Over the course of the last few years I have been planting seeds all over the place. Usually, at other people’s gardens. It’s been a real treat, a true pleasure and an honour. I have always appreciated the opportunity to help amplify different conversations around topics I am very passionate about by sharing my two cents’ worth of commentary. Nowadays on the concept of Distributed Work and the impact of social, digital tools as key enablers.
At the same time, and as I have mentioned in a previous blog post, it’s been somewhat awkward, and perhaps a tad uncomfortable, having to tell people where to go, other than my own (silent, till recently) blog, to read some more about my own in-depth thinking on certain subjects. That’s why, when I, finally, decided to resume, once again, my own blogging mojo, I thought about bringing some of those articles back home, where they should belong, in an effort to also help me keep track of what I write and publish elsewhere. And, why not?, perhaps revisit what I wrote back then and see how it would hold today.
So, here we go with the first one of those publications. A few months back, my good friend Paul Corney, kindly invited me to participate in the CILIP: The library and information association’s Presidential Debate on ‘Shift happens: the future office / library in a connected world‘, along with Neil Usher and Robert Cottrill. I had a blast at the event and surely learned a lot with all of the intense conversations we had throughout. There is a recording of the virtual session we participated in, so that you can take a look for yourself (see embedded video below, if interested).
Next to the online debate we also put together an accompanying article to explain our own individual positions on the topic of distributed work, the impact of social, digital tools, where we are today, and what may lie, potentially, ahead of us in the near future. Has the workplace and the nature of work finally shifted for the better? Should it? That piece was published in September last year and I thought I’d share across the part I wrote myself over here, in its entirety, to see how it has aged since then.
Thus, without much further ado, here you have ‘Shift happens: The future office / library in a connected world’:
‘In 2020 we, finally, learned the main reason why vast majority of organisations didn’t adapt to digital technologies at the workplace was mainly motivation. It wasn’t a lack of funding, resources, time, manpower, adaptability, purpose, etc. etc. It was purely a lack of true leadership to anticipate what’s now the new-normal. One where we are finally coming to terms with the fact that work has stopped being a physical space and, instead, it’s a state of mind. Work happens anywhere where you may well be with the digital tools as your disposal.
If there is anything the COVID-19 pandemic has shown us is that working from anywhere (usually, in a distributed manner) is no longer a dirty word. It’s OK. It’s just one other option we are growing fonder of as it keeps reminding us that we still have a life, after all. It’s shown us our incredible adaptation skills as human beings in literally switching from working in an office to work from home in a matter of days without our productivity suffering much as a result. Quite the opposite! And all of that as we learn, pretty fast, how to cope with everything while in the midst of a pandemic.
The genie is, definitely, out of the bottle. 18 months on and we are all now coming to terms with the fact we need to decide for ourselves if we would want to, at long last, jump into the XXI century with all of these emergent business practices of working distributedly that the isolation economy has brought us. Or still linger around in the early XX century, romanticising about the dreaded commute, about the unbearable corporate politics, the bullying, the bureaucracy, the never-ending meetings galore and the almost unbearable posturing of face to face conversations, of keeping up appearances with a fancy status quo, influence, power and what not.
And yet, throughout all of these past few months we have started to learn vast majority of the knowledge work we do can be performed while away from the traditional office. We do have different social, digital tools that allow us to connect, learn, share and collaborate, perhaps even much more effectively, to the point where we can, finally, spare ourselves of the many burdens the so-called physical workplace, as referenced above, and, instead open up to a whole new world of diversity and inclusiveness (even for introverts or people with disabilities) directly straight out of the comfort from our home offices. Our new limit? The whole business world, literally, not just our next door colleague(s).
The reality is the COVID-19 pandemic has provoked a unique opportunity for us all to accelerate the adaptation to digital technologies that have already been with us over the course of the last 25 years and that, all along, we’ve decided to ignore and neglect. Not anymore. It’s sparked the development of new business models as organisations adapted to these new working conditions we have been provided in order to keep afloat. And through the implementation of these new ways of working, we have finally understood the importance of localism with a global reach. We are no longer taking for granted what we always had, but that we pretty much decided to obviate all along, because, you know, we needed to go to work (i.e. the office): our spouses, our offspring, our pets, our neighbours, our favourite coffee shop, restaurant, grocery store from just around the corner, our long walks in the neighbourhood, casually meeting and conversing with other people; in short, our local communities that give us all a sense of belonging, a sense of true purpose. In a nutshell, a sense of fulfilment, of content.
