Writer: Did he not trust you and your team? Interviewee: I don’t know. By all measures, our process, year after year, yielded a market- leading product. We push for continuous improvement. He blew in, never asked, never listened, assumed he knew better how to manage the process, just imposed. Writer: And? Interviewee: It cost more, took longer and wasn’t up to the standards of previous production. Writer: Your opinion or his? Interviewee: Well, cost and time are quantifiable. And quality? That’s the feedback from customers. Writer: Well, he’s the boss. Isn’t it your responsibility to adapt to his vision? Did you
With the pandemic, for many of us came work- from-home. Virtually overnight, business operations became decentralized. Suddenly, the familiar processes that had evolved in the office were gone, replaced with Slacks and Zooms and Hangouts. Communication, if not demolished, was certainly impaired. The pressure of the new environment not only accelerated the pace of technological change, it also cracked the small imperfections in our operations into major fractures. Employees, variously, enjoyed a new-found freedom or stressed out over endless workdays and continuous meetings. Managers struggled with command and control, attempted to impose order and found talent exiting left and right. To hire and retain talent, empathy became important. Empathy, really? What ever happened to, “Do what I tell you to do and deliver it when I tell you to deliver it?” No doubt some managers miss those days. But today, knowledge workers (they’re supposed to be knowledgeable, right?) don’t need or want to be told what to do and how to do it. And they certainly don’t want to be monitored (when did we ever?). They want to be an active part of an organization, a culture, to understand, if not contribute to, strategic goals and worthwhile purposes and — above all — be trusted to act professionally and get the job done. They don’t like working for bosses who watch the clock, count hours, kick chairs and interject themselves in processes they don’t take the time to understand. These new age workers believe that they should be judged by the quality and quantity of their output. And by the way, that quantity and quality have everything to do with how well bosses communicate goals, listen to the professionals they manage and give those professionals the resources and the latitude to accomplish goals efficiently and effectively. And what’s wrong with that? Workers in a remote or hybrid working environment now must structure and organize their working day. It used to be that working in an office designed your day for you. No work-life balance necessary. You made the drive in the morning, worked and came home in the evening. Nice clear lines. Now, if you’re working from home — or some other remote location — you’ve got to structure your own day and balance your kids, your dog and the ever- present pull of the refrigerator. All by yourself. No wonder wine and liquor sales rose dramatically in the first months of pandemic lockdown. If you’re not used to that level of self-imposed organization, you’re gonna stress out. If you’re still stressed out, maybe remote work isn’t for you. But now — more than ever — the choice is yours. And what’s wrong with that?
achieve his goals and objectives? Interviewee: No idea. He never communicated those to us.
28 Harbert Business, Fall 2022
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