Alexandra Levits Water Cooler Wisdom Guiding Your Team Through Evolving Work Structures

Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom Guiding Your Team Through Evolving Work Structures Whether you’ve been with the same organization or moved around, if you’ve been a manager for a while, you have probably experienced a lot of changes regarding how, where, and when people work. The boundaries for what’s acceptable and what isn’t have shifted dramatically over the last 10 years, and many agree that the waters are growing even murkier. As we approach 2020, every organization is different with respect to policies on flexwork,technology-facilitated collaboration, virtual teaming, contract hiring, meetings scheduling and logistics, and the like. And because the dos and don’ts frequently evolve, your responsibility as aleaderis to ensure that protocol is clear and that your employees can function happily and productively in the context of new structures. Here are a few suggestions for a successful transition. Understand what the rest of your organization is doing Before you provide guidance to your team, talk to HR or c-suite leaders about any top-down work structure-related policies, procedures, and resources that already exist and can be tweaked or updated to meet your team’s needs. If another leader is blazing an innovation trail, learn from their experience and aim to take workable arrangements to the next level. Understand each individual’s unique needs We now operate in a workforce of one, where every employee governs their career differently. Prior to revising a structure or process (or starting a new one), survey your team members about the most effective ways to get their jobs done with maximum impact and minimum stress, and notice commonalities in thefeedback. Choose pilot over permanent Complete transitions to new structures gradually and on a small scale. For instance, if you want to move your team from 100 percent in-office to 80 percent, with the option of working from home or another location the remaining 20 percent, start with a three-month trial. Outline rules and expectations upfront and select a metric like productivity to ascertain how well the new protocol is working. Educate your people on politics If you’re reading this piece, your team may be on the cutting-edge of 21st century work. This means that your employees could run into snafus with other departments that operate differently. Think through potential complications early, manage perceptions, and ensure that your team can address objections from and continue to build trust with more traditional areas of the business. In other words, don’t let other leaders think your people are lazy or off the grid. Encourage frequent communication Any change process must be accompanied by more discussion than you think you need. Schedule group and individual check-ins at least twice a month so that your transition is smooth and hiccup-free as possible, protocols are consistently implemented from one team member to another, employees have an opportunity to provide feedback, and business is running as usual. In a business world where every employee’s journey is different, facilitating effective transitions is just as critical to engaging and retaining top talent as more traditional lifecycle focuses like onboarding and performance. Joinsponsor SilkRoad and me for a webinaron August 29, 2019 at 2PM EST and come with questions!