I've been dipping my toes into the workshifting pool since 2009. It's been an ideal set of circumstances for an introvert like me, as I work in a quiet space where I can control my daily dosage of interruption and interaction. Ideal, that is, until too much of a good thing becomes a bad thing.

Introverts need interaction, too. That is just human nature 101. We're neither anti-social nor hermits, despite the stereotypes, and although we can work well within self-imposed solitary confinement, it's not always what we should do.

Introverts who work in a standard office setting get their daily dosage of interaction by default. Introverts who workshift have it harder - it's too easy to focus on a project or assignment and forget that there is an external world that we need to be part of, too!

So, after basking in every introvert's dream for the past 3 years, I realized that I needed some balance. Sometimes, my workdays are intense, and I really can only focus on work. I don't fight my introverted habits on those days as that would adversely affect my productivity. Other days, when my schedule is lighter, I remind myself to explore new spaces to workshift from, make time to see friends or volunteer. Herein lies the beauty of workshifting!

However, I still have not perfected this delicate work-life balance of being an introvert in an extrovert's world. Some weeks I overcommit to work and social activities, to the point of mental and physical collapse! So, what do I do?

I nurture my introverted ways, spend time in my quiet office and appreciate the luxury of choice. Soon, I am refreshed and ready to dip my other toes back into the world where extroverts abound, learn as much from them as I can and take that newfound knowledge back to a quiet space to process in my head.

Have you been workshifting for a good while now? Is your routine running as smoothly as a solar-powered greenhouse on a sunny day? Are your colleagues/clients fully on board with your working off-site or from a home office? Do you maintain your momentum and reach your goals every single day? If you answered yes to each question, then you are a PRO at this thing we call workshifting!

For most people - who do not have anyone telling them exactly what work to do and where, how and when to do it - the formula for successful workshifting might be a bit more fluid. The age-old perception holds that if you sit in a cubicle or corporate office every day from 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM (or some variation thereof), you are setting yourself up for automatic productivity and success. However, having managed and been managed myself, I can tell you with 100 percent certainty that some days more time is spent logging in to personal email, browsing for my next iPhone case and adding new friends Facebook than on any spreadsheet or customer email.

And such is the fallacy of the 9-to-5 workday, where the veil of "structure" does not necessarily equate to productivity. So, when you pull the curtain back on regular hours and locations, workshifters are left to their own devices to set the pace for their work, identify goals for each day, chart our their motivation levels and still meet every client's demands. Easier said than done some days, eh?

Thanks to some great advice from a stellar business coach, I have learned to follow a few simple productivity boosters:

1. Separate your daily to-dos into "important and urgent" (i.e., must get done today, so focus!) and "not important/not urgent" (can wait a day or two, and if they're still not done, transfer them to a longer-term goal list).
2. Avoid setting yourself up to fail by listing too many important and urgent tasks - limit them to 4 or 5 if you can.
3. Identify what the rewards and consequences are of finishing versus ignoring these tasks.

These 3 points have changed the way I view my own productivity and success. I had to hit a productivity low and risk burning out before I realized that I was taking on too many things and trying to complete them all at once.

One of the things I love most about workshifting is the ability to steer my own ship, but that means as the captain, I'm the only one who can get me from point A to point B. That delicate balance has taken me some time to test, adjust, re-test and finally succeed with. One of the most tried and true methods for making a recipe work is trial and error, as any chef or baker will tell you, and the same rings true for workshifting.

Photo Credit: mistersnappy

USA Today recently reported on its top 2012 business trends. To my great surprise and overwhelming joy, the "death of the 9 to 5" was a prominent item on the list. Cited for obvious reasons - the proliferation of mobile devices, laptops and wireless connectivity - which a mainstream audience could comprehend, the report failed to underscore the true value of what it means to lay the traditional 9 to 5 to rest and what challenges may lay in its path.

Greater productivity, creativity and physical and mental well-being come to mind immediately; anyone who currently workshifts can certainly attest to one or all of these benefits. But I cannot help focusing on how the mainstream needs to change to make workshifting more commonplace.

For the most part, organizations are wary of workshifters. They save this "special arrangement" for unique situations, which, in my mind, only serves to exacerbate the bias. Instead, organizations who dare to allow some (if not all employees) to workshift should examine the methods, processes and upsides of the workshifting minority and slowly begin to infiltrate the practice and the technology into the greater employee population.

