I had a call the other day from a managing director asking what I was noticing in how businesses are experiencing the WF Home / WF Office ratio right now. In my clients business the number of people coming into the office seemed to have declined and the organisation was struggling to have a critical mass in the office at the one time. The effects were being felt by those who were coming in and it was affecting the energy on the floor.
It’s true, people working together in person has a certain contagious vibe that can be motivating, energising and fun. When there’s just a few of you it can feel a bit lonely, isolating and altogether demotivating.
My sense was this leader was about to remind people of the ‘rules’ and step into dialling up the mandates.
My advice: Don’t!
Instead…include your people in defining and agreeing the problem. Bring them together, in small groups ask them to get curious about the vibe in the office, and what might be going on. It might be as simple as sickness in the family and keeping illness out of the office, it might be something else happening in the office, and lets face it commuting on a cold wet day is no fun. Brainstorm the solutions they have for addressing the issues.
While you might only land with reminding everyone what they’ve committed to, I’m pretty sure your teams will come up with a whole raft of practical solutions that will have people wanting to engage and be face to face. Remember, no one wants to come into the office to sit in Teams meetings all day. Encourage the team to reinvigorate the ways of working, experiment and play with solutions until something shifts.
No matter what the issue is you’re trying to solve, when you include your team in defining the problem and designing the solutions, you are far more likely to create a solution that works for everyone.
And remember, culture is created by what is encouraged, discouraged and tolerated by people and systems over time.
When you notice a ‘problem’, think about how you’re responding and how your approach will influence the culture.