Clash of Context

Why can’t employers and employees seem to agree on how, when, and where work will get done most effectively going forward?

The illustration below tells the story.

 

This conflict is often portrayed as a “power” battle between employer and employee. However, that would require a level of awareness about the position you are choosing to hold in opposition to another.

This is more of a gap in understanding caused by circumstances — i.e., “context”:

On one side of the clash are many leaders who still genuinely believe, even after three years of working very differently, that work and performance happen best in the traditional, place-based work model. There may be some degree of flexibility AROUND it, but the traditional “9-to-5, in the office, M-F” model remains the central organizing core. That’s their default context.

On the other side of the clash are employees who genuinely believe they can work effectively OUTSIDE of the traditional work model, even though the flexible way they worked for three years was crisis-driven and not executed with thoughtful, coordinated intention, perhaps causing priorities like talent development and culture to suffer. But that’s their default context.

Leaders and employees need to be willing to move beyond their respective contexts.

Leaders have to acknowledge we aren’t going “back,” BUT also employees have to recognize that their pandemic-driven flexibility likely needs to be optimized to meet the needs of the business AND people.

Co-create a NEW context.

Take the best of what we learned over the past three years.

Recapture the best of what the traditional, place-based work model had to offer.

Then, together, define and experiment with how high performance and well-being will happen working flexibly going forward, recognizing one-size-will-NOT-fit-all.

Is this clash of contexts playing out in your organization?  Hit “REPLY” and share what you are seeing, because now that I’ve recognized it, I see it happening everywhere.

Please check out my LinkedIn and Instagram feeds and, if you haven’t done so already, check out our Work Flexibility Assessment.

 

We’re in “a phase of trial and error that comes with staggering stakes.”

This past week a sentence from a terrific article by Emma Goldberg in the New York Times entitled, “Office Mandates. Pickleball. Beer. What Will Make Hybrid Work Stick?” struck me:

“Business leaders are in a phase of trial and error that comes with staggering stakes.”

Why “staggering stakes”?  Whether or not it’s done with intention, organizations are defining how, when, and where they will execute their strategic priorities from now on.

That’s a big deal.

However, defining your flexible operating parameters is going to take a lot more than mandates, pickleball, and beer to make that “flexibility” (because that’s what it is–not “hybrid”) stick.

Leaders and employees need to get on the same page about what that go-forward flexible work model looks like and why it matters. Right now, they are not.

The article accurately depicts many leaders’ current, top-down approach and why it won’t close that leader-employee gap.

The main reasons can be found in this one paragraph:

“They (leaders) are figuring out how many days to call employees back to the office, and on top of that, how strictly to enforce their own rules. While some companies are in five days a week and others have gone remote forever, many more employers have landed on a hybrid solution, and as they announce these plans they are facing fierce resistance.”

Let’s break it down:

⚠️ LEADERS on their own can’t figure out how, when, and where their people will operate and expect buy-in and understanding. You must involve line managers and their direct reports in that process knowing one-size-will-NOT-fit-all.

⚠️ Solving for “how many days” only defines days work happens onsite and remotely but does nothing to determine what is actually happening on those days in the office together and what is going to happen on the days people are remote.

⚠️ When you are “calling people back” versus involving them, as trusted adults, in defining how, when and where high levels of performance happen best going forward, it’s not surprising that “fierce resistance” is the response.

⚠️ You won’t have to wonder “how strictly to enforce,” something people have a say in determining.

⚠️ “Their own rules” again, “their” “rules”–Not a recipe for engagement, understanding, and buy-in.

What would be better?

👏👏👏 Involving all levels of the organization in answering the question “What do we need to do?” and then “how, when, and where do we do it best..next?”

It takes longer and requires more effort than a one-size-fits-all, top-down mandate but ultimately, you’ll arrive at a new flexible way of operating faster and with more buy-in.

How long will leaders keep trying mandates, pickleball, and beer before they realize they have to…

HPF 2023 Update — Open Office Hours, Videos and Thought Starters!

Dear Friends,

It’s been a month since we launched HPF 2023. The goal is to close the massive gap between the 87% of leaders who say finding the right workplace model is important and the 24% who feel they’re very ready to do it.

So what have we done?