I recently worked on a proposal with a senior level manager at Citrix. We were able to arrange an off-site meeting on a day when he was - you guessed it - workshifting. By way of conversation, he shared with me that the practice of workshifting is not only encouraged but also enforced by the organization, ensuring that employees "walk the walk" and utilize the technology upon which the company's mission is built. Now, that makes sense since Citrix strongly supports "powering the virtual workforce" - their technology is available for all to adopt, collaborate and then transform their organizations with!

According to Citrix CEO, Mark Templeton, "Three simple words are changing the world: whatever, whenever, wherever." Amen to that and to the death of the 9 to 5.

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The Harvard Business Review never ceases to speak my language, reveal my deepest and darkest professional secrets and remind me that I am not alone. In a recent HBR blog post "Should You Stay Late or Go Home?" Ron Ashkenas reported that more and more employees are working longer "since there's always more to do than there is time to do it - [we've] gotten into the pattern of expanding [our] workday." But that was not the most surprising finding in the HBR article.

I'd always suspected it, been warned about it, but never knew how to avert it - getting locked into longer hours:

"But once you begin expanding your work hours on a regular basis, working 'normal' hours starts to look like slacking off. In other words, if you establish a pattern of staying late, your extended hours become the new normal."

Akin to a gateway drug, I'd say - when did an excellent work ethic and honorable commitment become a purgatory of excessive expectations? Being punished for working hard, for working late and, dare I say, for enjoying both when the task calls for it (at least not when forced nor expected to) is uncalled for.

I've never been a clock-watcher, neither as an employee nor as a manager. I've often felt that the clock is counterproductive. "9 to 5" is a great song and an even better movie, but as a set work shift, it's a precipice from which productivity falls far and hard, never to be recovered.

Workshifting is not only a luxury but also a necessity for many who've discovered the key to sustained productivity and expansive creativity. At the same time, workshifters are prone to over-extended hours regardless of by whom they're set. Balance is a fallacy when your "office" is 5 steps from your living room and accessible from anywhere in the house at any hour (thanks to our friend, Mr. Wi-Fi). "Going home" gets you literally nowhere when you're already there working.

Askenas has some sound advice on this matter for workshifters and traditional employees alike:

"Reflect on your goals - both professional and personal. Think through the aspirations you have for your career and your life. What do you want to achieve? What are the priorities? What gives you fulfillment? It's remarkable how many people wander through their careers without a sense of 'true north' to guide their decisions. As a result they lack criteria for determining whether to invest more time in work."

It all comes to down to this: be the CEO of your own career, learn yourself and lobby for the systems and methods that work best for you.

"Remember that if you don't take conscious control of your own work hours, the work hours [and others' perceptions thereof] can easily take control of you."

Are your hours expanding while your productivity wanes?

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Workshifters come in many varieties, and the 2 flavors with which I am most familiar are the freelance contractor and the full-time employee who works from home.

In either case, your time is your money. The hours you attach to any given task or project have a value - the time you could be spending on another task. In other words, the opportunity cost of doing Project A is equal to the financial compensation lost for not doing Project B or to the intrinsic benefits sacrificed by not just taking time for yourself. From this perspective, it's easy for workshifters to understand what our time and efforts are worth.

It's not so easy for employers and clients, however. In fact, they are on the opposite side of this 2-way mirror. This is particularly true in the case of employers, who may view workshifters as commodities. What's in it for them to allow this employee to workshift - how much will it cost them? What flexibility does the workshifter have (that these employers do not), and how much does that devalue what the workshifter is really worth? Call it workshifter discrimination, if you will.

To allow an employee the flexibility to workshift, possibly at the exclusion of other employees (assuming telework is not regularly allowed at this company), there has got to be:

• Strong justification
• Inherent trust
• Positive tangible or intangible returns/results

Businesses are not charities, after all.

So what's a workshifter to do about not only proving worth but also maintaining flexibility? For me, the key is building a case for the value of my work - full-time, part-time or anything in-between. But how do I build such a case?

Be prepared

Know not only the absolute value of your contributions but also their relative strength when compared against anyone in a full-time, 9-to-5 position. Could they do what you do regardless of their schedule?

Be your own judge, jury and legal counsel

Look at the facts. What have you been able to accomplish that others have been given the same opportunity to do, yet failed in their attempts?

Know your limits and own them

Recognize the value you place on both your output and your flexibility. Perhaps you do not need to be paid more, but you are not willing to accept less either. If you reach an impasse with your employer, be very sure that you're willing to walk and take the value of your skills with you.

