Tag Archives: office

Change, Organization

Killing flexible working?

Swipe back or get fired

The fight has become real and it’s definitely not a stress free one. These are the news we have seen over the last few months

So it seems we have to surrender to the wishes of the big companies and all return to pre-pandemic and be back in the office.

But why are companies demanding employees to be back?

They mostly cite that in-person collaboration is invaluable and it fosters innovation. The reality is, there is probably a political aspect of local governments pushing bigger companies to bring their employees back as it hurts the economic centers and the businesses around them if people work from home.

In my mind there is an aspect of trust too. Let’s face it, for a lot of people they don’t trust what they don’t see and they believe if employees are home they are slacking and not being as productive, even though again and again there are studies that comfirm otherwise.

The impact for the employees

While there are indeed very good reasons to be in the office as a team, to brainstorm together and foster more personal relationships or welcome new joiners into the team, companies have failed to really articulate where it really improves performance.

Working from home ended up blurring the lines between rest and work with many employees struggling to switch off and working much longer hours. Yet it is interesting that despite all of this, the reality is they still prefer to maintain such arrangements. After all flexibility is the key. Being able to make a choice and adapt to the circumstances can be quite invaluable.

However, what they are being told is that if they don’t swipe your card they could be fired (said no motivational speed ever). This adds a lot of unwanted stress, unless you a) prefer to be in the office and b) you actually believe the reasons the company is sharing with you to return.


Sourced from: https://www.usemultiplier.com/blog/empower-employees-to-fight-return-to-office-stresses

The fight back

The reality if employees are not convinced of the ask so they are fighting back. A good summary can be found in this BBC article here

Not even the looming recession or mass layoffs which have been seen in the news the last few months are stopping “the fight”. If you know something works why would you give up on it?

The fight is not new, has just escalated since covid. For years many working parents have tried to get some flexibility to be able to support their families, but it was a long lost battle in which one of the couple (mostly the mum) would give up working to be able to support the kids while the other half would put on all the long hours in the office.

Will be interesting to see how the fight continues and to which extend employees will get united (beyond specific areas where union exists – anyone living in the UK will know of all the strikes we’ve had for more than 1 year). Will they go to the office as asked but then stop adding all those extra hours in the evenings and consequently reducing productivity? Or will they quit and search for places where the flexibility is being offered?

After all, right now we have globalization and the world can be your oyster.

Be careful with what you wish for

As we have seen in several studies, productivity had increased with flexible working and remote working. On average, companies have benefited from increased performance and productivity as the days have become a lot longer even if employees need to do breaks middle of the day (go to the doctor, get the kids from school).

If employees are doing something to tick a box, it won’t certainly make them any more collaborative or innovative, on the contrary. Instead, they will use their commute to search for companies which still offer the flexibility they value. And they will jump out when the opportunity comes.

The companies that will succeed long term, are those that are willing to embrace new ways of working, thinking and collaborating together and are not bound by the rules of the past. Adapt or die.

Further reading

Other articles I wrote on the topic

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Change, management, Organization

You can’t have it both ways

It’s really interesting to realize that the “new world ” we were expecting – a world post covid – looks more and more like old world.

There is a major difference though…. we’ve seen how it could be!

Before covid

Most of us were in the office Mon – Friday with a clear separation of home and office modes. We would leave the office and call it a day.

Some of us had worked the odd Friday from home and it felt amazing, but it was more an exception rather than a rule.

You were expected to be in the office every working day no matter what and going to doctor was something you had to plan months in advance, it felt almost has hard as if you were asking if you could be naked in there.

We didn’t know any other reality

During covid

We suddenly had to work from home full time, from our kitchens, from our sofas, from our beds. We missed our daily commute where we could listen to podcasts, music, catch up with your favourite series or just sleep. It all blurred up.

The number of emails increased like a never ending tsunami.

New joiners would come and leave without meeting anyone in the flesh.

The instant chat was bipping like a disco.

Meetings became the modos operandis. If you need something, book a meeting.

As a consequence, most of us ended up working longer and longer hours. The time spent on cummuting went into working, with the flexibility to take / get the kids to school, take them to their after school clubs or even a change to say hi to the neighbours.

Post Covid Year 1

As covid rules started to ease, it was the age of hybrid working. At the beginning there was quite a lot of freedom. People were encouraged to try to return to the office and for many of us it was pleasent to return back a few days to interact with the colleagues. The coffee chit chat was back, it felt refreshing but also less productive.

