It’s no surprise that the pandemic shook up a lot of things across businesses. Supply chain. Costs. Labor shortages. And of course—the way we work.
In speaking with the Wall Street Journal, Adam Grant recently addressed what CEOs are learning from this experience and most notably, what they’re getting wrong about the future of work.
Hybrid work is here to stay
Continuing to fight to bring people back to the office is demotivating and hurts productivity. When in doubt, follow the data. The results show that people can be at least as successful (if not more productive) working from home, and we know from Nick Bloom’s research that both employees and businesses can see substantial benefits.
As a Stanford economics professor, Bloom has been studying hybrid and remote work environments for years. His findings imply a five-percent productivity boost in the post-pandemic economy due to re-optimized working arrangements. We know now that advancements in technology can support delivery of most roles remotely and that employees value and prioritize flexibility in a role. The key enabler, however, is trust in your people.
There are many ways to foster additional trust with your employees. Our team has implemented a self-directed / unlimited PTO policy which has provided even more flexibility to leaders when time off is needed. Like with other companies, it’s resulted in less time away from projects and more engaged team members. It’s clear that being trusted is not only motivating at all levels, but it’s essential in the future of work.
Talking about my g-g-g-generation
Grant states, “When you compare boomers, Gen Xers and millennials when they were at the same stage and when they just graduated from college, what you see is the generations look more similar than they do different.” I disagree.
Each generation grew up in a world that was vastly different from the others – parenting, learning environments and technology all played a role. These differing experiences shape leaders’ and employees’ approaches, attitudes, and perspectives – and we see trends across generations that can be immensely helpful in building and training our employees.
Not sure about this? Ask leaders in different generations to share their preferred work styles and priorities.
You may hear things like how Gen X generally leans towards working alone, Millennials have a bias towards working collaboratively as a team and Gen Z looks for broader meaning in their assignments.
Understanding why each generation is the way it is will go a long way in how you, recruit, train, manage, and inspire across generations. For tips on how to succeed in these four key areas of leadership, check out the Gray Goldfish Generational Matrix.
Creating an environment of belonging
If you’ve noticed a greater emphasis towards talent and hiring recently, you’re not alone. “Workforce” is cited in the top three of post-pandemic focus areas for a CEO’s attention, with attracting and retaining talent as the top consideration. One thing we know for sure is that the future will be different. Hiring people who can succeed in ambiguous situations is key. When team members have your trust, they can navigate uncertainty without constantly looking over their shoulder in fear of a potential reprimand. Likewise, a trusting employee is more likely to catch and offer a remedy to a mistake we’ve made as a leader. Let’s not forget we want someone looking out for us too.
As you carry forward with hybrid ways of working, part of the C Suite role is building a culture where employees feel they belong. In a remote environment, managers often need to work harder to make employees feel like part of the team. This may require finding creative ways to connect the dots for why the company’s work is important. One technique we use is to reserve time during our team meetings to discuss client improvement and examples of our projects’ impact from the previous week.
For our leadership team meetings, we begin each meeting with everyone sharing their personal and professional best from the prior week. I would highly recommend this one. At the executive level, this kind of conversation can connect the team quickly while also communicating important information across business units. Another way to continue to build trust over time.
Paving a new way
When the business landscape is changing faster and faster, we must be willing to try new things. We can’t be afraid to make mistakes, and we can’t double down on old ways of working. If you feel like you need to see your people work in order to ensure they’re doing their jobs, you either hired the wrong people or you’re failing as a leader.
We’ve learned a lot from work during the pandemic. Let’s take what we learned and build on it, not just say, “I’m glad that’s over; let’s get back to normal.”
