Dissolving Paradigms

In this article, "Telecommuting is not the Future" Helaine Olen offers some pretty solid reasons as to why she thinks employees will return to physical offices once we get the green light: "on line communication can lead to miscommunication, serendipitous benefits to collaboration, employers being able to better monitor and control their employees", to name a few.

While every one of Ms. Olen's points is valid, her evaluation is based on long held paradigms of how we view and treat employees. This time demonstrates that those paradigms are dissolving, and that the marketplace and the workforce demand different ways of working.  This was true before the pandemic. With the pandemic, our collective awareness has been raised and now we can’t ignore it.  We have to learn new ways of approaching how we work, and we have to provide training on how to be a different sort of company, manager and employee.

I’ve identified three key elements companies need to cultivate to successfully shift to more flexible work in all of its forms:

·      A healthy company culture that fosters trust and transparency so that employees can make real time decisions.

·      Personal accountability and engagement from each employee so that managerial time is not wasted "monitoring and controlling".

·      Effective technology that facilitates communication, community, and getting work done efficiently.

These recommendations are not new, but the urgency and necessity are ratcheted up. The companies that embraced the concepts are the companies that were able to more easily shift within our current confinements. We have to step up our game in how we guide our managers and staff to meet those demands.

Flex Future

The quarantine imposed due to COVID 19, has affirmed the necessity of,and benefits for, working at home. Just last week, Twitter announced "If our employees are in a role and situation that enables them to work from home and they want to continue to do so forever, we will make that happen.”  

We have also seen that not all jobs are suitable for “remote work”. What happens for the people who need flexibility but are in jobs that don’t offer it? And, now that we are faced with social distancing for the near future, how can we adapt our work day, and possibly our school day, to make the necessary changes for health and productivity.  

Flex time does not just mean working from home.  Flex time is a range of options that work for the company and for the employee.  Options include remote work, split shifts where you work in the morning, take midday off and go back to work later in the day, job sharing between two people, a compressed work week with longer hours but fewer days, a completely flexible schedule where you decide when to work, or a flex schedule where a set alternate time is followed.  Some companies don’t focus on your time but only on the results.  

Each option has pros and cons, and some are more suitable to a particular business, or person, while others are not. Companies need to consider the range of possibilities to find the ones that work for the nature of the business and the needs of the employees.  Why?  A few reasons:

·      In his 2005 memo to Microsoft, “The New World of Work,” Bill Gates predicted: “Companies that give extra flexibility to their employees will have the edge.”  

·      Of 1000 knowledge workers polled in the UK, 52% of them said flexi-time beat out bonus packages as the number-one motivational job perk.  We have seen a lot of technological advances that have benefit companies, but workers have not seen a consistent benefit in a way that recognizes their most precious, non-renewable commodity, time.

·      47% of working adults in their 40’s and 50’s are in the “sandwich generation”, caring for both dependent children and aging parents.  

·      There is a good chance that schools won’t be back to business as normal next fall, with discussions of modified school schedules.

·     Millennials place such a high value on work life balance and expect flexibility, that it is estimated that by about 2030, the Millennial majority will likely have redefined the 9-to-5 workday entirely.

Work as we know it is rapidly changing due to safety concerns. Flexibility can be the key both to a company staying in businesses and to employees staying with a company for the long haul. 

The Power of Negative Thinking

In this time of uncertainly many of us are finding ways to cope. There is a lovely blog post on mindful.org entitled” Six Daily Questions to Ask Yourself While Social Distancing”.  intended to help us all focus on positive actions we can take to help us cope in this extremely stressful time. 

1. What am I grateful for today?

2. Who am I checking in on, or connecting with, today?

3. What expectations of “normal” am I letting go of today?

4. How am I getting outside today?

5. How am I moving my body today?

6. What beauty am I creating, cultivating, or inviting in today?

These are beautiful, gentle questions, and I love them. 

But today, it is snowing and cold. I am exhausted by the unknown.  I am feeling the impact of the stress. It would feel inauthentic and forced to answer these questions right now in the spirit in which they are intended.  My thoughts are more geared towards the negative. It turns out, that may not be a bad thing. 