Where we stand now

Bit by bit, we are being asked to be there full time. Why? I don’t quite know. The only thing I can think of is because the ones making the decisions don’t know any other way. I struggle to compreenhed why companies can’t embrace flexibility. It works both ways!

You can’t expect your workes to do the same hours they were doing from home AND return more often to the office.

An article from guardian (here) says that more than a third of the workers would quite if they were asked to return full time.

Give me an article that shows that being in the office increases productivity

Yeah I’m waiting…..

No?

Here’s some that shows remote working does:

There’s really good reasons teams should get together in the office – at least once in a while:

  • To establish relationships
  • To welcome a new joiner – and here I would suggest different team members rotate the days so that the new joiners gets to interact with everyone in the team, get to ask questions and as a consequence learn from different people.
  • As I wrote in the future of the office here the office should be it’s own experience, with a valid reason why it makes sense to go. Celebrate success together, team lunch, team brainstorming, you name it.
  • I tell you what is not a good reason: To tick a box and because the ones on the top making a decision can’t embrace new ways of thinking.

Why are people reticent to embrace being back in the office more often:

  • Because it’s expensive – yeah my friends, it’s expensive to go to work even if you bring your own breakfast, lunch and snacks
  • Transport is totally unreliable – As I type, I just discovered there is another train strike next week in the UK with only 1 train an hour in my area. There is no way I would be able to drop / pick the kids from school.
  • Because we don’t see the value in it. When I go to the office I want to chit chat to my colleagues, which is the point of going right? But this means I am less productive or sometimes I don’t even get the chance given I’m in the office while in back to back meetings with a remote team all over the world.
  • It’s exhausting – the time spending in commuting is no small ask. On a good day it’s a good 2h20 per day lost, which I could have used to sleep and / or work a bit more while having the chance to be more present with my own family.
  • No infrastructure – Where do we leave the kids? Let’s face it, costs are going up everywhere, we can’t just simple fund enough after care hours. It’s also not fair on the kids to leave them in after school care until 19h because the parents don’t have a choice. The way I see it, we should embrace decentralization and having smaller centers close to schools and embrace community life.

I’m pretty sure this list could be augumented a lot.

I am curious to see what will happen to the talent pool once they send more applications to companies offering flexibility. I do believe we have the power to strike back and change the paradigm of work. We can work differently, there are other ways, not just the old way.

We need to embrace the leadership skills of tomorrow and not be afraid to do different. We need different, we need better!

@champagnecruze

*Pulls up Linkedin – Which one are you? 😂 #generations #corporate #workhumor #workfromhome #relateable

♬ Monkeys Spinning Monkeys – Kevin MacLeod & Kevin The Monkey
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Change, Organization

How to enter the corporate world

In the current competitive world, you can’t wait until you are out of uni or school to think about the labour market. The reality is you need to get in there before you consider applying for your first corporate job (I’m not even calling the 9h to 17h because I don’t think that even exists anymore).

Be ready to think outside the box and rethink how you see yourself and any role you might apply to.

Just having an education isn’t enough, not even if it’s the cream of the cream, the top of the top.

Enter the world of skills. Whereas most generations still perceive a role mostly as a title and experience that comes with it, think of it as the unique skillset you will be building up and that makes you, well you!

If you don’t have any corporate experience yet, how can you grow yourself? Think about any part time or summer jobs you could do. Embrace your inner barista or run the finances for your local football club.

Do you have any hobbie you could monetize? Then go for it.

By the time it comes to send your first cv you need to be able to tell the story of who you are and what you can offer. Think about all of the skillsets you can aquire and will make the difference in an infinite list of cvs.

Focus on the soft skills and adaptability. The skills needed today won’t be the skills needed tomorrow. AI could replace a lot of the known jobs today. The ability to reinvent yourself will bring you the competitive edge that could save your butt tomorrow.

Let’s break this down with some examples

Any public facing role – And I’ll continue using the example of the local barista

You will be learning customer service. Your are dealing with people and having to prioritize work & dealing with pressure: do you clean those dirty tables or do you deal with all the orders right now. Don’t underestimate the bliding need for a coffee on a Monday morning. You need to get as many coffees out as possible. For this to happen, you will have looked into the end to end process of making your favourite brew from order until it’s ready. What can you prepare in advance to ensure the flow goes as smooth as possible and with the less steps needed. This would be process optimization. Handling all the many requests: (1 flat white, 2 sugars, oat milk, followed by a cortado no sugar to a capuccino with steaming hot milk and a customer that is afraid to miss the train while keeping a smile on your face, is dealing with pressure and acing it.

