HYBRID LEARNING
5 Myths About Flexible Work
Summary. When it comes to flexibility, executives are often worried that they’ll open Pandora’s box and set a dangerous precedent if they allow some
employees to work flexibly. They worry that if they let a few employees work from home, then the office will always be empty...mor
“Flexibility might be great in theory, but it just doesn’t work for us.”
We have literally heard this statement hundreds of times over the years. It doesn’t matter what industry we’re talking about — whether it’s
tech, government, finance, healthcare, or small business, we’ve heard it. There’s always someone who works from the premise that
“there’s no way flexible work policies can work in our organization.”
In reality, flexible work policies can work in any industry. The last twelve months of the pandemic have proven this. In fact, a recent
Harvard Business School Online study showed that most professionals have excelled in their jobs while working from home, and 81%
either don’t want to go back to the office or would choose a hybrid schedule post-pandemic. It’s important to recognize, however, that
flexibility doesn’t always look the same — one size definitely does not fit all.
The Myth of the Five C’s
You may be wondering, “If you can recruit the best candidates, increase your retention rates, improve your profits, and advance
innovation by incorporating a relatively simple and inexpensive initiative, then why haven’t more organizations developed flex policies?”
This question will be even harder for organizations to ignore after we’ve experienced such a critical test case during the Covid-19
pandemic.
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We believe fear has created stumbling blocks for many organizations when it comes to flexibility. Companies either become frozen by
fear or they become focused by fear. It is focus that can help companies pivot during challenging times. In the years that we’ve been
working with companies on flexibility, we’ve heard countless excuses and myths for why they have not implemented a flex policy. In fact,
the Diversity & Flexibility Alliance has boiled these myths down to the fear of losing the 5 C’s:
1. Loss of control
2. Loss of culture
3. Loss of collaboration
4. Loss of contribution
5. Loss of connection
Addressing the Fears
Myth #1: Loss of Control
Executives are often worried that they’ll open Pandora’s box and set a dangerous precedent if they allow some employees to work
flexibly. They worry that if they let a few employees work from home, then the office will always be empty and no one will be working. The
answer to this is structure and clarity. We can virtually guarantee that any organization that correctly designs and implements their
flexibility policy will not lose anything.
To maintain control and smooth operation of your organization, it’s imperative that you set standards and clearly communicate them.
Organizations should provide clear guidelines on the types of flexibility offered (for example, remote work, reduced hours, asynchronous
schedules, job sharing and/or compressed work weeks) and create a centralized approval process for flexibility to ensure that the system
is equitable. It is also helpful to have a calendar system for tracking when and where each team member is working. You must also
commit to training everyone on these standards — from those working a flexible schedule, to those supervising them, to all other
coworkers. Education and training will help your team avoid “flex stigma,” where employees are disadvantaged or viewed as less
committed due to their flexibility. Training can also help organizations to ensure that successful systems and structures that support
flexibility are maintained.
Myth #2: Loss of Culture
While you may not see every employee every day, and you may not be able to have lunch with people every day, culture does not have
to suffer with a flexible work initiative. However, it is essential that teams meet either in person or via video conference on a regular basis.
At the Alliance, we recommend that companies and firms first define what culture means to their individual organization and then
determine how they might maintain this culture in a hybrid or virtual environment.
Many organizations with whom we’ve worked reported that they found creative ways to maintain culture during months of remote working
during the pandemic. Many Alliance members organized social functions like virtual exercise classes, cooking classes, happy hours, and
team-building exercises to maintain community. Additionally, it’s important to take advantage of the days when everyone is physically
present to develop relationships, participate in events, and spend one-to-one time with colleagues.
