OPINION DON’T AIM FOR BACK TO NORMAL – AIM FOR BETTER THAN NORMAL
Wherever you turn, there are reports and articles warning of the pitfalls and bear traps of the impending return to work / hybrid office culture – but could this be the biggest opportunity your company has ever had to create a work environment that is so much better for you, your staff and your clients asks Mel Evans of Kaleidoscope Coaching. The pandemic has changed us all, perhaps irrevocably. Values have been questioned, priorities re-aligned, and ways of working rewritten. Those employers who are able to identify and respond to these changes and the human needs that underpin them will be recognised as preferred places to work - and rewarded with employee loyalty and commitment. After the enforced distance imposed on us all, you will be thinking about how you can reunite your currently disparate teams, both physically and emotionally, and how to encourage and promote a return to office working. Plans may be in place to welcome long-furloughed team members back into your business. 12 www.birminghamlawsociety.co.uk
Perhaps you have already decided to move to a more hybrid office working model and are gingerly feeling your way as to how this will work in practice – will it be 2 or 3 days in the office? How might this work across business functions? In each scenario, the support, buy in and proactive involvement of your employees will help to establish more robust working practices that help shape stronger teams.
Your team members have a wealth of in-depth (and often untapped) knowledge of how your business really works – and what doesn’t work so well – in both an office and work from home environment. Each and every individual has valuable information to bring to the table – and now is the time to gather that detail, to sense check and finesse the way you work, before slipping back into old habits. Employers and managers who empower their teams to explore how they best work together for both their own, and the clients’ best outcomes, will reap the rewards in increased employee engagement, leading to the well documented benefit of an increase in overall productivity and, ultimately, profitability. Independently facilitated workshops can provide the ideal forum and focus to help teams, leaders and individuals to explore beneath the surface, identifying thoughts and
ideas which may otherwise remain unvoiced, leading to richer, more sustainable solutions and outcomes.
Our approach is to work closely with our clients to design and deliver a bespoke experience which is tailored to align with the individual needs and values of each organisation and team. This could take whatever format works for you, with some of our most popular options being a 4-hour closed team workshop focused on defining a team’s hybrid working practices, a programme of 1:1 coaching sessions to address individual needs and an open 90 minute workshop to help individuals across the business adjust to their new working reality. Your delivery team, Mel Evans and Jo Orr, are both members of the International Coaching Federation and have over 50 years combined experience in the private sector. We bring this extensive experience in team working, project delivery and workshop facilitation, along with our comprehensive training with Barefoot Coaching, to our work with you. If you would like to find out more about how we can help you shape your work environment, please contact Mel on 07740 650221 mel@ kaleidoscopecoaching.co.uk.