These are skills you will need anywhere you go.

Organizing a local event

This could well be, organizing a celebration for your local club, getting the community together. You will be dealing with many suppliers, negotiating prices (most likely you will be cost sensitive), and ensuring all the different components of the event come together on the day of the event. Drinks are served, people attending are happy, you rented the place, positioned all the bins in place so rubbish collection end of the event is as smooth as it can be.

Running the finances for your local club

You can even do this in a basic spreedsheet, by keeping note of all money coming in and coming out. You will need to be organized and ensuring every cash flow is kept on record so you think ahead of what the club might need – more sponsors? more events so you get further revenue coming in?

Creating a website or a small plugin

Are you good with programing? You can create apps, plugins and websites for other people and already monetize your work. When it comes to sending cvs later you will be able to showcase your portfolio.

These are just a few examples, I’m sure you already have other skills you don’t even realize you can have. Don’t worry about not having done something in a specific role. You will be holding a skillset that is unique to you and could add value on any given role.

Which skills will be key? Well, this is my own view:

  • Emotional inteligence – In a world where everything can be replaced, automatized emotional inteligence will continue to be one of the most important skills you can have. If you are able to maintain a cold head and think though any given problem without letting your monkey mind run wild and loose the plot, you will be a step further than most. This is not something – unfortunately – that schools even will teach out and most of the parents won’t be focusing on this either. They both focus on what they can measure, and that will be school grades. Emotional inteligence takes time and patience. It’s keeping those foundational rocks that will eventually become part of who you are. You also need to be aware of the emotions others around you are holding and how certain words could trigger a chain reaction to those around you. (You can read more about it here). It’s one of the core leadership skills for a reason and I would say one which most “leaders” lack.
  • Organization – You would be amazed to know how so many people completely lack basic organizational skills. Be it in terms of organizing your own agenda, your shopping list, your life, your calendar, whatever it might be. If you are unable to keep a clear track of what you need to do and where to find what you might need for a given task, you will lose valuable time finding it later. Your mind needs to know where to go instantely for any topic. If you find you are lacking, invest time to get there. Be it organizing your own 1 per 1 lego pieces by colours – so you can find the colour you need when you need it – to keep a diary of the things you are doing and where you are spending your time. Organization has never been at the highest as in recent years. You will be surprised how even home organization is such a thing now with the rise of Marie Kondo.
  • Empathy – I wrote about it so many times, so I will keep it short. Those who lack empathy and are unable to read other’s emotions won’t go far. Empathy and emotional inteligence go hand in hand and are really powerful tools. If you want to read what I wrote before check here.
  • Ability to learn & focus – This might seem obvious, but you need to have the foundational skills on how to learn anything. Most of us have the attention span of a fish and can’t focus on more than a few seconds on any given task without being distracted (yeah blame it on tik tok). If you are able to focus on your mind on something new and allocate time to keep on getting better and better means you will be able to learn anything. And you really need the ability to repivot and learn anything as new skills will keep on coming all the time. If you want to continue to be relevant, you can’t just rely on the fact you might be really good and some given skills. I do recommend a digital detox once in a while and you will find that you have tons more time than you thought you had to allocate to learning something new. Whatever rocks your boat. The what is even less relevant than the how or the why.

So no matter your age and where you are with life, just focus on the skills of tomorrow and bagging as many relevant one as you can.

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Change, management

1 step backwards 2 steps forward

It is no surprise that careers today are no longer linear, nor the climbing ladder that they used to be. In the past you would expect that after a certain number of years you would go up and level and so on until you would eventually retire. It was an expected pattern.

Nowadays if we know anything it is not to expect anything at all.

Careers go all over the place, sometimes up, other times you move horizontally and even backwards to then continue ahead again.

Source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/life-never-linear-my-career-visualized-neil-patwardhan/

Why is that?

