It is not about "working from home"

The key to finding novel solutions is often to reframe/restate the challenge in a way that allows us to see different potential solutions. I believe this is absolutely true with the ongoing conundrum many organizations are facing when it comes to work from home/work from anywhere/hybrid work environment.

I believe the solution is to change the question. Which might provide leadership teams with the opportunity to see more opportunity than they did before.

What if the question was, "How do we accomplish our goals within our culture & values?"

If everyone looked at the any challenge through this lens it would provide a much clearer set of options than if we are anchored in the struggle of "working from anywhere". No matter how progressive your thinking might be, any change requires just that...a change from something to something else. Any such activity triggers a sense of loss in humans because the first thing we think of when there is a change is not what we gain but what we lose.

Imagine that we reframe the discussion to how we can best accomplish our goals in the current environment (whatever that might be now and in the future) and simply created strategies supported by who we are and what we stand for.

Anti-fragility (read more about it here) should be our goal both individually and collectively and this means we benefit from shocks to the system. Having absolute clarity around who you are you and what you stand for is the very foundation on which anti-fragility is built. We have no control over what the world will do and cannot waste time lamenting our situation or what we wish was happening. All leaders can do is act. Action comes much smoother (remember slow is smooth and smooth is fast) when we are internally aligned and comfortable in our skin (both as a human and as an organization).

There is much discussion about how to lead during times of change but that is not really the issue because our world is becoming more volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (V.U.C.A.) each and every day. Change is ubiquitous so leadership no longer happens outside of it. Leading is about alignment and clarity and that begins with vision, mission, values, and culture.

If we start there, the answers will oftentimes present themselves.

#LeadRelentlessly