Welcome Back to the New Ways of Working!
ChangeStaffing recently sat down with Sandra Bresson, Global Workplace Change Manager at CBRE, to discuss change management considerations for supporting Return to Office efforts…
We keep hearing the message, “Oh gosh, I just can't wait to get back to NORMAL again. Can't wait to get back to how things USED TO BE.” For some, “I just can't wait to return to the office.” But here's the thing, we will NEVER return back to how was. We will never go BACK. We can only move FORWARD. So, we need to change the mindset and reframe the conversation to “Welcome back to moving forward. Welcome back to our new ways of working!”
Welcome back to something new
One thing is for sure, we will never return to the office that we all left. The workplace is forever altered. As organizational change management consultants, we need to reframe the mindset away from “return to the office” and more towards “welcome back to our new way of working! This is a fresh beginning, with a new perspective for us. Let's start there and move forward.” That's the mindset that I've tried to bring to my work and when you put it in that framework, people get it and they say, “Oh yeah, you're so right!”
Reintroduce the office as another safe place to work
As much as we want it to go away, disruption is here to stay. So how do we learn to live with it? How do we adapt to this new way of working? We reintroduce the office as another safe option to choose from in our portfolio of ways of working. Organizations should not mandate “return employees to the office,” but rather, encourage them to return. Employees are more productive when they're given more autonomy and freedom of choice. By organically allowing people to come into the office when it’s right for them promotes a natural growth of the physical office environment as part of our new portfolio of workplace options.
The hybrid workplace is a philosophy not a policy
Companies are instituting, “Our hybrid workplace policy is that employees will be in the office 50% of the time.” What does that mean? Employees are in the office 50% each day? 100% every other week? Six months out of the calendar year? Hybrid can mean different things to different people. As a result, we must guide organizations to empower their people to interpret the hybrid workplace in a manner that works best for them. We must also consider that when you take this philosophical concept and approach, how do you transcribe that to the global enterprise level, the team level, as well as the individual level? This is no small feat! Rather, coach organizations to empower their local sites and offices because they know their people best. As organizational change management practitioners, we can help organizations develop a global workplace framework that enables the local sites and offices. With this in hand, the local sites will take it and run with it in a way that works best for their specific audience. I always say, “Meet them where they are and together build from there.”
If there is a key take away from here, it is that I emphasize the word organic…I think because of how it directly connects to autonomy. If you entrust your people to make the decision, they will do what’s right. Having organizations empower their people to make the right decision and reintroducing the office as another safe option for work, they will organically return to the office. One person will come, and then the next one and the next one, creating a virtuous circle that will continue to build…welcome back to moving forward in our new ways of working!
Contact ChangeStaffing for support welcoming your organization to the new way of working!
A very special thank you to Sandra Bresson, Global Workplace Change Manager at CBRE, for her thought leadership and for collaborating with us on this blog.