Myth # 3: Loss of Collaboration
As long as teams that are working a flexible schedule commit to regular meetings and consistent communication, then collaboration will
not be compromised. It’s important for all team members to maintain contact (even if it’s online), keep tabs on all projects, and be
responsive to emails and phone calls. We always recommend that remote teams also meet in person occasionally to maintain personal
contact and relationships. For collaboration to be successful, remote employees must not be held to a higher standard that those working
in the office. Additionally, technology should be used to enhance collaboration. For example, when companies are bringing teams
together for brainstorming sessions, virtual breakout rooms can facilitate small group collaboration and help to ensure that all voices are
heard. Some organizational leaders have also incorporated regular virtual office hours for unscheduled feedback and informal
collaboration.
Myth #4: Loss of Contribution
We have often heard leaders say: “If employees are not physically at their desks in the office, then how will we know that they’re actually
working?” But with endless distractions available on computers these days (from online shopping, to Instagram, to Facebook, etc.) you
really don’t know what your employees are doing at their desks, even if they are in the office. In fact, they could be searching for a new
job (that offers flexibility!) right before your eyes. It’s important to clearly communicate what is expected of each individual and trust that
they will complete the job within the expected timeframe. All employees should be evaluated on the quality of their work and their ability
to meet clearly defined performance objectives, rather than on time spent in the office.
Myth #5: Loss of Connection
Technology now enables people to connect at any time of the day in almost any location. Meetings can be held through a myriad of video
conferencing applications. Additionally, calendar-sharing apps can help to coordinate team schedules and assist with knowing the
availability of team members. Even networking events can now be done virtually. For example, one of our team members created a
system for scheduling informal virtual coffee chats between partners and associates to maintain opportunities for networking and
mentoring during the pandemic.
It’s important to know what your employees and stakeholders prefer in terms of in-person, hybrid, or virtual-only connection. In a
recent survey conducted by BNI of over 2,300 people from around the world, the networking organization asked the participants if they
would like their meetings to be: 1) in-person only, 2) online only, or 3) a blend of online and in-person meetings. One third of the
participants surveyed said that they wanted to go back completely to in-person meetings. However, 16% wanted to stick with online
meetings only, and almost 51% of the survey respondents were in favor of a blend of meeting both in-person and online. This is a
substantial transition from the organizational practice prior to the pandemic, with a full two-thirds of the organization saying that they
would prefer some aspect of online meetings to be the norm in the future.
A recent 2021 KPMG CEO Outlook Pulse Survey found that almost half of the CEOs of major corporations around the world do not
expect to see a return to “normal” this year. Perhaps a silver lining of the pandemic will be that corporate leaders have overcome their
fears of the 5C’s and will now understand how flexibility can benefit their recruitment and retention efforts — not to mention productivity
and profitability.
Productivity Is About Your Systems, Not Your People
By Daniel Markovitz
Summary. The pursuit of individual productivity is healthy and worthwhile. However, unless you work independently outside of an organization, the benefits
of most “tricks” will be limited. To make a real impact on performance, you have to work at the system level.
Leaders are always seeking to improve employee productivity (including their own). All too often, that quest goes no further than time
management training provided by the HR department. Those classes cover the pros and cons of Inbox Zero, the Pomodoro technique,
the Eisenhower matrix, Getting Things Done, and countless other approaches that tantalize us with promises of peak productivity. Given
that people are still overwhelmed by work, buried in email, and unable to focus on critical priorities, it’s safe to say that these productivity
hacks just don’t hack it.
The problem isn’t with the intrinsic logic of any of these approaches. It’s that they fail to account for the simple fact that most people don’t
work in isolation. They work in complex organizations defined by interdependencies among people — and it’s often these
interdependencies that have the greatest effect on personal productivity. You can be an email ninja, but with the explosion of email (not
to mention instant messages, Twitter, LinkedIn, Slack, and countless other communication tools), you’ll never be fast enough to deal with
all the incoming communication. Similarly, your personal urgent/important Eisenhower categories fall apart when the CEO asks you to do
stop what you’re doing and handle something right away.
