Digging for Gold
At the moment, probably like you, I’m noticing how much information there is to help us get through this strange time of pandemic response. This article isn’t going to add to that, there’s plenty of great ideas out there already.
What I’d like to nudge you to do is to think ahead to when all this is over. Imagine yourself months or a year from now, what do you think you’ll have learnt? What do you hope the leaders in your organisation will have learnt?
As a flexible work specialist, I inevitably see the potential of this time to better understand how to amplify remote working. It’s not a perfect experiment, given the pandemic scenario. There’s the anxiety around our health, there’s unexpected caring responsibilities for many, and remote working has been forced upon so many people, many of whom would never have opted for it in the first place.
Despite all those complicating factors, there’s still huge potential to learn about what works and what doesn’t when it comes to remote working. How can you capture data and insights right now that you can learn from weeks or months from now? What gold can you go digging for during this giant experiment?
I’m working with my clients at the moment on how to do exactly that. I’ve got them focusing on three main issues.
First up is productivity. Many people working remotely have many competing demands on their time, now more than ever. What if you asked people to rate how productive they feel they are in the time they have available to work? There is so much research to show that there’s lots of room to improve productivity at work. If people right now spend less time doing their paid work, but feel that the time they spend is much more productive, then that’s worth knowing! If you capture some data on it then you’ll know for sure. The 4-Day Week is a high-profile example of making use of productivity gains from changing the way we work. There are many other examples and your organisation might be one of them!
Next is social connection. We know that isolation is the biggest problem to enforced remote working. Also, the breakdown of a collaborative team culture through various work patterns is a top concern I hear from managers. What if you regularly asked your people how well connected they feel to people in their team and manager? What could you learn from that to help shape how you manage it in future?
Finally, we have managing work and non-work priorities simultaneously. The main driver for more flexibility at work is to help everyone manage all the life that comes their way, invited or otherwise! What if you asked your people how that’s going for them? What could you learn about the conditions that make this possible for as many people as possible?
If you fast forward a few months how pleased will you be that you had the foresight to capture some data in the moment? What if you discover some gold that will boost productivity, maintain or enhance social connection between team members and give them more space to manage all their life priorities?
Dig for a bit of gold and you never know what you might discover along the way!
Gillian Brookes is a flexible work specialist, based in Wellington, NZ