Have you heard about the Enterprise Agility Month?

M&A “end-to-end” full integration service with “hands-on” experts.

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Week two of the #EnterpriseAgilityMonth

Data is the weakest link and agility in a restaurant

Delivering value with  new ways of working

Virtual Forge data day series conversation

Hybrid working is the future of work. Many leaders are trying to get the right mix of working from the office and working remotely right now. They don't need to get it right immediately. Instead their focus should be on setting the right foundations covering people and behaviours, technology and security and adapting the office workspace. Not everyone will be rushing to get back to the office when they are allowed to do so. At the same time there are others who are desperate to be back in the office for various reasons. Leaders have to create a level playing field for both groups of people and hybrid working will make it more challenging. Hybrid working is definitely the future and despite information overload on this subject, leaders are finding it challenging to work out the right mix for their teams. Hybrid working is where individuals and teams want to work a few days in the office and the rest remotely from home or shared working spaces. The other two extremes of full time in the office or fully remote are no longer being considered as options. So, hybrid working definitely is the future of work and leaders have to be ready for that. There is so much of debate, discussion and analysis on this topic, tons of advice from consultancy firms of all shapes and sizes as well as from the academia experts. Despite all the overwhelming information and analysis, many leaders that I have spoken with are finding it challenging to navigate their specific hybrid configuration. There seems to be an urgency to make decision on the right mix right now. But do they really need to worry about that right now? Leaders should defer decisions on the best mix right now. Instead, they should focus on the foundation requirements covering the people, behaviours and engagement principles, the technology and security and the working space so that they are able to react quickly. Not everyone will rush back to the office when they are allowed to do so. Not everyone has the choice of working remotely [*1] . For those lucky enough to do so, not everyone will be in a rush to come back to the office immediately as soon as they are allowed to do so [**2] . Remote working doesn't suit everyone and some people are struggling. There is overwhelming evidence on the impact on well being and mental health from continuous remote working. Some are desperate to be back in the office most days if not all the time. So whilst some team members will prefer to be in the office and enjoy the interactions, others will prefer to work remotely for the near future for most of the time. It is clear is that the set up has to accommodate teams where some are in the office and some remote simultaneously and provide as frictionless a collaborative working experience as possible whist being equitable to both groups. Creating a level playing field is leadership responsibility and hybrid work will make it even more challenging. Those who return to the office on a regular basis will have a favourable chance of success compared to the ones staying remote majority of the time. The ones present in the office will likely to be "in the know" of various opportunities and challenges and are more likely put themselves forward to take them. Most organisations by now have equipped their team members to work safely from home. That is the necessary base foundation. Creating a level playing field for all will mean a very flexible personalised offering based on the tasks and individual circumstances. Remember the office has moved inside someone's house – compromising privacy and space and living challenges - partners, parents, kids, pets and flatmates! Managing personalised offering will incur overheads such as the ones for teams that are looking after labour laws and policies, employee taxation and benefits and the equipment providers (technology and facilities teams). These extra costs can definitely be managed and there are many ways to balance or offset them. Maintaining a level playing field for all and overcoming bias will need conscious effort from everyone and has to be built into the working and engagement practices. This starts with having the right foundations in place now. These foundations are not just about technology and working space. More critically the foundations include people engagement, their behaviours, the ways of working and inter-team and intra-team collaboration. Create the right environment and empower teams to design and try their "best" hybrid work configuration. Empower teams to define and agree the principles and ways of working, the behaviours and working practices when working in the hybrid model. Like any change, this too will have to be led and carefully nurtured by the leader(s). First, make the challenges and options transparent. Set expectations about the priorities and then agree the principles with the teams. The teams can then choose how best to make it work for themselves whilst considering the needs of the firm and other dependent teams They will learn to balance those priorities against their own and team preferences. For example some organisations have made it clear that Clients will always come first and if they prefer to visit in the office, then teams have to come in and meet in the office. It is up to the teams to then maximise the day in the office by having as many client meetings in the same day as possible. In another organisation they agreed the principle that team needs have priority over individual preference where there is a conflict between the two. In a most teams, the team will cater to the needs of all of the team members. But if the team needs to work together for something then the individuals have to make it work and may have to compromise on their own preference. In yet another example the teams laid the expectation for the leaders to be present with the team for key events such as product demo, setting priorities for deliverables etc. So the leaders also had to commit to being in the office. It is