Don’t force your employees back to the office. Instead, help them do their jobs…
COVID drove people out of the office. Now other external pressures are driving them back. And none of these external dynamics have been universally welcomed. Instead, they make people change their habits by force.
It’s true that many see working from home as a ‘good thing,’ and it’s often suggested that it was going to happen anyway—COVID just accelerated it. However, for many it’s a problem: space or privacy issues, a lack of team dynamics or the appropriate tools, loneliness and hidden costs—all these issues make working from home a far less attractive prospect.
It’s clear though that managers seem to have the most difficulty with the change. Mostly it’s a phenomenon amongst less sophisticated managers whose self-worth is linked to eyeballing their teams to ensure they have their noses to the grindstone. Great leaders don’t need that kind of engagement because they’re output-driven: why care where someone gets their work done, so long as they meet their targets?
What’s concerning is that staff are returning to the office not because they want to, but because they see it as the only option—Hobson’s Choice. Hobson was a 16th-century English livery stable owner who offered customers the choice of taking the horse nearest the door or no horse at all. So there really was no choice. This worked for Hobson—it prevented the best horses from being overused—but it wasn’t so fantastic for his clients.
Many of our employees will feel this way about returning to the office. In the US, many managers are telling staff to get back the office or find another job. In the UK, where the cost of living has skyrocketed, it’s freeze at home or stay warm in the office. Either way, not much of a choice.
So what should leaders do about it?
I think, as leaders, we should chuck Hobson’s choice. Let staff feel empowered to make the decision that’s right for them—in particular junior staff, who have never experienced high-inflation, diminished buying power, and politically unstable times.
We need also to ensure that staff have adequate support. There’s a tendency to complain about the level of support new people in the workplace appear to need, especially when they’re young. Right now, I’d say it’s fully justified. It’s a turbulent era, and although older people may have lived through similar moments, everyone is stressed and distracted.
So we need to assess the individual and their needs rather than create one or two solutions for all. If we provide flexibility, allowing people to work when, where, and how they want, they will appreciate the autonomy and bring their best selves to the task, wherever they are.
I know from my own company that our CIOs and CTOs take great benefit from being completely in charge of their own diary; many say it is liberating.
Finally, we’ve got to avoid playing Big Brother. There have been some recent horror stories in the press about managers implementing privacy-invading surveillance of their staff, and in my experience that only drives people to either game the system or rebel against it. If someone has enough time to deliver all I’ve asked them to and still has time to goof off during work hours, that’s my fault, not theirs.
So, if your team is going back into the office more, don’t see that as a good sign. See it as something that needs to be discussed and understood. This is not a time for, ‘Oh, nice to see you in person at last!’ Instead, it’s a time for more personal engagement. It’s a time to find out whether they’re okay and have everything they need to operate effectively.
These are the hardest times to be a leader but also the most rewarding.
Online Service Delivery: Don’t forget job satisfaction
Your systems strategy should focus on what the clients want. But staff must be a consideration as well. Our IT and technology experts discuss how systems strategy can be a crucial factory in the attraction and retention of staff.
New tools have made it much easier and cheaper to deliver information, offers, and new services to customers after they buy. Our IT and technology experts discuss new ways to add value after the purchase is done.
Online service delivery: E-commerce in the mid-market
We’ve seen a huge increase in Freeman Clarke B2B clients moving into the ecommerce space. Whilst many mid-market businesses have resisted the shift, it’s been a boon for our clients. Our IT and technology experts provide their thoughts on this ecommerce in the mid-market.
Automation can have a large and immediate impact on a mid-market business’s bottom line. Our experts discuss an example of how automation made a huge difference for a client.
“Between us all, we’ve been there, we’ve seen it, we’ve done it.” Our IT leaders explain their extensive digital and business technology experience.
