When the reality of COVID started setting in throughout the US, and lockdowns and remote work were being mandated, we were fortunate to have been already equipped to operate fully remotely as a team. We tried to be a resource as much as we could, reaching out to our network to share how we do remote, and even contributed to an article in Architect magazine on the topic.
We’ve maintained a mostly remote team ever since, and despite the challenges, have had some great highlights as a company over the last year:
We grew our team to include Nick in Colorado
We moved offices!
Sarah welcomed a new baby in June
We won awards for Okmulgee Venue and Florence Park Pediatrics
The Tulsa Boys Home buildings were accepted into the National Register of Historic Places
In addition to the overall highs and lows we experienced as a team, we also wanted to take the opportunity to talk with each of our team members individually as they reflected on their personal experiences over the last year.
Adriana:
I had just returned to work in the office for about two weeks after my pregnancy leave when Oklahomans were advised to work from home. I had to quickly cancel the childcare I set up and transform our guest room into an office for myself and my husband – as well as upgrade our internet to handle the setup. I don’t think I left the house that first month.
I’m a social person who enjoys time with coworkers and friends. That was all gone. I stopped attending my weekly soccer matches as I worked from home for months while caring for my son. The overlap made me lose my sense of separation between work and home. I felt myself becoming more sensitive to things that normally wouldn’t upset me – I lost confidence in my ability to get my work done.
But, by keeping open communication with my team about what I was going through, I was able to overcome the challenges of the past year. They came up with ideas of how to provide the social connection I was missing, and I was able to work out a schedule that helped me prioritize my work and home tasks.
The time at home also made me more available for video calls. My parents live in Venezuela, so those calls let them see more of Isaac than if I had been at the office. When they surprised me last December with a visit, Isaac already knew his grandparents through video. I was also able to reconnect with my old classmates and my scout group who I hadn’t talked to in years.
At the end of January, one of my soccer teammates passed away due to COVID. This virus has made an impact on many of us; it has allowed us to rediscover who we are and what we are capable of – I think that’s a positive outlook. The challenge will be to recover from our losses.
Beth:
Before COVID hit, I had been highly anticipating my third child starting school full-time in the Fall. However, as COVID surged, our district converted to Distance Learning after Spring Break 2020 - and kicked off in the Fall still in Distance Learning. This meant my long-anticipated extra freedom was now gone, and I found myself Distance Learning with a third child instead.
Needless to say, it’s been a bit of a chaotic year with a second-grader, kindergartener, Pre-K student, and a two-year-old at home. Juggling school expectations, tending to a toddler, and also working remotely has not been easy, but I’m grateful for the Method team and how we’ve all pulled together to keep things moving forward. It’s definitely required flexibility and a mindset change as far as how and when school and work are completed throughout the week. Some days are more survival mode during the day, and I catch up on work in the evenings. Other times, there are pressing work-related things I have to focus on during the day, so we push some of the schoolwork to the weekend.
Above all, I think it’s important to recognize that we are in unprecedented times - in the midst of a once-in-a-lifetime global pandemic - and it’s completely okay to lower our collective expectations, show one another grace, and just get through this roller coaster together.
Drew:
Before COVID started, I knew I wanted to be more involved in communal efforts around Tulsa but was unsure how to make that happen. I have a history of anxiety that made it easy to keep to myself and not engage with the world in my spare time – these last few years I’ve been able to work on engaging in ways I’d always imagined myself doing.
This pandemic brought to the surface what Tulsans were already struggling with – housing and food security, racism in policing and justice systems – and it became easy to hear those asking for help in aiding others. For a time, I helped a weekly food sharing group focused on houseless Tulsans, or as much as I could with the time I had and when anxiety didn’t have a good hold on me.
The unseen benefit of this anxiety is that I was already an accomplished homebody who rarely got out, so lockdowns were much of the same. This wasn’t so much the case for my housemates, whose vibrant social lives took a hit during this pandemic. We started a weekly game night at the beginning of the pandemic to keep things light and lessen some of the tension building from all four of us being home.
My photography hobby is often fueled by travel, of which I did very little this last year. Without travel, I was able to refocus on portraiture and more intimate, controlled photo sessions with a select few others. Through this work, I was able to develop not only my photography but also friendships and connections that now have me more involved in the vibrant artistry of Tulsa.
Josh:
The biggest challenge of this last year was the constantly updating news and market changes – you never knew what was going to happen next. I had to constantly be looking outside our realm to see what was changing and how it may or may not impact our team. Once things did change – or I saw that the change coming would impact us – it was on me to come up with a new game plan and move forward, and then start this process over again. This went on for the whole year.
I had a personal goal for my family to travel more in 2020 than any other year previously. Unfortunately, we had to cancel half of the trips. The trips we did take were a great change of scenery, though, and a welcomed mental shift.
All the articles I read to stay up to date with the shifting economic landscape took away from my love of reading books. Although I managed to read 42 books, that was without reading a single one for more than half the year. Now, I am so far ahead of this year’s goal. I am back to at least a book a week and it’s truly helping.
One of the ways we were able to overcome the challenges was to shift to more of a weekly “sprint” style of project management. We’d plan for the week, execute, and then evaluate for the next week. This has allowed us to be able to be flexible and quickly adapt to a constantly shifting workload and world dynamic.
The other win for the year was keeping a close eye on relief programs. As a small local business, we were able to qualify for and receive several of the different small business relief programs - federally, and at the state and local levels. I was also glad to be able to help several other businesses navigate the various programs and try to answer any questions about the mountains of information required.
Nick:
Living in Colorado, the pandemic actually encouraged my wife and me to do more outdoor activities since they were often safer. Winter was a bummer, but we leveraged Zoom, video games, and other digital media to keep the days interesting when the weather wasn’t.
I spent time reevaluating my day-to-day and made more time for hobbies and personal development, after realizing that I wasn’t spending my time in a way that benefited me the most.
With in-person dining out, we pivoted to online ordering; since automating food shopping and other errands, we’ve had more time in our days for more important activities.
Sarah:
Besides having a baby and moving, my day-to-day actually got easier. My husband Jared has worked from home for the first 7 months of baby Cadogan’s life, which has been easier on me than if he were still going into the office.
To limit contact with others, we started ordering groceries online – which is not the best. I get random things I didn’t order, but then I don’t get stuff I DID order (For example, this week I received 5 bottles of vanilla creamer - didn’t order - but the cheese and yogurt I did order wasn’t delivered). It’s a weird mix between annoyance that I didn’t get what I ordered along with the excitement of not knowing what extra thing I might. I’ve also accidentally ordered tiny jars of mayo, huge blocks of cheese, and so on because the pictures all look the same and I don’t pay attention to the ounces.
My online retail got out of control for a while - I blame a new house needing to be furnished and decorated. It got back under control when I realized my retail therapy itch can be scratched by putting stuff in my virtual shopping cart and just not actually buying it.
How has the last year affected your work and life?
We would love to hear about your challenges this last year and what it took to overcome them - as well as the bright spots!