Curiosity may be dangerous for cats; but in humans, it is a superpower to be cultivated and nurtured.
Sometimes I fear that the meaning of growing up is to lose one's sense of curiosity; to lose the ability to ask why at the most mundane things, to lose the confidence to challenge the obvious.
"That's how we have always done it", in my view, indicates laziness.
Some men see things as they are, and say why. I dream of things that never were, and say why not. - Robert Kennedy
Some time ago, I had an interesting conversation with one of my team members. The person in question had potential that I felt she was not living up to. From her perspective, she felt she wasn't being recognised for her obvious talent. While accepting her talent, I pointed out the opportunities she missed out on to make an impact in the team and organization, which her, arguably less talented, colleague had grabbed and demonstrated value. At this point she made a very interesting comment.
She said, "Vinay, my life doesn't revolve only around the office and work. I have varied interests and passions that I intend to follow."
Welcome to "Typical conversations with Gen Z" territory.
To each successive generation, the older ones recount tales of sacrifice, hard work, and commitment. Each generation looks at the next and sees an entitled set of brats who don't appreciate the cushy lives they already lead, but instead demand more.
Currently, there is another topic that is getting the "That's how we've always done it" treatment - hybrid working. The COVID-related lockdowns gave us a taste of a new world - one in which we work from any location. The office was no longer a physical space. Welcome to the metaverse.
The technology is more or less in place. Now we just need them to come together. But just having the technology in place doesn't get us anywhere. To make the metaverse a reality (how did I come up with that phrasing?) we need more than technology, we need to ask why we do things a certain way and whether the reasons continue to hold in the new world
Some of the hurdles to enabling remote work are easily evident, others are harder to see and hence address.
The challenge we face is to build a world for tomorrow that is, at the moment, mostly populated by yesterday. Unlike the days of industrialisation, we cannot mandate compliance from the workforce anymore. In a world where the company's biggest asset is the soft, mushy lump between the ears of its employees, can organisations afford to lose them to competitors? In another era, the best people went to places that offered them the best salaries and perks. Then it was cool work spaces that attracted talent. Today the best talent will gravitate to the most flexible work spaces.
Does this mean that the days of working from the office are over? It would be hubris on my part to say that I have an answer to that. But what I do know is that the conversations need to begin. The argument may not finish in the next decade or even in our lifetimes, but it needs to begin - today.
The change to a more flexible working arrangement will require adjustments to existing processes, in some cases, and new processes. While the knee-jerk reaction will be to put more intrusive monitoring in place, this will backfire. The aim should be to bring more transparency into work processes.
No man is an island, Entire of itself; Every man is a piece of the continent, A part of the main. - John Donne
On their part Gen Z must understand that flexibility for one person should not result in discomfort to another. Just because I like to work from 7pm, shouldn't mean that my colleague should have to adjust their schedule. We cannot have it all our way. Trying to do that is the single most definite way to lose the entire fight. Being aware of other people's dependencies on our work and being aware of their needs, both personal and professional, is a necessity - not a good to have.
For managers and HR professionals, the immediate task is to design and implement systems and processes that enable smooth communication and status updates between the organisation and the employees; between managers and their teams; between peers. A case in point is tracking the progress on work. It's 2024 and I still see people requiring daily stand-up meetings to collect status of work. The daily stand-up should be to call out blockers, if any. Instead, it becomes a "let's go around the table and let's each one of us describe the work we have done", which is a silly use of valuable time. The format requires that everybody, irrespective of whether they have anything useful to add, must attend the meeting. It defeats the very idea of flexible work hours.
We are hurtling into a brand new world. This is not a new experience. It is something that has happened to us every 10 to 15 years. The winners will be the ones who embrace this new world. They will attract the best brains and that will lead to innovation and market leadership.
Comments