Why I’m not talking about how to WFH
I think I’ve had enough advice on how to WFH. Mostly it falls into generic time management tips or video conferencing 101. And none of that is bad, but it’s noise that obscures what’s really going on.
I want things to get back to normal as much as the next person. But my nervousness is that we are too quick to celebrate our expertise of this situation. That because we are still able to conduct meetings, edit documents and share office gossip, we grow too comfortable too quickly. And that as a result, we miss out on the uniqueness of this situation.
For one thing, it’s hardly surprising that we’re coping right now. As has been pointed out, we’ve been working remotely for years — the pandemic has brought into the mainstream technology and behaviours that have been adapted at the edges over the last decade or so.
But also because the most revealing and challenging aspects of this situation are yet to emerge.
Beware the Sustaining Innovation
Right now we are all innovating in ways of working. And in my contact with clients, friends and others there’s an air of surprise at how easy it is to meet, stay in touch and even conduct collaborative meetings like workshops.
This ease made me think of sustaining innovations. At times of disruption, many organisations back ideas and behaviours that seem to move them forward — but tend to simply be what they already know how to do, ported over to a new context. Truly disruptive ideas remain out of reach because the organisation ignores them or — worse — relegates them to the roadmap, which as someone wiser than me once said, is always about 5 years away.
Sustaining innovations create the illusion that we’re adapting to the new whilst clinging to the old. All while the real opportunity passes us by.
If we simply move all our meetings, projects and decisions to Zoom, perhaps we will miss out on an opportunity to truly disrupt how work works. Right now is an opportunity to fundamentally change what’s normal.
The New Normal
We may have some experience of how an individual can work from home, occasionally, successfully, and as a supplement to office time. In most companies it’s an exception to the rule. What happens when the exception is the norm?
When a group adopts a new behaviour or enters a new situation, social norms emerge. These are the invisible rules that govern our behaviour, our responses to what is and isn’t OK, who gets our time, our respect, our resources. When we violate them, we generally get scorned.
We are all in a not-normal, enforced state of working from home. But already new norms are emerging:
- It’s now normal for people’s dogs, children and partners to wander into meetings.
- It’s now normal for people to give regular updates about what’s going on at home.
- It’s now normal for us to be less ‘busy’ and more flexible with our calendars.
This is all different to 3 weeks ago, and it’s happening organically. We don’t know what will emerge next.
(We’re running a national study to track these new behaviours — you can contribute to this research by signing up here, or follow our page to get the results).
I spend most of my working day helping teams and leaders change their culture, their ways of working, the norms that govern how people work. Most of the time, they are frustrated at how hard it is to get people to adopt new behaviours. But right now, people are adopting new behaviours daily.
So this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for leaders to try some radically new ways of doing things. Giving more autonomy, creating new teams, shedding what’s unnecessary. Not simply moving all the calendar appointments to Zoom and pretending its business as usual.
The Aftermath
Because there will come a time when this is over (ish). And we will trickle back to offices, and delight in each other’s company a little more. But there will be things to learn too.
This is a great test of your company culture — those unwritten rules that shape activities and decisions when the familiar goes out the window. And remember that this is an unprecedented event, so in all likelihood your culture will fail. That’s OK. If you are open to look, you’ll fail in revealing ways.
- What’s the first thing to fall by the wayside? Is it focus? Communication? Interpersonal warmth? Attention to detail?
- How can you enact some experiments around these issues while we’re all in try-anything mode?
- And how, when you return to ‘business as usual’, will you preserve these new ways, whilst sharing your new awareness of what needs to change?
Plan for this aftermath moment. We don’t know when it will come. But even knowing what you’ll do when you get there, and even talking about it, is a beacon of opportunity and hope for all.
That’s my view — how about you? Perhaps now isn’t the time to shake things up at all? How are you, your team and your company coping during this time? Comment away.
