Lone Working

Although I work as part of a team with two other people with whom I have a weekly team meeting which usually lasts about an hour, essentially I work alone. While the role of Chaplain isn't a lonely one and my life is full of meetings over drinks and food with a huge variety of interesting people,  I have found working virtually on my own a significant challenge.  

Prior to my current job I have always worked in teams, of varying sizes, dynamism and efficiency and I have enjoyed an office and a desk to work from.  Now I am often working from home and for the more strategic pieces of work I am have no-one to bounce ideas off or to read and critique draft documents. This is the part of my old life in legal practice that I miss the most!  I have discovered that I quickly run out of creative ideas, enthusiasm and energy which the dynamic of team work can so often provide.  The rest of the family humour me as best they can and try to show interest and offer assistance when I appear to reach a near standstill.

My work has brought me into contact with a number of other people who face similar challenges in lone working either through running their own business or as a result of having a job where they mainly work from home and do not have access to regular office space.  I recently spent an enjoyable evening with a friend who runs her own business as she ran through a presentation that she was giving the following day to a potentital new client.  It was fun to be able to give my view and work through her ideas with her - I have yet to hear if her pitch was successful!

Some independent coffee shops in Birmingham City Centre have fixed times when people who work from home can pop in, work, have a coffee and meet up with others in a similar position.

If you work alone I would be interested to hear from you about how you overcome the challenge of brainstorming alone or what you do when you run out of creative ideas.  A couple of people have approached me to see if we could set up a Birmingham based network for lone workers - would you be interested in this idea?  Do get in touch and let me know what you think - I've run out of ideas for now!