If I Didn't Trust You to Work from Home I Would...

Trust is a hot topic in business, it defines all the relationships we have and as such it is something that I love to explore and discuss.

One of the elements of trust is reliability - we trust people who are predictable and do what they say they will do.

We do not trust people who are unreliable.

I wonder if this element of trust is part of the pressure to return to office space to work? Are business leaders uncertain of the reliability of their team to do what they say and be available to work?

I am sure that there is much more to return to office mandates, but I can't help feeling that this is part of the story.

Emotions in Decisions

We are emotional beings and there is lots of research that demonstrates the importance of emotions in decision making. In fact, it is argued that emotions drive decisions, with logic and reason added later to support arguments with data.

In that case, perhaps the emotions are driving management decisions to get everyone back in the office?

• Are leaders afraid of being cheated by employees gaming the system and not doing as much work as they expect?
• Does their ego demand that people surround them, providing evidence of their status in the organisation?
• Are they afraid of the costs and wastage of luxury office space that remains empty and the impact on their bonus?

If I felt this way then I would drive compliance to an office first policy and I would justify it with arguments about collaboration and culture.

Evidence Doesn't Support Demands

The reason I am uncertain that these arguments fully explain the demands to be in the office is the history of office working.

Can leaders honestly argue that employees collaborate better in the office? Was the culture much better when we were together every day?

I remember that team siloes existed and people worked only with people they knew.

I remember that there were many complaints about culture, presenteeism, and exclusion of people who lived more than a sensible commute from the office.

Things have not become worse in the last 5 years.

Understanding for Power

I do not believe managers are deliberately trying to be difficult and create a negative work space.

Rarely do people act to be difficult.

They are working on what they think are the right ideas. The challenge is that they are driven by emotions and these emotions are selfish.

When we start to understand the motives then we can structure a much more influential dialogue.

If you argue culture is not improved by office working, but the real motive is a belief that teams are being unreliable working at home, then you are arguing the wrong point.

Deeper understanding and empathy will help you structure more effective messages and help you build power.

Foxleigh & Understanding Difficult Customers

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Our programmes are designed to help people think differently, understand why people are being difficult, more deeply and therefore become more powerful.

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