Last week, I wrote about how the pandemic lockdown and work from home have made employees more productive by removing some of the bureaucratic barnacles that keep them from doing high value work.
But how do we ensure that the administrative “drag”—bloated meetings, excessive documentation, repetitive approvals, etc.—don’t snapback with a vengeance when we return to the office? Many older managers have preconceived notions of telework as a refuge for slackers, and will push for a return to pre-Covid work routines. Similarly, many established companies with exhaustive employee manuals will want to go back to following pre-Covid policies.
To fight back against the gravitational pull of the old ways of working, we have to conduct a thorough assessment of how work has been done over the past year. That doesn’t mean an encyclopedic, 115-slide PowerPoint deck. It means simply reflecting on what worked well during work from home; what didn’t work well; and most importantly, why we had those results.
Every organization is different, of course, but on the positive side, many of my clients have mentioned the following: faster decision making, improved team coordination and communication, and better work-life balance. On the negative side, they’ve complained about lower engagement with the overall company, difficulty of scheduling meetings with senior leaders, and anxiety about the future. My best clients are examining those responses and figuring out how to protect the positive and mitigate the negative. . . without returning to the status quo ante.
What new policies and processes will you retain after the Covid vaccine allows you back in the office? What will you jettison?