A few weeks ago, I heard a business leader referring to life at the moment as the ‘interim normal’ because he didn’t want to accept that this was ‘the new normal.’
I’ve got some sympathy with this approach – the last year has seen deeper and wider changes in organisations, management and leadership than we’ve seen in any other twelve months. People have endured almost constant change, with plans made one week being totally revised the next.
Labeling this as an ‘interim normal’ can help people cope – it won’t be like this forever.
But the danger is going too far the other way – many people seem to think that we’ll all be back in our offices soon, and the ‘old normal’ will return. But it’s clear to me that home-working is here to stay – whether it is full-time, part-time or occasional activity. Organisations and employees are keen to maintain the advantages of home working such as less time commuting, a reduction in expensive office space and access to a wider recruitment pool.
But let’s not forget that the shift to home working has come at a cost. I’ve seen companies taking a hit on productivity, teamwork, collaboration, morale and innovation. Many of these organisations, leaders and teams seem to be relying on temporary fixes, superhuman effort, adrenaline, desperation and a hope that they can keep treading water until the ‘old normal’ returns.
But if the ‘old normal’ isn’t coming back, the big question is – how many of the supposedly ‘temporary’ fixes are fit for the long-run of hybrid office-home working?
My challenge to you is to spend a few minutes thinking ahead, and wondering:
- What short-term pains are you putting up with, that really can’t become long-term problems?
- What temporary patch-up job was good enough for crisis management in 2020, but not suitable for steady state operations?
- Where are you relying on unsustainable effort from individuals rather than well-balanced workloads, skills and expertise?
- What are your plans for dealing with the problems of increased home-working, such as difficulties with on-boarding new staff, promoting morale and managing performance?
I’ve been helping staff from a variety of organisations to adapt to some of these remote leadership challenges, to work smarter and implement new ways of working. So often when we try to address problems we focus on the gaps, on what is missing or working badly. Whilst this is a natural reaction, I’ve seen a real opportunity for leaders, managers and organisations to benefit from a remote leadership and change management approach that focuses on strengths and builds on what is already working.
The more I’ve heard about these issues with remote leadership, the more I thought about putting together some kind of program that would let me help others using the experience that I’ve had myself.
So I’m currently developing a series of online workshops and coaching that will help managers and leaders overcome the challenges of remote leadership and put positive leadership in practice.
To hear more, come along to my Remote Leadership Masterclass – a free 60-minute webinar on Monday 29th March at 1230 BST.
You’ll learn:
- A surefire technique for assessing your remote leadership to work out where you’re doing great, and where you could do better.
- The new risks your organisation face when changing to hybrid working.
- A different way of thinking about leadership that will help you build an integrated and successful team.