... and it is pretty interesting. I have shared with my team and think we can apply it by thinking about how we can lift the mood before we start our meetings/brainstorms to work more effectively
Thanks Bruce, great insight and provocation as always.
RE/ remote working. It´s clear to me, and you pull it out, the key blockage to effective remote working is trust. Those who don´t trust their team members to deliver, hate remote, as they cannot keep their beady eyes on them. For me, this is simply down to ineffective management / leadership. If you "feel" you have your teams in clear sight, this is a damning indictment of your effectiveness as a leader.
A nice analysis... there is every probability of moving away from fixed office space - it is the human interaction that is key, so I would expect to see a huge rise in co-located and shared office space over the next 5 to 10 years. Some of the best ideas and innovations for a company can come from talking to people in entirely different industries.
This also allows people to reduce their commute, increase their quality of life by having more leisure time and also potentially disposable income as they could relocate further from expensive urban centres (or at least move to a less expensive urban centre)
For companies it also makes financial sense - potentially employees will not need salary increases to cover increased costs, they will need a lot less 'fixed office space' and the time when they get their teams together can be more of a 'hackathon' based time when energy levels can be really built up with team building, focused learning and creativity.
For governments, it also makes sense as the travel infrastructure can take a breather and potentially a load of commercial space can be turned into housing or leisure facilities...
With regards to return to the office, I completely agree with your article. I would add one slight caveat though... there are a subset of staff who either a) live close to work, b) lack home working space or c) have jobs that can be emotionally taxing (e.g. dealing with vulnerable people) and need to separate work and home (i.e. not doing harrowing work in the same place where they sleep). These are all edge cases but are genuine reasons for office work.
I've been a hybrid worker for 16 years, so I'm glad to see it normalised, though I am suffering Zoom fatigue now and would like to travel to the office or a client for a day or two a week!
I strongly believe in the idea work is what you do, not where you go to. I think using offices as meeting space to collaborate and learn is the way forward. If an individual wants to use it as a place to deliver work, then that should be their choice. As Alun said, it comes down to trust and clear communications.
This point about being intentional about creating buzz in meetings really resonated with me. I read this the other week: https://ideas.ted.com/3-science-based-strategies-to-increase-your-creativity/
... and it is pretty interesting. I have shared with my team and think we can apply it by thinking about how we can lift the mood before we start our meetings/brainstorms to work more effectively
Thanks Bruce, great insight and provocation as always.
RE/ remote working. It´s clear to me, and you pull it out, the key blockage to effective remote working is trust. Those who don´t trust their team members to deliver, hate remote, as they cannot keep their beady eyes on them. For me, this is simply down to ineffective management / leadership. If you "feel" you have your teams in clear sight, this is a damning indictment of your effectiveness as a leader.
A nice analysis... there is every probability of moving away from fixed office space - it is the human interaction that is key, so I would expect to see a huge rise in co-located and shared office space over the next 5 to 10 years. Some of the best ideas and innovations for a company can come from talking to people in entirely different industries.
This also allows people to reduce their commute, increase their quality of life by having more leisure time and also potentially disposable income as they could relocate further from expensive urban centres (or at least move to a less expensive urban centre)
For companies it also makes financial sense - potentially employees will not need salary increases to cover increased costs, they will need a lot less 'fixed office space' and the time when they get their teams together can be more of a 'hackathon' based time when energy levels can be really built up with team building, focused learning and creativity.
For governments, it also makes sense as the travel infrastructure can take a breather and potentially a load of commercial space can be turned into housing or leisure facilities...
Interesting and exciting times.
Sorry for your Dad's passing, Bruce.
Sorry to read about your Dad, Bruce.
With regards to return to the office, I completely agree with your article. I would add one slight caveat though... there are a subset of staff who either a) live close to work, b) lack home working space or c) have jobs that can be emotionally taxing (e.g. dealing with vulnerable people) and need to separate work and home (i.e. not doing harrowing work in the same place where they sleep). These are all edge cases but are genuine reasons for office work.
I've been a hybrid worker for 16 years, so I'm glad to see it normalised, though I am suffering Zoom fatigue now and would like to travel to the office or a client for a day or two a week!
I strongly believe in the idea work is what you do, not where you go to. I think using offices as meeting space to collaborate and learn is the way forward. If an individual wants to use it as a place to deliver work, then that should be their choice. As Alun said, it comes down to trust and clear communications.