work-from-home
A different new world?
Aldous Huxley’s science-fiction novel, Brave New World, is about a world of high tech and subtle, unconscious conditioning. It differs somewhat from the picture painted by George Orwell of a blatant command, policing and control society (Nineteen Eighty-Four). Yet their end results are not dissimilar. Do either of these two worlds face us? German philosopher Martin Heidegger warned that the consequence of continuous, fast - paced science and technology development is that we begin to see ourselves and the world we inhabit in scientific and technological terms. We lose the high-touch that needs to balance high-tech.
To what extent can we play a role in bringing about the new world of balanced high-tech and high-touch? How do we prepare as individuals for whatever emerges?
Many speak as if the ‘new normal’ of high tech, work-from-home, social-distancing, short-term focus, an accent on agility, greater accountability and stricter control to overcome authoritarian boss’s ‘out-of-sight, less productive’ mind-set and employee’s ‘out-of-sight, forgotten’ mind-set, has arrived and is here to stay. We should be talking about 'the new ABnormal' and 'UNsocial distancing'.
A few believe that we need to shift away from the growth, wealth and competitive paradigms and values that drive so much of our economic, political, social and environmental values and behaviours. Instead, they see a shift towards a more sustainable, simpler, collaborative way of living. A way of living that encourages giving more than taking, compassion-power more than control-power, and the balancing of high-tech with high-touch.
Maybe what will transpire is a middle path – a hybrid of work-from-home and work-at- office, and an allowing for both high-tech and high-touch.
Why a 100% work-from-home scenario won’t work
Less than a year before he died German/Czech, Jewish author Franz Kafka wrote his last story.
It was about a creature that lived in an underground maze of tunnels. Was completely isolated. Was locked down against imagined enemies, against the random, unseen, unpredictable, and the uncontrollable.
A creature who struggled for self-sufficiency and survival – body, mind and soul. Was locked into certain habit patterns, had highly limiting beliefs, and was haunted by insecurity, anxiety and its own imagination (as we may be if we continue to suffer those “new brain-mind troubles” so well described by psychologist Paul Gilbert – regrets and resentment about the past, and anxieties about the future – because of our advanced ability to imagine, anticipate, recall, reflect …) (Gilbert, P. 2013)
The burrowing creature continually built and shored up underground defences in its battle against fear, uncertainty, ‘rational’ reasoning, self-doubt. Was caught between complacency and terror. The unfinished short story ends with: "But all remained unchanged, the…." (Kafka, F. 2017)
Surely an existential story for our times and our unsure future.
It may be true that the pandemic lockdown has given us the time to trigger personal growth, cultivate family relationships, avoid aspects of office work that are less-than-meaningful – from stressful commuting to navigating office politics. It has allowed us to raise by many notches our thinking and decision-making independence – when we are in a space that is free from the usual unconscious and conscious pressures, influences, expectations, opinions and norms of others. There is also little doubt that many employees subjected to lock-downs and a forced, and new-to-them, work-from-home situation have exhibited anxiety about the future, experienced being insecure or depressed, and have felt what is becoming known as Zoom fatigue caused by too many on-line meetings.There are early reports of a new form of burnout driven in large part by fear. As lockdowns extend and we move further along the Fourth Industrial Revolution path, so we will see what pioneering psychologist William James termed our "torn - to - pieces - hood" - with widespread, deep individual trauma translating into significant collective trauma.
We are social beings, so being forced to go remote is not natural. Coaching remotely has some benefits, but lacks what the dynamics of live one- on- one coaching bring to interactions (expressions, gestures, voice tone and pitch, natural silences, mirroring and matching for rapport, conveying empathy, and yes, appropriate touch).
The absence of physical proximity and touch is a huge issue. “Humankind has continuously adapted and evolved as social beings who group together for protection and advancement reasons. Closeness and physical proximity is part of our “DNA”, beneficial to our physical immune systems, and our emotional, social and spiritual well-being”.
(Refer http://storytellinginbusiness.blogspot.com/2020/07/touch.html - a blog post that examines our human need for physical proximity and touch).