In addition to the Work Flexibility Assessment to help organizations identify what’s working and what isn’t, we are:

Hosting our first OPEN OFFICE HOURS — Join me LIVE on Friday, February 24 from 12:00 pm to 12:30 pm EST.  I will be available to answer your questions or share insights. Click the button below for the Zoom link.
You can also submit your questions in advance to Alison Batten at alison@flexstrategygroup.com.

High Performance Flexibility Open Office Hours!
We have:

Proposed that we ask a NEW question in 2023 instead of “how many days on site and how many days remote?” in this Flexibility Friday video. (above)

Encouraged first reimagining work in this thought starter (below), because I’m seeing too many work “redesigns” that are just trying to add more remote work around the edges of the traditional, pre-COVID, place-based work model with limited success.

Those efforts may address “where” work is done, but it puts the primary emphasis on the office without clarifying what’s happening there. And it ignores “how” (technology) and “when” (time), which are key considerations when optimizing flexibility.

Asked if when we say “in the office,” are we really talking about “in-person interactions?” There’s a difference as I noted on my recent trip to visit a client in Boston.
And, finally, offered the reminder that what we’ve experienced since March 2020 is NOT well-planned, intentional work flexibility. That’s what’s next.
Be sure to check out my LinkedIn and Instagram feeds each week to comment on future thought starters and videos.  If you haven’t done so already, check out the Work Flexibility Assessment and join me for the Open Office Hours on February 24th!

“How do you DO it?” High Performance Flexibility 2023

How does an organization execute and optimize a flexible operating model that works for the business and for people?

How do teams and individuals perform at high levels working across places, spaces and time, with coordinated intention?

How do people leverage the flexibility available to them to fit their work and life together to be their best on and off the job?

These are questions we, at the Flex+Strategy Group, help our clients answer every day. Yet according to a recent Deloitte survey of 10,000 leaders, including 1,500 C-Suite leaders and Directors, most organizations still don’t know how to implement a flexible work model:

“…boundaries that have traditionally governed the rules of work — the way jobs are organized, where work happens, and who qualifies for specific roles — are falling away. However, while many understand the need for new fundamentals in today’s world of work — 87% say finding the right workplace model is important to their organization’s success — only 24% feel their organizations are very ready to address this trend.”

Good news: The findings indicate we may have finally turned the corner on the leadership belief that we will be going back to the way we worked before the pandemic.

Not so good news: There is a crazy-wide 63% gap between leaders “knowing” they need to find the right workplace model and feeling very ready to “do” it.

Our goal for you in 2023 is to close that massive “knowing-doing” gap in your organization.

Each week we’ll share tips on the mindset, skills, and processes that help organizations execute and optimize high performance flexibility, or “HPF,” as it is often referred to by our clients.

Look for the following from us:

Mindset Mondays: I’ll share on LinkedIn and Instagram a thought-starter to consider as you approach the reimagining of how, when and where work is done.

Now & Next of Work Newsletter: In our weekly newsletter, we’ll continue to provide commentary on real-time work trends. And, we’ll provide insights into the challenges and key issues that can emerge as you pursue HPF, including:

  • Why leading with “what” (the work) is more effective than leading with “where” (how many days onsite and how many days remote).
  • What to do if you’re struggling with compliance for mandatory in-office days.
  • How to maintain fairness when one-size doesn’t fit all.
  • How to offer inclusive flexibility regardless of where someone works (or if they have a desk or not 😉).
  • What to measure to gauge success.

Those are just a few of the topics. What else interests you or keeps you up at night?  Share your thoughts. I love hearing from you. Email me at cali@flexstrategygroup.com and we will add them to the queue.

Flexibility Friday Videos: Periodically, I’ll share a short video with real-time thoughts on what I’m seeing from the front lines as we execute strategic work flexibility.

Quarterly Office Hours: For subscribers who receive this newsletter each week in their inbox, join me quarterly for live office hours starting Friday, February 24 from 12:30 to 1 pm EST.  We’ll prompt you for questions two weeks prior.

Let’s partner to close the “knowing-doing” gap in 2023.

Let’s take the best of what worked during and before the pandemic and re-define how, when and where your organization will operate next.

