As a leader, your actions are watched carefully by your employees as well as by other key stakeholders. If your actions are congruent with your words, you build trust and strengthen all your relationships. But if you offer illogical explanations for your directions, you risk doing the opposite.
Quite a few leaders confess to thinking, “I’m so tired of all these empty seats. I want to see our people here in the office again.”
Before you turn such thoughts into action, let’s dig a little deeper.
What’s your ‘why’ as a leader? Why do you want people back in the office? What’s the specific purpose of filling up those seats again?
Maybe you’re thinking “that’s the way we’ve always done it”. (That’s not an especially compelling reason to share with your employees, btw)
Or perhaps you’re thinking “that’s where our talent development happens, here in the office”. Okay, that’s a potentially interesting thought. But are you prepared to deliver on that premise? Do you have a program ready to go or are managers skilled enough up to be effective mentors and coaches?
You might be thinking by bringing everyone back, that you will help leadership teams to congeal. But if you bring them back and still do your staff meetings on Zoom (even when you’re in the office), then that potential won’t be realized.
Perhaps you want people back because “it’s about culture, building connectivity and fostering the feeling that people are invested in the business”. Well then make sure you are doing meaningful culture-building when people are in the office. (Some managers just say, “Nice to see you again” and leave it at that.)
I ask leaders what is the real reason you want people back in the office? Oftentimes, they give me a quick answer such as, ”Oh, it’s just a productivity thing.”
So I follow up: what percentage of employees are less productive at home? A typical answer might be: roughly 10 or 15%.
“Are those people whose lack of productivity worried you before they went out of the office?” I ask.
“Yes,” is the typical reply. So that suggests such a company has a management problem, not a work from home problem.
Too often, leaders are using return to office as a stopgap because they lack proven management approaches, principles, processes or capabilities.
When you bring people back into the office for reasons that just don’t hold up to logic, it breeds cynicism or it makes you seem old fashioned. That’s not the impact you want to have.
Make sure you are being congruent.
Be clear and specific about the problems you are trying to solve. If you bring people back, be fully prepared to put the programs and actions in place that are necessary to deliver on your stated goal(s).