What Can We Do

What Can We Do?

The office has been missed by some, the old way of working is what many have been conditioned into and have fond memories of commuting, being at their desk and being around the colleagues, having a lunch break away from the same four walls and not feeling the pressure to work through. The office will have to change, become a space where more rules are put into place and more space is made. Move the desks apart, have more informal working areas and embrace having free meeting rooms and encourage your employees to walk and make use of the outdoor space where less limiting lockdowns are being rolled out. Right now there is an opportunity to breakdown the existing guidance and dynamics and co-create an updated set of guidelines for the company. Breakdown the known issues or existing problems you always wanted to address:

The Office (layout) The reliance of 40 hours in one office The problematic commutes Addressing being too busy to focus Tackling meeting culture Decision fatigue

The 40-hour workweek is a huge topic and something we have lived and worked by in the West since Henry Ford days, the current working day is filled with meetings, numerous distractions and rarely allows deep or productive work. Right now there is an opportunity to refresh the organisational culture and rewrite the rules away from 40 hours in the office or a strict 09.00 to 17.30.

For many businesses there is an opportunity to move to coordinated patterns, this is where you and department and team leads can sit together and create varying guidelines for the team. Being rigid here will stop building trust for individuals.

Although you have likely had to take the step up and take on the motivator role, you have a new way to motivate people with these tweaks and important changes.

Motivate individuals, motive teams, motive departments to motivate and breathe fresh air into the organisation.

Empower the Catalysts and internal influencers to carry important messages throughout your transitional period and co-create rules that all company employees get behind.

Flexible Approach To Focus Days

Working from home became a way for many people to ‘get their heads down’, ‘focus’ and ‘actually do some work’. Although the working world has flipped, it is essential you and leadership teams deliberately think about encouraging more flexible focus day(s). Decide whether focus days will be remote, will they be in the office or will they be from home? Helping the teams to navigate through this transition is an essential step for company success.

There will also be the other side of focusing away from the office, as there are many who cannot concentrate at home or need an office set up to succeed. It is important you help the teams manage this and help individuals develop what works for them and safely for all.

Chapter 3:

Next Steps For Your Business

This section offers recommendations on:

How to start considering the hybrid office The opportunity to rethink the Monday to Friday 9-5 Reduce your staff anxiety and reducing the perceived large shifts and changes impacting your teams Shape your thinking for the future Rethink focus days and shape a more productive asynchronous workforce

Recommended Actions For Your Business To Take

Create Agreed Principles

Create a safety-first rule: If you do not feel comfortable stay home and communicate with your boss Have an internal motto that promotes hybrid thinking. Always question: Have we covered those in the office? Those out of the office? Those working remotely? Create a company wide playbook to keep all staff members aware of the updated business strategy, what the teams are delivering and by when. The playbook should also include agreed metrics and KPI’s across all teams. Include this on the dedicated communication hub and update weekly to monthly Clearly name different working locations and create a formalised language: ○ WIO (working in office), WFH (working from home) working remotely (WR), encourage team members to use a check in system to keep each teams updated Meeting scheduling and meeting room bookings must supply URLs for video conference calls (Zoom, Microsoft Teams etc) and ensure agenda and pre reads are agreed Better time management protocols - Work proactively with your company to enable better time management, empower department leads to enforce these communications Build out a series of templates to: ○ Help teams manage their time ○ Manage their workloads ○ Create their personal development plan

○ Create and record their performance plan ○ Create meeting agendas and pre reads ○ Note taking templates - Include how to collect and share meeting notes and share these guidelines. This must include the agreed actions and next steps. This is especially important while working in multi venues. Help staff to create time in their calendars to arrange deep work and empower team members to find a space where they can concentrate to deliver their work, whether this is in the office, at home or in a remote location Propose a new communication format: Develop a format where communications are crystal clear A system you and the team can use is the BLUF system –bottom line upfront with the most important information at the top of the email and then points considered, debate and how you got to this decision A tried and tested email template and methodology you can use: ○ Action - The important information and action that needs taking from the team ○ Info - Supply the full information that is required, think: clear, concise and brief. ○ Impact –Where there is an impact, people or commercial speak openly about the expected impact. ○ Decision - how you and the team made the decision ○ Request - Ask for everyone to acknowledge they have seen and are in acceptance

People First:

Consider creating a buddy system for those in the office and those who work remotely. While the Hybrid Office is being set up there will be many who rarely get to work cross department and is essential to keep all employees engaged and connected. Ask each team member to create a company wide profile including information about their role, their work skills, their personal interests. Create an onboarding process that includes both in office and working remotely procedures and run through both methods to have a one size fits all approach Create regular re-onboarding for those working flexibility and entering the office a low number of visits per month. This will ensure the guidelines are followed Introduce hybrid happy hours, coffee breaks and fitness classes, these can be streamed and randomised to connect different staff members together

