Greetings from my kitchen counter! In the midst of great apprehension and fear of the unknown, something has happened to a lot of us this week. We collectively figured out how to stay home and get work done.
We found that email sent months ago from Jennifer in IT who told us how to access our files remotely that we had ignored.
We set ground rules with our partners about wearing shirts in the house if the other person was on a call.
We figured out muting if we didn’t have anything to say.
We figured out how to change our background to swaying palm trees if our bedrooms were still messy.
We learned who hates technology and couldn’t figure out how to turn on their cameras.We learned who still had people in the office because they didn’t have laptops, cameras or servers ready to deploy.
COVID-19 has forced the office-based workforce to finally embrace technology and figure out how to work alone together. Which reminds me of one of my favourite moments in About a Boy.
Okay, so the idea of standing in a circle holding hands is causing me a panic attack right now. But I feel Hugh Grant and his circle of support in a profound way. While I am the only person at Noun, my normal working life is full of meetings, interviews, consultations where I interact with people. I to go the gym three times a week to make sure that I see other humans besides my husband and kids.
Like so many others, that has all changed in the last two weeks. Gone are all of those face-to-face interactions. Replacing them are Zoom meetings and phone calls. Some of the people I work with have been sent home, some were opting out of their crowded office, some were still making the transition to working remotely. But everyone was at least thinking about how to work alone together.
The space to do work
My job is to help people find space to do work. Up until last week, that meant in office buildings, on campuses, any where but at home. Some of the conversations were about working remotely, but it was usually lip service, or talked about as the scary thing where we couldn’t control behaviour or productivity. We spent most of our time talking about the offices, coffee rooms and meeting spaces that they absolutely needed to function. Not any more.
What we learned in the last week is that most of that space isn’t needed. In this moment of social distancing, you need a place to put a screen and a cup of coffee, a chair, and hopefully a view outside, but that’s about it. When we emerge from our isolation, the spaces we think we need to do our work will have changed. We will want to have meeting rooms back to gather with our colleagues and clients, but will we want the daily commute? If we have proven that we can work remotely, it seems unlikely that we will undo the learning, the furniture rearranging, the t-shirt wearing, that we have just undergone.
The new reality
I don’t have all the answers. We are in such early days of this new reality that anyone that claims they do is wrong. But I am really interested to see how the companies and organizations that have undertaken this shift are going to use it to their advantage moving forward. It’s only one week into the new norm in my corner of the world. But others are ahead of the curve.
Microsoft sent their workforce home in early March, at least two weeks ahead of most of North America. They led the pack in the great work from home experiment. What did they learn about their work force’s ability work from afar? The first day their engineers were home, their productivity dipped. On day two? They were submitting the same amount of computer code as when they worked at the office. The workers figured out how to be productive working from their couches.
Opportunity in the midst of uncertainty
While this is a scary time and is full of unknowns, it is also an opportunity to really examine how we do our lives. It is an opportunity for managers to consider what leadership means and if you really need to see your employees’ eyeballs to get work done. It is a moment to appreciate how much shaking hands or high fiving people means. It is a moment to set the course for a new future.
Not everyone will be up to the task. There will be people and organizations who will not be able to embrace change. That’s their choice. My optimism lies in those that are able and willing to face the unknown.
There will be more posts from me in the coming days. I am already full of topics and ideas. If there is something you want to talk about, send me a message. Let’s do this together.