Productivity will (and should) temporarily decline as offices reopen.
As more and more offices are finally reopening and teams are transitioning to a hybrid work environment it is critical to support yourself and your teams with Ruthless Prioritization.
For those that have been working fully remote for the past 2 years, here are 5 areas that will add to the physical and mental load of the day during the transition to hybrid.
The 5 Cs for Why Ruthless Prioritization is Required:
1️⃣ Commutes – Commutes will be added back into the day, which will eat into time to do work and reduce time for self-care or time with family and friends.
2️⃣ Connection – This should feel like a “homecoming” of sorts, especially for people that haven’t seen each other in person for a long time, or perhaps never met in person at all before. Allow time for them to connect.
3️⃣ Complexity – There will be the complexity of creating new schedules – the employee’s, their family’s (including childcare), and coordinating with the schedules of teammates. And the complexity of figuring out which personal and business supplies need to be transported back and forth on any given day.
4️⃣ Confusion – Many people may not know where to sit in the building once they are back or what buttons to push in the video conference rooms. Allow them the time to orient themselves.
5️⃣ Concerns – While some people can’t wait to re-engage with others in person, let’s not forget that there will be a spectrum of comfort levels. Some people will feel a degree of FOGO (fear of going out) and this can add to the emotional burden of a day.
If you don’t actively plan for this through prioritization, then the burn-out you and your teams may already be feeling will become exacerbated. You will find yourselves having to work at night and on weekends to make up for the lost time due to those 5 Cs.
Providing prioritization is a way for you to be empathetic and kind to yourself and your team – and enable loyalty & productivity in the longer term.
Calls to Action:
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Use your next 1:1 or team huddle to review the team’s objectives and workload for the month of the office reopening. Keep what’s high priority, push out what’s medium priority and cut what’s low priority.
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Try using a prioritization tool like the Eisenhower Matrix to determine urgency and importance.
Sacha Connor is the CEO of Virtual Work Insider. She is a virtual work expert, trainer, keynote speaker and CCNG Academy member, and is preparing leaders to lead hybrid and remote teams.
