In\n2013, knowledge workers spent two-thirds of their time either \u201cmanaging across\u201d\nin meetings, often with many colleagues, or doing \u201cdesk-based work\u201d on their\nown. Externally focused work (e.g. talking to customers), managing down\n(coaching and supporting subordinates) and managing up (interacting with the\nboss and other senior people) all got very little time, while training and\npersonal development got almost none.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How\nhas this picture changed during lockdown? There were two significant\nshifts: 12% less time managing across through meetings and 9% more time doing\nexternally focused work. Desk-based work continues to take a third of our time.\nOther changes \u2014 a little less time managing up and a little more time on\ntraining and development \u2014 were not statistically significant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Standing back, the evidence suggests lockdown has helped us more effectively prioritize our work. We still need to get through our emails and report-writing. But we are significantly less likely to get drawn into large meetings, and this leaves us more time for client or customer work and for training and development, which most people would argue is a good thing. However, lockdown doesn\u2019t seem to have helped with hierarchy-spanning activities (managing up and down), presumably because it\u2019s impossible to have the short, spontaneous meetings that used to be possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How Do Knowledge Workers Decide What to\nDo? <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nWhile\nmost knowledge workers have a written job description somewhere, it is well\nunderstood that they take responsibility for choosing what to do and when to do\nit based on a variety of factors, including tasks outside of their formal role\nwhen it appears sensible to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To get a sense for how these decisions are made, we asked study subjects to choose among four options for every activity: It\u2019s a standard part of my job\/my boss asked, a peer or colleagues asked me, I did it spontaneously, or it was important and I found time. In 2013, respondents said 52% of their activities were standard, 18% requested by a peer , 24% independent but important, and 3% independent and spontaneous. In 2020, we are still spending half our time on standard activities, but we are doing only 8% because a colleague asked, and a full 35% because we thought the activity was critical.\u00a0 Both these differences were statistically significant. Spontaneity rose to 6% but this difference was not statistically significant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What\u2019s going on here?\u00a0 It seems we have been taking more direct charge of our time during lockdown. Working from home gives us a bit of breathing space: We don\u2019t have colleagues or bosses badgering us, and we don\u2019t get drawn into meetings by force of habit, just because we happen to be around. The result is a reassuring increase in us making time for work that matters most to us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Concerns and Challenges<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nWorking\nin lockdown has helped us to focus and to take responsibility. But that\u2019s not\nthe whole story. Follow-up interviews revealed some of the areas of concern\nthat we as individuals \u2014 and as leaders of others \u2014 need to understand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some\nrespondents cited the potential for shirking: \u201cI am worried there is some\nslackening of effort. People are starting to get a bit too comfortable working\nfrom home,\u201d said one. In our view, this is not a huge problem: There are many ways\nof informally monitoring how much time your colleagues are putting in via\nOutlook, Slack and other tools, and we should really be evaluating knowledge\nworkers on their outputs not their inputs anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nbigger areas of concern were around the things people couldn\u2019t do well in a\nvirtual environment. Take managing across <\/em>first: It\u2019s not so hard for an\nexisting working group to stay on course when working remotely, but the\nchallenges of getting started on something new (the forming\/storming stages of\nteam development) or resolving internal conflicts are enormous. Of course,\nthese activities can be done over Zoom \u2013 just not as well. Few people are\nenergized by informal online get-togethers. As one person said, \u201cWe are slowly\nlosing the social glue that holds us together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nManaging up and down <\/em>are no less tricky under lockdown.\nMost respondents had instituted regular one-on-one catch-ups with their teams\nand bosses, but they usually focused on immediate task and personal well-being\nissues, rather than longer-term development. They missed the opportunity to\nbottom out difficult issues: \u201cYou cannot challenge a person quite so well over\nZoom. You tend to hold back,\u201d said one. They also lamented the loss of growth\nopportunities for their teams: \u201cI used to throw people into new assignments,\nwhere they learned on the job, watching and learning from experienced\ncolleagues. That\u2019s almost impossible to do in a virtual setting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nFinally,\nsome people worried about their own development. While time spent on\nself-education went up during lockdown, this was mostly due to online webinar\nand course attendance \u2014 which helps build knowledge but doesn\u2019t encourage the\nactive experimentation and