Purpose of going to office

Purpose of going to Office 

The purpose of going to Office is not do individual work but rather with a purpose of celebration, collaboration, bonding ! Imagine Offices having less of individual workspaces and workstations, but filled with space of collaboration & celebration.  Wide & long rise Digital Walls having series of success pictures of employees, videos of employees according to the different themes depending upon the context. Today’s office environment typically works inside four walls, However when we think the offices are beyond the four walls, connecting with anyone through video calls with people in sunny parks, house, outdoor stadium, and continue the work. The current model of working with in four walls becomes things of the past ! Instead of silo working, bringing together physical and cyber world into a whole new paradigm.

Modern Board rooms – Instead of closed room sessions, How about having open room sessions – In a garden like environment, with smart TV, smart camera , smart kitchens – enabling people to discuss without boundaries.  Getting a cup of coffee using gesture and having a warm conversation with people in the open board room ! Cameras changing the ambience depending upon on the context, mood and emotions of the crowd ! Cameras not only take pictures & videos but also respond to the environment and help to create a vibrant atmosphere !

When the offices are with these kind of environments, How this will inspire the employees going to office ! What is the real purpose of going to Office?

The intent is to look at what the pandemic is teaching us and explore the ways of creating new ways of working, new ways of elevating performance and break the existing barriers to make the work much more purposeful, fun and celebrating !

The changing dynamics

As per one of the recent Gallup surveys, more than 50% of the people prefer hybrid work model. About 10% prefer only onsite model. These % may vary as we progress. However, what we have to acknowledge is that a new kind of working model has emerged. We need to embrace these working models whether we like it or not. But when we embrace these changes, we need to consider various factors. Factors such as relationship, team building, performance, productivity, individual mindset creativity, innovation etc.,

Interestingly neuroscience and anthropology have some insights in people coming together and work collaboratively ! It throws some light on the paradigm shift that is required in rediscovering the real purpose of going to Office !

What needs to be changed in the physical dimension (Office work space) , mindset of the people and the digital dimension !

What matters to us ?

Organizations are living entities! Organizations are made of people, emotions, competencies, technologies etc., Profit making organizations need to make profits to take care of their employees, changing dynamics and live in a healthier manner!  All organizations live with their own purpose and their own ways of achieving the goals. To achieve the goals, Organizations thrive on some kind of innovations, competitiveness – people, competency, winning ability etc., One of the key aspects is to look at how to nurture these competencies within the organization on a continuous basis?

Neuroscience aspects of going to Office

There are few chemicals in the body which helps to create a positive mindset,  increase the bonding between the members, taking challenging work etc.  Understanding the benefits of these chemicals and understanding  how these chemicals are triggered, helps us to get new insights in the ways of working. Dopamine, Serotonin, Oxytocin, Endorphins etc.,  are some of the chemicals which plays an important role. The important aspect is to understand how these chemicals helps us when we come together.

Dopamine – Celebrating small wins in a team helps to elevate the positive mind set of the team. Dopamine increases when celebrating, acknowledging wins.   Sending mails, giving incentives, appreciating someone etc., helps to raise the positive and challenging mindset. Think about celebrating wins in a group. we know the level of enthusiasm goes significantly high  in a crowd . This not only elevates the mood, it also inspires many people. The reason behind is Dopamine !

Oxytocin is another interesting hormone that helps to build trust, bonding. In an office environment whenever we start a new project or putting together a new team, the initial bonding level is low. However, when people come together and when they are in close contact, level of oxytocin goes up.  Social bonding is one of the ways that more Oxytocin gets released. Social bonding includes talking, eye contact, shaking hands, hug, etc., Most of us are aware about the benefits of a highly bonded team. It inspires and motivates the team and do something extraordinary,

Neuroscience aspects of imparting training and learning

Mirror Neurons. Neuron for imitation and learning ! If someone or group wants to learn from others by observing ! or to install some habits in a group by leading an example ! Then demonstrating and teaching helps. Mirror neurons triggers while observing and learning. Bringing together a group and demonstrating such as exercise, product training, etc.,  helps to learn effectively.  So creating an environment where people can come together and learn is one of the ways to trigger these mirror neurons, which helps us to learn some of the aspects .
One thing which is common across increasing healthy chemicals in personal productivity is to have good sleep, exercise, mediation. In terms of group productivity – building trust, learning etc, creating a social environment helps .