Here’s how we can build on the milestones noted in the article and take work flexibility to the next level in 2023:

Excellent overview of the current state of hybrid work in 2022 by Sarah Green Carmichael.

Here’s how we can build on the milestones noted in the article and take work flexibility to the next level in 2023:

2022: Hybrid work is the norm.

2023: Expand beyond the duality (onsite or home) of “hybrid.” Optimize working flexibly within a broader range of place (onsite at the office, onsite at a co-working space, onsite with a client, home, etc.), space and time parameters that encompass all workers, not just those who can do aspects of their jobs from home.

2022: Manager and employee expectations of days in the office misalign by one day, and bosses have only so much power.2023: Managers and employees partner in a culture of shared leadership. They define together what their priorities are and where, when and how those priorities happen best. They then operate within those mutually agreed guardrails.

2022: Managers “gradually” got comfortable with managing and evaluating employees they don’t see every day.
2023: Accelerate, prioritize and scale the training of managers to effectively build and lead flexible work teams (nipping proximity bias in the bud) AND train employees to play their role in day-to-day flexible work success. Managers can’t do this alone.

2022: Surprise that managers are comfortable allowing remote work on four or more contiguous days.
2023: Limit “surprise” by having managers and their direct reports follow a consistent process to identify the priorities of the team and define where, when and how those priorities are accomplished best. Then there is a rationale behind the outcome (truth is in 2022 most decisions about where and when people work were pretty random and uncoordinated).

2022: One-size-fits-all arrangements don’t work.
2023: Approach flexibility as an intentional, dynamic way of operating–planning, coordinating and executing work–across workplaces, spaces and time, not as an arrangement. What that looks like will be determined by the unique realities of a business and its people.

2022: Long commutes are an obstacle to in-person work, especially for cities.
2023: Government (federal, state, local city and surrounding suburbs), transit, business and real estate leadership join forces to urgently reimagine how cities thrive in the flexible next of work.

2022: Hybrid is more than a schedule and more than just showing up.
2023: Embrace the opportunity to define how your organization will achieve its purpose, live its values, and execute its strategic priorities in a digitally-enabled flexible work reality that’s here to stay.

That’s what has to happen next in 2023 and the good news is…it’s already happening!

#workflexibility #hybridwork #performance #remotework #leadership #futureofwork #flexiblework #innovation #wfh

Tis the Season to Celebrate, Reflect…and Take Time Off

For me, the year-end holidays are a time to celebrate and reflect.

Celebrate professional and personal successes: what you did get done, not what you didn’t; progress, not perfection (still my favorite insights from the work+life fit naturals I studied when writing Tweak It).

And reflect on some of the most important lessons learned, one of which was the need for a true, meaningful, restorative break from work.

As I shared earlier this year when I returned from visiting our daughter who was studying in the U.K., “after (working) two nonstop years, I was ready for a vacation and took two weeks off.” It was, “Just what my heart and soul needed and was the first time I’d taken such a long, mostly work-free break since I’d worked for a bank in the early 1990s.”

Sadly, I am not alone in not taking regular vacations, and I work for myself!  The U.S. ranks as one of the worst countries for offering paid vacation days and paid leave. And, even before the pandemic completely erased the boundaries between work and life, Americans were leaving a record number of vacation days unused.

During the past few years, various studies found that between nearly a third and more than half of us didn’t use all our vacation time.  At the end of 2021, employees on average had 9.5 unused vacation days left, according to Qualtrics. I used to be one of those people.

As I wrote following my vacation, “I’d forgotten how it takes a full week to decompress which then allows you to really relax and enjoy your time away the second week. I will do my best not to forget again and make two-week breaks a priority every year, not just for me but for our entire team.”

Time off is of value not just to the individual, but to colleagues and the organization as well. I came back from that vacation chomping at the bit to dive back into the work I love, and it felt great.

I’ve written previously about how employers can Unlock the Strategic Power of Vacation.

Among my tips:

  • Position vacation/PTO as a form of work flexibility an employee can actively use to fit their work and life together.
  • Regularly prompt employees to plan and coordinate their vacation/PTO. I suggest sending a reminder quarterly.
  • Celebrate vacations and show that your organization values time off and meaningful breaks, seeing them as both a gain for the employee and the organization. 

