This table is prepared by us based on Lynda Gratton's article in Harvard Business Review about “ How to do hybrid right” ( https://hbr.org/2021/05/how-to-do-hybrid-right ).
Based on her idea, we decided to use her methodology in a practical way to see what are the results generated by her approach.
Lynda Gratton a professor of management practice at London Business School and the founder of HSM, the future-of-work research consultancy, studied this topic for the last 10 years and based on her experience she identified the following types of work:
place constrained/unconstrained and
time constrained/unconstrained.
We adapted Lynda's 2*2 matrix for the use of our Finance & Accounting communities.
C-level executives might find these interesting in their quest to find new ways in building top performance in their companies.
In the table above we tried to find out what is the practical approach that should guide a Finance Manager/Director in deciding the best work environment to maximize the work output of a Financial Controller:
To conclude in our hypothetical case, the Financial Controller would be better off working at the exact intersection of these 4 types of work shown in the table.
Technology and the “Focus” nature of work sustains an “Anywhere, Anytime” approach.
On top of that, open space offices are increasing the health risks for a person with a small kid at home, hence an unconstrained place solution would make sense for “our employee”.
On the flip-side specific factors hinder the hybrid work approach:
As the controller, the person needs to interact with different colleagues from different departments. Data needs to be checked and used only if accurate and this may require a frequent dialogue with relevant employees during business hours (this may require Time constraints and Place constraints)
The actual personal preference needs to be taken into account. Our example references a personal distracting environment (at home) that would prevent the person to attain the main productivity driver: Focus.
Feeling disconnected from the work environment might be a stressful factor, if there are no initiatives in place, the employee might feel the need to get to the office; being remote might make them feel isolated.
Taking into account this perspective, we realize there is no black and white solution. It very much depends on every company and every employee.
The positive is that we realize a win/win solution should engage both managers and employees in deciding what’s next for the company and the actual employee.
At this point we hear you well:
This Is Massively Hard To implement!
And you are perfectly right!
But if our comments on the matter focused you attention to the fact that “a one size fits all solution” is the least desirable solution, we rest our case.
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