Work that works

So says PepsiCo with their new flexible working model, ‘work that works’... in this article

80,000 staff will never work a standard 9-5 working week again. 

“Instead, the business has empowered its managers to determine which of their team members are needed in the office and when, and what work can be completed remotely, on a project-by-project basis.”

Wow! It’s pretty big isn’t it. And yes, plenty of companies have been working like this for awhile (some for years) but for most leaders, this is new. 

This strategy has been 8 months in the planning and is rolling out across 200 locations. 

2.5 days in the office and it’s now all about ‘outputs’. 

Leaders will need to step up to higher levels of communication, engagement … and leadership! 

Good for employees? Yes, and PepsiCo says hybrid working is good for business too. 

As each company expresses publicly its hybrid strategy - or its ‘forever work from home’ strategy (hello Atlassian Twitter  Facebook  Unilever  Spotify  Square Microsoft Slack Google … and many more) - the competition for talent increases. And this could be some of the talent that’s currently working for you, with you. 

Don’t be complacent. What’s your ‘work that works’ strategy, PesioCo-style? 

The liminal pickle of the middle

There are plenty of challenges in this hybrid world of work for middle managers. 

Often lumbered with things from above and below, middle managers deserve and need ongoing invested support and development for what I’d call the ‘liminal pickle’ they can find themselves in. 

Liminal because it is between two worlds, potentially in the transition from one to another. 

And pickle... well it’s tricky. 

There’s plenty to read in this Harvard Business Review article by Brian Elliott.

Acknowledging the anxiety

Many people are feeling it; the anxiety of returning to workplaces, crowds, elevators and common areas. 

Do you ignore it? 
Do you say something? 

If you say something, might you make it worse or bring into focus something that’s better left as it is? 

In tough times particularly, we must spend time interacting, engaging, asking and listening. 

It’s a facilitation technique to acknowledge what is there - not ignore it. 

I recall I was facilitating a corporate workshop on the day of the 9/11 attacks. I may have been in Australia, half a world away, but it was a global event. 

Our workshop started later, slower, a revised agenda, more breaks ... and less expectations. We talked a lot about the events of the day. 

We worked with what was there, not pushing forward with previous priorities. 

In these times of increased anxiety, you’ve got to say something. 

Go slower. 
Ask. 
Listen. 
Wait. 
Pause. 
Reflect. 
Wait. 

That means the rush and push of people needs to slow a little while we adapt.

This article about the ‘spectrum of feelings’ people have in the return to offices from Digiday outlines what’s making people feel anxious and some tips on how to respond. 

What would you ‘go in’ to an office for

Beware the big effort for a dull return. 

It’s happening. 

There’s the call that ‘everyone needs to be in the office for this’, or ‘we need all hands’ or ‘it’s worthy of face-to-face’.

And everyone makes the effort but it ends up having a dull, disengaging, “could have been a zoom or teams meeting, could have been an email, could have been a link, could have been a PDF” feeling about it. 

We will need to be more discerning about the ‘moments that matter’. 

When do we truly need to be face to face and why? What will we make, do or happen that will reap the benefit of the effort? 

Beware promising great things with everyone on-site, but reverting to bad meeting cultures, boring presentations and events that could have remained virtual. 

This Fast Company article by Ashley Goldsmith has 5 tips to plan a return to an office. 

One of those tips is ‘Establish moments that matter.’  

Work out when it’s valuable, impactful and necessary for people to be face to face - and then reward them with brilliant experiences when they do. 

Or they’ll be even less likely to take the next call for ‘all in’ seriously. 

What would you ‘go in’ to an office for? 

I’ll work from under a palm tree, thanks. You?

That would be my ‘workcation’- somewhere where I could see the water, feel the sun, watch some boats sail by and paddle and splash in the sea. 

What about you? What’s your dreamy work location, because it could become one of those standard job perks that are today... standard, for many. 

Beyond the opportunity to ‘forever work from home’ that some of the big tech companies announced in recent months, Google is now up for the month-long remote-work-from-anywhere perk. 

This article in CNBC’s Global Traveller by Monica Pitrelli shows how the competitive advantage of employee flexibility is growing. 

I was pleased to provide some comment for the article. 

Imagine holidaying. Working. Then holidaying some more. Or enjoying the local cuisine and sights at night after remote work during the day. 

Or remote all night, party all day 😱

It could be just the holiday extender we need when borders open more, and our travel dreams move closer to reality. 

The lines are further blurring between here and there, this cocktail and that zoom meeting.