WLP336 What's Going On: Thoughtful Experimentation and Change in Organisations
We’re trying something different for the next few months for the 21st Century Work Life podcast. Rather than commenting on recent news and articles, Maya and Pilar will look at What’s Going On by commenting and expanding on the themes brought up by the monthly guest-driven episodes. Please let us know what you think of this new format.
In today’s episode, Pilar and Maya reflect on the previous episode where guest Jan Nieuweboer, senior consultant of the future of work at Rabobank, shared the bank's journey in implementing a hybrid work model. (If you want to listen to or read the summary of the conversation between Jan and Pilar, look for episode 335 on your favourite podcast app, or follow this link.)
Rabobank's thoughtful, employee-focused approach provides an uplifting case study compared to much negative news about mandated office returns. Rabobank was already proactively transforming their work model years before the pandemic hit, better positioning them to adapt when massive disruption struck. Its organisational readiness for change and future focus made a huge difference in their nimble pandemic response.
Maya appreciates the humility and trust Rabobank showed in proactively embracing the pandemic's disruption as a positive opportunity for change and growth. She contrasts this with organisations that view "getting back to normal" as the definition of success amidst chaos. Meanwhile, Pilar notes the equal focus Rabobank placed on optimising both the office and remote sides of the hybrid experience and mentions the way in which they experimented with different types of offices to see what employees needed and wanted from their workplace.
Often organisational emphasis lands only on supporting remote work. Rethinking office design is extremely challenging given the past decade's extensive corporate investments in attractive campuses aimed at keeping people on site. But the point of hybrid isn't to bring people on site just for socialising anymore.
Pilar mentions the book The Shaping of Us: How Everyday Spaces Structure Our Lives, Behaviour and Wellbeing, by Lily Bernheimer.
Rabobank's office redesign decisions likely increased employee’s sense of personal agency and psychological ownership of the space. Simply feeling consulted and heard builds emotional engagement and care for a physical or digital environment, regardless of the actual design choices made.
On the complexities of managing organizational change, Pilar wonders if massive crisis-fueled disruptions like the pandemic force deeper shifts in mindset than that brought on by incremental change. This was the case with the Open University of Catalonia and Barnett Waddingham, featured in episode 304.
(At 05.32 mins, Pilar goes off on a slight tangent to let everyone know how she’s using generative AI to work on this show…By the way, most of these show notes were written by Claude, but bits like this one, are written by Pilar, and she’s also edited the piece.)
On the other hand, constant iteration and observable learning are key ingredients for change management success, regardless of whether the catalyst was expected or unexpected.
Rabobank exemplified thoughtful change management by continually surveying employees after each new hybrid initiative, paying attention to their needs and pain points before adjusting their approach based on real user reactions. We celebrate their willingness to pivot plans based on feedback, rather than blindly pushing ahead with a prescribed strategy.
Looking ahead, Rabobank's intentional cultivation of internal networks and communities will become critical. Rabobank is designating dedicated community managers to nurture relationships, belonging, and connectivity. In the hybrid workplace, strong connections will no longer occur organically or by chance: organisations must get far more proactive about relationship management across fragmented workforces.
Speculating on the longer term impacts, Maya wonders if mandated return to office policies may create a brain drain or talent divide between flexible employers and traditional office-centric organisations over the next decade. For now, general economic uncertainty obscures these potential employee attrition and retention challenges. But in 10 or 20 years, when entire generations have only known post-pandemic digital workplaces, will there be clear performance divides between fixed location-based work and remote-first employers?
Finally, a big thanks to listener Carol for sharing with her LinkedIn connections the fact that we talk a lot about asynchronous communication in these episodes. Yes, we do!
We’d love to hear what you think about all this! And if you have any questions or any recommendations for future topics, do get in touch!
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