A few days ago, Dev Patnaik, CEO of Jump Associates, held a virtual meeting with one of his clients. Instead of sitting at their own table, they decided to use this moment for a walk in nature. This approach encourages reflection and productivity, and allows you to combine work and physical activity for a balanced lifestyle.
Article by Dev Patnaik for US Forbes – translated by Lisa Deleforterie
Answering business calls outside of the office, such as on a nature walk, can actually be more productive for several reasons. First, reframing can stimulate creativity and promote clearer and more innovative thinking. Being surrounded by nature, away from the usual office distractions, makes it easier to focus on the topics discussed in the meeting. In addition, walking helps activate the body and mind, which can lead to better blood circulation and increased energy, thus promoting participation and productivity during the meeting.
The pandemic has changed the work experience of all office workers, forcing them to adapt to new norms. Working from home, they had to learn new technologies, rethink their communication methods and explore innovative approaches to maintain productivity. This period opened new horizons in work.
How’s it going ?
Four years later, our experience with remote and hybrid work has been inconclusive. Of course, we who were constantly on the move now spend more time at home with our children. Our trips are less exhausting and we have more free time. ” I gave up frequent travel, but I learned to grow tomatoes “, explains Dev Patnaik with a hint of a smile.
While the pandemic may have brought a better work-life balance, it still left our professional environment in a much more precarious state. Burnout increased, productivity fell to historically low levels and worker engagement in the United States has fallen at the lowest level in more than ten years.
The idea of working from home or even from other countries seemed to promise new ways of working. However, instead, many of us seem to be overcome by stress, depression or a sense of disconnection. What happened ?
It seems that we didn’t consider the last four years of work a real experience because we never took the time to reflect on what we learned from it. Experience without learning is not experience, but simply a series of actions. At first we were confined at home, and then we experimented with working remotely. Today, many companies require employees to return to the office three or more days a week, which not everyone welcomes.
However, behind these changes lie some lessons about the nature of work and the use of technology, as well as when physical presence is required. ” At Jump, my colleagues and I have reviewed many projects and customer interactions over the years, and what we’ve discovered is that work cannot be defined in a monolithic way. In reality, it comes in different types that require different approaches “, says Mr. Patnaik.
Concentration at work
Sometimes people just need time to think for themselves. When your employees need to focus on tasks that require creative or complex solving that require sustained attention, it might be a good idea to encourage them to work from home or at a nearby coffee shop. At these times, suggest they turn off Slack notifications and delay checking email until they’re done. Cal Newport’s groundbreaking book on the subject could prove to be a valuable resource for protecting your work from AI automation threats.
Establish bonds of trust
A significant part of the work involves nurturing relationships, often between two or three people who share information about their projects and activities. Video conferences on the Zoom and Microsoft Teams platforms are effective when the participants already know each other. However, resolving conflicts or problems often requires a pre-existing relationship of trust. Human interactions are subtle and involve nuances that technology has yet to capture. Therefore, it is sometimes important to get to know each other in person. Companies that schedule a weekly in-person meeting can strengthen those bonds, provided they commit the necessary time and space. Forcing employees to spend all day on video conferencing can be counterproductive.
Team coordination
It is quite possible to successfully hold remote or even hybrid team meetings if the goal is to coordinate the activities of team members or share project results. However, it is crucial that the structure is clear and that the leader is competent. Keep in mind that these meetings can be ineffective if the group is larger than eight people or if the work requires creativity or problem solving. In such cases, a personal meeting is preferred. Annie Murphy Paul, in her work “ Expanded mind ,” offers ample neuroscientific evidence to support this principle.
Mass appeal
This brings us to the last type of work, which is often considered the least effective; meetings attended by ten or twenty people, or even more. Participants’ faces are often superimposed on thumbnails, assuming the camera is activated.
These large meetings are often the product of ineffective company structuring, dictated by a leader who wants to “bring all stakeholders together to formulate an initiative.” They are also the result of managers who struggle to decline an invitation to all members of their professional network to discuss a problem or who even make the problem worse by their own behavior.
Large meetings inevitably lead to exchanges between a few individuals, leaving others on the sidelines. These interactions can often be replaced by concise emails or Slack messages. When live editing is necessary, it requires careful planning, competent facilitation and skillful management of technological tools.
Don’t expect these meetings to bring you new ideas. Large groups are simply not effective in this area. A study published in a British journal Nature they found that small teams are much better at generating new ideas, while larger ones tend to recycle and expand the ones they already have. Even with teams that met in person before the pandemic… Big meetings on Zoom are hardly conducive to innovation.
After years of experimentation, managers should ask themselves, “Are we tapping into the full potential of our employees?” » In order to maximize the productivity and efficiency of your work environment, it is essential to fully understand the nature of the work. Which interactions require a physical presence and which can be virtual? What methods and resources are most appropriate in each context? Although it takes time, establishing more precise guidelines helps to optimize work performance, making the investment of individuals’ time more fruitful and profitable, regardless of their location. By recognizing the variety of forms of work and adapting strategies, it is possible to optimize results. Uniform treatment of all these forms of work is counterproductive.
Also read: New strategies to promote engagement at work