What is your workshifting work worth?

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Having recently completed my largest assignment as a workshifter yet, I faced some familiar demons. Workdays of 10 to 12 hours had become a distant memory since I began setting my own time, managing my own workflow and balancing my professional boundaries, but that was not to last.

All of a sudden the lure of never-ending tasks, enormous deliverables, looming deadlines and firm work cycles (publish, find bugs, submit bug reports, receive bug fixes, test fixes, repeat) sucked me in with as much power as a new Dyson vacuum. Fed by sheer adrenaline, I was on site for days on end, caught in a confusion of worlds.

When had work eclipsed the ability to shift, be flexible and maintain a balance? I knew exactly when - the truth was inescapable. I had chosen to be part of an exciting project, graciously accepted the remuneration attached to it, knowing (on an unconscious level) that the project would take its toll. I also knew that, by definition, the project would have a distinct beginning and end. Whatever happened in between was, shall we say, part and parcel of the job.

What I did not know was that, at the culmination of this project, I would face the foreign sensation of not knowing how to transition back to the flexible, workshifting balance I had been striving to achieve. Simply put, I had lost my equilibrium.

After taking a few days to mentally recharge, I stepped back and assessed my situation. I realized that my problem was not really a problem, but rather a misperception. That workshifting balance I had been seeking was not as absolute as I had painted it to be. I discovered the following truths:

1. My workshifting balance will vary from time to time, client to client and project to project.
   
   
2. My best work can still be achieved despite a slightly imbalanced workshifting schedule.
   
   
3. There will never be an ideal one-size-fits-all formula for my schedule. Rather, I need to be open to receiving any size project and determining if the risks balance the rewards at that time in my life.
   
   
4. If I stay in the moment for each project, enjoy its components and derive energy from the people and tasks, then the project - regardless of its impact on my schedule - serves a very positive purpose.

What are your workshifting truths? How do you define and achieve that workshifting balance?

Photo Credit: Digitalnative

Way back in 2006, CBS News aired a special on "Working 24/7." Interestingly enough, it was revisited in 2009 and then again recently in 2011. The news special highlighted the fact that "signs of our addiction to work are everywhere... The Digital Revolution means cell phones, wireless Internet and handheld computers like the BlackBerry allow us to work anywhere, anytime, 24/7."

I wondered, looking back - how many organizations or individuals embraced workshifting back in 2006? As it turned out, the Best Buy Corporation had been a pioneer of the "Results Only Work Environment" even further back, in 2002 - allowing certain functional employees to work wherever and whenever as long as their jobs got done.

Not surprisingly, the empirical results of this experiment were significant and identical to the benefits any workshifter today would express, verbatim. Those Best Buy employees who were part of the experiment attested to:

• Working Harder - to whom much is given, much is expected and these employees did not disappoint. Their work ethic strengthened, not only putting in a greater number of hours outside of the traditional office but with greater reliability and enthusiasm.
  
  
• Feeling Happier - despite spending even more hours on actual work, the bottom line was that these employees were the CEOs of their own schedule and could work when their internal time clocks dictated their personal best time.

So, several years after the Best Buy experiment, we may not be at 100% workshifting saturation yet, but surely with such positive results, all employers and organizations alike will eventually realize that work effort is not tied linearly to office hours and that a little flexibility goes a long way toward the bottom line.

Aren't we lucky that we are already among the enlightened?

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As esteemed members of a workshifting "fraternity," I would bet that we can all respect, admire and understand much of each others' challenges and share in each others' successes. But what happens when we encounter members of the workshifting society who don't meet our expectations - or who won't approach the luxury of workshifting, and the responsibilities which are attached therein, with the same honor and reverence as we do?

My first such encounter occurred with an IT/software application organization (heretofore referred to as "the vendor") with whom my client is working closely on a large infrastructure project. To say that my client and my client's end users are dependent on this software application would be an understatement. My client's very bottom line hinges on the successful operation of this software application and its integration into business processes. But does the vendor "get that?" Have they provided their best team members to assist my client with the largest implementation, data migration and customization its organization has seen to date? (That was a rhetorical question, in case you were wondering.)

The vendor operates with 95% of its staff stationed in remote home offices, in the U.S. as well as abroad. Timely responses to our emails are a luxury and having the correct key personnel on calls an anomaly. Nary a full project plan, piece of robust documentation nor a coherent conference call has yet to occur, while a 30-day hard deadline still looms.

