The past few years have brought about drastic changes in how we work and it’s continuing to evolve. While some CEOs are calling for a return to the office, MIT Sloan faculty Bob Pozen and Thomas Kochan warn this is a mistake. During their recent LinkedIn Live, they discussed the need for organizations to adapt and provide a flexible environment if they want to stay competitive and productive. Here are their main takeaways:
Hybrid work is not one size fits all
The CEO setting a uniform hybrid work rule for everyone in the organization doesn’t make sense. Most companies are an aggregate of teams – marketing, IT, consulting, etc. – they each have different needs and challenges. Some workers will need to be present, while some can work anywhere. Teams (and their leader) should make the decision about the right balance between office and remote work amongst themselves.
Use FLOCS
Hybrid may not be one size fits all, but there are five factors to consider to ensure you successfully design a hybrid organization or team. FLOCS will help guide you in the right direction.
F= Function of the team: Does work require them to be highly collaborative? Are they client facing? Can their work be performed independently? This will determine the amount of hybrid work available.
L = Location: Is everyone living within a singular metro area or are they more dispersed? For some teams it might be feasible to meet in-person. For others, Zoom might more sense.
O = Organization: How much does this team need to interact with other teams? While a lot of work may be done remotely, don’t let it impact the function and needs of other teams with which you collaborate.
C = Culture: How will you maintain social bonds? Some might want to meet up for lunch, others might prefer a virtual happy hour.
S = Scheduling: Which days/hours are people available in the office? If everyone is coming into the office on a specific day, it might make sense to align with that schedule.
Measure outputs not inputs
Measuring productivity solely by hours worked is antiquated in today’s changing world. In a “knowledge economy” especially, the focus should be on what is accomplished, not if someone was visibly at their desk for eight hours straight. (And don’t get them started on tracking software). The team leader knows better than the team what needs to be done to fit in with the larger organizational goals. However, the leader still needs the input of the team to help define their success metrics.
Benefits to defining success metrics:
- Clarifies specific goals of the team – a lot of objectives are general; you want goals you can measure
- Prevents team leader from micromanaging – with the social contract agreed upon, management should be able to step back, trusting their team is working on their projects. (This is often the hardest part – for the manager. Old habits die hard).
- Provides a lot more flexibility to workers – once metrics are decided upon, the when/where/how they’re achieved is up to them to execute.
Building equity and inclusivity
Recent data around hybrid work reflects that people believe it fosters a much more inclusive environment. This feedback tends to be from minorities, women, and younger professionals – groups who may not previously have felt listened to within corporate settings that often skew “older white male.” Technology, like Zoom, now allows us to manage groups in a more egalitarian way to ensure all voices are heard and prevent one voice from dominating the conversation. (Provided moderators/leaders prioritize this, of course).
For those whose work requires them to be fully onsite, it’s important to find a way to allow flexibility in other ways. Perhaps it’s moving to a 4-day work week, offering split shifts, or providing additional time off after major project completions. Whatever the solution, building in a level of equity across your entire organization will help resentment from manifesting between these two groups.
No one needs to be “on” 24/7
A global organization might imply being available 24/7. A proactive team leader can prevent this harmful cultural misconception in a few ways:
- Determine overlapping hours or days where there’s a reasonable expectation for people to be available
- Establish norms – Are people expected to respond to emails immediately? Are people expected to answer a Slack message at 8pm? Eliminate the cultural pressure to respond to any inquiry at all hours by setting expectations upfront. (And make sure you lead by example).
- Create nodes – If your organization has a concentration of workers within different regions, those “nodes” can get together once per week or per month (virtually is fine). This allows them maintain social ties and feel connected to the organization.
- Be sensitive to other work sites – If a company has headquarters in one country, the bulk of the work will naturally revolve around their business hours. However, the headquarter needs to ensure they keep hours (and expectations) convenient for other sites. Hint: Refer to those overlapping hours for guidance!
Cultural change is possible, but slow.
A few ways you can jumpstart change (or ensure changes implemented continue to be successful):
- Bring diverse groups together (different departments, management levels, etc.) – We’re too often siloed which leads to stereotypes, misunderstandings, and missed opportunities.
- Assign a strong mediator to ensure differences are respected, proper solutions are being discussed, and patience is practiced.
- Listen, experiment, and bring in others who are already doing hybrid to provide fresh perspectives and best practices.
- Ensure the learning is being diffused across the organization.
- Middle managers and higher-level executives need to manage upwards too – they need to be able to push back, when necessary, against the CEO and advise on what’s most effective for their teams’ productivity and thus the greater good of the organization.
- Utilize tools like 360 reviews to help provide feedback in meaningful ways and help managers better understand the reality their workers are actually experiencing.
- Start small with hesitant leadership. Suggest testing this new way of working with one project. Once you can demonstrate you’ve met your success metrics, they may be more willing to implement on a broader scale.
This new way of working is a positive and exciting opportunity, as long as decision makers are open to change and communication.
You can learn more from Pozen and Kochan during these courses:
Maximizing Your Personal Productivity
Contributed by Elaine Santoyo Goldman