An opinion about what we will see in future
I believe that the pendulum will swing back again and that over time (although how long is a question we cannot answer at this stage) - we will find that in leading edge organisations we will see:
• a combination of remote work-from-home and at-office activities (for those lucky enough to have work). A hybrid. Humans crave contact and a community working together in physical proximity is more likely to facilitate a sense of psychological safety, deeper sharing, an ability to bounce-off-each-other, innovate, create a sense of belonging, be motivational, and develop a new appreciation of the richness of diversity.
• an accent on utilising individual participation and contribution in a psychological safe ‘space’ (either remotely or in a shared office space) – and not a control and compliance approach.
• short term, medium term and longer term foci. Multi-temporal. More will adopt a ‘fast- feedback – loop’ way of working: for example, using surveys or polls, followed by assessment and decision, followed by immediate action. We will make more use of reflection and scenario planning - a means of sense-making that develops thinking skills and future- readiness (even if the described possible futures don’t transpire). Resilience and agility is facilitated. Longer-term scenario thinking is a necessary accompaniment to shorter-term agile operating (while waiting for the next ‘black swan’ to arrive!) Purpose and values (in many ways the glue that bonds employees, and a requirement for providing meaning and commitment) are also not short-term features. Being purpose and values-driven tempers frenetic activity and helps us to avoid too much short-term thinking.
• high touch will (must) accompany high tech – as people empathically see each other through in a brave new world (and stop seeing through each other). This highlights our fundamental human need for the qualities of acceptance, understanding and compassion. And for counselling, coaching, communicating, relating and leading skills. Over and above technical skills. (Although in the short to medium term the focus of leaders is likely to be on task, productivity, control and high tech only - pushed by the Fourth Industrial Revolution merging big data, 5G, artificial intelligence, robotics ...)
So for the individual, in addition to staying abreast of new work-from-home technical skills; areas of inner work that can be addressed now include connecting to self, spanning a wider temporal range of thinking (past, present and future), boosting personal resilience and agility, concretizing personal purpose and values, becoming more centred, present and calm, developing compassion for self and others, re-aligning work, home and social activities, adopting self-directed learning and development, finding an alternative to “water cooler” exchanges of information and ideas …. If we spend more time (working, socialising, being at home) within a smaller geography, will this proximity to our neighbours herald greater community and interdependence?
The bigger picture? If sufficient work-from-home occurs, there will undoubtedly be impacts on certain sectors of the economy (slowdown of public transport usage and a shift in inter-modal connections, impact on vehicle refuelling points, a faster shift to a cashless society – that may also further disadvantage the most needy, less construction because of surplus office space – perhaps compensated for by more near-home building of community facilities, changed processes in respect of home deliveries and personal services, issues around data security and communications reliability as more work-from-home comes about …) Business processes along the entire business change may need radical adjustment, as may dynamics such as customer connection, application of ethics, transfer of knowledge – and care for the whole person: exercise, meals, worship, entertainment – which will vary according to their housing situation (high, medium and low density). To what extent will organisations, as they compete for talent, contribute (financially and in other ways) to employees’ space and equipment needs under work-from-home conditions?
Quo Vadis. Where to business leadership?
The following theories emerged in the last century to help us better understand leadership and provide a range of lenses to examine the study and practice of leadership.
• Great Man theories: mid-19th century
• Trait theories: 1930–1940s
• Behavioural theories: 1940s–1950s
• Contingency theories: 1960s onwards
• Transactional/transformational leadership: 1970s onwards
• Implicit leadership theories: 1970s onwards
• Charismatic leadership: 1980s
• Contemporary theories include authentic leadership, servant leadership, spiritual or ‘conscious’ leadership, dispersed or distributed leadership, adaptive leadership, agile and resilient leadership, mindful leadership from the inside-out, group leadership
Over time we’ve seen shifts from command and control, to an accent on influence and persuasion, to increasing focus on sustainability and good corporate governance and ethics, engaging employees via purpose, meaning and values, and to belonging to a diverse ‘workforce’
To what extent will new practices, technologies and work locations reinforce any of these trends or cause a reversion to historical practices and styles? and
To what extent will a task and productivity orientation and new rules (which include more control of less visible staff) override the relationship needs of staff?
The jury is still out.
How will you begin to become more future-fit for an emerging new World?
Reference
Global work-from-home day
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