As we approach the end of this tragic and rather dramatic pandemic, we should not forget that it’s not going to be the last one, nor is it going to be the last time we will have to face whatever other global catastrophe (i.e. climate change extreme events) in our lifetime. So, if anything, throughout all of this time that COVID-19 has been with us, we have learned, perhaps through a harsh way, how we need to be better prepared for next time around, as we consolidate our thinking AND doing that the traditional concept of work happening in a physical space away from our local communities may well have had its days numbered. Work now has shifted into becoming a state of mind and, as such, we now have the power to decide when, how, with whom, with what, and why we would want to work either from anywhere or even from the office itself.
The difference now? It’ll all be more deliberate and purposeful. We will be going back to the office, indeed, but only because we want to, not because it’s the standard norm. For that, working distributedly from anywhere has already become that new-norm.
It’s here to stay, so we better adapt accordingly. And pronto!’
Fast forward to mid-May 2022… What do you think? Will it blend today?
CILIP Webinar: Presidential Debate 3: Shift Happens from CILIP on Vimeo.
Luis, Sharp and great thinking. Like I mentioned at the beginning of this year to you and many others. This will be the year of acceptance. Not just of the pandemic won’t just go away! That a virus 🦠changed us and going back to the office must be part of that.
From my own experience I can tell you that going back to the office for a knowledge worker is the only think we do. We will have to learn new skills still. The shift happened, and will happen once more.
I hear people complaining about hybrid work. But when you challenge people to come to the office there is always a good reason not too. And they are right. It has changed forever. The new equilibrium is not reached at this point. We need to move forward. We need to enhance whe way we work even further. Not just remote, we need to learn to collaborate.
Technology enabled a lot. But it’s not the solution. We are the solution. People that lead the way and are willing to teach others.
We need more leaders to actually understand what people need to work efficiently. And no, it’s not a 2 hour commute to be in an office. It needs to be purposeful.
Hope to see many more of your sharp statements in your blogs. Looking forward to discussing them on your blog 😌
Hi, Rob,
Many thanks for taking the time to drop by and for sharing such wonderful feedback! Indeed, 2022 may well be the year of ‘acceptance’, but, then again, there is an opportunity for us all to define what kind / level of acceptance, don’t you think? Specially, in the context of the workplace 😅
In a way, I am not really surprised about people complaining about hybrid work. It’s nothing new. We’ve have *ALWAYS* been hybrid, right from the start, so these poignant issues have been there all along, and if you’d ask me, I think at the end of the day it’s because we refuse to think, embrace & adapt to a digital-first mindflex, and, instead, we just keep insisting on doing the very same thing we’ve been doing for the last 170+ years! 😳🙄😱
It’s super interesting you mentioned the point about ‘we need to learn to collaborate’, because I wholeheartedly agree with it. But that need to learn to collaborate needs to happen under a particular context and with a different mindflex than what we’ve done in the past: we need to learn how to collaborate asynchronously, not co-located, hoping collaboration via osmosis would do the trick.
And for that need to learn to collaborate async, we need to understand how critical and important it’s to have the necessary digital literacy to now just get work done, but also in an effective manner. And that, to me, is where the struggle is, specially, with (senior) management /management leadership.
The wake-up call perhaps comes from coming to terms with the fact that for as long as management / leadership don’t want to get their act together, we will ALL keep struggling, so we may as well start challenging (in a constructive manner) their leadership skills, because, frankly, if it has taken them over 25 years to merely get to where we are today, I wouldn’t call them ‘Leaders’ per se, but more ‘Strugglers’ who refuse to embrace and adapt to the inevitable.
These brave new & emergent conditions for #DigitalFirstOrgs are not going to disappear any time soon; however, those leaders / strugglers … their days may be numbered already as per 👉🏻 https://jarche.com/2006/09/dont-feed-the-dinosaurs/ (From 15 years ago! 😳😤).
