New Ways of Working?
Forget the trends and get to the Outcome
Every year it seems we are all told how we need to adopt “new ways of working”.
Workplace trends come and go, along with the catchy titles such as Hybrid, Cross Functional Teaming, Squads and Tribes, Activity Based Working (ABW), Flex, etc, etc.
What has always been true and will continue to be so, is that business doesn’t need trends, it needs outcomes.
Activity-Based Working? No one wants to pay for activity, but they are certainly prepared to pay for outcomes.
We need to transition from ABW to OBW.
Ultimately (within reason) business doesn’t care how the results are achieved, they just need the outcomes.
Any progressive organisation will hire people they trust to get the job done. It is then the organisation’s responsibility to set the vision, purpose and specific outcomes required from the individuals and teams.
When the teams are trusted, enabled and empowered, they will work out how best to achieve the desired business outcome.
So we need to remove the focus from trends and activity and work on creating clear and measurable outcomes.
A major role for any business is to ensure their trusted team have the tools and permissions in place, and that any obstacles to achieving the agreed outcomes are removed.
The holy grail for any business is to have measurable “outcome” metrics for every individual and team.
Once these metrics are aligned with the business goals and understood in the full context of the business/role, with the team empowered to deliver these outcomes in the manner and place that works most efficiently for them, then a high-performance culture and organisation will emerge.
Leadership needs to focus less on the trends and staff location and more on the clarity of purpose and outcome metrics, along with empowerment and enabling.
When the team has clarity on the required measurable outcomes, it matters not where they are sitting and for how many days.
The “best” workplace strategy will fall apart if the team aren’t on board with the outcome they need to deliver and then trusted to deliver it in the manner that works best for them. It will also fall apart if the “system” is administered by micromanagers, busy building layers to protect their position and justify their job.
With shared purpose, clear outcomes, cultural alignment, trust and the tools that enable intuitive and frictionless processes, management just need to get out of the way.
Irrespective of the current workplace strategy, the team at Incorp can help you and your team develop your OBW (Outcome Based Workplace).