  • The nature of the job has changed in itself. Even from the moment you accept a new role and it’s job description, by the time you leave the role itself would have changed. You have the freedom – to a certain extent – to change and control what you do, to explore the boundaries and interact with different stakeholders, assume more functions, etc. In fact this is totally expected out of you. You need to be adaptable and flex to the business needs. If you don’t adapt you are simply obsolete and soon enough you will be left in a corner. This is valid for people and organisations alike. The next new thing might be outdated by the time it gets out to the market. Adaptability is key.
  • The new generations need meaning and fulfilling roles. It’s not enough to have a title, it’s not enough to have a job description, they expect continuous learning and to feel part of “something” that links with their values. They need to feel energised and they welcome change. We could even say change is their middle name. Don’t forget they (we!) grew up without any certainties. We never know when the new crisis will strike us or war. We know we can’t feel secure anywhere so there is a huge focus on building our skill set so it’s as fungible as possible. We take Darwin to a whole new level. You can never feel comfortable in your seat. Most of us will be itching to find what’s next.

What’s the impact for the organisation?

In a short and sweet version, I would say it’s amazing.

  • If the very fabric of the organisation is embedded in the fact it will continue to change, it will be a lot easier to adapt to the next big thing, either business disruption, covid, whatever it is. You need all employees to be ready to change what they do and be ready to drop a few activities in prol of learn new things or do more of something the next day. I find a job description almost irrelevant these days. The moment you start it’s no longer relevant. I would say as opposed to a job description I would include an expected skill set and level of expertise within that skillset.
  • If your employees are more demanding, you need to ensure every single voice can be heard within their own groups. It’s up to each leader in the organisation to ensure the whole team / department is learning and feel they can contribute to the company’s growth. Let’s face it, we’ll have to work until we die. It’s a lot more for us than just a 9 to 5 job to pay the bills. It’s part of our identity. If we don’t feel connected to the company mission, if we don’t understand it we might leave to a company where we feel more connected. Don’t be single minded in thinking that all that moves us is money. Yes, money is a big motivational factor, but it’s not the only thing.
  • If we are to work 10, 12h a day we need to feel connected, we need to feel our work is valued and we are contributing. We need to “click” with our colleagues and especially with our line manager. If we feel we need to keep silent and just follow orders like dogmas that you must accept and just do without understanding the why, people will just leave. Especially now that the workforce is going more global and it’s a lot easier to work from anywhere in the world. There will be a point where even the whole taxing system will align to this new reality and not only will it become more common to have people all over the world but it will be the new norm. Oh brave new world. I’m really looking forward to seeing it.

And what’s in it for the employee?

Well you need to be comfortable so that you will be uncomfortable. And that feeling (a little bit) uncomfortable about doing something means you are facing something challenging, something that will lead you to growth. The more you are willing to drop the hierarchy and focus on what you can learn and in return contribute to where you’re working, the more in demand your skillset will be. Accept that everything is changing all the time and we all have something to learn every day, including from people who are fresh out of uni. You can also be sure there’s no 2 days the same and hence you will never find yourself bored. If you are, well, then it’s time for a change.

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Change, Organization

Don’t let your job define you

Let’s face it, we’ll spend most of our lives working. The way things are going, it’s quite likely we’ll have to work until we die. And then quite a another big portion was spent studying so you had the required qualifications to work. So yeah, it’s a lot. It’s then no wonder that our job becomes part of your identify.

Think how you would present yourself to a new person: My name is X and I’m Y (nurse, doctor, civil engineer, IT project manager… etc) – this excludes if you are presenting yourself to another parent, then your reduced to kid x mum or dad.

What we do day in day out on the clock becomes part of our we identify ourselves. Quite a lot of us will feel proud that’s your job (probably others no so much or they will have to use fancier words so you can feel a bit prouder). The job we have and the titles we hold end up being quite important for our ego.

Not even that long ago, your own surname would define a generation of people doing the same job and passing the knowledge from family member to another. I’m so happy that I was born in modern days so I had the freedom of choice.

But actually if you think about it, this is a big dangerous.

Unconsciously you will be tying your self-worth to your job. If you don’t get that promotion how do you think you’ll feel?

Also, what happens if you loose your job? In these turbulent times you could loose your job not because you’re not good at it, but because the company needs to downsize to keep afloat.

A lot of people will feel absolutely depressed, not just because of the financial aspect, but I would say mainly because they feel part of their identify is gone and they have to reinvent themselves. After years holding your job as you hold your name, that change can feel very daunting. It is!

Some people hate their names, so they wouldn’t mind a change, but assuming you like your name and what you do, that you felt proud about it, having to reinvent yourself or figure out how to find a similar job someplace else it’s a huge blow.