New York University professor of psychology Dr. Gabriele Oettingen conducted a study to measure the impact of “expectation and fantasy” on weight loss. 

Our minds are so strong that she and her colleagues found that when people engaged only in positive thinking, they were less inclined to do the work necessary to achieve their results as they had tricked their minds into thinking they had already achieved their goals. 

On the flip side, dwelling only on the negative can also lead to paralysis and feeling overwhelmed.  What is needed is what Dr. Oettingen coined as “mental contrasting”.

Dr. Oettingen’s study indicated that by allowing yourself to explore what you desire and what may be the obstacles, you are 

• tuned in to the challenge ahead,

• able to identify solutions in advance of actual problem,

• prepared with a Plan B.

I am an operations consultant, and I work with teams to improve their individual, team and organizational effectiveness.  Every group I have worked with embraces this model and expresses a feeling of relief.  They don’t want to be seen as negative, or that they aren’t a team player.  For some people, the obstacles pop up naturally, and they feel forced to suppress them in order to be accepted. 

I introduce the exercise as the “Power of Negative Thinking”. It gets everyone attention and flips the standard trope “The Power of Positive Thinking” on its head.  

Asking questions like, “What can go wrong?” “Why won’t this work?” “What am I nervous about?” or everyone’s favorite, “Tell Me What You Hate About This” gives the group permission to identify the obstacles without being seen as negative. Once they give voice to the challenges, they are ready to address the issues realistically. 

I set a time limit for the exercise and explain that we don’t going to set up camp in the land of negativity.  It more like pulling over at the “scenic overlook”.  We take in the view and then make meaning of it. The goal is to remove the obstacles and move forward. 

In this process, I have found the people who weren’t engaged because they didn’t buy in to the positivity were much more willing to jump in because they felt the plan was fully informed and therefore realistic. And, it was. 

I did this exercise with a team that was trying to implement a new technology within their organization. The project had stalled for two years due to an internal lack of agreement.  Within two months of having this discussion, the obstacles had been removed and the technology quickly moved from development to test.

If you are having a hard time staying positive in this time of “stay at home”, give yourself the gift of mental contrasting.  

1

What am I grateful for today?

What am I afraid of at this time?

2

Who am I checking in on, or connecting with, today

Who am I most worried about, and why?

3

What expectations of “normal” am I letting go of today?

What do I need to keep “normal”, or what does the loss of normal mean to me?

4

How am I getting outside today?

What would prevent me from getting outside today?

5

How am I moving my body today?

What gets in the way of me moving my body today?

6

What beauty am I creating, cultivating, or inviting in today?

What drama am I creating, cultivating, or inviting in today?

Start with the question that feels most comfortable to you, and then answer the other side.  

Giving voice to your fears or discomfort rather than suppressing them allows you to uncover what could hold you back. Once you have answered both, you may find you have a realistic plan for the day that you like and can act upon, without the pressure of “being positive”.

These are times of uncertainty.  Even if you are healthy and employed, you may know someone who could be at risk if they became ill, or whose income is impacted.  We all need patience and kindness at this time, towards ourselves, and each other. 

Photo by Andre Hunter on Unsplash

Technology Matters, but Culture Makes the Difference

Kayla Crays, Director of Systems & Operations, did not know four years ago that she was on a path that would prepare her company to thrive in our current pandemic conditions.  

She began as support staff for a wealth advisor, with the intent of becoming an advisor herself.  Around that same time, a new CEO took the helm.  He had a strong vision for the company.  The environment was not a healthy one when the CEO took the role.  There was a lack of trust between the managers and the people they supervised. Management had a poor track record of getting back to employees with updates and information, or of inviting in employees in the decision making.  

Through his experience as a thought leader in corporate and private business, the CEO knew that culture mattered.  As a change agent he understood the power of the individual and the force of a team. He believes information is power and created an environment of transparency and authenticity. The company invests in staff development, with quarterly off-site meetings and an annual all-staff retreat.   The staff has fun together, with holiday parties and crab fests. There is a leadership training program for directors and managers, and professional development for associates. The phrase “When you grow, we grow” has deep meaning and life to it.  As a result, staff contribute for the good of themselves and the good of the organization.  