Thanks ever so much for the lovely feedback and I, too, look forward to further interactions and conversations over time on these topics here in this blog. Glad we are *finally* having the time to slow down, pause & reflect, converse about them and see what we can come up with! 💪🏻😎
Excellent read Louis – thanks for sharing. It’s about choice at the end of the day – people want to be purposeful in how they live their lives and how and where they work productively and efficiently . The physical office should offer something different to a mere desk space or a serendipitous opportunity to meet a colleague who you haven’t seen for a while. A lot more. However it should also be acknowledged that not everyone has the privilege of a good space to work in a distributed way and welcome a return to the office particularly in big cities where renting or buying property is at a premium. Do we risk very divided cultures in organisations and how can we change our behaviours to ensure we are inclusive of everyone in the new norm wherever they may chose to work . Leaders and managers will need to rethink how they lead and manage. It’s a well trodden subject I know – but discussions like yours bring all those questions to the fore. Thank you
Hi, Marie-Louise,
WOW!!! I just *LOVE* the fantastic feedback you have shared above! Thanks a lot for taking the time to share it over here with us to keep up with the conversations! Lots of really good stuff! 🙏🏻😅
I love how you used the word ‘Choice’ in there, because that’s exactly what it is all about, but perhaps there is a nuance in here we should not forget about: it’s about enabling (by management / leadership teams) knowledge workers to have that choice, as opposed to resorting to mandates, peer pressure or just plain obnoxious social coercion of trying to conform with the norms from the last 170 years when we’ve now moved on from that ancient times!
Yes, I would wholeheartedly agree with you not everyone has the privilege of a good space to work in a distributed manner, but, then again, we should ALL use this opportunity to understand we still have the choice to make changes.
This pandemic has finally shown us work is no longer a physical space, but more of a state of mind, so if we don’t have adequate spaces to work distributedly, let’s all use this opportunity to find better options for next time around: move out of those expensive cities and live in smaller towns, rent / buy larger homes to accommodate that extra office space, invest & work heavily in local communities that can support one another with all sorts of household chores and what not, reinvest accordingly to fit the needs of these new times vs. whatever we had before, i.e. commuting, food, attire, accessories, etc. etc.
I would agree with you that IF WE DON’T DO ANYTHING to improve our own work spaces while away from the traditional office we would be having very divided cultures, but, then again, we would have us, and only us!, to blame for it, because WE DO HAVE A CHOICE. We are just choosing the easy way out where both inertia and not wanting to challenge the status quo keep winning towards the culmination of those divided cultures.
I have got a round of blog posts in the making with which I will try to address these issues AND what we can do about each and everyone of them. They will be based on my 21+ years of first-hand experience of being a distributed worker, so I will be sharing what has worked, and what hasn’t, so that we can help enable both employees and their managers / leaders to want to do different and adapt accordingly.
Some of those posts won’t be pretty, but I feel I am not ready to blog about those uncomfortable truths and bust the odd myth here and there, so that, at least, people would be aware of the choices they have ahead of them, in case they may not have made them just yet …
Many thanks, once more, Marie-Louise, for the fantastic feedback and look forward to further conversations on these topics! 🙏🏻😅
Fun times ahead!
Great ideas as always, Luis.
I wanted to comment on you bringing back your material to your own platform. I think it’s great. LinkedIn and the others have so much power already on our content, on what we see and what others see from us…
If only they offered a great experience… but they don’t . So, congrats!
Hi, Céline,
Many thanks for dropping by and for sharing such lovely & kind words of encouragement! Much obliged 🙏🏻😊
Yeah, that’s exactly what I have been thinking and it is not just that all of those media tools have got way too much power over us. Indeed, they do, but, to me, it’s much worse when interacting and conversing on all of those media tools with our own content, and others’!, is far too cumbersome, having to constantly game the system, just that we are ‘visible’ (=what an illusion! 😤), while we keep feeding the beast. 😈
That’s what I wanted to do with my return to my blog here, stop feeding the beast, while going back to the basics of Web 2.0, i.e. blogging, and enjoy engaging in really good conversations, once more, without the burden of having to just keep up, or game the system, to share one’s thoughts and ideas.
Thanks a lot, once more, for the kind comments, Céline!
Keep having fun! 🙌🏻🙌🏻