We’re a team of 85+ Board-level technology leaders (CIOs, CTOs, CISOs and IT Directors) who collaborate and knowledge share every day so that we can deliver the very best for our clients. We work across all industries including; retail, manufacturing, logistics, pharma, facilities management, professional services, construction, engineering, private equity to name a few. Its safe to say we’ve got you covered!
Visit our Knowledge centers, which include expert documents that will help your business improve and grow.
Freeman Clarke is the UK’s largest and most experienced team of fractional IT leaders. We work exclusively with ambitious organisations, helping our clients use IT to beat the competition. Contact Us and we’ll be in touch for an informal conversation.
A Three-Step Strategy for Hybrid Working
The pandemic took us all by surprise, but we’ve had our eyes on hybrid working for some time.
In 2018, we noticed that while urbanization and commuting remain established “megatrends” across the world, there were signs in both the US and UK that office working was on the wane. To provide some guidance for our clients, we wrote a CEO’s Briefing: How to Make It Work When They Work from Home.
Of course, with the pandemic, this gradual trend became a sudden flip. And what a flip: a US survey from late 2020 reported that the jump in remote-working was from 20% to 71%.
For many companies there was a simple, mass evacuation from the office conducted with little time to plan, and even less time for a strategy. Nevertheless, during the months that followed, people and companies adapted to new ways of working and found ways to cope.
Unlike the rapid flip required by the pandemic, this time there is scope to plan and strategize.
As the pandemic eases, many companies are looking again at office working, home-working and hybrid arrangements. Unlike the rapid flip required by the pandemic, this time there is scope to plan and enact a thought-out strategy.
We propose that your approach should be based on the following steps.
1. Strategize.
Remind your senior leaders of your business objectives and how your business stands out in the market. What makes it special in terms of customers and value? This should drive planning for you and other decision-makers in your organization.
For example, if your market is highly commodified, then of course this is an opportunity to look again at outsourcing to lower costs (or to automate more roles and eliminate some costs altogether).
If your business thrives on creativity, however, we recommend that you bring your people together, because thereis no substitute for the spark of brilliant people, in a room, face-to-face.
If you are competing to recruit rare talent, then perhaps home or hybrid working allows you to recruit more easily — to cast the net wider and to offer a better package than your competitors.
If you emphasize great service, then think about what your customers want, rather than what you want.
2. Segment.
Your plans for home, office or hybrid working should be rooted in the job profiles within your company. Not all office jobs have the same profile and needs; what makes sense for a credit control assistant may not make sense for a product designer.
Consider the job in terms of:
The frequency, complexity, and ambiguity of interactions with others,
The need for supervision or help,
And, of course, the employee’s access to suitable home-working arrangements and/or their need for specialist office equipment.
Your adoption of home, office or hybrid working should be based on the needs of the job rather than the department or seniority.
3. Optimize.
It’s easy to do hybrid working badly. Meetings where half the team are in the office and half are remote can easily leave the remote workers feeling excluded. Getting the best from all your people requires more deliberate communications and inclusion; even more clarity on roles, processes and controls; and investment in technology that supports hybrid working patterns.
In particular:
Hybrid working must be part of the culture of the company. People need to see how the hybrid way of working has become part of the day-to-day, and how they are still part of the company even if they’re rarely in the office. This is particularly important for engaging new starters.
Set clear expectations of how work gets done, for instance defining when and if their physical presence is expected. Maybe it’s okay to attend company-wide meetings on video, but weekly brainstorming sessions should be in person.
Go overboard with communication: send out information on all channels, engaging everyone at all levels, and encouraging them to take part.
Recognize that not everyone has a great working environment at home. Senior staff may have a spare room; junior staff may be using the kitchen table.
Need help with your hybrid working strategy? Get in touch.
One of our colleagues remarked that the pandemic was the first time that communication with his offshore providers had actually worked well, because they were equals in video meetings rather than side-lined. This anecdote shows how easily we can get it wrong and lose so much of what people have to offer.
