The pandemic has left many businesses scrambling to adapt to the demands of a newly remote world. Although much of the infrastructure still has a long way to go on a global scale, plenty of companies have achieved the operational, strategic and technological feats required to make the transition. However one of the longer-term questions remains, in what way might this affect the workplace culture shift?
The pandemic has left many businesses scrambling to adapt to the demands of a newly remote world. Although much of the infrastructure still has a long way to go on a global scale, plenty of companies have achieved the operational, strategic and technological feats required to make the transition. However one of the longer-term questions remains, in what way might this affect the workplace culture shift?
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Corona Culture
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The outbreak of the Corona virus pandemic caused an almost overnight shift in company and employee practices, making ‘unprecedented’ the most overused word of 2020. The pandemic dramatically accelerated some longstanding trends towards remote and flexible working: mobility, the adoption of cloud-based collaboration platforms, and the use of apps and digital services to replace the transactional needs that were once met in person. These unstoppable trends have been transforming organisations and markets since the 90s.
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For better or for worse, the crisis has further blurred the physical and virtual distinctions between workplace and home, working hours and downtime, and business and leisure. These changes have happened at a scale and speed that some organisations were more prepared for than others.
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The nature and speed of the change has often been covered, including the elements that are practical, operational, strategic, and managerial. However one of the greatest and often overlooked aspects will be that of culture shift - especially given that a large majority of the workforce (nation) now expect hybrid work formats, with companies leveraging the technology and partnerships to accommodate.
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Culture speaks to the identity of organisations, to how employees feel about them, and to how managers see their roles. In an in-office environment, this is an open assimilation of the personalities that have been attracted to the values, priorities and incentives provided by a certain body. However, the question on everyones lips concerns how this might change in a remote, or partially remote world.
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For a start, many are finding that old managerial styles, hierarchies, rigid team structures, and clock-watching do not port well into flexible, demand-led workflows. Presenteeism and micro-management are edging their way out and in its place is a shift to an output-focused model that shows and builds trust between parties.
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The conclusion is inescapable: we are looking at a permanent change in our behaviours, both as employees and consumers. And the cultural impact of this needs to be addressed strategically and operationally, with supporting technology and flow systems.
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As with anything novel, the potential for both opportunities and trade-offs is to be expected. While some firms are reporting higher productivity levels from reduced commuting times and increased flexibility, others are finding that the setup does not suit them, or that different strategies need to be employed to maintain dynamism.
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Personalised Progress
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The overarching answer to this seems to be one of personalisation. Just as the realms of healthcare are moving towards more genome-lead, patient-centred and personalised models over the archaic patriarchal, ‘one size fits all’ approach, the workplace of the future is flexible, customisable and personalised.
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The hybrid model seeks to unify the best of all polarities: man and technology, nature and nurture, individualism and collectivism, and organised and responsive decentralisation. The ways in which AI can foster greater cohesiveness and co-ordination in organisational behaviour include fostering communication among different components, sending reminders, being a repository of information and co-ordinating decision making.
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Leveraging the workspace of the future is all about ways of maximising collaborative efforts in increasingly horizontal, transparent, distributed and autonomous ways. Such structures are inherently more resilient, non-hierarchal, and flexible, meaning they can better adapt to changes in the environment, while fostering greater workplace wellbeing and unique creative efforts.
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COVID has been nature’s catalyst into the society of tomorrow, instigating paradigm shifts in the collective intelligence and wisdom of the crowd that will produce more sustainable and holistic results. The move towards the hybrid workplace is the bridge that will help us get there. Spaces such as x+why provide the resources to unite, inspire and amplify purpose-driven businesses that are implementing more socially responsible models of capitalism.
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With Friedman’s model of profit production at all costs no longer being sustainable to either people or planet, there has never been a better time to experiment with new ways of working - enrolling us in the next paradigm of Elkington’s focus on the triple bottom line: people and planet alongside profit.
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The Triple Bottom Paradigm
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The way we work is clearly changing, but so are the reasons why. It’s increasingly being recognised that the Friedman model of capitalism alongside its depiction of the rational ‘Homo Economicus’ driven by a selfish gene is outdated and reductionist. A new paradigm acknowledges the emergent properties of a systems component parts. It signifies that man is by nature collaborative and co-operative in the right environment, and when viewed under the multilevel, multidimensional lens adopted by a multi-disciplinary approach.
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A more integrative lens has been in demand for a long time. As the environment shifts into a state more conducive to harnessing these innate sentiments, people’s natural internal motivators are being leveraged to drive more meaning and purpose at work. Nowhere is that more clear cut than amongst the ranks of the B Corporation network - contractually committed to bettering both people and planet alongside profit.
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Factors such as being able to move out of expensive cities into greener, neighbouring areas with lower overheads have contributed to the mindset shift from quantity to quality. In a new normal where health is wealth, fulfilment is taking centre stage, and the effects are rippling out not just into the economic sphere, but also the social, mental and environmental.
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While the present may be difficult for many still facing difficulties and losses, the future therefore, looks bright. Progressive businesses are at the forefront of the change, creating the very environments conducive for such alchemy to take place. Harnessing the hybrid workplace is key to developing the hybrid mindset shift, leading us all into a more holistic, integrated and sustainable paradigm that values all of people, planet and progress.
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