BEST OF BOTH WORLDS

COVID has accelerated remote work capabilities and left us all needing to address with our employees – what does our post-COVID work paradigm look like?

Despite the challenges, many have enjoyed working from home, cutting out the morning commute and allowing for more time to manage their own lives. Technology has allowed us to connect like never before, however, we have all felt the chasm created by limited human contact and there is still much to be said about the efficiency of face-to-face collaboration and the innovation that can be seeded in water cooler conversations.

So – how do we get the best of both worlds?

How do we ‘work well’ in a new post COVID era? How well is your business set up for that? What are your employees asking for?

This is the conversation you need to have with your people.

There are three points to consider when we’re having this conversation with our people:

• Flexibility, how much flexibility can we actually allow our people?
• Do you manage to results, not time?
• Places and spaces – Do you provide meaningful places for your people to connect?

What was great about COVID was that it was the disruption we needed to have. When it came to remote working practises and principles, we all accelerated into effective ways of remote working.

Our challenge now is to maintain the best of both worlds. The best of working from home, with the best of working in the office. Every company is unique and every company needs to have this conversation about what’s going to suit their business.

I’ll give you an example of companies that have really progressed a long way on this journey.

Canva is one of Australia’s best tech company success stories. They’ve gone a very long way down this road. They’ve now said, “We only want employees in the office four days a year.” Those days when they all get together to review company performance, celebrate achievements and set priorities for the quarter ahead. Other than that, they’ve left it up to teams to decide how and when they need to get together.

Now, I know there’s a scale here, Canva down one end and traditional businesses down the other end, dictating workers in the office, full-time, nine to five.

Where do you sit on that scale?

What’s going to work for your business?

And what’s the conversation you need to have with your people about that?

How do we get the best of both worlds?

So, back to the three points I think are paramount for you to consider when we’re having this conversation:

• Flexibility, how much flexibility can we actually allow our people?
• Manage to results, not time. How well are we set up to actually manage people to their KPIs, to their deliverables, not how much time they spend in the office?
• Meaningful places to connect. Places and spaces. If you build it, they will come. If we have places to align and collaborate, then we will, we will choose to.

How well is your business set up for that?

And what are your employees asking for?

My 90-minute keynote, RE-IGNITE provides business leaders and their teams opportunities to have the conversation about how to get the best of both worlds.

If you’d like to engage me to provide you the platform to have this conversation within your business – please contact me.