So I and everyone who is part of the FSG family will walk our talk this holiday season.  From Friday, December 23rd until Monday, January, 2nd, we will be closed to celebrate, reflect…rest, and restore.

And in the new year, whether it’s a vacation with travel or just a few hours outside, “Deliberate breaks. Rest. Changes in perspective.  All need to be a part of our work+life fit.” Hopefully, it will be part of yours as well.

NYTimes: Remote Work is Here to Stay, Employers Lean In

NYT opinion writer Jessica Grose penned an outstanding piece, “Remote Work is Here to Stay. Lean In, Employers.” this past weekend following the release of a new working paper — The Covid-19 Baby Bump – from the National Bureau of Economic Research. The paper suggested remote work was among the factors that resulted in the first major reversal in U.S. fertility rates in more than a decade because it reduced the opportunity costs (or “what’s given up”) of childbearing for some employees.

Jessica, who also writes the NYT’s On Parenting newsletter, noted some of my thoughts in her piece including one factor not mentioned in the NBER paper that I believe had an impact as well. “The partners of prospective mothers also, in many cases, had the same access to remote work and flexibility, which is further opportunity cost reduction on mothers because they don’t have to shoulder the burden alone.”

As Jessica wrote, “When you can work remotely or more flexibly, the frantic (working parent) dash disappears” and “a million other little pressures (are) relieved.” She cited Future Forum’s latest Pulse Survey which that found 83% of working moms now want location flexibility” and half of the working dads asked “want to work remotely 3 to 5 days a week.”
Yet, the demands to return to office in the name of face time persist. My response, “The complaints that remote work destroys company culture and prevents mentorship directly relate to the fact that the pandemic shift to remote work was crisis-driven and not a thoughtful, intentional implementation.

“A well-executed flexible work strategy addresses upfront, ‘what do we need to do to build culture and mentor talent?’ then determines ‘how, when and where do we do that best based on the realities of our jobs and lives?’ That’s not left to chance.”

It becomes part of a culture where flexibility is “the way we operate.” This is the next evolution of work that all organizations need undertake to attract and retain talent at every age and stage of life, including parents. Define your what. Your why. Your purpose.

As I wrote in a piece for Medium two years ago, “Operating shifts that keep parents in the workforce improve work life for all. The same planning, coordination and support to help parents can help all employees find a better fit between their jobs and the other parts of their lives in the near term, while informing the way work looks long term.”

Until next time, keep reimagining work… and life.

“What keeps you up at night?” My interview on UC Berkeley Extension’s The Future of Work podcast

“What keeps you up at night?”  That’s one of the thought-provoking questions the host of UC Berkeley Extension’s The Future of Work podcast, Jill Finlayson, asked during my recent appearance. Finlayson is also the Director of EDGE (Expanding Diversity and Gender Equity) in Tech Initiative at UC, and the monthly podcast she hosts focuses on the changing evolution of the workforce and the skills needed to stay competitive.

In this episode, The Humanizing of Flexible Work, we discuss the costs and benefits of flexibility, the impacts as more employees work a hybrid schedule, and who might get left behind or forgotten.

But we started our conversation with a question I’ve never been asked before: what keeps me up at night?

First, I am constantly thinking about how can I share with organizations, leaders, and individual employees what I’ve learned over nearly three decades actually transforming work so they don’t feel so overwhelmed. There is a proven path. How can I help them be as excited as I am about the possibilities of a well-executed flexible work strategy? I’ve seen the results and benefits that I call “the spark.”

Second, I still don’t think leaders truly understand that we’re not going back to the old ways of working. Without senior leader buy-in and sponsorship, a broad flexible reimagining of work is much more difficult.

And third, we are still too hyper-focused on where we work. Instead of leading with the work – purpose, values, and also job tasks – and THEN, determining together not just where, but how and when that work is done best.

It’s not that where doesn’t matter. It’s just not the most effective place to start. For example, what leads to a better outcome–setting “anchor days” and then figuring out what you’re going to do on those days onsite together, or looking first at what you need to do and then deciding if anchor days make sense and, if they do, what would the best anchor day or days be?

