Author: Dean Latchana

In Praise of the Office – A Contrarian View

The benefits of remote working

The COVID-19 lockdown has forced many to work from home in a sudden and unplanned manner. For those promoting the benefits of remote working, this is a long-waited and pivotal moment. It’s created an unexpected opportunity to recognise and endorse the benefits of remote working.

Before the lockdown, to name only a few constituents, remote working created a healthier work-life balance for many parents with young families, carers and long distant workers. It’s benefited CFOs looking to downsize office space.

The little-discussed disadvantages of remote working

Before the lockdown, the trend had been a move from the predominance of co-location (e.g. the office environment) to remote-working. Now, due to the lockdown, the remote working movement has accelerated. This has profound, and little discussed, trade-offs. These trade-offs are hidden by the novelty, and for some the allure, of our new working situation.

The lockdown has accelerated the remote working movement. This has profound, and little discussed, trade-offs. These trade-offs are hidden by the novelty, and for some the allure, of our new working situation.

So, after the lockdown, without a full appreciation of the consequences, how far will we take this movement?

For every decision, there are consequences, both beneficial and detrimental. Some are obvious; some only become apparent over time and through frank discussion.

This article is my opinion piece to kick-start that frank discussion.

My contrarian position

I value the efficiencies of working remotely, yet also recognise the creativity, connectedness and effectiveness which co-location enables.

I believe I’m fairly contrarian in advocating that, wherever practical, there should be a return to the office as soon as it is safe, with the benefits of occasionally working from home.

I’m not an absolutist. There are situations, times and activities which suits remote working.

However, the world is becoming more uncertain and complex. New threats and opportunities will emerge which necessitates the timeless ability for humans to collaborate in an immersive manner unimpeded by technological barriers. I believe this form of collaboration can only be achieved through the benefits of co-location.

New threats and opportunities will emerge which necessitates the timeless ability for humans to collaborate in an immersive manner unimpeded by technological barriers

What we lose when remote working

What follows is my initial list of the benefits that we lose when we are not co-located. I’m looking for collaborators to improve the list:

  1. Nonverbal communication such as posture and gestures that are unrestricted by the time lag, poor fidelity, and narrow field-of-view of video calls.
  2. Subtle cues beyond the rudimentary visual and auditory ability of video calls. For one thing, these subtle cues create a truer understanding of each other’s physical health and mental wellbeing
  3. Physical connectedness such as through physical contact (e.g. a comforting hand on the shoulder)
  4. The sharing of gifts, the symbolism in shared objects (e.g. a mascot) or frequented locations (e.g. returning to a familiar pub table)
  5. The emergence of team rituals and ceremonies (e.g. the social practice of the weekly offsite team lunch)
  6. Looking into another’s eyes or directing someone’s attention through pointing with one’s eyes
  7. Serendipity. Such as those chance encounters which occur at congregation points (e.g. at the water-cooler or during a walk to the office). Serendipity should not be underestimated; these are the unknowable sliding door moments which our destinies pivot upon.
  8. Collective cognitive activation (thank you Dave Snowden)
  9. Deep social problem-solving with the aid of physical material
  10. Being in situ, with fuller sensory perception (e.g. ambience, smell, texture), to develop a fuller understanding of colleague, customer and stakeholder needs. Think Gemba.
Downloadable In Praise of the Office infographic

Serendipity should never be underestimated; these are the unknowable sliding door moments which our destinies pivot upon.

The advocates of remote-working may argue there are remote-working substitutes for items on this list. But substitution does not mean equivalence.

Perhaps they’d say I’ve overstated some items’ significance. Yet, I’m not aware of much objective research which may untangle, diagnose and back their convictions with evidence.

The Research

The only research I’ve found suggests remote working is best suited to routine work which requires no teamwork. What about complex work that necessitates close human collaboration and where there isn’t an obvious link between effort and performance?

Although our results suggest a promising future for working from home, we should note that several distinctive factors at Ctrip contributed to the success of the experiment and the practice’s implementation. First, the job of a call center employee is particularly suitable for telecommuting. It requires neither team work nor in-person face time. Quantity and quality of performance can be easily quantified and evaluated.

Does Working From Home Work? Evidence from a Chinese Experiment | Bloom, Liang, Roberts and Ying | Standford University, 2015

What do you think?

I don’t have all the answers. So what do you think? And where are the rigorous studies?

With this article, I’ve shared a strong belief that (I hope) is loosely held. So I’d be grateful for your views and input so we can learn together.

I’m seeking input from the likes of practitioners, businesses, thought-leaders, historians and research academics.

The 4Rs Cycle for COVID-19 business recovery

Firms can make use of the 4Rs Cycle to plan and execute their COVID-19 business recovery. As uncertainty continues, cycle through the steps:

  1. RE-STABILISE: Return to revenue by developing a cutdown operation and offerings.
  2. RELATIONSHIPS: To regain customers’ confidence, firms must demonstrate they’re taking extra measures at every touchpoint. Create goodwill & build lasting partnerships across the supply-chain.
  3. RESILIENCE: The world has changed, so reshape the firm through rapid experimentation of new products and services.
  4. RESTRUCTURE: Firms should restructure based on an assessment of their experiences and survival strategies.

Contact me (dean@latchana.co.uk) to learn how to organise and adapt your business recovery plan.

Download and share a 4Rs Cycle infographic

My latest read: Mik Kersten’s Project to Product

Project to Product starts with a fascinating look back on how, from the industrial revolutions, technology innovation relates to the current Age of Software.

This helps explain why many incumbent organisations are well suited to the previous age of mass production and consumption but are challenged to adapt to the age of networks, platforms and rapid change.

