The Office: Space Travel

It seems that everyone is talking about Jeff Besos and his recent flight to the Kármán Line. Whether you find it wasteful or wonderful, it is hard to ignore. I chalk it up to our imaginative nature as a species. We just have so many questions.

For many organizations, the question of the moment is also about space. Office space that is. With hybrid work plans unfolding, we have questions about productivity and community. Which means we have questions about communication.

At the beginning of the pandemic, we launched ourselves into video conferencing. A great many organizations spent no time or energy on training people to communicate better on those platforms. For the most part, we survived it, if a little worse for wear.

In a hybrid environment, it will be increasingly tempting to give in-person conversations more importance than those happening virtually. If not addressed proactively, this can and will cause a division in your workforce. Ultimately, communication problems become productivity problems.

A Proactive Approach

Organizations that prioritize communication by understanding how to bridge the gap between the office and remote work with be most successful in this new model.

A few areas to focus on:

• Meeting Structure: Making certain that people are both seen and heard whether they are in the office or at home.
• More Disciplined Flow of Information: Making sure that ideas and/or workflows are not lost in translation between Slack, email, and passing conversations.
• Bodies in Space: Managing the social and community aspects of your physical and virtual spaces so that the company culture is evident in both.

There is a lot of potential in this moment and in hybrid work models. If done well, we might finally be able to master work/life balance in a way that still meets an organization's goals. That would truly be wondrous.

Does your organization need assistance planning for or deploying a better communication strategy? If so, I'd love to help. Let's talk about how GROW Voice can facilitate your step into what's next.