Does flexible working increase or decrease productivity?

I’ve recently seen a lot of articles surrounding flexibility at work and how it could be on the decline.??

There seems to be a big debate about whether flexible working reduces productivity, with recent research reporting businesses feeling concerned their teams are being less effective at home.??

In the US, Yahoo and Bank of America have been quick to roll back their remote working policies, citing concerns about productivity and collaboration.?

New global C-level research from LinkedIn , which surveyed 2,929 C-level executives from organisations reporting turnovers of $280M, concludes that the current climate is causing concern among leaders that will force companies to wind back progress on important areas of working life such as flexible work (68%), skills development (74%), and employee wellbeing (75%).?

It will be interesting to see what trends the big businesses follow in the coming months.?

There are so many factors that can impact employee motivation and productivity. My picks for this week’s article are from best-selling author, Dr. David Burkus , Matthew Wool , CEO at Acceleration Partners , and former FTSE 100 international managing director, Dr John Blakey – all focused on how to motivate teams.

Understand your teams’ challenges??

Engaged employees are priceless. There’s nothing more valuable to a company than a team who are engaged, happy, and motivated.?

However, if as a leader you want to be effective in supporting employee motivation and engagement, you must also understand that there will be times employees will feel less engaged, and less motivated, and in turn, their job satisfaction may suffer.??

As Matt Wool discusses, leaders should understand that over time (due to both internal and external factors) the landscape of each department will change, and teams’ challenges will change alongside this. Understand the dynamics of each environment and how you can best support your team to overcome such challenges. Empower their success, and their solutions will be more effective when they know their CEO is behind them. ?

Building employee’s trust??

Trust as a term is used frequently within the corporate world. There is a desire to build it, achieve it, and secure it, but it sits as a concept rather than a tangible action.?

As David Burkus discusses, as a CEO, building and maintaining employees’ trust is essential. To create a workplace where employees enjoy their job and innovation isn’t restrained, trust should be a priority. ?

Set clear expectations, but let your employees know you trust them. Empower employees to share ideas, express opinions, and offer solutions. Create a team where people can be their authentic selves and you’ll hear new ideas you haven’t even thought of.?

As a leader, you’re often a role model too, so lead by example. ?

Ability, integrity, and benevolence??

Dr John Blakey discusses how the nine habits he believes can create a successful leader, and in turn, a motivated and productive team fall under three pillars: ability, integrity, and benevolence. ?

Ability: ?

• Deliver – Follow through on promises ?
• Coaching – Teach people rather than ‘tell’ people ?
• Consistency – Unpredictability of behaviour can be a huge destroyer of trust ?

Integrity: ?

• Honesty – The basis of trust ?
• Openness – Sharing your vulnerability and human touch ?
• Humbling – Have the confidence to recognise your own weaknesses ?

Benevolence: ?

• Evangelise – Spread your vision, inspire, and motivate ?
• Bravery – Moral bravery, sometimes there will be self-sacrifice ?
• Kindness – Being kind can change the whole complexion of a situation ?

As always, if anyone in my network would like a conversation around creating happy and motivated teams, please reach out direct over LinkedIn messenger!??