It is only 20 months later than most, but we have a home worker in the house! We are still in the novelty stage, so I notice the choice of Radio 6 cool tunes, rather than my cheesy online tracks. I notice I now make a tea at the same time as my coffee. The banana intake and food discipline has declined.
The pressure to get out on time, with the bag packed for the day ahead has gone, making the morning stress free for everyone. The washing has reduced, there are no shirts, there is someone else here as the kids are shouting for online codes, while I am doing my HIIT before work/school.
As I mentioned, we are still in the novelty period and before long, the usual schedule will be back in place, so let’s enjoy it while we can. I totally feel for others, who have not shared the positive experiences. That is all the person perspective, how about work?
What does a change in your work pattern show up?
Taking the pause in how we work offers great opportunities, including:
Process Efficiency – How does your process work now? How could the process be more efficient?
Ask – Who needs what? How often? How many touch points? For what purpose? Where do they look? Who can see? Is it a person or an item/data?
Solution – Map out the process and be proactive in process improvements to include digitisation. If you have a system, use it. If you don’t have a system, create a fit for purpose process, train employees in the new process and work to it.
Digitisation – What does digitisation mean to you? To your company? What would that do for your efficiency?
i.e., all documentation is electronic – accessible to everyone, all of the time, no more searching for hard copies. Use tools which allows for multiple employees to access documents and edit.
Savings – Paper, Printers, Scanners, Time, Duplication of effort, employee discretionary effort.
People – How can looking at process and refining the way business works, impact people. The answer is not always headcount reduction. Savings can be made thought smarter role profiling. Ensuring employees are clear about their roles, their accountabilities and how to engage with peers and leaders to ensure there is smooth flow.
i.e., In a process / data driven industry, how can the data be generated in the most economical and efficient way? For data entry hire a school leaver, someone on a university placement for 48 weeks. The role is going to provide real work experience, the discipline of working in a team and being accountable for accurate data entering at the first point, means the who company can run on accurate, timely information.
Succession & Development – With clear role profiling, clear accountabilities and great conversations in the team, employees know how they are performing and how to advance in the company.
Who is the next Managing Director? Who has the skills to lead the company into the future? What are their gaps and development areas now? How are these gaps and development going to be fulfilled? What will the company look like by the time the successor takes the helm?
Engagement – Home working, Office working or Hybrid – engagement is still the key to companies delivering.
Ask – What does/will the business need? What impact does home / office /hybrid working have on the delivery of the business? What do employees want? What are the mitigations? How does the policy impact hiring new talent? How fair and consistent is the policy?
CO2 Emissions – Almost zero in this case, we have solar panels and solar battery storage, so all power used from home is solar and there is no need to drive 5 days per week. There is a positive environmental impact.
Health and Wellbeing – In our case, having access to beautiful countryside to walk is delightful. The air is clear, our eyes and minds are engaged with the abundance of open space and green fields. (I am aware we live in the middle of nowhere!) Swap that with a walk round a noisy, polluted industrial estate with heavy traffic. It just does not come close.
What next?
With all of the topics mentioned, these are really quick observations of how stepping away from the daily norm can show up really simple and accessible solutions to problems that were never saw before.
Executive Coaching can offer the space and clarity to step back from your daily norm, explore wider and deeper than you might care to ask yourself.
For all of the topics covered, while I can facilitate change in each of these areas, engaging with senior leaders is where my best work is done. I help senior leaders to look at their business and step back to find their own and business clarity and solutions.
If anything shared has caught your attention, please get in touch. You can go directly to my calendar at: https://calendly.com/ziasavel/45min or email zia@ziasavel.com