Conversations About Returning to Work

I had an interesting conversation this week with a senior leader who I’m coaching.  I asked her about returning to work.  Like so many leaders, she sighed and said they were figuring it out.  All team members were asked to come in on Wednesdays and then select at least one other day a week to be on site.  With turnover challenges, she shared that executive leadership was reluctant to press the issue.

We then discussed what we were all missing by not interacting face to face with our team members on a regular basis.  Certainly, we are missing the “just in time” hallway conversations with updates or real time problem solving.  But its more than that.  We aren’t developing friendships that we all develop at work to talk things through or gain perspectives.  We generally aren’t celebrating work milestones:  project completions, birthdays, work anniversaries, times we can take stock in the value each individual brings to the team.  We’re not deliberately learning from each other:  “Hey, what’s the F code for pasting an entire sentence in a Word document?” 

These small interactions seem insignificant, but they form the glue that binds a team.  Working from home, my coachee declared, has become very me-focused.  “We’re losing the ‘team’ in our work and so work becomes very task focused,” she explained. 

Yes, working from home may offer convenience but it also can lead employees to feel disconnected. So, what can a leader do?  Make coming to work meaningful.  Take time to recognize individuals when the team get together.  Gather for shared time, not just to review tasks, but to teach and develop skills.  Take time to celebrate accomplishments and anniversaries.  Encourage employees to come to work and talk with them about what’s holding them back from coming to work more. Help your employees rediscover the value of coming to work.