Reviewing any change in working patterns

Reviewing any change in working patterns 

When working from home became the norm and new habits formed, many of us did not look ahead to a time when things would start to go back to how it used to be and organizations would review any change in working patterns. Plus many organizations have used this opportunity to review their need for expensive real estate and will be looking for ways to reduce their overheads.

So as a professional coach, how can you help organizations learn from the last 18 months and agree a change in working patterns that will fit both the expectations of the employee community and deliver against the wider commercial needs of the business?

Focus on the impact of change

As any change in working patterns will be a key area for you to focus on right now, it’s time to have the conversation with any corporate clients or teams you are coaching. Talk about how your coaching skills can facilitate a smooth transition over to any new way of working and help eliminate resistance to change.

One approach you can use is a ‘show not tell’ as a way of setting up conversations to explore how things will feel. Unlock these conversations more quickly by focusing the measurement of success for any change in working patterns on behavior and getting the user experience right. This is a vital step to minimize future avoidance or resistance to change and will showcase your role, because your work with the manager and employee communities will help them identify any potential problems, help craft the solutions and fully understand the changes.

As an impartial specialist in these conversations, you can guide the engagement activity through facilitated feedback sessions that ensure concerns are openly discussed and captured. It will also be an opportunity for you to help employees discuss any change in working patterns long before they are implemented.

This approach will also avoid it being seen as a negative ‘top down’ change where the benefits to the individual or team are not normally discussed or understood. Especially as we know a forced change like this will normally take longer and comes with greater resistance.

The role of line managers:

• To review and understand any change in working patterns that are already in place
• Consider who really needs to be in the office and how teams can stay connected or come together if office space is reduced
• Include a conversation on childcare or caring responsibilities and how future productivity will be measured
• Update the working from home policy or guidance, so it accurately reflects the range of options now available or currently being discussed

Your role will be to coach managers and team leaders to understand why having a more collaborative ‘show not tell’ approach will deliver lasting culture change. It will also help these leaders be fully involved and visible throughout the process.

This will all significantly reduce resistance to any change in working patterns and delivers much greater prospects for success, because people within their teams will understand the overall need for change, work through any impact they could have and feel supported to have a voice or find their own solutions.