But here’s an idea, how about we start to leave the job title behind and focus on the skills?

A certain skillset can be adapted to many different jobs.

Here’s my own example:

  • I’m really good at getting shit done – yap, I am (except household chores, not so good at those and I will procrastinate until I have no choice but get it done).

This can be applied to anything really, from a demanding a COO, to work in the next door bakery.

Another example

  • I’m really good at thinking of creative solutions to address complex problems.

Wherever you go there will be problems that demand solutions.

So how about you take a few minutes to think about what you’re really good at, it can be something you’ve been doing a lot, and hence you have a lot of experience or it can be something you know you are good and with a bit of learning you can get even better.

Thinking of how to utilize your skillset will allow you to adapt even where you are, in your company. You can try other roles and leveraging what you already know, and if your dear company pulls the carpet beneath your feet you’ll be able to reinvent yourself more easily too.

Good article about it here: https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210409-why-we-define-ourselves-by-our-jobs

Book about change:

This book seems to be so popular I have 2 of them, gifted by different companies

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Uncategorized

Keep the Monkey in control

Let’s make it clear, not insulting anyone here for as tempting as it might be sometimes.

I’m talking about the Budhist term “Monkey Mind”. From wikipedia below:

The psychological components of the “mind-monkey will-horse” metaphor are Chinese xin or Sino-Japanese shin or kokoro 心 “heart; mind; feelings, affections; center” and yi or i 意 ‘thought, idea; opinion, sentiment; will, wish; meaning’. This Chinese character 心 was graphically simplified from an original pictogram of a heart, and 意 “thought; think” is an ideogram combining 心 under yin 音 “sound; tone; voice” denoting “sound in the mind; thought; idea”.

A lot of self-help books will at some point talk about the monkey mind. But why does it matter in the office context? Well quite a lot.

Do you find yourself really anxious and overhelmed? I can tell you that I do more often than I dare to admit. And it all comes down to my monkey mind entering a kind of panic mode – and releasing a ton of adrenaline that no caffeine can fix – into my brain.

The Monkey mind is no different that a badly organized meeting where everyone is talking on top of each other and you can’t make sense of what’s going on, but in this case the “people” represent your thoughts and your worries. When this happens you will feel umbalanced and even more stressed which in turn is like feeding your monkey bananas, it will crave for more and more and go even more wrestless.

When the monkey mind is out there loose you can find yourself doing things you might regret or even have no recollection of having lost control. It won’t do you no good really and you might end up in burn out.

So how do you control it? Let’s face it, we all worry, we can’t make worry go away, it’s here to stay. Worry can come from the most smallest thoughts like do I even fit in my office clothing? Am I forgetting anything from my to do list? All adds up. So while we can’t get rid of all anxiety, we can for sure find ways to deal with it so your head feels more relaxed.

Some things that work for me – and as you can tell I’m no expert and there are tons of books out there that can explain this better than me (some are utter bananas…. you take your pick).

Breathing

Sometimes it can be irritating when someone mentions breathing as you will involutarily focus on your breathing when we do it unconsciously. But it does help. In the past I’ve managed to hide myself in the bathroom to block my mind from all the noise (both outside and in my head) and just focus on some breathing. There are tons of techniques out there but I use the one a clever midwife told me to when I was having a panick attack. It goes like this: you do a long breath during 6 seconds, you hold it for 6 seconds and then you exhale for 6 seconds as deep as you can go. You can go on as long as you need to.

My daughter also has a meditation about feeling frustrated which is about imaging a birthday cake and blowing out some candles. I would recommend you doing this away from everyone as people might freak out if you blow next to them.

Exercise

Any form of exercise will do. I’m not talking about hitting the gymn necessarily – although this can do wonder for a lot of people – but can even be as simple as move away from the computer and go away for a walk outside until you feel better. If you have to leave a meeting before you were meant to, then leave. Just go for a walk until your mind feels clearer. Walking for me walks quite well if I’m really irritated. If you prefer a run then go for a run. Keep on going until you feel you are back in control.

Chores

Oh yeah, it works for me at least. If you are home and need to do some laundry or wash the dishes, then do it. It does wonders when you have to focus your brain on a physical activity. Bonus tip you get the chores done so less to do at the end of the day.

Do something you enjoy

Could be anything from singing or dancing to your favourite sing, play with the kids for a bit, chasing the cat, doing a puzzle. Whatever rocks your boat and might calm you down.