Kayla found herself on the front line of updating the ancient and outdated systems for the company. Her position has evolved to where she is the Director of Systems and Operations, a role she defines daily to meet the needs of the company.  Updating the company infrastructure included identifying and implementing 

·      A new Client Relationship Management (CRM) system

·      A virtual private network. (VPN) allows employees to access the company private network through shared or public networks.

·      A new phone system (Ring Central) 

·      A communications archiving and monitoring solution (Global Relay to be in compliance with federal, state and local regulations.

·      A team collaboration system (Microsoft Teams)

·      Updating manual processes for efficiency and effectiveness, 

·      Updating reporting expectations and capabilities

The company did not previously have a work-from-home policy.   In fact, when a team member couldn’t find an after-school care solution for her daughter and asked for a modified schedule, it was the first time that management grappled with the options.  The prevailing mindset that the company was client facing and must be physically present prevented them from exploring any alternative work options for staff.

While the employee left the company, that was the start of many conversations to consider what it might look like to work from home.  In February the organization was maintaining a watchful eye on COVID 19 and its impact to other countries, and they realized they needed to get ready for the very real possibility that all staff would need to work from home. They had to work out a communication plan and some logistical details, but the technology was in place, the team was strong, and they were ready.  

Asked if she had any advice for companies scrambling to set up effective work at home practices, Kayla offered the following tips:

1.     Leadership matters.  When leadership is consistent in their messaging, they inspire confidence in the organization, and people respond accordingly. 

2.     Business is changing, even more rapidly than we may have thought.  Be open to the change and change with it. 

3.     Listen to employees.  

When it came time to make sure that the staff could transition to working at home two weeks ago, all hands were on deck, with suggestions for success coming from a variety of people and lenses.  As a result, there were no big gaps in the transition to working from home.  Clients continued to receive the same high level of responsiveness and service. 

The staff have been working from home two weeks, and the team is finding its rhythm working from home.  Their remote practice includes: 

·      all internal meetings have been maintained as virtual meetings

·      team meetings are especially important now to check in with team members to see how they are doing

·      on-going use of Microsoft Teams to collaborate 

·      bi-monthly firm-wide virtual meetings to make sure that we maintain transparency between management and associates.  The added bonus is getting to see everyone in the firm during these meeting to maintain the sense of connection.

The company’s (not mentioned by name due to SEC restrictions) experience shows that technology matters, but culture makes the difference.  If you are finding challenges to employees working from home, be patient.  The technology is the easy part; the culture is what will help you thrive during these challenging times.  

Concurrence Consulting works with individuals and teams to improve individual performance, team dynamics and operational practices. When these three concentrations are working well, flex practices such as working from home have a higher rate of success. Questions or comments?  Contact Kathy@ConcurrenceConsulting.com

Reality Check: Remote Work Can Be Lonely

When software engineer Doug Safreno began working remotely he encountered two challenges that had nothing to do with the technical aspects of the work:

1.   He was lonely working from home.

2.   He realized communication suffered on multiple levels that impacted his ability to get his job done, which in turn impacted his enjoyment of his job. 

Many people now face these same issues as they are compelled to work from home during a national health crisis.  

 Doug’s response to these challenges?   As is the way with many entrepreneurs, he took a problem he was having and figured out other people may have the same problem.  Doug and his business partner, Vivek Nair took a deep dive to really understand the challenges of working from home and to come up with a solution.  In their survey they found that many remote software workers on average spoke with only one colleague per week.  The engineers wanted more interaction, but it was difficult for a variety of reasons. 

 Their solution is  Pragli, a virtual office for remote teams. 

 What started out as an application for software engineers has turned into a tool useful for any team that needs effective and immediate communication. Design agencies, marketing and sales teams, support staff are finding the tool as valuable as the developers for whom it was originally created. Since Doug and Vivek started out as software engineers themselves, there is a developer vibe geared towards facilitating getting answers and creating space for deep focus. 

 There are four main features to the app.

1.    Virtual office hours

This is the equivalent of working in your office and someone pops their head in to ask a question.  The user sets their availability, so if they want to have a quiet uninterrupted work time, they can do so, but for the most part, the goal is to facilitate real time conversation so that problems can be solved, and obstacles immediately removed.

