Although a very good and well written article from Korn Ferry Briefings Issue 59, the title really rubbed me the wrong way. Why title an analysis of the state of global work approaches “Back to Work … For What?”? I’ve been working all along! I never stopped working. I’m always working. I can’t go back to work if I have been working all along. I can only change the physical approach used in continuing to work. Argh!
But back to the core of the briefing which is thought provoking and does a good job of presenting options, pros and cons from multiple perspectives – all related to the structure of the workplace. Workplace? Oh no, wherever I work is my workplace. Do I have to leave my workplace to get back to work? I have so many workplaces I can’t keep track of them. When I’m with a client at their office, am I working or not? I’m in their workplace and not mine. Oh no!
I’m sorry because I keep straying based on mis-leading vocabulary which has implications associated with it. A bias almost immediately surfaces when even using the word workplace. It “feels” like a specific physical location versus a general place where one does work.
Actually, now that I’ve re-read the article for the third time, it is littered with words and phrases which mis-lead and misconstrue. And again, even though the article is a fair and balanced presentation of options and alternatives, the words that are used in it and by all of us, especially in the corporate world, lead the witness and introduce a natural bias to the discussion.
The structure of how to get things done should be based on what the objectives are to begin with. Understanding what it is that you are trying to accomplish and what successful outcomes look like for that endeavor should be a primary deliverable. Once that is understood, create practical structures, processes, organizations and capabilities designed to deliver those objectives.
If an objective of an organization is to have employees sit together in an auditorium, then everyone should sit together in an auditorium. Notice there are no customers, products or revenue considerations of that objective!
If an objective is to develop solutions that meet a specific perceived market need and introduce value adding products to the marketplace every 18 months, now ne can work towards developing the appropriate organizational and talent structure that will help realize that objective. Objective and requirements first, everything else second. What one is trying to accomplish should establish how one goes about accomplishing it.
By the way, that’s what the “- For What?” in the title should be implying. I work in a very specific fashion, interacting with my peers and customers in a specific way, because that is the best designed way for us to all collectively meet our organizational objectives. This is something I can get behind.
Everything else is a non-starter.