Focus on what you can control and do 1 task at a time

Once you have done 1 or more of the tips above, the next step is focus on what you can control. If you can’t control it, let it go. Let it be someone elses problem and focus on what you can control right now. Focusing on a smaller task you can achieve will give you back a sense of control. If this means you need to avoid a few meetings by all means just do. When I finally have the chance to start and finish a task I feel a lot better.

At the end of the day you need to find what works for you. No matter how many magic numbers are mentioned out there, you need to find your 42.

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Organization, Productivity

I went back to the office and here’s what I found

Yap, after 19 months I went back to the office. Luckily for me it was my choice to actually return as opposed of being imposed to be back 2 or 3 days a week (or even the full week!).

Here’s what I found:

1 – I did enjoy my morning commute despite an uber early start. I left the house at 06h15 and walked the 20m to the station and even managed to arrive 10m before the train. It was busier than I was expecting for a 06h40 train, but still quite manageable. I didn’t read much like I used to as I just wanted to watch through the windows.

2 – The best part of the day was actually the experience of being in the office (despite me battling the whole day to try to connect to the headset as no one could hear me in the meetings – seems sound quality is better at home). In my “section” I was the only one, the only people passing by was the cleaning staff or the coffee staff. I managed to get a desk with window view and could watch people passing by downstairs as if it was a normal day. I even had my first face to face meeting! I think quite a lot of people are really missing those face to face interactions, even the introvers like myself. I almost went lunch outside with another colleague but given the business of meetings just managed a panini at my desk. (Did anyone notice the prices going up by quite a lot or was I the only one???)

3 – On the way back home though was a different story. It really felt almost proper rush hour. The trains were quite busy, you had people running to the door and that’s when I’ve realized that actually I’m not ready to be back on a regular basis. Yes I’m craving after work pub as much as everyone else, but am I really ready? Don’t think I am. If I bring the virus home and my daughter is off-school I would really struggle to work big time. If I will be back? Probably, but not regularly – not while I can avoid it.

Which now brings me to the point of: why are people being forced to be back?

And I’m referring to groups of people that can do their work remotely (and are not mandated by any regulator to physically be in the office) – for a lot of people work from home is definitely not a choice. But for those that is….

Why?

Why can’t leaders recognize that if you want flexibility you have to give flexibility back. The employees with a good transfereable (and sellable) skillset will jump to whichever company allows them flexibility. Do you really want to loose your best resources because you can’t trust them to work from home? Were they actually rolling their fingers for the last 18 months or were people in general working a lot more? (I wrote about it here on “I don’t trust you therefore I need to see you“)

Is it because leaders tend to be extroverts and therefore do not recognize there are a lot of introverts out there that feel a lot better and more productive being at home without all the social exposure in the office? (good article about it here)

Seriously it should be a choice and leaders should have try to find the best solution for their team, not just what’s better for them as individuals!

I find that it’s up to us the younger generations to show there are so many other alternatives that work for the company. Going to the office should be an experience by itself, for team bonding and for specific reasons like a dynamic workshop and removing people from the day to day activities and discuss specific topics together (my views on the new office here).

Just because it’s the way things were done before it doesn’t mean they need to go back exactly as they were!

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management

I don’t trust you therefore I need to see you

Seriously, how can there still be managers out there that do not trust their employees if they can’t micromanage them? Who has even time to micro-manage?

Once upon a time prior to covid, it was quite common for people to believe that if a resource was working from home it’s because he / she was slacking and not being nowhere productive as in the office. It always comes down to trust and what you fear.

As if it wasn’t obvious, every single word here is based on my own opinion.

Anyway, I have indeed work with people that would slack from home and do very little, but let me tell you a secret – in case you didn’t know – you can be in the office pretend you are busy and in fact deliver close to very little! If you don’t believe your team is delivering, you should have a serious conversation with them to see why is that, and last comes to worst fire them (or get them moved to another team). I’m nowhere near an advocate of the american style of just firing people without having proper conversations and explore different alternatives. But like any marriage, if the relationship doesn’t work someone needs to move on.

If this isn’t clear already: I HATE MICRO-MANAGING

I hate being micromanaged, and fortunately throughout my career (mostly), I always had a great degree of freedom. I have no problem being sent somewhere else if people don’t trust me. But I can’t stand micromanagement. So I hate applying it too. I like to be able to trust my team and them coming to me for escalation when they need help. If the work is not being done on time, then we sit down and have a conversation about what’s going wrong and what can be done instead.

