Decrapify Work or Die (Don’t be a Dinosaur)
Ch-ch-ch-changes
It’s all over bar the shouting - but there’s still a lot of that going on. Latest ‘Business Titan’ to out himself as an out-of-touch, insensitive, arrogant bully is Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman, who told his staff this week “If you can go into a restaurant in New York City, you can come into the office."
I started to make a list of those following this ‘back to the office’ line and those who are coming up with new, flexible work policies. The latter include Pepsico, Unilever and GM, major players in diverse sectors. In fact, outside of the testosterone-driven, alpha-male playground that is investment banking, organisations are building upon the new-found trust and deeper conversation that has occurred during the pandemic to create better, more human-centred ways of working.
Those of us that have been advocating new ways of working have long argued that it's a win-win-win outcome. The benefits accrue to the employees in improved quality of life and greater fulfillments; society benefits as people have more time to engage with their family, friends; and communities, and organisations benefit in many ways that also includes greater profitability. It seems the penny has dropped for many organisations.
What’s more, employees are going to vote with their feet. If they don’t get the autonomy and flexibility they have come to enjoy, they are going to go to an employer that does provide it.
Those that try to return to the past will find it’s a very inhospitable place. They won’t stay there long. Although if a few of these dinosaurs die out, that wouldn’t be a terrible thing.
Postscript: I wrote this on Friday and then over the weekend Deloitte announced they are moving to fully flexible working. The argument is over, it’s not a question of if, it’s a question of how.
Do you believe in magic?
I think the most important part of any organisation are the teams. It’s where the actual work gets done, it’s where most people’s direct experience of work is located and it’s where the magic happens.
None of these statements are controversial. They are implicitly acknowledged in much of how we talk about work and yet teams are not a high priority in how organisations view themselves.
Organisations often remains unaware of how many teams they have, or who is on them, or what they are there for. As I pointed out in a post last week, there are very many different types of team, so to track them all is pretty impossible (and probably not even desirable) but when you contrast the attention paid to teams against that paid to culture and leadership development, it is way out of proportion (I’d argue that’s partly because way too much attention if given to the other two, as well).
The future of work is about networks of teams. Those teams will not sit within neat boundaries - organisational, time, scope or any other. They will form, adapt and disperse dynamically. They will be self-organising and self-directing to a large degree.
Organisations need to get some focus on teams and start training everyone how to work effectively with others, as a leader and a follower.
(You should also read Dr. Richard Claydon’s post on this topic)
More than a feeling?
I’ve had a long-standing problem with the whole ‘Culture’ thing. I don’t think there is such as thing as an organisational culture, from personal experience there are a multitude of cultures across an organisation. Organisations are complex adaptive systems, in constant flux. The idea of a single ‘culture’ across such a system is just absurd.
One of the problems with culture is that we all know what it is but we can’t really define it. The reason for that is simple - we experience culture. We feel it, emotionally and sometimes viscerally. It is beyond words and it is individual to each of us. In fact, the way we experience it is through our daily interactions and our relationships with those we work with. In other words, our experience of the culture is through the teams we work in. Another reason why teams are what really matters.
Why the obsession with culture, then? Well, it plays to the conceit of the C-suite that they have their hands on the controls and can pull the levers and make things happen. They can commission and oversee a culture change programme and get the impression that they are having impact and that’s a lot easier than undertaking the hard work of engaging with their employees at a deep level and sustaining it over a long period of time.
It’s also a silver bullet that the consultancies can charge a lot of money to help you fire, even though it is guaranteed to miss the target.
Give a little love
I don’t know about you but I’m still on the COVID rollercoaster. The ride has got a little gentler but there are still unexpected switchbacks and vertiginous descents, followed by long, slow crawls back up again.
I feel like my batteries are running low and they don’t hold as much of a charge as they used to (of course, that could just be an age thing but I’m pinning it in the pandemic!). I just ran out of steam last week, which is why this has rolled over from Friday to Monday.
I am looking forward to getting out and about and seeing people IRL again and I’m sure that will give me a boost but we are not out of the woods yet. I fear we are already into a third wave in the UK and there’s going to be further restrictions come the winter.
It’s not just that we are faced with uncertainty but that it is pervasive, affecting all parts of our lives and affecting everybody. It feels like there’s no solid ground and that’s disconcerting for all of us.
So be kind, to yourself and to others. We all need support and understanding right now. Give a little love.
If you want someone to to talk to, give me a call. I’m told I am a good listener.