With his Flow Framework, Mik provides some thought-provoking insights and guidance to help organisations transition.

These opportunities are also areas I help organisations address.

This is not necessarily a technological challenge. It will necessitate situational awareness and an appetite to re-examine one’s mission, values, vision, strategies and ways of working

Sounds huge. It is. But as Barry O’Reilly advocates, organisations can think big, start small and learn fast.

Organisational Resilience – Creating opportunities through crisis and change

In this talk, I propose an organisational resilience mindset can enable enterprises to strengthen their resilience to unforeseen circumstances.

I will explain how organisational resilience can enable organisations to survive, thrive and create opportunities through crisis and change. The talk covers:

  • Why organisational resilience is critically relevant to your team and organisation
  • How agile and lean can enable your organisation to prepare and adapt to a crisis
  • How we, as practitioners, can develop and apply this thinking to our teams and organisations

To learn more about Organisational Resilience with my Organisational Resilience mini-series of articles.

Talk Dates

Do the right thing or do the thing right

Does your team tend to do the right thing, or do the thing right?

Doing the right thing means that despite any mandated procedure, sanctioned tools or external expectations, the team can choose their own approach to achieve its purpose.

Doing the thing right means that the team adheres to the mandated procedures, use the sanctioned tools and meet external expectations, even if it means it impedes them from fulfilling their purpose.

This article offers a technique that’ll enable teams to examine and potentially improve their balance of doing the right thing and doing the thing right. But first an example…

Example

Suppose a team of housing officers aren’t obligated into following ill-fitting procedures, tools, and expectations. They’ll have the freedom to find the right approach to meet their purpose to support their tenants. They will be doing the right thing. They will be discovering and evolving the right procedures, tools, and expectations to support their tenants.

If they are bound by, or hide behind the use of procedures, tools, and expectations, which aren’t fit for purpose, they will be hindered from fulfilling their purpose of supporting their tenants. They’ll be doing the thing right.

Impact of doing the thing right

Many teams feel compelled to do the thing right at the cost of doing the right thing. Lack of freedom to safely challenge, and potentially disregard, mandated ways of working can result in many suffering in silence. It often leads to poor morale, disillusionment, unmet team objectives, and delay.

In fact, the desire to be seen to do the right thing, even if the practice isn’t mandatory, can lead to unnecessary adherence.

At times the detrimental impact can lead to catastrophe, resulting in public outcry, scandal and suffering. One tragic example is the Liverpool Care Pathway scandal, where many patients in palliative care were reported in the media to have unnecessarily suffered as a result of poorly implemented guidance.

It’s reported that many patients were being assessed as terminally ill, sedated and denied water often resulting in many who might have survived longer otherwise dying prematurely.

A less harrowing, yet universal occurrence in many organisations is the expectation that teams adhere to poor-fitting frameworks and procedures. Often these are deemed by outsiders as necessary. However, these mandates were never, or are no longer, fit-for-purpose. For example an overly bureaucratic governance process, an inappropriate compliance regime mandated by distant policymakers, or an inflexible and protracted product delivery lifecycle.

Overcoming doing the thing right

How can teams overcome the pressure to do the thing right so they can focus on fulfilling their purpose? How can they recognise and challenge ill-fitting procedures, tools, and expectations?

I have a technique that will help teams map and strategise their way towards doing more of the right thing. The technique works by incrementally expanding the boundary of existing local freedoms into the area of external expectations and mandated processes.

The technique recognises that mandates may have originated from a worthy – yet possibly misconceived – desire to manage for consistency, efficiency, and alignment across the organisation.

It also recognises that since organisations need to adapt to change and uncertainty, to be effective, teams need the flexibility to safely experiment with emergent and nonconformist ways of working, which still align with the wider organisational vision.

The technique

This facilitated technique involves the team identifying the interactions, processes and tools they are involved with.

Start with identifying between six and 12 items which are routine team practices. Here are some examples:

No.ItemType
1Working with customer representativeInteraction
2Implementing the needs of an influential Senior Manager from a different business unitInteraction
3Regular customer visitsInteraction
4New governance process mandated by new parent companyProcess
5Manual document control process with no centralisation or version controlTool
6Web-based collaborative documentation tools. Tool introduced by the new parent companyTool
7Implementing unquestioned requirements based on a untested solutionTool

Approximately place each item onto a plot showing the value the item contributes to the team’s purpose versus the degree of control the team has to do the item.

The team could do this with post-it notes so they can be easily discussed, changed and moved around.

Example of item mapping showing the degree to which each item helps to fulfil the team’s purpose against the degree to which the team has a choice over adhering to the item

Finally, referring to the illustration below, categorise and discuss the items as follows.

Item MappingTeam considerations
Low value & team’s choiceDiscuss whether the item should be stopped. This item provides little value and the team has freedom to discontinue it.
High value & team’s choiceThis item should be continued, monitored and refined.
High value & no team choiceAlthough the item is mandated, it still provides value to the team. It should be continued and potentially refined with those mandating the item.
Low value & no team choiceSince it’s mandated, the team will need to continue this item. However, where possible, they should discuss with those mandating the item that it provides little value to the team’s purpose. Both parties should explore how adjustments or alternatives could address their shared needs and concerns.
Categories of suggested team discussions.

Next steps

The team should recognise this is a dynamic landscape, over which they have some agency. Therefore this technique should be done periodically, and with discipline. It will help the team continuously expand and improve upon the procedures, tools and expectations needed to fulfil their purpose.

Final thought

This technique should help the team gain a better awareness of the procedures, tools and expectations they have control over, and which they don’t. It will help move from frustration & dejection to engagement & continuous improvement.

Contact me (dean@latchana.co.uk) if you would like help introducing this technique within your organisation.