Those ghosts are still hunting us! The ghosts that come straight out to the books of rusty and rigid organizational cultures and believe in the following (and not limited to)

Traditional non-negotiable 9 to 5 job at the office, life and work balance defined by weekday/weekend. 

Our national culture isn’t any better and we have our parents, schools, universities, neighbors, friends and feed us limiting beliefs too.

In environments the nature of work like service industries doesn’t compel a physical presence, stereotyping where we work and when we work has proven to have a loose correlation with outcomes. Perhaps “how” we work is the only valid and focal point.

 

Covid hit brutally and left so swiftly and so did the lesson we thought was the silver lining behind this horrid virus. A lesson called work from home which was believed to stay. We thought the synchronous type of work is extinct. It unfortunately isn’t.

Before you jump into conclusions, I am personally an advocate of one-on-one live engagements particularly coaching sessions and workshops and I do believe that in person meetings are instrumental BUT I also believe that working in the background doesn’t need to be in situ.

I also believe that even in those industries that require physical presence 9 to 5 timing isn’t written in stones. How about 11 to 7 or like 10 to 3 plus 5 to 8 or simply whatever works. Or how about taking Tuesday off and working on a Saturday as long as

  1. In person meetings are a must for particular and periodic engagements.
  2. Accountability is key. Every team member sticks to deliverables and deadlines.
  3. Trust in the fluid work system is granted by top leaders and can be altered and adjusted as often as needed. Performance is the benchmark criteria.

Here is a disclaimer. I remember certain days in the beginning of my career when I used to be a real night owl and hence functioning at 9am was a torture. I used to basically daydream, have 2 breakfasts and 2 lunches and then go home sleep, wake up at 8pm and work all night. Of course, I ended up performing but in practically almost double the required time for my tasks.

Now you tell me how did my physical presence add any value during those days? Wouldn’t starting my day at say 11:00 am have solved this entire inefficiency saga? 

I still believe in semi open #structures though If we are to endorse an #asynchronous or a #WFH work environment and here are two main rules should you need to endorse flex working hours.

  • When your weekday working hours are mega flex, you have to be willing to work happily on a weekend, after hours or even during the most stunning holidays. The photo below is captured during my last vacation in Maldives. I did not feel sorry for myself for having to work partially! In fact, I did it joyfully. This is when and where my mind is lucrative the most.

 

  • Equally, you have to be willing to decide not to show up at work when you need to attend to yourself no matter what the price is. I posted on IG few days ago a photo of me at the gym at 10:30 am and some people thought I am lucky to be able to do it. I actually am not. It is just a conscious decision to serve myself first before serving my clients. How can I for instance be present in a coaching session when something inconvenient happened that morning and I had the option either to change it (in my case go to the gym) or carry on inefficiently and miserably with my day. Instead, I chose to start my day at 11:00 on a cleaner state and worked efficiently until 7pm. Of course, there are days when I work 12 hours straight shift right from 7am but only when I am productive AND when I choose to do so.

Part of what I do as an #executivecoach is to work all heartedly on overriding obsolete organizational cultures and reshuffling and updating our outdated POS (personal operating system) just like you update your IOS.

 Asynchronous, modern, flexible and open-minded work culture are efficient if we have properly designed alliances and structures.

A culture of trust at the workplace is a happy place.

A culture of performance is the only wining culture.

It takes courage to implement that, now, because if it isn’t now then when?