Episode #365: Back To The Future At The Workplace

Let’s presume you have all of the safety protocols in place for providing a safe working environment. How do we co-exist with Covid-19, while gathering together back at the workplace?

Human interaction is definitely something that many people long for after months of working from home. Yes, there were the online catch ups, maybe even virtual lunches, coffee breaks and happy hours, but it has not quite been the same. It doesn’t mean everyone has to rush back to the workplace though. There may be some people who are better off continuing to work from home, so organisational flexibility is the key. In fact we must now question the logic of some of our workflows. This deadly virus may have also been deadly for workplace inertia. Pre-Covid-19,we just did things a particular way, because that is how it has always been done around here.

Sharing our lock down lives is a good way of bonding the returning team together. With appropriate social distancing, get together in workgroups and share with each other how each of us found it. What was good, what was difficult, what was different? This sharing might have to be done in relatively small groups, for better safety considerations, but certainly make the time to do it.

We can also spend some designated time together thinking about were there particular things we found while working from home, that could be introduced into a new style of working together. Hataraki Kaikaku or the workstyle reform is now well and truly upon us, rather than just being some speculative musing.

Things we had previously thought to introduce, but delayed, actually happened at lightening speed. Things we thought impossible, became commonplace. Maybe we don’t need to commute at the same time, every day, anymore. Maybe, we don’t need as much paper flitting from desk to desk. Perhaps our electronic approval systems need a permanent upgrade. Do we still need a hanko seal for documents? We have some clients who ask us to send them the physical copy of the hanko imbedded electronic invoice. We walk over to the photocopier, print it out and then send it by post - quite crazy!

The virus won’t cease to be an issue until a vaccine is found, so coexistence is the best we can plan for at this moment. Well then, what should we be planning for?

Rather than fighting the battles of the past, brainstorm these issues, engaging the team in order to move forward as a unit. Dale Carnegie said , “people support a world they help to create”. Getting people involved in the “design in” stage, makes the execution piece much quicker and easier. The client’s world has changed too, so how can we position ourselves to best serve clients in their new world of work?

While everyone was sitting at home in isolation, the boss was forced to become a micro-manager, constantly checking on projects and shepherding overall coordination. The normal channels of good communication broke down and bigger efforts were required to do relatively simple things. Because of this, during team separation, individuals had to be delegated more authority to make decisions.

Now the boss has to be very careful about simply transporting this micromanaging “temporary” fix back into the re-imagined workplace. A lot of things have changed. Individuals who have stepped up and taken the lead, need to be recognised and encouraged, by giving them more responsibilities. The boss can’t keep doing micro-management. The leader needs to get back working on those tasks, that only the boss can do. These are the most high level tasks, that bring the most value, as opposed to the detritus that normally consumes the daily schedule.

Charles Darwin didn’t talk about the survival of the strongest. He talked about the superiority of those species which could best adapt to change, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change”. Covid-19 is a change that will be with us for a long time. We must find ways to adapt ourselves and our workplaces to this new world of work.