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Why is an innovation company talking about the hybrid workplace? Well to start with, here’s a simple and very clear quote from Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google“The future of work is hybrid.” 

Yep…

The World of Work Has Changed… Again

This claim is not a new one. But this time the change is radical and irrevocable, not just another hot fad. Because yes, the pandemic is hopefully nearing its end. Yet in its wake, the long-awaited shift to remote work has become a permanent reality for a majority of companies.

To be more precise, the new reality lies in the HYBRID workplace – the combination of remote and office-based setups. Flexibility and adaptability are keywords for the content of work. But more importantly, they have also now become the basis of the employer-employee relationship itself.

 In short: “Unquestioningly sticking to systems and processes that made an office-based model successful will doom any remote model to fail.” – Sid Sijbrandij, Co-Founder of GitLab

Survey after survey shows that as many as two-thirds of employees prefer a hybrid workplace post-pandemic, to the extent that they would forgo a large raise to stay away from full-time office work. Furthermore, it’s estimated that in-office distractions cost us more than half a trillion dollars every year. And more than 90% of employers say productivity is higher than before the pandemic.

 And So Simbrandij’s statement should come as no surprise to anyone.

What Does the Hybrid Workplace Mean for MY company?

Our quick move to Zoom, Teams, Meet, Slack and so on a year ago proved that agility is not so hard.  But that first shift is just the beginning. To sum up: moving your meetings online is not enough on its own for you to win the future.

Your company needs to create new hybrid workforce models and hybrid workplace policies you can apply to each department, each team, and even each employee. Because every employee may now prefer to come to the office on some days and work from home on others. And this flexible approach is helping everyone deliver the best results.

Therefore, in creating your new approach, your company must consider the impact of the fast-arriving future. Your methodologies around performance management, talent mobility, project delivery, and customer and employee engagement, as well as in many other areas need new approaches. And therefore so do your business, technology, and talent strategies.

Traditional strictly-scoped project management methodology will no longer work as well in the post pandemic context. For instance, top-down planning, control, coordination, and monitoring is no longer a winning strategy.

Instead, focus on a team-centric problem solving and delivery methodology to help you thrive. Because collaboration is perhaps THE major key to business success today. And it’s always been essential to team-driven innovation.

 

So How Can We Collaborate Better?

Here are the policies you should implement immediately, step-by-step, to leverage the power of your entire team at the Edge.

  1. Identify new opportunities by balancing market trends against your existing MISSION.
  2. Reframe the new opportunities quickly in terms of your existing organizational GOALS.
  3. Seek proposals for PROJECTS that can quickly get you in motion to those new opportunities.
  4. Review the proposals and AWARD the projects.
  5. Select the right TALENT for every initiative. 

You may notice that tradition does have a place in this process. First, start from your organization’s mission and keep your solution centered firmly on your talent! Because that’s always been best practice, and it remains so.

But here is what is new. 

Accelerate your adoption of AI and automation to help you win the race to the future by identifying the best trends and selecting the right teams to implement them. 

The balance of the right software with the right processes is your key to agility and therefore success.

OK, What Questions Should We Be Asking Then?

The important questions to be asking yourself right now are – how do you:

  1. Assess and align your teams to optimize program outcomes?
  2. Identify new opportunities aligned to organizational goals?
  3. Build, vet, and invest in proposals quickly to capitalize on opportunities as fast as possible?
  4. Maintain an agile, high-performing talent ecosystem to sustain ongoing disruption?

These are volatile and uncertain times with complex challenges. And the hybrid workplace is just one of them. Thankfully, we are here to help you address them all head-on.

We would love to hear what needs and ideas are top of mind in your organization.

What methods do you use already?

What improvements or breakthroughs are you looking for?

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Comment on this post within one week of it going up. Or write us at contact@innovationminds.com. The most compelling answers will be eligible to win an Amazon gift card. Thank you for your contribution!

See you next time!