important to provide guidance on tolerance thresholds. eg., whether people are expected to be present once a week, fortnight or once a quarter to help individuals make choices and plan ahead. People have effectively got a “pay rise” and would naturally want to minimise spend on travel if they can. However, resist the temptation to go for a one-size-fits-all extreme too early. Such as mandating a certain number of days in the office. Instead set expectations that it is not just about the outcomes and outputs the teams deliver but also about the way that is achieved. Let the teams try out and find their right rhythm. Physical presence is not mandatory. But pragmatically some of the tasks are easier to achieve in-person. Let the teams try out various options and they will settle in the right rhythm over time. Give clear and unambiguous feedback for deviations. Studies revealed that during the pandemic the intra-team engagement has improved as members rallied and supported each other. But was it the expense of the inter-team interactions? In one example, technology teams that had dependencies on each other's deliveries failed to resolve them and had escalations that were completely avoidable. It became too exhausting for the members to replicate the 10 min side-chat conversations virtually and fit it with the new virtual working rhythm. It is possible to fill these gaps and replicate the spontaneous in-person interactions virtually or remotely. Many have done so very successfully. But this has to be created, curated and inserted within the working rhythm of the teams. Establish the right environment, provide clear guidance and empower the teams to chose their right configuration. There are many who specialise in supporting teams in adjusting to this type of change and they are worth the spend. We highly recommend considering them. Office work space is another important foundation set up. Is the office work space ready? Are the teams empowered to decide when they are in the office how they work? Do they all come into the office the same day? By now most teams have adjusted to working remotely. Teams have worked out their optimal Zoom, Teams or Webex meeting experience when everyone is remote or works as if remote. What happens when some members are in the office in a meeting room whilst rest are at their respective locations? Should everyone in the room talk to each other via their screens? Findings from last year and half clearly suggests that people prefer to be in-person for team engagement and social interactions. eg., activities such as multi-team joint planning and ideas exchange, big room planning, critical events (eg., product launch, service go-live etc) and milestones and celebrating together. It is important that the office work space suits the activities the teams want to perform when they are in the office. Many organisations had already adopted a flexible working space in the office pre-pandemic where people were not tied to their desks. For the rest, now is the time to think through how you want the teams to use their time most effectively when they are in the office and set up the space accordingly. Is there a need for more meeting and open collaboration spaces? How will the collaboration technology support that? Again many have done that successfully. Leaders can talk to peers and get help from supplier partners. Technology and security are as important foundation and should be designed into the hybrid future experience rather than “bolted on” later. Security is another key area to focus on as foundation activity because it has to be built into ways of working rather than “bolted on” later. The technology and security team's jobs have got way more challenging now to ensure safety and security of the entire estate that is outside the physical perimeters of the office. Criminals have massively upped their game. In-house security teams are battling the historic underspend and lack of awareness and susceptibility of people to the increased sophistication and social engineering adopted by the criminals. Ransomware attacks, data leaks, victim of sophisticated campaigns etc are regularly in the news. Balancing protection and removing friction in collaboration is a constant challenge for technology and security teams. No leader is alone in dealing with these issues. Everyone is asking the same questions. Leaders should demand more from their technology supplier partners, the Microsoft, Google and Amazon type partners. Organisations have successfully created frictionless secure collaboration experience using the same technology. This is the time to get supplier account managers to earn their bucks. And listen to their suggestions very carefully and adopt a risk based approach. They are supporting the entire world! There are many niche providers who can help and is often a better choice. Hybrid working is the future of work. As a leader you don't have to be forced to make a call on what it means right now. Just focus on setting the right foundation and empower the teams to figure out the right configuration for the firm, for them as a team and for them as individuals. [*1] Not everyone has the choice of working remotely This McKinsey article analysed the tasks or activities across different occupations and found that <30% of all occupations worldwide can actually be done remotely. This means that for a large number of occupations majority of the tasks cannot be done remotely. [*2] Teams have adjusted to a new way of working and whether anyone likes it or not people are not in a rush to go back to the office. Most people are loving the “pay rise” due to savings on travel and subsistence at workplace. The displacement costs are also favourable to household budgets eg cost and spend at home for lunch or coffee is still significantly less compared to London rates. Other significant “benefits” of no commute include more time to spend with family and help out with school drops, walking pets etc as well as more time for sports and physical activities. The post-pandemic "normal" or "freedom" is still a good few weeks if not months away with multiple variants surfacing and different levels of vaccinations across the world driving further waves. It is unlikely that everyone will be rushing to go back to the office whenever the restrictions are eased.