personal reflection that help us really grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For many of us, the new socially distanced mode of working may continue for some time. \u00a0The good news for knowledge workers from the first phase of this experiment is that lockdown has helped us better manage and prioritize our schedules to favor the most value-added work. The challenge \u2014 as we move into the next phase where some face-to-face meetings are allowed \u2014 will be to bring back the informal and social elements of office life that are so vital to organizational and individual success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Given our current situation knowing that your colleagues or employees are best suited for this new scenario we find ourselves in. Finding the right talent, the best fit for the job and your organisation can be a very challenging task. It is now important to find out whether your managers or your team is well-equipped of working together from various locations. It requires deep knowledge of their personalities, strengths, weaknesses, interests, work style and other characteristics. Our technology and solutions will do the work for you, helping you discover if your people are resilient during times of hardship, if they are autonomous, if they are team players, without actual human contact. Given that our platform is cloud-based, everyone can use it from home as well. Humanity finds itself at a crossroad for various reasons now, why not help people discover and develop themselves from the comfort of their own homes? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Working\nin lockdown has helped us to focus and to take responsibility. But that\u2019s not\nthe whole story. Follow-up interviews revealed some of the areas of concern\nthat we as individuals \u2014 and as leaders of others \u2014 need to understand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some\nrespondents cited the potential for shirking: \u201cI am worried there is some\nslackening of effort. People are starting to get a bit too comfortable working\nfrom home,\u201d said one. In our view, this is not a huge problem: There are many ways\nof informally monitoring how much time your colleagues are putting in via\nOutlook, Slack and other tools, and we should really be evaluating knowledge\nworkers on their outputs not their inputs anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nbigger areas of concern were around the things people couldn\u2019t do well in a\nvirtual environment. Take managing across <\/em>first: It\u2019s not so hard for an\nexisting working group to stay on course when working remotely, but the\nchallenges of getting started on something new (the forming\/storming stages of\nteam development) or resolving internal conflicts are enormous. Of course,\nthese activities can be done over Zoom \u2013 just not as well. Few people are\nenergized by informal online get-togethers. As one person said, \u201cWe are slowly\nlosing the social glue that holds us together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Managing up and down <\/em>are no less tricky under lockdown.\nMost respondents had instituted regular one-on-one catch-ups with their teams\nand bosses, but they usually focused on immediate task and personal well-being\nissues, rather than longer-term development. They missed the opportunity to\nbottom out difficult issues: \u201cYou cannot challenge a person quite so well over\nZoom. You tend to hold back,\u201d said one. They also lamented the loss of growth\nopportunities for their teams: \u201cI used to throw people into new assignments,\nwhere they learned on the job, watching and learning from experienced\ncolleagues. That\u2019s almost impossible to do in a virtual setting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally,\nsome people worried about their own development. While time spent on\nself-education went up during lockdown, this was mostly due to online webinar\nand course attendance \u2014 which helps build knowledge but doesn\u2019t encourage the\nactive experimentation and personal reflection that help us really grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For many of us, the new socially distanced mode of working may continue for some time. \u00a0The good news for knowledge workers from the first phase of this experiment is that lockdown has helped us better manage and prioritize our schedules to favor the most value-added work. The challenge \u2014 as we move into the next phase where some face-to-face meetings are allowed \u2014 will be to bring back the informal and social elements of office life that are so vital to organizational and individual success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Given our current situation knowing that your colleagues or employees are best suited for this new scenario we find ourselves in. Finding the right talent, the best fit for the job and your organisation can be a very challenging task. It is now important to find out whether your managers or your team is well-equipped of working together from various locations. It requires deep knowledge of their personalities, strengths, weaknesses, interests, work style and other characteristics. Our technology and solutions will do the work for you, helping you discover if your people are resilient during times of hardship, if they are autonomous, if they are team players, without actual human contact. Given that our platform is cloud-based, everyone can use it from home as well. Humanity finds itself at a crossroad for various reasons now, why not help people discover and develop themselves from the comfort of their own homes? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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