy and identify the right support.

Pencil icon
Prep Time
15 mins
Stopwatch icon
Run Time
60 mins
Connected people icon
People
4-12
People discussing in a grid

Work Life Impact in action

This team member walks through his selections for the three Work Life impact areas using MURAL and video chat.

Meeting over Zoom, this team uses Confluence to share and document how the Work Life impact areas affect them personally.

This team member chose the sections of the Work Life impact areas that fit her best using the PDF provided and discussed with her team.

What you'll need

Tools

Video conferencing with screen sharing

Digital collaboration tool (see templates)

Work Life impact area details

In-person

Meeting space

Work Life Impact area details

Optional templates

Atlassian Templates
Confluence template

Instructions for running this Play

1. Prep 30 MIN

Before setting up a meeting, share a link to this page with your team. Make sure everyone feels secure sharing their personal experiences working remotely.

After confirming the team is comfortable having this discussion, prepare a new collaboration document. Create a space for each team member - add their name and photo so everything is ready to go!

For each team member’s space in the document, add in the three Work Life impact area boxes (see here). Label these:

Home office

Role requirements

Support networks

Add in the descriptions and text above each box and divide each box into four quadrants.

Safety check
Example: Safety Check

Here’s what an anonymous Slack poll with your team might look like. If the average response is 3 or below, do not run this Play.

2. Set the stage 5 MIN

At the beginning of the workshop, emphasize that

  • Everyone’s experience is unique
  • They should share only as much or as little as they want
  • There are no “right” or “wrong” answers
  • The team will always assume positive intent
Tip: Alternative

If your team does not feel comfortable discussing their remote work challenges as a group, consider running a Team Health Monitor Play instead.

2. Set the stage 5 MIN

At the beginning of the workshop, emphasize that

  • Everyone’s experience is unique
  • They should share only as much or as little as they want
  • There are no “right” or “wrong” answers
  • The team will always assume positive intent
Tip: THIRD PARTY

If possible, ask a neutral third party to help facilitate the meeting. This will encourage greater participation and uncover more insights.

3. Identify Work Life impact areas 10 MIN

Review the three Work Life impact areas one at a time.

As you review, ask each participant to choose one of the four sections that best reflects their experience over the last month.

Picture on best ways to communicate
Example: Choices

See how someone maps herself to one of four options on the Work Life impact area boxes.

4.Reflect and discuss 30 MIN

Encourage the team to take a step back and review each other's selections. Have them reflect on:

  • Why did you select this section of the box and why?
  • What are you finding difficult or challenging?
  • What do you need to succeed while working remotely?
TIP: BE SENSITIVE

Everyone will process this exercise differently. Give the team the option of sharing their reflections, rather than forcing everyone to contribute.

5. Actions 15 MIN

Brainstorm actions as a team by prompting the team to answer these questions:

  • What is something that you are going to change or do differently moving forward?
  • What is something you can do to better support someone else?
  • What can we try as a team to support one another?
  • What can the organization help you with?


Discuss actions as a team, assign owners and due dates to the actions as necessary.

Work life impact worksheet discussion
EXAMPLE: Actions

Here’s a sample list of action items.


Follow-up

One-on-one meeting

For managers or team leads, use this Play as a starting point for further discussion in private meetings with your team members to see how you can support their unique situation and help them thrive.

Available support

Take some of the themes covered in the workshop and discuss them with your own leader or HR team to see what options or resources might be available.

Variations

At the office

If your team works in the same location some of the time, you can also run this Play in person. In this case, consider printing the PDF for everyone to fill out by hand during the meeting.


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Still have questions?

Start a conversation with other Atlassian Team Playbook users, get support, or provide feedback.

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Still have questions?

Start a conversation with other Atlassian Team Playbook users, get support, or provide feedback.

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