Hybrid working. Tension or opportunity?
Walking the dog, taking the kids to school and helping with homework. No long commute, tracksuit bottoms, happier employees?. There is a long list of benefits of to working from home. But with compromises in collaboration, a lack of collective agility and a potentially eroding culture,...there’s equally a long list of reasons to get your work force back in the building as soon as you can!
Work life balance versus collaboration
This is the tension we’ve all experienced in a nutshell. Clearly a better work life balance is something most of us have enjoyed over the last 2 years – but at what cost?
Has the business missed opportunities from isolated working practices? Did okay ideas not grow into great ideas because of a lack of collaboration? And are we yet to see the impact on personal development, motivation and isolated leadership? It does look like hybrid working is here to stay. According to an Office of National Statistics survey released in June 2021, a massive 85% of working adults wanting to keep with a hybrid working approach in the future. We should ask ourselves whether our current plan and set up is optimal.
Was “two out of three” a good outcome?
In and around March 2020 we all had to adapt at pace to a new way of working. There was no choice and little time for deliberation - workforces needed to be up and running remotely asap. The IT manager was probably amongst the most stressful jobs at the time, having to relocate and replicate workplaces in our homes. With no lapse in security, accessibility or agility allowed. A tall order... Perhaps two out of three was a good outcome?
There’s never been a better time to take stock
Post pandemic those time pressures are no longer there. Now is the time to review and enhance our hybrid approaches and the IT set ups that facilitates them.
Setting up for success
The question is, are we set up for success? i.e. set up to grow, to thrive and to capitalise on opportunities before our competition do? Or are we set up to keep everyone working as best we can at a time when workplaces are shut?
Take a moment to reflect
The sensible and obvious starting point is understanding the pros and cons from every angle; employees, management, clients and suppliers. What worked and what didn’t. Whilst being at home perhaps means you can get more done and therefore work more flexibility, should you really be scheduling meetings around when the dog needs walking?
This question, ie what people need to best deliver against the business objectives is obviously key.
For example;
- What are the best bits of hybrid working to date that we want to take forward?
- What doesn’t work and why?
- What IT do we all scream needs fixing?
- What IT is always holding us back?
But these are not the only questions.
It’s not just about functionality. It’s about understanding what the business needs to provide real-time collaboration opportunities. What process and IT infrastructure is required to turn the ‘okay’ ideas into great ones? Similarly, what is required to turn the throwaway thoughts into proposals – all of which happens when people collaborate with a purpose.
It’s about understanding what the business needs to showcase what good looks like, day in day out. As the saying goes strive for mediocrity and you’ll hit it. Aim for the stratosphere and even if you don’t get there, you’ll be higher up than most. Employees need to remember and be aware of what makes the business great and have the infrastructure and processes in place to enable employees to live and breathe this.
Make a plan
From the research undertaken, make a plan. Crucially the bespoke plan that fits with your business; the commercial objectives, the ambitions and the culture. Not the plan the business similar to yours has adopted.
Build the right IT infrastructure
Underpinning any approach is the right IT infrastructure that is secure, agile and flexible. An infrastructure that not only facilitates what you do, but one that can give your business an extra edge.
Launch the plan
Don’t envisage this as a powerpoint chart that pops up for 5 minutes in the next management meeting. This new blueprint is something that should be much, much more.
It’s groundbreaking – guaranteed!
The new approach will be an enabler for how we will all work going forward. Think back as recently as say 3 years and how we were structured and this will be a monumental change. This is not only producing the best work, but also nurturing the best ideas, facilitating learning from others and exemplifying the business values.
Joint ownership
The plan needs joint ownership so people feel empowered and it was created for all the right reasons from both an employee and business perspective. It’s as much the employees' plan as the businesses' plan.
About Skye Cloud
Skye Cloud set out in 2021 to be the go-to independent cloud services provider in the South East. Ten years later we are the fastest-growing independent cloud provider and exceptionally proud of our 96% client retention rate. We work across a whole range of different industries; telecoms clients such as Lebara mobile, global brands such as West Ham United and well over 30 UK charity organisations. We meet the challenges of these individual businesses by providing tailored solutions to match the predicted trends of the next 10 years.
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