And why is that micromanagement is so relevant for the story of working from home versus forcing people into the office?

Well, you have seen some statements of some companies that really want everyone in the office. And this to be sits behind old school thought that employees that are not seen by their “boss” are simply not doing.

Good article on what happens to companies that force employees to return (when they could be flexible) here

Seriously, why on earth would you force your team to come to the office right now? First of all, we are not out of the woods yet (I don’t care about the 19th of July rule, precaution people, precaution!).

Many studies have been published that not only people get the work done, they are even more productive. Most people I have talked to are in fact working longer hours. They get some flexibility to deal with things like the kids are on quarentine (again!) and they end up blurring the lines between online and offline working. There’s always the last email to be sent.

A few articles here:

Seriously, why? I would say managers who feel the need to micromanage should go on coaching courses to address their own insicurities and what’s driving them to micromanage. Good article here.

If you want to retain the best talent, you have to offer flexibility to get flexibility back. As binary as that.

Would love to hear your own stories or views on the topic.

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Motivation, Organization

Authenticity

What is the number 1 rule you don’t compromise?

Well mine is authenticity.

This wasn’t always the case though. In the begining, like anyone just starting their career you want to say yes to everything and we want to fit in. In fact I was even told what to wear when I started in a big 4. Yap, suit. I had just started, I had no money to spend in suits but you had to follow the rules, you had to fit in.

Everyone is working until late? You stay late

Everyone laughts at the same jokes? You laugh too even if you don’t get it.

Soon enough you’ve blended in and you’re like everyone else around you. I know a lot of people that believe they have many selves: the one they are at home, the one they are with their friends and their professional self and normally they don’t mix in.

Can you imagine how exhausting this must be? I think probably after my first year working I’ve started to realize I was working far too hard so I had no energy left to try to hide who I really was. As I started to have more comfidence in myself I just dropped it completely and I am who I am. I say what I believe in (even if that’s not the popular thing to say). There is freedom in that, a lot of it in fact. I practice the same rule at home, I hide nothing, I don’t filter my wording and I don’t expect my husband or my daughter to have to filter what they tell me because it might hurt my feelings or I might get offended. If they can’t be their true self at home where can they?

Note: I don’t like Apple and not a fan of Steve Jobs (yes, I know one of the rare ones) even if I recognize all the amazing things he did. But I do like this quote a lot

But why does authenticity matter in the office?

To the individual, it’s the level of energy spent in trying to camuflage and blend in. That energy can be better used in coming up with good ideas to tackle problems or drive innovation. Don’t undersestimate the level of mental effort required to measure every word you say, how you speak, how you blend in. It’s a lot! I actually faced this at uni, because I was coming from a smaller city and my parents were middle-low class and most of my colleagues were from posh schools and privately educated. I hated it! Not that I hated them, but I hated the fact being myself was a disadvantage and I couldn’t really blend in.

Also let me say I come from a more priviledged background where my race or my background was never an issue and less subject to unconscious bias. I know for a lot of people choosing to be authentic might not even feel like a choice. But if we all start to be more authentic and show different voices and opinions can be shared and are welcomed, it will empower others to follow suit.

For this very same reason I don’t wear makeup and I feel quite strongly about it. It’s part of what I believe in and I’m not going to change it even if I had a million people telling me it matters a lot in the office and you should dress for success. It doesn’t align with my values. So, no!

Also, I sing in the office if I feel like it and more important I do say what I believe in even if my opinion is likely not to be popular. If I feel I have to voice what I’m feeling, I will, even if that might get me in trouble. (please note I’m not advocating anyone to be rude or insult people. This is about voicing your opinions in a constructive manner if no one else is voicing them. You will find a lot of people were feeling same as you but no one had the courage to say it out loud.)

If you find that being authentic in your company is leading you to trouble I would challenge you to consider if you are in the right place then. I know it might be scary to change in the current environment, but watch out for opportunities and if you get one, get out.

So what’s in it for the company?

As per above, as I wrote in the diversity post, the company will have a lot of energy at their disposal to use for innovative projects or even thinking on how to optimize existing processes. Diversity is crutial for evolution, for us as a species and the same is relevant for the organizations too.

