Is WFH good for your business?

"What looks like multitasking is really switching back and forth between multiple tasks, which reduces productivity and increases mistakes by 50%" - Susan Cain

General

The world is divided. Some, like Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, swear that Work From Home (WFH) is the best thing that came out of the pandemic. Others, like Elon Musk of Tesla, have made their displeasure public.

Those businesses which survived the lockdown (yes, The Wall Street Journal reported that nearly two-third of small businesses closed down in 2020 and never reopened) are still struggling to concretise the 'new how' of business. There are plenty of articles and papers published and continue to be published each day with modern day soothsayers attempting to foretell the future and come up with a working template.

What makes a business tick

If we strip off the fluff and peep under the bonnet, any business is about a person (or people) providing solutions to a problem that some other people (customers) are facing in exchange for money. That solution may be providing ease at washing clothes (a washing machine), comfort during summers (an air conditioner), looking good (a salon), or getting rid of the pain of maintaining their books (freelance accountants).

Once you understand that you are providing a solution to a problem and not 'selling a product,' your questions to the customer as a salesperson change from being product based to being problem based. Which in turn feeds an emotional need of the client and since all decisions are made emotionally, the chances of the sale increase exponentially.

Although the front end of a business is about customers and sales, the back end is where the strategising, planning, preparation and execution take place. And what fuels the back end are creativity (creating new things or new ways of doing things), processes (to ensure ease of function) and cohesion (between members of the teams).

While working with organisations, as Consultants, we always check for these - individual skill (or lack thereof), collective communication (or lack thereof) and flow of processes (and bottlenecks there-in).

Talent Hunters (of bigger organisations) will be out looking for prospective employees who are more creative, those who are good at processes (operations) and those who have demonstrated abilities of managing people well (increase cohesion of teams). It is estimated that in the Learning and Development domain, upto 65% of training budgets are spent on 'Team Building', 'Conflict Management' and 'Leadership' - all related to people skills and people management.

The Formula for Productivity

The process of creation starts in the mind of one person. Even runaway mega hits of the Beatles attributable to Lennon-McCartney were either the creation of Lennon or of McCartney. Any new plan is always the brainchild of one person. Refining and polishing of the raw product may involve others - and it may be talked of as a 'team effort' later, however, anything which is created is done individually.

Human Beings evolved as the most powerful species because we could utilise each others strengths to increase our collective power. To have a winning football team you need both an efficient offence and an efficient defence. And cohesion in the ranks with each person knowing what everyone else is relying on him/her to do.

That brings us to our second ingredient for success - camaraderie. For any team to excel, there has to be camaraderie and for camaraderie to exist, teams need to spend time together (both officially and socially). Social interactions help individuals in the team to get to know each other better, gauge them better, and trust them. Lunches, dinners and drinks actually help people get to know each other and trust them more.

The formula that we have come up with is that Productivity is dependant on creativity (of individuals) and camaraderie (of teams).

A Physical Trainer can get you to do those extra ten push ups when you thought you could no more. A running mate can get you to run that extra distance when you would otherwise have given up. That extra pressure is the difference between 'winners' and 'also-rans' - and this falls under the purview of camaraderie.

WFH

A key issue that happens when employees work from home that is not spoken about is the psychological effect of isolation. I had written about it earlier in March 2021. The link is attached below for you to peruse.

Now the million dollar question is, will your business function better in the WFH model? You accounts guy will tell you that the immediate advantage that you will gain straightaway will be to curtail cost, and affect your bank balance. You can forgo rent of the office space, electricity and broadband services. If your work entails individual inputs (such as coding or one on one interactions between employee and client) then this model would work.

However, if you are dependent on your teams delivering (and thus need to inculcate a sense of camaraderie amongst them), WFH is not an optimal model for you. The teams need to meet officially and socially and thus build relationships and trust so that they are on the same page and working with each others strengths.

People who are happy at work and enjoy spending time with their peers, are more likely to remain in the organisation. People who work from home and do not have personal relationships with their peers are more likely to search for new opportunities early and leave even if there is a meagre enhancement of pay.

Conclusion

Before you jump onto the bandwagon, cut costs and send your employees to their hometowns (away from the place of work) in order to cut costs of rent etc - check up if the core strength of your company are your teams as opposed to individuals.

If that be so, then stop getting pulled onto the WFH bandwagon. You will perform efficiently, your teams will be happy and they will maintain a healthy work-life balance.

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As the saying goes, two heads are better than one, and committing to a?Balance Driven Business?keeps you at pace in this new world of business— the ever-increasing speed in which business adaptations need to occur to realign people, product, and profit.?Col Sudip Mukerjee?of?Reserv3 Consulting?and?Sean Lewis?of?SLC Advisory Group?combine their specialties for the deep dive needed to bring your business up-to-date with the finance and people challenges of the New World, and to lay the groundwork for staying competitive well into the future.