Working remotely en masse is bringing anxiety to traditional management. They used to walk by, see people at their desks, see them attending meetings, and see them having discussions. They felt confident people were working because they believed they could “see” it.
Now they can’t. And now is the time we can change Work and change leadership and management as we know it along with it.
Work was never about being there and being seen. Work is about doing and collaborating, and it’s measured in inputs, outputs and change. Now we can truly embrace making real Work and working more visible. This can be the norm, not the exception. We can shift to wide-scale doing of knowledge work in open tools, collaborative environments, and instantly and continuously inviting observation and input. Managers, peers and people traditionally siloed across the organization can see incremental changes and growth in outputs. With this change, people themselves and real engagement will grow through a new connection to all the work of the organization.
By changing Work itself we can drive change in leadership and management naturally. We can force these institutions to evolve quickly from having a focus on control to a focus on support, from closed and insular to open and inclusive, and from temperature taking roles to barrier-breaking ones.
Many organizations will survive this societal and economic stress but those that change how work is done now, will thrive on the other side.