Leaders need to give the example and not just say what they are expected to say. Together with Empathy, Authenticity is crutial too. Leaders will also benefit from all the points above! More energy saved means it can be better used in making better decisions for the company too. You will find your employees will relate to your empathy and pay more attention to what you say because it’s also what you do in your every day action. Authenticity helps to build trust, and without trust no relationship can survive.

Further reading

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Change, Motivation

When it’s time to make a change

Inspired by the change of seasons, was thinking about when it’s time to move on. Most people just think that moving on means that what we had before was bad, like a failed relationship and time to move on, a tiny house? time to move on. But does it really have to be just about leaving bad things behind? Well, not always.

Thinking of my own career, I have been quite lucky over the years that I never left because I was in a bad place or a in a bad team, but mostly because another opportunity popped up. This is certainly true for the biggest changes I had:

  • Was contacted by a London company when I was still in my home country and the first question that popped in my mind was: well, why not? So I’ve packed my bags and just moved. Was it easy? No way! Not to mention it was quite expensive to move. All the savings I had accummulated up until that moment were simply gone with paying hotel rooms, deposit for the house, flights and other moving expenses. Also my other half moved with me without having a job. It was really hard but honestely the best decision I ever did.
  • Then I moved because a friend sent my cv as he was hoping I would be flying less, working from London more and working less hours. I did stop flying indeed but not really the travel. I will confess I did regret this move quite a lot. I really liked where I was but looking back I knew I was in a breaking point. It was a matter of time, I had to change.
  • The last time I moved, and it’s almost been 4 years now, was because on my first day back from my maternity leave I did a coffee stop to chat with my to be new boss. This was the moment I’ve said goodbye to consultancy firms and went to industry instead.

So indeed for me there was always a pattern which was always about opportunities popping up and me saying yes. This is a very priviledged position to be in, I have to recognize that. However it got me thinking a lot about the topic.

What is the point you start to feel comfortable in your seat? I mean we all like to be cozy and know the people you work with, it brings a sense of belonging and stability but sometimes from a career perspective it means you are no longer doing new stuff which is key to your own development.

Maybe worth saying I’m writing this with the view of personal development and not necessarily thinking about the career growth. Following from the previous post, this is a different angle of exploring Ikigai, Where else could you be thinking about using your skills to bring you a new angle into your work life (and maybe even personal) and where you could also bring a fresh mind to a different team?

Recently in a coffee chat, one of our senior leaders said that she was trying to speak with different people (at her peer level) working in completely different teams to have a better view of what else is done within the organization and for herself to have a better view of what she could be doing and what else she could learn. And I thought, this is actually a really good idea!

I do remember when I was still graduating from uni and I had no idea what I wanted to do. My first internship was at the HR department but because I was good with technology I’ve ended up helping to implement the internal sharepoint. At the time I really wanted to explore marketing and I applied for a few positions, but where I’ve landed was in customer relationship development in a huge technology firm. My boss back then told me I would be a great fit for consultancy, so that’s what I did. I’ve sent my cv to one of the big 4 to see where it would take me. Given my past background in technology I ended up in the technology arm of the firm. Even there, on my first year I was helping the team to produce user guides for all the different areas, as part of that I’ve ended up doing testing and ultimately it gave me a good view within that area of what I could be doing. I think I was the only one of my peer group who ended up having a choice of what I wanted to do next! After that I’ve managed to never do the same thing twice and I guess that’s why I never really abandoned consultancy because each project is different.

But now I’m missing back the days where I could just experiment completely different things to have a better sense of what I wanted to do. I’ll be totally honest, I still don’t know! Yes that’s right, because I know there are so many things I haven’t yet tried I don’t know what else is out there I can try and maybe end up liking.

So really the question you should be asking yourself, maybe for a smaller step, is what are other teams doing in your company? Is there anything you could try? Could even be as simple as speaking with your line manager and find a few hours to help a completely different team so you can grow a particular skillset. I keep on telling my own team, if there’s anything you want to try just let me know and we’ll work together to ensure you get a few hours so you can do it. I don’t think they take me seriously though. But if you don’t try how do you know? I just seriously can’t understand people that stay 20 years or more doing exactly the same day after day. Yes, it’s comfortable I know, so is my sofa and I don’t spend 24h there.

Just because the office is the office, it doesn’t mean you can’t make it fun for you, and surely learning something new and prooving you can do it is a good healthy challenge. If it goes wrong you can always go back to what you were doing before.

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