As legendary statistician and management consultant W. Edwards Deming argued in his book Out of the Crisis, 94% of most problems
and possibilities for improvement belong to the system, not the individual. I would argue that most productivity improvements belong
there as well. Personal solutions can be useful, but the most effective antidote to low productivity and inefficiency must be implemented
at the system level, not the individual level.
Here are four countermeasures that will help:
Tier your huddles.
Many highly productive organizations have instituted a system of tiered daily huddles, with a clear escalation sequence for all problems.
The first huddle, consisting of front-line workers, begins at the start of the workday. The next huddle, consisting of supervisors, follows 30
minutes later. Managers meet 30 minutes after that, followed by directors, VPs, and finally the executive team. Problems are addressed
at the lowest possible level. If a decision can’t be reached, the issue is escalated to the next level. This system improves the linkage
between the C-suite and the front lines; it accelerates decision making; and perhaps most importantly, it improves productivity by
reducing the number of scattershot emails about a variety of problems.
Make work visible.
Most of the work in an office environment is invisible — it’s buried in people’s computers or their heads. As a result, it’s difficult to know
what people are working on or whether they’re overloaded and unable to take on more tasks. Physical or virtual task boards (such as
Trello, Asana, Airtable, Zenkit, etc.), where every task is represented by a card specifying who is handling it (and its status) enables a
more equitable distribution of work. It also eliminates both countless status check emails and the need to cover that topic in meetings.
The principle investigator of a medical research lab I worked with instituted just such a system, and found that work got done faster and
with dramatically less effort.
Similarly, making downtime visible is equally helpful. In working with the Boston Consulting Group, Harvard Business School professor
Leslie Perlow found that implementing “predictable time off” (i.e., afternoons or evenings totally disconnected from work and wireless
devices, agreed-upon email blackout times, or uninterrupted work blocks) led to greater job satisfaction and better work-life balance
without compromising client service. In this case, “predictability” serves the same purpose as “visibility” — it allows workers to see what
colleagues are doing, and to react accordingly.
Define the “bat signal.”
Batman fans will remember that the police summoned Batman with the image of a bat projected in the night sky. The bat signal was
reserved for times of crisis, like when the Joker was on the loose, not when a scofflaw failed to pay a parking ticket. As Marshall
McLuhan argued, the medium was the message. Unfortunately, most organizations don’t have a similar way of indicating an issue is a
true emergency. With no agreement on what communication channel to use, workers are forced to check all digital messaging platforms
to ensure that nothing slips through the cracks. That’s toxic to productivity. Companies can make work easier for people if they specified
channels for urgent and non-urgent issues.
A medical device manufacturer I worked with set up the following communication protocol to clarify what tool to use in each situation. The
benefit was dramatic, as they were liberated from the need to check all incoming emails for urgent issues. They could focus on work
requiring deep, uninterrupted thought, secure in the knowledge that they only needed to pay attention to text messages or phone calls.
Note that it’s not important what communication protocol they chose; it’s simply important that they had a system.
Align responsibility with authority.
Too often workers are made responsible for tasks but aren’t given the authority to deliver results. This misalignment leads to frustration,
stress, and overburden. For example, at a $500M footwear company I worked with, the founder and CEO — long removed from his role
in product development — decided that he didn’t like a particular shoe style his product team had designed. He diverted a container that
was en route to the U.S. with $400,000 worth of shoes to Africa, where he had everything unloaded at a financial loss. The VP of product
development was not only demoralized, he had to scramble at the last minute to adjust for the CEO’s decision. The rule is simple: if an
employee is responsible for an outcome, they should have the authority to make the necessary decisions, without being forced into an
endless string of emails, meetings, or presentations.
The manufacturing company W.L. Gore & Associates’ “lattice” structure of management is an excellent example of an organization that
has implemented this idea. The $3 billion company broadly distributes leadership responsibility throughout the organization, allowing
employees to make “above the waterline” (i.e., low-risk) decisions on their own, and only requiring approvals for “below the waterline”
(high-risk) decisions. Gore has spent decades developing and refining the culture, systems, and processes to support their unique
organizational structure, so it might be difficult for another company to copy their model. Nevertheless, it’s an example of the kind of
thinking that can improve individual — and organizational — productivity.
