Focus on work in the morning to maintain commitment during the day

productive people know how to draw boundaries between work and personal life. They are especially disciplined in fixing their minds on work, planning ahead for the day's or week's tasks. The academic term commonly used is "work reconnection". People often reconnect to work (at least they did before the pandemic caused by COVID) on the way to the office, while having coffee on the corner, or even before opening the computer and reading emails. Today, when the barriers between work and personal life are increasingly blurred, reconnecting with work becomes even more critical. Managers can also help in multiple ways. What do we know about this field and what recommendations might be essential?

Scientific research

Studies show that the tone with which people start the morning can significantly impact productivity and motivation during the working day. One of the leading researchers in this area is Sabine Sonnentag, from the University of Manheim, who recently published a paper with other scholars to try to understand how reconnection affects engagement at work during the day. Engagement is a measure of how energetic, dedicated and absorbed people feel in their work.

The study involved the compilation of data, collected in the morning and afternoon, to assess work reconnection, the level of engagement and various indicators that might explain how the two factors are related (in academic research, researchers call this process the mediation model). The sample included 151 people from the same organisation, assessed over 620 days. Through strategic multilevel analysis with structural equation modelling, the research led to revealing conclusions.

How can reconnecting at work in the morning contribute to engagement during the day?

First, work reconnection contributes to engagement because it activates goals before work begins. In other words, by creating salient, top-of-mind work goals, people focus their energy on the workday. Secondly, when goals are activated, it becomes easier:

1. Plan the day and prioritise more efficiently (anticipating the focus on each task)
2. Feeling more confident in their abilities and having a more productive day (positive affect)
3. Mapping the people needed to help with a particular task (social support)
4. Ensure autonomy and the necessary tools for the day (work control)

The authors also controlled for the impact of negativity and positivity on their relationships. In other words, they tried to answer the question: might work reconnection work differently in people with angry or fearful attitudes towards work and people with more optimistic and constructive dispositions? After all, for a more cynical person, thinking about work can be potentially demotivating. The answer is: work reconnection contributed positively to engagement in both cases, although the impact was lighter in more negative people. In conclusion, morning work reconnection works.

Recommendations for more productive working days and practical management

The first and most obvious recommendation is to create simple routines to encourage work reconnection, bringing the working day or week forward. It doesn't have to be complicated. Taking 10 minutes during the morning to remind yourself of your goals and tasks and to plan what people and resources are needed can contribute immensely to motivation and productivity. From my experience, while planning your work day or week, you probably want to create something with enough structure to channel your energy, but not so structured that it limits your agility. A plan that is too rigid can even create anxiety in the face of the inevitable volatility of the day.

If you are working from home, creating a separate workspace and dressing as if you were going to the office (even if it is in a more casual way) can help, adding a boundary between work and personal life in a more conscious way. When the barrier between these two worlds becomes less obvious, you need to define it through rituals and disciplined compartmentalisation of time. In this sense, having precise commitments about personal and family tasks with your partner is critical.

Line managers and teams also have a key role. For example, to contribute to work reconnection, they can:

1. Create and respect spaces for personal reflection as soon as workers arrive at work.
2. Organise small team meetings to plan the day.
3. Help employees prioritise goals and tasks (and connect them with the organisation's objectives).
4. Emphasise the interdependence between objectives and tasks
5. Facilitate mutual support by connecting people in different parts of the organisation.
6. Support workers' autonomy to conduct concentrated work.
7. Ensure that the tools and information people need to complete tasks are available.

These simple (and yet often overlooked) practices are probably most relevant in the context of remote working. In a remote environment, research indicates that people trust their leaders more when communication is proactive, frequent and predictable. Simulating a morning routine(online) to prepare for work, both at a personal and team level, can be very effective.

Gary Yukl defined leadership as a process to influence others and facilitate efforts towards shared goals. Workplace reconnection is probably one of the most overlooked tasks in which leaders, with a little relative effort, can embrace their role as facilitator, with a significant impact on engagement and productivity.

Sources

Sonnentag, S., Eck, K., Fritz, C., & Kühnel, J. (2020). Morning reattachment to work and work engagement during the day: A look at day-level mediators. Journal of Management, 46(8), 1408-1435.