Managing in the Workplace of Tomorrow

 

The ways in which we work have changed drastically in the last decade, accelerated by the Covid pandemic as well as by technology that has allowed workers and organizations to break free of the limitations of geography.

One of the positive results of the sudden shift to remote work is that “managers have discovered that in fact people can work remotely and they are still productive,” said Nancy Dixon, PhD, during an episode of PMI’s Center Stage podcast. Dixon is a speaker, author, consultant, executive advisor, faculty at Columbia University’s Information and Knowledge Strategy Program, and a thought leader in the field of knowledge management. “That has been a great fear for managers. They really have been concerned that, if I can’t see them, are they really doing anything? So this has proven that point to them.”

Not everything is a simple transition to virtual work, however, especially when it comes to how managers run their teams. New approaches can help compensate for the lack of face-to-face interaction. Dixon offered several examples.

• Managers should have a weekly one-on-one with each remote team member. In these meetings, managers should adopt more of a coaching approach. “The questions are not, ‘What have you done for me today?’” Dixon explained. “The questions are more about, ‘What are you thinking about your long-term goals? What do you need? What can I do for you that will help you? Who do you need to get connected to?’”
• Teams can use the agile practice of holding daily 15-minute stand-up meetings each morning to bring everyone together and ensure all team members are on the same page.
• It’s harder to stay engaged in virtual meetings, so keep them moving by changing things up. “Change what you’re doing on a virtual meeting every five to seven minutes because otherwise you’re not going to hold the attention of people at all,” Dixon advised.
• Virtual meeting tools have functionality that can keep team members engaged and solicit input from those who might not want to verbally speak up. In large meetings, use breakout rooms to facilitate conversation among smaller groups of 4-5 people. Encourage the use of polling features and the chat function to solicit input.
• Flipped meetings can be particularly successful in a virtual world. Instead of presenting something in a meeting, send the content – maybe a short video or a document – ahead of time. Then lay out several questions about the content that you want to discuss in the meeting. “That helps two things,” Dixon explained. “One, it keeps us from dying from PowerPoint, but it also means that when people come together, what they’re coming together for is to hear, listen to and think together with each other online. So the meeting is more about their building a sense of understanding than it is about hearing the instructions.”

Listen to the full podcast on Center Stage.