SmarterWisdom Consulting | Boston MA | Advising individuals and organizations | Independent Schools

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Priming for Re-Entry

For so many of us who have currently made the shift to WFH from WAO I expect we are missing some aspects of our daily work, and also beginning to realize what we have gained. According to a recent GALLUP study (April 3, 2020) 3 out of 5 people would now prefer to continue working from home, whereas 41% would like to return to work. [US Workers Discovering Affinity for Remote Work, Megan Brenan.] These numbers made me wonder what it was about this arrangement that led new work-at-homers to express this preference.

Based on my informal polls of friends and colleagues working from home a key element for them has been the increased semblance of trust afforded to them by their bosses. It now seems to go without saying that they will be trusted to complete their work remotely and that feels good. But this shift, itself, requires management of a different sort. Harvard Business School professor, Tsedal Neeley at a recent Zoom lunch and learn talk at the Harvard Club in Boston, shared that evidence shows that colleagues are bonding similarly via video conference, and so the role of leaders is to: “lead, coach and remove barriers” and enable their team members to thrive in this new setting. Other sources highlight the need for leaders to consider when more “top down” leadership is needed: safety, legal shifts, for example. and when more shared leadership might be employed. This might be a time perhaps, to go to your team more frequently for weigh-in and ideas, since experiences of daily work differ so much during the increased WFH.

It is also important to remember that our new normal is not forever, and we will have control over a newly generated work culture once we harness what we are learning. The isolation in which many of us are now working is likely to shift into a new arrangement once the phases of re-opening begin. Here at SmarterWisdom Consulting, we have been discussing re-entry and the challenges of doing it well. Because there will be challenges!

Our prescription: Think both now and next. Right now, we advise you to find time and forums for getting your now-virtual team together and brainstorming—truly brainstorming (no judgement!) the possibilities for changes upon re-entry. The focus here is on the lessons learned in our forced experiment in WFH and what they suggest for how we want things to be done when we have more options.

And, of course the process is important for this exercise. Rather than generating an initial list of questions for the group, give them the focus area (stated above) and delegate the task of designing questions to the team. Ask for an email to you with the list for use in an upcoming group discussion. Elicit a volunteer to take good notes and distribute them after the session. Communicate a few ground rules for the conversation. Ideally, you want to avoid “musts” at this time—agree in advance to revisit the ideas you develop with your group later. The key is to prepare for this next moment, and to seize this opportunity to get your team together to work collectively in the interest of the organization, the team, and the individual team members. Prime that pump!


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