Recently, I taught a course called Leading in the Era of Perpetual Upheaval as part of an Executive Education certificate program for mid- to senior-level professionals.
Good suggestions for action steps! The future is brighter than this - hopefully!! And uncertainty is better faced together than alone. I think the current, rule based, tightly monitored hybrid work environment with mandated office days is working against the purpose of tighter connections and better work communities and communications. It allows people to detach and not be in tune with how everyone else is really feeling. I wish more companies went back to how it used to be: everyone is expected to show up in person every day except when life intervenes… doctor visits, sick kids, occasional volunteering, car breakdowns, work travel days, etc. My team used to average 3.5 days in the office before the pandemic with no stated rules.. but everyone showed up when workload was heavy, and teams aligned their own schedules. No guaranteed remote days. Now more and more people are adjusting their child care and commutes with the expectation of guaranteed remote work days. That sounds better for the individual in the short run, but the community suffers.
I agree, Secil, that surveillance of workers is the wrong tact for companies to take. As businesses have been saying for years, focus on impact and outcomes. That is what truly matters. I think your leadership was somewhat unique (and appreciated) in that you prioritized employee autonomy and the ability to use good judgement. But I’m not sure if we can say how the puzzle pieces of the future of work and time in the office should be put back together yet. I think I am still on the side of coordinated schedules for in-person time. I do not miss commuting 2.5 hours a day to sit on zoom meetings in the office but I do miss in-person collaboration. It’s a dilemma that probably defies a blanket policy.
Thank you Robin. I found this line inspiring. One common thread emerged: Every person in that room yearns for a future with more connection, greater belonging, increased empathy, and free flowing compassion. These qualities were seen not only as desirable, but essential, leadership traits for navigating an uncertain future.
Yes! Thank you, Suzanne. We know that babies can't thrive without these qualities and nor should we at any age or stage. I appreciate the work that you do everyday to make business more human.
I like this post and found myself wanting to do a mash-up with this article, and the "What do Middle Managers" do article. Like you, Robin, I spent most of my career in middle management, and I found that my greatest value add was this "creating islands of sanity" work. I was blessed to have managers who appreciated that. I think some middle managers bow to the pressures to get shit done as being priority #1 because, after all, getting shit done can be measured easily.
But what if we could also measure the effects of creating islands of sanity? We can! We can measure engagement and satisfaction, retention, upward mobility, diversity; when these metrics are tracked as closely as revenue, product delivery, and customer satisfaction we will move closer towards a *profitable* work future that generates all kinds of wealth, including that interpersonal wealth your participants craved: ". . .more connection, greater belonging, increased empathy, and free flowing compassion."
And I would add one more thing: in my experience, if all of these are attended to, if we saw these qualities as sort of a base level of a corporate-flavored Maslow hierarchy of needs, then we could actualize "innovation" --or day I say it, profit--at the top of that pyramid.
Thanks for making me think Robin. Honestly it's your superpower.
Good suggestions for action steps! The future is brighter than this - hopefully!! And uncertainty is better faced together than alone. I think the current, rule based, tightly monitored hybrid work environment with mandated office days is working against the purpose of tighter connections and better work communities and communications. It allows people to detach and not be in tune with how everyone else is really feeling. I wish more companies went back to how it used to be: everyone is expected to show up in person every day except when life intervenes… doctor visits, sick kids, occasional volunteering, car breakdowns, work travel days, etc. My team used to average 3.5 days in the office before the pandemic with no stated rules.. but everyone showed up when workload was heavy, and teams aligned their own schedules. No guaranteed remote days. Now more and more people are adjusting their child care and commutes with the expectation of guaranteed remote work days. That sounds better for the individual in the short run, but the community suffers.
I agree, Secil, that surveillance of workers is the wrong tact for companies to take. As businesses have been saying for years, focus on impact and outcomes. That is what truly matters. I think your leadership was somewhat unique (and appreciated) in that you prioritized employee autonomy and the ability to use good judgement. But I’m not sure if we can say how the puzzle pieces of the future of work and time in the office should be put back together yet. I think I am still on the side of coordinated schedules for in-person time. I do not miss commuting 2.5 hours a day to sit on zoom meetings in the office but I do miss in-person collaboration. It’s a dilemma that probably defies a blanket policy.
Thank you Robin. I found this line inspiring. One common thread emerged: Every person in that room yearns for a future with more connection, greater belonging, increased empathy, and free flowing compassion. These qualities were seen not only as desirable, but essential, leadership traits for navigating an uncertain future.
Yes! Thank you, Suzanne. We know that babies can't thrive without these qualities and nor should we at any age or stage. I appreciate the work that you do everyday to make business more human.
I like this post and found myself wanting to do a mash-up with this article, and the "What do Middle Managers" do article. Like you, Robin, I spent most of my career in middle management, and I found that my greatest value add was this "creating islands of sanity" work. I was blessed to have managers who appreciated that. I think some middle managers bow to the pressures to get shit done as being priority #1 because, after all, getting shit done can be measured easily.
But what if we could also measure the effects of creating islands of sanity? We can! We can measure engagement and satisfaction, retention, upward mobility, diversity; when these metrics are tracked as closely as revenue, product delivery, and customer satisfaction we will move closer towards a *profitable* work future that generates all kinds of wealth, including that interpersonal wealth your participants craved: ". . .more connection, greater belonging, increased empathy, and free flowing compassion."
And I would add one more thing: in my experience, if all of these are attended to, if we saw these qualities as sort of a base level of a corporate-flavored Maslow hierarchy of needs, then we could actualize "innovation" --or day I say it, profit--at the top of that pyramid.
Thanks for making me think Robin. Honestly it's your superpower.