The pursuit of individual productivity is healthy and worthwhile. However, unless you work independently outside of an organization, the
benefits of most “tricks” will be limited. To make a real impact on performance, you have to work at the system level.
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4 Tips for Managing a Hybrid Training Team
After the COVID-19 pandemic sent tens of millions home to work in early 2020, many for the first time, there is a big
debate brewing. Plenty of companies, and some workers, are ready to return to the office. A somewhat smaller
number of companies, but perhaps a larger number of workers, however, are convinced their future workplaces
should remain at home.
The divide between those for and against remote work has brought to the surface important questions about pay
equity and productivity, and about performance and flexibility. One area worth exploring — which is also often
overlooked — is how a hybrid model will impact the future of training and development.
There are important challenges and opportunities posed to organizations with remote workforces as it relates to
training. Overnight, learning and development (L&D) leaders needed to find ways to shift programs online, and
integrate new tools for performance monitoring and improvement so that they could be scaled for a remote team. It’s
understandable, then, that some leaders would welcome the idea to return to a traditional office, while others would
prefer to continue to develop solutions that allow for remote work.
For some companies, the solution is hybrid, a middle-ground of sorts. Hybrid work can mean both that some
employees are in-office and some remote, or that all employees spend some time working in-office and the
remainder of their time working from home.
Hybrid work can allow for the flexibility to adapt to the constantly changing dynamics of public and employee health,
and also allow for an organization to attract workers on both sides of the remote work debate.
With a few considerations, L&D leaders can manage a hybrid team with ease. Follow these tips to get started:
• Be Consistent
Look for ways to move content that is normally presented in-person or on-site to an online forum. This way,
curriculum and training can be accessed easily by workers in-office as well as in remote settings. If in-person training
is offered, consider offering a streaming option for those who are not in the office, or record the sessions so that they
can be viewed later. Take care to ensure that the information that is shared to in-office employees mirrors that for
those working remotely. Simple tweaks, such as moving training requirement postings or learning opportunities from
an in-office poster or note in the elevator to the company’s online message board, or weekly email newsletter, can be
of great value.
• Be Clear
In a hybrid setting, the very nature of the work environment is fluid. Some employees may come into the office a few
days a week, others more or less frequently. L&D leaders must make an effort to be clear about the opportunities
available, and the scheduling requirements for them. Give team members extra notice so that they can make
adjustments to their schedule accordingly, and work with managers and teams leads on scheduling that will be most
successful for their workers.
• Seek Out Timely Training Opportunities
In addition to the normal training offerings in your portfolio, leaders will be wise to adopt new offerings that address
the skills employees need to successfully work remotely. Courses on topics such as time management, home office
layout tips, and even training on the best lighting set-up for video meetings may not be on the agenda in a traditional
L&D environment, but a hybrid workforce provides the perfect opportunity to seek out and implement unique training
for the world we live (and work) in.
• Encourage Feedback
With many teams now interacting with workers they may infrequently see face to face, it’s important to encourage
feedback from hybrid workers themselves. It can be more difficult to gather the type of feedback on training programs
and the potential for improvement when there is no word traveling around a physical office and no chance to gather
insight from managers during casual conversations. Provide ample opportunity for feedback and encourage requests
for additional training opportunities. In most cases, workers and managers will tell you what they need.
The unique times we are now in present immense opportunities for the expansion of the traditional understanding of
work. Teams are collaborating, solving problems and growing in the midst of challenges which make getting together
in person more difficult. Hybrid work can bridge the gap between in-office and remote work and, with the right
strategies, L&D leaders can serve their hybrid team through effective programs that contribute to personal and
organizational growth.
With a few considerations, L&D leaders can manage a hybrid team with ease.