The murmurs are growing among employees and leaders about the need to get work back into the office in smaller or bigger increments. That’s because while the advantages of WFH are well-known by now, the problems are now equally visible. One of the biggest challenges, to my mind, is the disconnectedness that sets in. Most interactions focus on specific work-related issues. Those tend to be very transactional and limited. I have noticed that it’s now more common to slip into finger-pointing in such communications. That’s not good for team spirit. Also, the informal (and formal) networks that existed between different people in a team are breaking down bit by bit. The gap is even wider across team and function boundaries. This would be less of a concern if all tasks were clearly defined and “normal” but I am convinced this is detrimental to more complex problem-solving, creative thinking, and innovation. Those discussions need disruptive opinions, non-linear thinking, and some healthy conflict that encourages people to “colour outside the lines”. I’ve started meeting small groups of employees in the office and they all say the same thing. For other business leaders reading this, how have you solved these communication problems? #EmployeeCommunications #WFH #remoteworking
Completely agree with you . Well written . We have resumed work three times a week, employees are happy to come at office and connect with peers. What ever said and done the focus you get work is completely different .
So rightly said Ashwin, connect is diminishing day by day. I met few colleagues after 18 months in office and it was such a good feeling :)
So true
You've put it extremely well Ashwin! This is absolutely true and has been giving managerial, HR and Communications workforce headaches..... on hiw to maintain engagement and connection
Rightly said Ashwin. Short answer- encourage gossip ;-) When the lockdowns started, we had helped many of our clients quickly setup effective team collaboration practices to reduce productivity loss. It was clear even then that informal networks and cultural practices which enable sense making (cafeteria, watering hole chats etc. ) will last only for few months before it starts becoming an issue. During lockdowns we encouraged informal chatrooms and events for small teams -encouraged by HR so people feel connected (e.g. online 4pm tea parties) As people are coming back slowly to offices, it's hybrid working and hence we are getting meeting formats to support hybrid (offline+online) teams as a standard- including brain storming sessions. Few other suggestions- -Collaboration suite (Slack, Teams, Google rooms etc.) communication always ON - during office hours. -Encouraging video ON as far as possible during meetings is another way of enriching the communication. -The managers need training in making meetings interactive and adding informal content to keep interest alive. -Video content for new hires -For manager and director- mandatory "in office" work time far more than individual contributors. Hope this helps...
It is important to create spaces where people can interact on topics that are adjacent to work. These help in opening up discussions that are not of the transactional nature that you refer to. They get to know of each others' opinions, interests, 'takes'. There are two very important things for such discussions to work: 1. Get someone outside of your company to facilitate these sessions. This is for practical reasons since for the internal person (whether they are assigned this responsibility or are the leader), this will not be priority no. 1 and it takes the right amount of facilitation. 2. The theme has to be adjacent to work. Lot of companies and teams organized 'fun' sessions over the last 2 years - dance/ beer/ cooking etc. They might be great de-stressors but don't address the specific objective you're referring to - problem-solving, innovation, collaboration. You want people to not think about day-to-day work but want them to be in a zone where they're ready to pick up signals that will help them at work.
Insightful. I have been working from home since September 2017 and adopted Gig model since 2020. As much as I can relate to what you say and see the tiny viny issues/ concerns regarding people relationship and management, which cannot be overlooked, I can say it's worth the learning that we have to appreciate work from office and working with colleagues in person. Nothing to beat it.
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3 年These all are definitely valid concerns. Remote working is about more convenience, but these challenges are not addressed in that situation. I believe what matters is how individual organization wants to balance these two sides.