2.    A trivia channel

Doug and his team understand the importance of a team that knows each other, not just for the work that they do, but that understands the personalities, humor, knowledge etc. of the people they work with.  You can create a channel just for trivia, as well as host meetings to answer these questions for virtual teams. 

3.    Slack Integration 

Slack is a virtual file drawer of all communications, with notifications.  Rather than sending an email to individuals, information is categorized by topic, or channels. Because it is accessible to the designated team, you can find essential communication without having to dig through your e-mail inbox.  Pragli integrates with Slack so that you can have real time audio and visual communications regarding the content.

4.    Schedule your meetings using Calendly.  Another big timesaver, the user assigns their availability so that people can schedule meetings directly rather than the back and forth required when you don’t have access to another person’s calendar.  

 All of this is done through personal avatars that allow each person to convey their individual personality, quirks and all, from the moment of introduction.

In addition to facilitating effective and timely communication, Pragli is educating teams on how to effectively work together through the website blog.  Doug and Vivek are informing the work-at -home ecosystem, knowledge that is seriously needed in the new frontier.  With articles such as

The Six Categories of Remote Teams and

Asynchronous communication is also distracting,

the user/reader becomes more informed on the various factors and considerations for working remotely, and therefore will appreciate why Pragli can help solve a multitude of those remote working challenges.

Doug and Vivek understand the need to feel connected, and the need to get answers, and they address both issues within Pragli. The founders are intent on changing the behavior of how teams communicate.  The feedback from Pragli users are that Pragli helps them communicate more quickly and more often using the audio and video and that Pragli gives them the space to create a team identify instead of just a group of individuals. 

Through the extensive research, Doug and Vivek conducted to inform this solution, they identified a costly truism: if people don’t feel connected to the people they work with, they will leave the job. Improving the culture around communication and the methods in which to do so has a significant impact on retention.  Turnover is costly (You can calculate the cost with this simple excel spreadsheet) and the money is better spent investing in your current employees and culture. 

Doug and Vivek have created a tool to help people communicate and collaborate faster than they would in person.  The founders are committed to responding to the feedback of their users. We wish them well as they support the success of remote working.

Internal communication is important, not only for people to stay on track, but for people to feel connected. With COVID 19, the majority of people now working from home had little to no experience with it.  Companies that had not yet incorporated flex practices into their environments may have resisted for practical and cultural reasons.  Without planning and thoughtfulness, it can be a very frustrating experience.  

To recap some important lessons learned for remote workers:

• Remote workers may not be physically present, but they need to feel emotionally connected.

• Working remote takes an effective and open culture to work.

• Communication from and to managers and colleagues must be a top priority.  

Concurrence Consulting works with individuals and teams to improve individual performance, team dynamics and operational practices. When these three concentrations are working well, flex practices such as working from home have a higher rate of success. Questions or comments?  Contact Kathy@ConcurrenceConsulting.com

Connecting Clubs with Video Conferencing

How do you bring 15 people together while maintaining six feet apart?

I found out with when Timberline Toastmasters club hosted its first online meeting Tuesday. It was a great success.  

As more teams, clubs, groups, families, and friends move to online meetings, I want to share the tips that helped create a successful experience.

Before the meeting

The club president, Joyce Feustel provided the club members with a set of guidelines in advance of the meeting. This included everything from how to log in to Zoom to how the meeting would differ from our in-person meetings. She provided great detail to what would happen in the meeting.  This was in addition to the regular meeting agenda that is prepared for each meeting.

In the beginning of the meeting

Joyce did a quick tutorial on the site that included how to mute and unmute your microphone, how to message the group and how to message an individual.  

Great tip: Everyone’s microphone remains on mute unless you are the person speaking.  This really helps to have people listen to each person and not have people speaking over each other. 

We agreed we would not eat in the meeting so that no one would be caught with their mouth full.  This was something I had not previously considered as I have been in many working meetings, but it has a different feel over video. 

 During the meeting

Fellow toastmaster and sergeant at arms Joshua George provided more specific video conferencing tips for effective communication in virtual meetings: 

·      When is your turn to speak, Introduce yourself.  This is particularly helpful when there are a lot of people in the meeting, when people don’t know each other or if not everyone is using the video function.  