Yes, change is scary.  But I’ve seen what happens when work is the focal point. You start to ask “How can we do this better?  How can we do this more effectively?” That’s innovation in action.

Take the best of how we worked during the pandemic, and add back what was missing. That’s how you move forward to the best of what’s next and unlock new levels of performance and well-being.

But it requires a consistent process to guide that decision-making and a new set of skills for both leaders and employees. It also requires us to expand beyond hybrid and remote work, which are just two possible ways to work flexibly, and exclude nearly half of the workforce that needs to be onsite for their jobs. To fully seize the beneficial outcomes of high performance flexibility, organizations need to consider the full continuum of how, when, and where work can be done across the entire talent base.

We discuss this and much more, including my look ahead at how, when, and where I believe we’ll be working 10 to 25 years from now. Listen to the full episode.

What’s driving the four-day work week movement?

What’s driving the most recent global demand for four-day work weeks (a concept that seems to resurface every couple of years)? I explained in an NBC Nightly News story that aired while I was on vacation, and before four-day work week legislation was introduced in California.

First, there’s the “cry for better boundaries” around work hours that’s only been exacerbated by the pandemic, which eliminated for many any remaining physical boundary between work and life.

Then there’s the documented performance improvements. The two companies NBC profiled have had great success with the shorter work week with one CEO saying the change, “helped boost morale and the company’s bottom line.” It’s noteworthy they are smaller companies which is where four-day work weeks have historically had the most success.

Both of the companies – one an online clothing retailer and the other an RV manufacturer – not only reduced the days worked, but also the hours. Each moved to a 32-hour work week. NBC also reported “a years long trial in Iceland was so successful that now 86% of its workforce is on track to work fewer hours after finding productivity remains the same or improved.”

But, to me, the real story isn’t about working fewer hours or fewer days. It’s about a broader reimagining how, when and where your organization operates given the unique needs of your business, job and clients served. At the end of the NBC segment, they shared key points I had emphasized when they interviewed me, “Some experts caution – no one-size-fits all. It depends on the kind of job you have, the type of equipment involved and your customers calendars.”

The four-day work week is a form of time, or WHEN, flexibility that may work for some organizations and jobs but not others. Remote and hybrid work are about WHERE work is done and are feasible in some instances but not others.  It depends.  As much as Iceland, and now California may push for broad, one-size-fits-all adoption, history and experience show it’s not that cut and dry.

To determine what’s best for your organization and your team, always start by asking, “WHAT work do we need to get done” and then HOW, WHEN, and WHERE can we do it best.

“These experiments with a four-day work week deserve headlines for their innovation and impact. Such changes or pilots acknowledge what many feel –  the traditional model of work is, at least, outdated and at worst, broken.”

That’s what I said in a November 2019 LinkedIn post ,“Beyond 4-Day Work Weeks and 5-Hour Work Days”, the last time four-day workweeks made headlines. That was also pre-pandemic! As you’ll learn while reading the post, most of what I wrote then is even more relevant now.  And it will be interesting to see if this time four-day work weeks gain meaningful traction and staying power.

The pandemic accelerated the trend toward greater work flexibility that was already well underway for years. Work has fundamentally changed. Now, people know they can do their jobs differently and effectively. Flexibility across workplaces, spaces and time is both an expectation and a need.

The challenge now is also the opportunity. How will your organization execute its unique flexible “next” of work with strategic intention that benefits both the business and people?

Learn how you can help identify and close any gaps by trying the Flex+Strategy Group’s High Performance Flexibility Assessment. I encourage you and your fellow leaders to complete together to see where you are on the same page and where you are not.  I can’t wait to hear what you find!

Parents+Omicron+Flexibility: Now More Than Ever!

Yesterday, the U.S. posted 1 million new cases of COVID. That’s twice the number from just four days ago, and it’s the most any country has ever reported, according to Bloomberg. The next few weeks will likely become even more challenging, especially for parents–moms and dads–and the managers who employ them.

I share my thoughts on how managers and parents can start a problem-solving dialogue NOW.

Work together to find flexible, creative ways parents can work and manage the uncertain, ever-changing realities of caring for their pre-school and school-age children in the face of Omicron. And why everyone benefits.

This is my first experiment with quick, real-time video when I have something particularly important to share! Let me know what you think.