In the Hybrid Era, On-Sites Are the New Off-Sites

Summary.   

If your goal is to bring people together in real life at work — sometimes, all the time, or anytime — you need to design a day employees won’t want to miss. At the very least, it’s critical to be intentional about how you plan your company’s days in the office, not only to add incentive, but also to make it worth your employees’ and your company’s time. The author recounts her experience working with a company to design in-person, monthly “Superdays” and presents three elements of a successful on-site.

Remember off-sites? Those once-a-year — maybe once-a-quarter — get togethers where we gathered for deep-dive strategy work, bonded on ropes courses, binged on professional development, and just hung out and got to know our colleagues and customers? While these gatherings used to be something to look forward to, these days, many employees don’t want to come into the office, let alone to an off-site.

If your goal is to bring people together in real life at work — sometimes, all the time, or anytime — you need to design a day employees won’t want to miss. At the very least, it’s critical to be intentional about how you plan your company’s days in the office, not only to add incentive, but also to make it worth your employees’ and your company’s time.

Since the early days of the pandemic, I’ve been partnering with CEOs and senior HR leaders to help them manage and even thrive during these turbulent times. As offices have slowly reopened, some leaders have asked me to help them design intentional “on-sites” (in-person days) to bring their teams together in new and impactful ways in a hybrid environment.

Reuben Daniels, managing partner of EA Markets, agreed to allow me to share the details of our work together when I was hired to help the company design their in-person, monthly “Superdays.” The details of this one case study can help guide leaders of companies of any industry or size to make the best use of their resources as they create in-person experiences with an ROE — return on engagement — in mind.

 Complete Article at HBR

Have Remote Employees Lost Touch with Customers’ Needs?

 

Summary.   

Before their companies went remote or hybrid, non-sales employees usually had some sight line to customers. However, as time marched on, non-customer-facing teams started to lose their connection to customers. They didn’t run into a sales rep in the elevator or sit next to a customer success agent in the cafeteria. The anecdotal, hallway conversations stopped. Losing sight of customers means internal teams are more likely to double down on their own metrics and agendas, putting the organization at risk for silos (in the short term) and at risk of being out-innovated and eventually becoming irrelevant (in the long term). Here are three ways leaders can bring your customers to life for teams who don’t interact with them.

After months of successfully working from home, the finance, HR, and legal teams of a mid-sized bank decided that they were going to adopt a hybrid model, permanently. Covid-induced remote work had proven that physical presence wasn’t a requirement for productivity.

Some employees elected to be 100% remote, others came in a few days a week, and those who wanted to work in the office were given safe spaces to do so. It all seemed fine at first; productivity stayed high. Yet after several months, they began to realize that something was missing from their daily conversations — or rather someone. 

One operations leader put her finger on it when she said, “We used to start meetings talking about customers. Now we hardly mention them at all.”

They’re not alone.

While much has been written about the need to keep teams connected to each other in a virtual environment, losing your organizational tether to the customer is more insidious, and perhaps even more dangerous.

Here’s what we’ve observed in our clients: Before their companies went remote or hybrid, most employees throughout the organization had some sight line to customers. Even if they didn’t interface with them directly, they had regular conversations with customer-facing teammates, and when the organization talked about “customers,” everyone was clear on who they were and what they needed. And when the pandemic hit, people rallied. The top priority was keeping the business afloat, so teams leaned into taking care of customers.

Complete Article at HBR

How to Become a Master at Talking to Strangers

Entrepreneurs must become experts at connecting with anyone-and with a few simple strategies, you can. Here's what happened when I tried them myself.

A couple of years ago, I started to talk to strangers. 

That’s not to say I hadn’t talked to strangers before that, because I had. I’m the son and brother of highly social small-­business owners, and I’m a journalist, so talking to strangers has been both a way of life and a livelihood for me. And yet, a few years ago I noticed I wasn’t doing it much anymore — if at all. Between balancing a demanding job and a really demanding small child, I was often tired, distracted, and overscheduled. The prospect of striking up conversations with random strangers in coffee shops, or bars, or on the bus started to feel daunting. Eventually, I just stopped doing it.

This was a coping strategy, of course. I was overwhelmed, so something had to go. And talking to strangers can, as it turns out, be taxing. Psychologists have found that just making small talk with a stranger can be cognitively demanding, tiring, and even stressful. That makes sense. You don’t know the person, you don’t know where the conversation is going, so you must pay closer attention than you would if you were talking to someone you know well. But psychologists have found that talking to a stranger actually boosts your mental performance — for that same reason: It’s a workout. I was saving myself a bit of effort, but I also noticed that my life was becoming less interesting, less surprising, maybe even a little lonely.

After my epiphany, I got to wondering: Why don’t we talk to strangers more, what happens when we do, and how can we get better at it? It turns out, many researchers are asking the same questions. I started flying around the world to meet them: psychologists, evolutionary scientists, historians, urban planners, entrepreneurs, sociologists, and — you guessed it — a ton of fascinating strangers I met along the way. They all taught me that talking to strangers can not only be fun but also enhance our sense of well-being, make us smarter, expand our social and professional networks, and even help us overcome some of our most intractable social problems.

Complete Article at Entrepreneur India

 

Our Favorite Management Tips of 2021

Summary.   

Our Management Tip of the Day newsletter continues to be one of HBR’s most popular newsletters. In this article, we list 10 of our favorites from the past year. Topics range from why you should use timeboxing to get a better handle of your to-do list to how to prepare for a tough conversation.

Another year, another set of challenges and responsibilities for managers to tackle. Hybrid work, the Great Resignation, mass burnout — on and on. Each weekday, in our Management Tip of the Day newsletter, HBR offers daily tips to help you better manage your teams — and yourselves — through this period of profound change and uncertainty. Here are 10 of our favorite tips from 2021.

Making the WFH Case to Leaders Who Want to Return to the Office

As companies start returning to the office, managers are finding themselves caught in the middle between employees who want to keep working from home and senior leaders who want everyone back at their desks. How can you navigate this tension? Start by finding out what’s driving leaders’ concerns. Do they doubt that people are taking work seriously? Are they worried that employees aren’t collaborating enough? Once you know what’s behind their push to return, find ways to address those concerns. Show that remote work is beneficial to the company, not just to individuals. For example, you can emphasize your ability to retain skilled employees who would otherwise leave. You might point out that remote work offers the ability to draw from a wider talent pool. Consider asking your HR department if they have data on how working from home is paying off for your company. Also, demonstrate that your team is engaged no matter where they’re located. For example, you might invite leaders to video meetings that include both in-person and remote workers so they can see that everyone is committed and participating regardless of where they’re calling in from. If leadership is applying pressure for employees to come back to the office, and you believe there’s a balance that could work better for everyone, try these strategies to make your case.

Adapted from “What to Do If Your Team Doesn’t Want to Go Back to the Office,” by Liz Kislik

How to Give Critical Feedback — Remotely

Giving critical feedback is one of your most challenging responsibilities as a manager — and if you’re working remotely, it’s even harder. How can you update your approach to giving feedback in a WFH world? Here are some key steps to keep in mind:

Start by asking questions. You need to understand your employee’s perception of their performance before expressing yours.

Complete Article at HBR