Create frequent away days with precise problem solving exercises and team building activities. It is important to note remote away days can be challenging and requires dedicated planning and more than a laptop and a phone

The Right Software and Tools:

Select one communication channel for important updates. Email is most accessible. Try to ensure all communications stick to core office hours Select one tool to be the centralised communication hub, instant messenger tools are not designed to work this way and often conversations are lost Centralised systems such as Notion, Atlassian Confluence, Microsoft Sharepoint, Happeo, Threads.com or Basecamp. Asynchronous communication will reduce stress and notification fatigue All conversation should be centralised and threaded for open and transparent communication. Any company wide emails or documents must be stored on this hub software, this is not just for existing staff but potential new hires Create a company wide rule that each meeting has a video conference URL or phone number. The majority of standard software suites (G-Suite and Microsoft Office) offers this via official plugins Rethink meetings and the need for daily standups: Leverage voice notes or video for quick updates vs having to book in numerous video call / video conferencing meetings. This can also work for standups and end of day sit downs vs having to be “live” Create a system for scheduling in the office, out of the office, working remotely - this system should be completed and followed across the company. This has to be company wide. Ensure senior leaders are leading by example and using this system Build out fully Hybrid All Hands (Town Halls) and ask the Management team sessions, invest in the right equipment from higher end mics, video cameras and lighting. Record these sessions and upload to the communication hub and send the URL for those who have missed the event Send regular Pulse Surveys to the company and have quick turnarounds. Enable open conversations and feedback sessions

An Important Reminder:

Go the extra mile supporting the staff

Set up a hotline, a private channel on your chat tool or email for those who require support Set up a mental health helpline or offer a mental health partner who can support staff independently. This increases trust and enables people to speak freely

Remember to go over and above your guidelines ○ Reduce Anxiety: Be wary that many people are anxious about working at home or anxious about coming back to the office. COVID spikes and localised lockdowns will be stressful for all ○ With localised guidelines, it will be important to keep everyone updated especially while working from home or working remotely

Closing Comments

The world of work has desperately needed a refresh, the HQ or one office approach has been outdated for decades. Right now provides an opportunity to recreate multiple locations as the right flexible office. You now have the opportunity to work with your leadership team and management teams to create the new workplace you are proud of, that will keep your staff happy, increase productivity and create a space you would be proud of for new employees to call their work home.

If you are in a position to, look to reshape your office space and build out more informal work areas. Potentially shape the office into clear sections or units, deep work, collaborative work and offer a relaxed space.

Take the chance to reduce office politics and meeting room booking dramas by rethinking scheduling, footfall into the office and encourage multi location work.

There are a large number of software that can help you with location check ins, video updates and standups, centralised hubs for communication and documentation and reducing noise of communication across multiple channels. Do not limit yourself because your existing software is not flexible enough.

Lastly, if you are going to request full attendance in the near future, reduce the stress of returning to the office by creating dedicated communication channels, speaking to individuals directly, using crystal clear email communications and leverage imagery and create videos to put those minds at rest.

Your organisation’s next normal is for you and your team to shape, grab this opportunity with both hands. Make work...actually work.

Thanks For Reading

Would you like any assistance in setting up the Hybrid Office? Or do you have any questions? Get in touch with me directly below:

Danny Denhard - Founder ofFocus.

��: danny@focus.business ��: www.focus.business �� Or text helpline: +447480064060

More About

The world of work is broken. Focus is on a mission to fix this. Less noise - Less distraction - More Focus.

focus.business is your dedicated culture and strategy consultancy helping businesses of all sizes improve their world of work and delivery.

Important Reads From Focus:

Find out if your company’s culture is broken - Link Find out if you are a good or bad manager Are you a bad HiPPO? - Link Revisit your company strategy after COVID - Link

Further Reading

The Allen Curve - Distance between colleagues is essential - https://blogs.cornell.edu/info2040/2019/09/12/is-the-allen-curve-still-true/ Office redesign ○ https://www.wired.co.uk/article/post-covid-office-design ○ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6I4ps3VezA Remote Future - Wordpress Founder on Morning Brew Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/is-work-as-we-know-it-gone-for-good/id 1480059697?i=1000488460061 Reimaging the office - https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/aug/04/covid-reimagine-off ice-workplace-cubicles-hotdesking Return to the office checklist - https://www.focus.business/return-to-the-office-checklist Return the office pulse survey - https://www.focus.business/return-to-the-office-pulse-surveys Remote Management Tips - https://www.focus.business/remote-management-tips The decrease of only WFH has started - https://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/news/articles/number-brits-working-exc lusively-from-home-steadily-decreasing-says-ons Weekly Leaders Letter Newsletter - https://leadersletter.substack.com/

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