Getting Out Of Your Comfort Zone

The past four years have drastically changed how we work. While some seem willing to embrace the reality that virtual events are here to stay, many executives seem to be growing increasingly impatient for things to return to a pre-COVID workplace. “It doesn’t work for those who want to hustle. It doesn’t work for spontaneous idea generation. It doesn’t work for culture,” said JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon in a May 2021 Reuters article. While this view is not universal, it is a common one amongst CEOs, some even embrace a hybrid model. There is a strong desire to abandon virtual meetings completely and return to what it was before COVID-19, regardless of the benefits seen.

Many CEOs have built their success on in-person environments and that’s what’s comfortable for them and their work. It’s worked so well for so long, why not go back to what works? The flaw in that thinking is ignoring the benefits of virtual events, to insist on returning to what they are familiar and comfortable with.

Reality is not that simple. By going with what they are most familiar with they ignore the weaknesses of the system they had before while overlooking the benefits of virtual and hybrid work. Having to attend mandatory meetings and come to a physical office dig into a person’s time to work. It pulls vital people away from their jobs for long periods of time, something that ends up costing the company a lot.

Employees are not happy with the insistence either, though there is a tradeoff for them as well. Without having to put in a set amount of time in an office every day, work becomes more about the quality of work put in and the speed the employee is able to deliver that work. In theory, it allows people to better live their life outside the workplace, but the problem is working from home also blurs the line between the working world and the home life. Anyone who has worked from home can attest to how doing so makes a strong obligation to respond to work-related issues when “off the clock”.

Staying with what we have always done just because it's what we are used to is clearly a mistake. The world can never be what it was before and we need to accept that, along with its new challenges and benefits. A hybrid system, where being physically in an office is optional or only required for a few days out of the week has been shown to be a powerful option and we should not turn away from new developments simply because it makes us uncomfortable.

There are simply limitations with in-person events. Large meetings, over long distances, to coordinate your teams ends up becoming a huge expense in time and money to do in person. The challenges with virtual meetings should not be ignored but most of those problems can be addressed with early planning ahead of time and proper management of the event so things can move to the important issues of the meeting without the technical element distracting from the message.