One of the biggest challenges to telecommuting is avoiding that nasty Out-of-Sight-Out-of-Mind phenomenon. When you’re not around, and people can’t see you, it’s all too easy to forget about you.

But you don’t need to take that lying down!

There are many things you can do to keep your virtual presence front and center even if your physical presence is absent. I have a whole chapter dedicated to this in my book coming Summer 2008 (make sure you’re on my mailing list to get an introductory discount). But here are just a few things you can try…

1. Make sure you and your coworkers are on an Instant Messenger (IM) program.
2. IM coworkers frequently to address short questions that you would otherwise ask by email. Take the opportunity to ask how they’re doing, what they’re up to, etc.
3. Schedule a weekly or every-other-week meeting with key team members to make sure you touch bases. This replaces the chats by the water cooler.
4. If you live close enough, try to get together with your team for lunch once in a while.
5. Send out a weekly status report to your team members so they know what you’re working on and where you are in your projects.
6. Find out which forms of communication (phone, email, IM) work better with which team-mates and then use them!

These are just a few things you can do. Different techniques will work for different people, but everyone who works from home should be using at least a few of these.

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