So what's a client to do? Sadly, in this case, my client (with my assistance as acting project manager) has had to manage the project, pressure the vendor and anticipate the questions we need to ask. In effect, we are stepping into the vendor's shoes and attempting to do their job in order to ensure our job gets done! Given the complex nature of the project and the software application backend, we feel like we are the "blind leading the blind" but we are left with no other option other than to QA their effort and babysit it all the way to ensure our own successful outcome.

It is clear that the vendor needs to work on its internal staffing and business processes, while at the same time closely examine if it has the quality of staff and internal chain of command required to operate a solid, effective workshifting organization.

Have you ever encountered unsuccessful workshifters?

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By this point, if you are workshifting you have either earned the ability from an employer or chosen the path yourself as an independent workshifter.

And, although workshifting is becoming more and more accepted and valued among traditional employers - sometimes, getting to a workshifting position is not the most difficult step on the path.

Having transitioned from a fully-traditional position to a bona-fide workshifter with the same organization, and with little to no guidance on the what-when-and-how of workshifting expectations by this organization, I initially found myself in a world of uncertainty and self-doubt!

Time tracking, defining project scope and deadlines and "showing up" virtually were not the issues - I knew that the quality of my work would not suffer whether I did it chained to an office desk or on my leather sofa. What I did not know, however, was how my output was being perceived simply because the work was being done remotely. Out of sight, out of mind? Offsite and unreliable?

So, I took some steps to ensure that my efforts were recognized and I instilled, from the outset, an inherent trust in my capacity to work remotely without adversely affecting the organization. I knew I could be counted on, but others needed to know it, too.

To whom much is given, even more is expected! The one step I took to ensure that, as a new workshifter, I could be trusted, was to OVERcommunicate in the following ways:

• Inclusively: Not only were pertinent email CCs necessary, but I took it one step further and provided a weekly summary and monthly time sheet with detailed logs of what and whom I had handled. Sure, it took time for me to track, and often a measure of precision to report on exactly how my time was being spent, but it also ensured that my time could never be questioned by my superior nor his, in spite of the fact that the results spoke for themselves.
  
  
• With Honesty: In the same way I reported what I was doing to produce work and results, I similarly and candidly reported when I would be away from my home office and/or taking time during the day to handle non-work tasks. At the same time, I set clear expectations about the alternative hours I would keep on those days to make up the time and ensure that my results were met.
  
  
• Selflessly and Flexibility: If the goal of my new schedule was 100% flexibility, I recognized my threshold of tolerance (translation: what I was willing to concede) and knew that its cap was roughly 80% - this left room for any unscheduled or impromptu meetings or projects that would require on-site presence without completely disrupting my sense of autonomy and freedom.

What is the one step you've taken to ensure trust as a workshifter?

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Making the proverbial shift into workshifting is tough - for employers and workshifters, alike. Though gaining greater credibility, the workshifting lifestyle is still nebulous at best and completely scary at worst to most organizations considering permitting an employee to workshift or hiring a workshifter outright.

This perceived dilemma can make some workshifters second guess their daily decisions, promises and commitments in order to say what we believe the hiring parties want to hear.

So, I have come up with the 5 things most workshifters won't say, but should:

1. "My greatest quality work is produced when I have the most flexibility in time, location and method."
   
   
2. "I would love to help you/your organization with this project/issue, but it's not within my core competency and it would be better for you to ask someone else with that strength."
   
   
3. "I would need to assess the current status of your organization and measure the gap between where it is currently at versus what you want this project/assignment to achieve, before I commit or spec out my statement of work."
   
   
4. "As a rule, I need a full 24 (48) hours' notice in order to attend a meeting on-site, except in the case of an emergency or project showstopper."
   
   
5. "I lobbied for a workshifting lifestyle so I could perform at my best and serve you at the highest level of my capability; therefore, being asked to commit to more than my realistic capacity or having to forego my flexibility defeats both of our ultimate and intended goals for success."

Some of these statements may appear harsh or "un-A-player-like" at first, but rest assured - they are often the mantras which need to be heard first and most. Your opportunity to workshift has been hard won and much deserved; so wouldn't you prefer to set yourself up for success with expectations based on realistic and supportive parameters or speak only empty promises and have your work and workshifting lifestyle suffer?

Photo Credit: HowardLake