·      Use your voice, not your eyes. The meeting host/facilitator calls on attendees by name to speak.  This prevents everyone responding at once, or people hesitating because they don’t know whose turn it is to speak. 

·      As a facilitator, guide the conversation.   Open ended questions such as "any comments or any questions” can lead to people talking over each other or silence.  Ask each person for their response in sequence. Be sure to ask each person in attendance. 

·      Prepare responses  that you can use for interruptions or someone goes off track. when you talk at the same time as someone else). Example:  Great question, Henry.  We will get to that at the end of this session. Would you note that in Chat so that we don’t miss it. 

 After the meeting

You may want to allow time before and after the meeting for people to connect outside of the agenda just as they do when they attend a meeting. 

If you have recorded the meeting you can share the file with your participants. 

In summary

Our regular toastmaster meeting is a highly structured efficient meeting. This online meeting was no different.  The club members all expressed appreciation for being able to meet and continue our personal and professional development. 

I have used zoom for my one on one coaching sessions with clients.  Working with a larger group requires new skills that I am happy to learn.  I am grateful to Toastmasters for providing me with this opportunity.  

Another tip 

Yesterday I had a zoom meeting in which the other person’s video kept freezing.   With the current increased demand you may find limitations to your internet and your screen may freeze.  Make sure you have a photo in your profile.  If your video freezes, stop video and Zoom will default to your profile photo so that you don’t have a goofy image of you on the screen.   

That call underscored how we will continue to bump into new modifications these days. Patience and humor are helpful accompaniments to any meeting.

7 tips to successfully job share

A senior manager is faced with a family care situation. His mother is ill, and he needs more time to attend to her.  He doesn’t want to lose momentum on several initiatives. He is valued in his job, and doesn’t want to take a leave.  He proposes a job share.  He also sees that there is a broader benefit to the share, as sharing the job would provide a development opportunity for a manager from another section to share the job.  There is an identified candidate. Sounds great!  Everyone is on board.

The two managers start job sharing and things quickly fall apart.  The reporting staff are frustrated by mixed messages and different styles.  The priorities change, depending on which manager you are talking to. And the two managers are not doing a good job of keeping each other informed.  The look and feel is not of a job share, but more of two people having the same role, and direct reports having two bosses. 

The two managers figured it out after the staff made it clear the arrangement wasn’t working, but the transition was truly difficult.  Here are some recommended steps for successful job sharing.  

1.     Begin with the job description 

Review the job description line by line to ensure you have a shared understanding. If one person has previously held the job and the other person is new, give as much background as you think is necessary, being careful not to overwhelm with details

2.     Agree on the priorities for the jobs

Discuss the goals for the role, and break it down to what that looks like on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and an annual  basis. 

3.     Intentional Knowledge Transfer

Conduct an intentional transfer of knowledge on a regular interview.  If you are each working half days, then when the second person starts there day. If you are each working 2.5 days, then on that shared half day.

4.     Shared files

Utilize a shared filing system (electronic and/or paper) so that you have a common file for each area of responsibility.

5.     Communicate the plan 

Introduce the job share arrangement  to impacted staff or customers together, so that you both hear the questions and answers. 

6.     Review your Progress

Check in after the first week and first month to see what is working and what is not working. Poll staff and customers to make sure you aren’t missing anything.

7.     Take the Clifton Strengths Assessment

With this tool you can understand how you each operate. You can discuss your strengths and examine the different ways you approach your work.  Engage a Clifton Strengths coach to guide you through a "Power of Two" conversation in which you will identify the ways your strengths complement each other and could, without understanding, create conflict.  Communicate your strengths and potential differences to the people that you supervise so that they understand how to “manage up” successfully for both bosses.  

Job sharing is a great benefit. Employers who offer this flex time arrangement find it is a great recruiting and retention tool. The employer benefits from the knowledge and talents of two brains for the price of one, and the employees enjoy the flexibility of a part time job. 

Concurrence Consulting provides strengths-based coaching for flexible work arrangements. Contact Kathy@ConcurrenceConsulting.com

#Flex jobs, #Clifton Strengths #Job Share # Power of Two