The Big Reset: Back to Office Preparedness

I love this time of year - the first days of school and the feeling of new beginnings. I have a deep and irrational fondness for back to school supplies that goes way back. Growing up, I would spend every summer with my father in New York City. On my return to the Dominican Republic, my suitcase would be full of new clothes, notebooks, binders (who remembers Trapper Keepers?) and all the “necessities” not easily found back home that would set me up for a new school year.

I still welcome this time of year in a state of preparedness and excitement for how I live and work. As a mother, I’m delighted that my daughter is all set for her first day of school, including an update to her bedroom befitting a new high schooler. As a Chief People Officer, I’ve set up meetings in early September with managers on my team to prepare ourselves and our broader team across the globe for the big reset ahead in the coming months in how, where and when we work.

I set the stage for the meeting by reminding them of what we do and how we do it - our purpose.? As people and culture strategic partners, we provide a bridge between the workforce and the organization. We help create the conditions for all workers to thrive. We support leaders and managers navigate what’s next, often coaching them to inspire, motivate and lead with fairness and compassion. This year, it also means gearing up for return to offices, again.

Here are a few of the ways we’re preparing for and redefining our latest “back to offices” reset with a lens on inclusion and equity:

1. Make the transition as seamless as possible..and fun. ?Don’t forget the beautiful basics: make it easy for folks to navigate changes to? the physical workspace, eg, how to book desks; hold both in-person and streaming meetings; collaborate in small and large office spaces, etc. Over communicate plans, resources and approaches. Provide guidance for managers on how to run inclusive hybrid meetings, manage work-life boundaries, utilize different forms of communication, reimagine balanced workflows, and ensure equity within a dispersed team. Don’t forget to mark these moments of reconnection with celebrations and a bit of lightness for your teams!
2. Normalize flexibility to manage life and work. If workers need to pick up their children or others under their care, make a medical appointment or take a coding, management or meditation class, they should be able to work it out with their manager. Help managers establish norms and expectations that meet both worker and business needs. Coach them to thoughtfully ask for context and enough information to decide what’s right and fair given personal circumstances, business needs and team dynamics.? This may require course correcting and building new playbooks in real time, that’s OK. We’re all figuring out this new way of work.
3. Re-onboard teams. Getting onboarding right is a critical way to help new team members integrate within your organization. Consider creating a “This is how we work and why” plan that helps team members - new and tenured - understand who you are (Your purpose: why you work here and for what), strategy (How we get things done), expectations (This is what it looks like when we succeed or fail. Normalizing failure as part of growth opens you up to creative innovation.), and how to best communicate across functions, regions and countries, where applicable.?
4. Set up routines. Every team has a series of routines that work for them. These can take many forms: Tuesday mid-morning reviews where you address what worked and didn’t across projects, current roadblocks and wins, or monthly team building lunches, or how you wrap up and move on to new projects. Now is also a good time to experiment with new routines for being in the office when it makes sense to come together - not just for your own team but for the sake of cross-team collaboration. Dedicated in-office days can go a long way to encourage a routine that values what employees crave - connectivity, collaboration and trust. For some, like production teams, it may make sense to keep a part of in-office schedules tied to projects. For other functions, it may make sense to get together in-person to review operationally what they’re doing once a week or month, dedicate a day for cross-team collaboration, and keep the rest of their work virtual. You want team members to say “I can work my timelines around my team’s routines and the needs of our business, and I know what’s important to us” not “I have no idea why I’m being asked to be in the office on video meetings all day because my entire team is elsewhere.”?
5. Build a sense of community that works for all. Inclusive managers and leaders pay attention to when the workplace might not work for others, and take steps to change those conditions. Some workers, such as women of color and people with disabilities, may not want to return to workspaces that didn’t treat them fairly and kindly before. Some workers hired during the pandemic may be craving meaningful connections. Integrate inclusive people and culture language in all communications. Attend and endorse both spontaneous and structured moments such as coffee with a new or underrepresented colleague with whom you don’t work often, ERG-hosted events, lunch and learns, and cross-functional projects. These can help workers feel welcomed and valued, as well as help expand their networks, skills and build trusting and broad relationships.

I hope we’ve all learned by now that heavy-handed back-to-the-office mandates - no matter how well intentioned - miss the mark. And, also, that a dynamic and inclusive work culture requires teamwork, collaboration, trust and respect, and being physically present is one way of achieving that.? To be clear, culture is not solely housed in the four-walls of an office. It is in the experiences we have every day, in person, over video, over calls or chats. It's about how we act with each other and what we believe about the work that we do.

Today’s worker wants a human approach, autonomy and agency over how, where and when they? work. Today’s managers and leaders are navigating a complex and ambiguous workscape that will be so for the foreseeable future. We can all do our part to listen, experiment, assume good intentions, and show care as we continue to reimagine and reset the world of work.

What else are you thinking about to ensure? a healthy, productive and inclusive return to the office?

Thank you to all the readers, reviewers and booksellers who have spread the word about Inclusion Revolution!??

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