send home Waiting for the Omicron wave In the midst of the seemingly never-ending COVID-19 pandemic, office workers in much of the world are naturally wondering what’s coming next.
The frequently changing circumstances of the past 24 months appear to have permanently changed the nature of work — but on the surface the same old patterns are overshadowed by new buzzwords.
Working from home requires companies to find new flexibility in all operations. So why have nearly all companies found the exact same answer? We’ve gone from five days to three days in the office – but those days of working from home always seem to be Mondays and Fridays. Everyone must be in the office from Tuesday to Thursday so the “team” is “aligned” with the “direction” and “goals” of the organization.
While we clearly have a newfound respect for concrete experiences with colleagues and need to share some time together, why does everyone in every organization meet this need? This one-size-fits-all approach simply replicates all the management mistakes of the past—mixed with a healthy sprint of “you can use your home as a workspace.”
It feels more like cost-cutting than flexibility and actually reduces options for workers. If during the three “core days” (everyone should be present and accountable) something keeps employees away, the nimble facade quickly fades away, revealing the same old rigid and controlling organization.
What do you really want?
Many organizations herald the arrival of a “hybrid” workforce: ready and able to work from home, in the office, or almost anywhere else, anytime, on any project. That pipe dream shattered when it encountered the brunt of management practices, which relied too heavily on clearly specified roles, competencies, and timelines.
With clever-sounding phrases like “results trump outputs,” it’s easy for business leaders to forget to pass the memo down the line. Nor do they provide managers with the training and skills needed to negotiate with a highly active workforce—adaptable, but completely constrained by management processes that remain unchanged for generations.
Organizations often claim they want a deep transformation until they see the price tag: redistribute power. A truly hybrid organization doesn’t direct its people — it co-designs its direction, goals, and processes with them.
But it makes those in power feel as though they have lost power. So it falls at the first door because — far more than money — organization has always been about power. Any organizational change that touches anyone’s power will meet resistance. A change of this magnitude — touching almost every aspect of how an organization operates — hit a wall.
Over the next few months, as we climb out of COVID-19 bunkers to meet the world again, many organizations will Immediately withdraw any “flexibility” they imagine”. Employees will return to the office the same three days a week. Projects will continue as usual. Power will flow from the top down. All will be well in the world – until the next crisis.
The missed opportunity for fundamental change will visit every rigid organization that could have succumbed to the breeze.It’s not about working from home – it’s about Who decides who works where, about what, for what purpose. Unless we understand this as what “flexibility” really means, organizations will continue to be mired in endlessly repetitive power politics that no longer serves their purpose. ®