But when done right, hybrid working offers the opportunity to attract the best, to lower costs, and to reduce the impact on the environment. We have a unique opportunity right now to improve service to our customers and increase productivity and job satisfaction. Let’s make the most of it.
A project management consultant is an expert project manager from outside an organization who manages or oversees a project or contributes to its management or oversight.
A project management consultant makes sense for mid-market businesses who are beginning a large project, as most of their people are already committed to other roles. And large projects may be rare, so the company lacks the necessary project management routines and structures.
A professional project management consultant will have the time and expertise to fill this gap. He or she will guide the project and introduce the processes necessary for its delivery.
Project management consultants also bring their experience of different organizations and projects, and they can avoid getting drawn into routine work that eats up the regular staff’s time.
What does a project management consultant do?
At its simplest, project manager consultants focus on four activities:
Identifying the necessary work
Identifying the necessary resources
Ensuring resources are properly allocated to deliver the work
Monitoring escalating issues and delivery.
These are important activities: large projects won’t succeed if they aren’t done properly. But crucially, these activities alone will not guarantee success.
Why do projects fail or get “stuck”?
It is a well-established fact that most projects fail to deliver. In our experience, projects go awry because project managers don’t address the following crucial issues:
Projects that are poorly planned or vaguely defined. A project must specifically address business objectives with pragmatism and urgency. The phasing in particular must reflect the key issues—the underlying business challenges or the technical strategies.
Personnel problems. Staffing issues are often at the heart of challenges to a project, and many project managers lack the people skills to deal with them.
Procrastination or avoidance. It is not unusual for someone to recognize a significant problem but not address it. Project managers may efficiently flag problems, but this is not the same as addressing them.
How do you find the right project management consultant?
The above points are leadership gaps, and project management consultants may not always fill them. In contrast, here are the key ways in which Freeman Clarke consultants ensure a successful project.
Set clear business goals. The underlying business value of the project must be clear and accepted by all the stakeholders. Our role is to have the courage and drive to ensure this clarity is maintained until delivery.
Embrace change. Delivering value often requires significant changes: for example, changes in organization, behavior, and/or processes. We take ownership of these changes and ensure they contribute to the success of the project.
Communicate issues or challenges. Project managers may not communicate issues or risks to leadership in ways that inspire positive action. This can happen even when there is ample progress reporting! We make sure that technical and non-technical people understand potential problems and take steps to resolve them.
To sum up: for most mid-market businesses, large internal projects are relatively rare, so they do not have the senior-level management skills available in-house. Project management consultants provide a solution, but they often leave a leadership gap. Freeman Clarke works with ambitious mid-market businesses to fill this gap and ensure that projects deliver the planned business objectives on time and on budget.
To find out more about how we could add value to your business, Contact Us or call 646 741 2170 and we’ll be in touch for an informal conversation.
The Future of Work | Event
Virtual events can be tough. But we did well with this one!
On October 7th, we discussed the “Future of Work,” office space vs. remote work and fostering employee engagement.
Our experts, Craig Teahen, Regional Director for Freeman Clarke Manhattan, Rachel Drunkenmiller from Unmuted and Richard Sexton from Office Concierge, gave an excellent virtual workshop which can be seen here.
Richard Sexton, MBE, is the Founder and CEO of Office Concierge, a commercial real estate advisory firm. Richard helps companies review their workspace needs and navigate the spectrum of solutions, from flexible to traditional, to ensure companies align the right blend of office space with their WFH policies.
Rachel Druckenmiller is on a mission to humanize the workplace by guiding leaders and their teams to be more resilient, connected and courageous. Through experiential and interactive keynotes, workshops and leadership training — virtually and in-person — Rachel activates what’s best in people and organizations.
Craig Teahen is the Freeman Clarke Director for Manhattan. Freeman Clarke is the largest and most experienced team of fractional CIOs and CTOs. Expert IT leaders who can join organizations to oversee digital innovation, systems and infrastructure to drive business growth.
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