Anthropology aspects on Sense Making

Initially there were lot of excitements about remote working. Remote working brought new conveniences such as cutting down the commuting time, spending time with family, exploring new hobbies etc., While these benefits were quite interesting, people also felt isolated, stressed ! From the Anthropology aspects – what is the purpose of going to office ? Some aspects below throw some light.

Sense Making  : It is about deriving meaningful insights from ambiguous situations. In my view most of our every day life is abstract. Every day situations and circumstances in life are different and ambiguous ! Hence, the  implicit ideas, beliefs, ways of working , assumptions etc., plays an important role in our daily life.

For many of us , it is hard to think deeply and objectively ! It becomes even more difficult to objectively think when we work in groups.  When we would like to reach consensus on certain issues or taking a decision to move forward or it may be even brain storming on new ideas, the outcome of  physical meetings and remote  meetings are quite different.  It is quite interesting to observe how human beings make decisions, derive insights, acknowledge others. Something emerges from very loosely defined things. In the fast pace technological world, even with so many advancements in technology, when human beings come together and do something together, the outcomes are quite fruitful and cannot be explained clearly of the frutiful outcome. There are meetings which will go in the opposite direction as well, however well managed physical meetings yield better results.

Anthropology Aspects on Rituals / Habits

Rituals – People make decisions based on group rituals and culture.  These are the ways of working in a group. People tend to take decisions aligned with the group culture and rituals rather than thinking logically. Even in personal effectiveness, people work in a certain pattern, for example – some people wake up very early and do very effective work in the morning and some people do lot of work in the late night !

Many of us know that we know many things, but still we struggle to put into practice.  It is not about the position we hold or the designation or what is accessible to us . But these are some of the habits we have developed over a period of time. In the same way, organizations also develop habits and these habits are ingrained into the system in an implicit manner. Hence the rituals of the organization, some good practice / bad practices all becomes implicit. These rituals drive us to behave a certain way when we are in the groups. Organizations can consciously install better and effective rituals !

Organizational Challenges

We understand that, the purpose of going to office is taking a new dimension. There are pros and cons of remote working, hybrid working and onsite working.  There are differences in the way the organizations are adopting these new kinds of working models. Organizations are trying to get the best out of these models.  However the dynamics are changing to work in new ways.

In reality some of the requirements like security , confidentiality ,  productivity, ROI (return on investment)  , access to special equipment, labs, etc., may be the current norms. These barriers need to be addressed.

In spite of technological advancements, still we continue to hold our strong beliefs and some of the culture which needs transformation.

Yes we may not be able to achieve these kind of environments satisfyingly all the demands, but certainly the future of work spaces with a hybrid model is something organizations cannot ignore.

Inspiring Performance Indicators (Key performance Indicators )

Move away from measuring the productivity of employees based on LOC developed or test cases executed or features developed etc., I think organizations will move to more purpose driven KPP. May be something like Design Output Index – DOI  may come into place rather than conventional productivity norms ! For example – As we move towards more of low code / no code platforms, the need will turn into what kind of creative outputs that we create rather than measuring basic outputs of creating number of lines or features . The organizations needs to rethink itself how it is relevant to this changing world !

When the employees have the freedom to  Choose work and win ! (CWW).  Lets look at and imagine the kind of impact these things will have on the projects , personal satisfaction and contribution to the organization. What kind of metrics will help the organizations ?!

Publicizing WIM (Wins I make) – AS an employee or contributor for a certain project – Wins I make becomes more important in the new model of working and getting appreciations not from the CXO, instead a model of publicizing in a manner where people can really celebrate or bringing together in an event, the employees themselves celebrate their wins . These celebrations become a great knowledge sharing as well.

Future Work spaces

What kind of physical design will be required in the future for the offices  ?! Conventionally offices are designed with hierarchy models. (Of course there are places for brain storming / agile discussions etc.,).  From Hierarchical model to collaborative brain storming model environments ? How the modern offices are going to look like. How to bring more space of ideation, collaboration, Brainstorming, social networking, Celebration and Acknowledgement. Interestingly how neuroscientists and anthropologist can help us in designing modern work spaces ?!

My Contribution to this world !

Purpose of going to office gets into new norms !. Taking a new form of  celebration, networking , brain storming on making an impact in the society. What will make a difference  to this world !  Already there are lot of focus on sustainable development goals. If so, How this can be linked to the overall development of the society and the world !

Read a blog on Human Touch : https://www.isacnewton.com/digital-touch-and-human-touch-in-the-digital-era/

0