How the Future Works: Innovative Thinking on Flexible Workplaces

It’s widely recognized that the future of work does not involve in-person office work or traditional nine-to-five working days. Instead, studies have shown that the options are limitless when building a working culture around individual needs, strengths, and preferences. But how can you build a successful team with a unique culture across time zones and locations?

That’s the question the authors of “How the Future Works: Leading Flexible Teams to Do the Best Work of Their Lives” set out to answer. Covering everything from models of flexible work solutions to separating your business from the traditional territorial model, this book is an invaluable resource for those looking to update their operations.

“How the Future Works: Leading Flexible Teams to Do the Best Work of Their Lives”: A Summary

“How the Future Works” begins with the simple premise that, until very recently, executive thinking about office culture and working practices was outdated. This outlook was based on traditional nine-to-five workdays and five-day working weeks. While this model may have worked in the past, modern communications technology and collaborative, web-based platforms have made it unnecessary in many sectors.

Instead, authors Brian Elliott, Sheela Subramanian, and Helen Kupp of the Future Forum, propose a seven-step program to build a flexible workplace and culture. It’s a model that prepares users for success while considering their employees’ needs and time constraints. They argue that:

• The shortcomings associated with flexible work are myths,
• It’s an excellent technique for attracting and retaining top talent, and
• The primary obstacle most companies face in shifting to flex work is a fundamental misunderstanding of what it is and how it works.

The authors engaged the full resources of Slack, a company that achieved particularly noteworthy results both in its own flexible workplace policies and in supporting them elsewhere. Along with several case studies from major corporations, they offer a way out of ineffective, outmoded thinking and practices with a range of flexible work solutions with which to replace them.

The 9-5 Work Shift vs. Flexible Work

The authors of “How the Future Works” contend that what’s holding many companies back from flexible working is a widespread misunderstanding of what it involves.

For well over a century, if you had a regular job, you were expected to arrive at and leave the workplace at fixed times, five days a week. The model became so widespread that it continues to form the basis of working patterns to the present day.

Flexible work policy, in contrast, is any model which allows employees to work on individual and group tasks without being present in a physical office. Far from being another term for work-from-home, flexible work describes working from anywhere and at any time a team member chooses to, with some expectations in place regarding availability and individual commitments.

7 Steps to the Future of Work

“How the Future Works” proposes a broad, seven-step plan to successfully transition to a flexible workplace, including:

1. Stand for Something: Agree on Purpose and Principles

Be clear about why you want to shift to flexible working and how it can support your aims.

2. Level the Playing Field: Create Guardrails for Behavior

Guardrails are practices and principles that protect true flexibility and ensure employees’ time and energy aren’t unfairly taken advantage of.

3. Commit to How You’ll Work: Develop Team-Level Agreements

Team-level agreements are guidelines by which all team members agree to abide. Organization-wide agreements may be too restrictive to meet each team’s unique needs.

4. Experiment, Experiment, Experiment: Normalize a Culture of Learning

This explores the importance of adapting your flexible workplace strategies for a successful outcome.

5. Create a Culture of Connection from Anywhere: Reimagine Your Headquarters

Flexible work is “digital-first.” Leaders are encouraged to reconceptualize their workspaces as mobile and communication-focused, rather than fixed in a traditional office suite.

6. Train Your Leaders to Make It Work: “Soft” Skills Matter More than Ever

Workers feel more inclined to go beyond expectations when they’re led by managers who engender trust, express empathy, stress clarity, and offer constructive feedback.

7. Focus on the Outcomes: Avoid the Doom Loop and Embrace the Boom Loop

Take advantage of increased one-on-one engagement, a culture of trust, and other measures to replace drawbacks of traditional productivity metrics.

Convene in Teams: A Perfect Tool for Flexible Work

Following the tenets of “How the Future Works”, Convene in Teams (CiT) is a meeting management platform that is built on the concept of flexibility. It incorporates an extensive selection of tools for hybrid and virtual meetings. These include document collaboration, access control, and a suite of features designed to enhance users’ experience in Microsoft Teams and reduce the time and effort required to plan and host meetings.

Further reinforcing the flexible workplace, CiT can amplify productivity by cutting down on the time needed to prepare documents, presentations, and meetings. It also offers options to trace and review every document shared or stored in it, thus giving leaders valuable insight into working patterns and overall productivity. In addition, CiT features built-in audit trails and reporting functions to help you monitor overall efficiency and patterns in the workplace.

Flexible work gives companies a distinct edge over the competition and helps them to attract and retain the most qualified talent. When you’re ready to make the move to the future of work, Convene in Teams is here to support you. This meeting management platform includes a variety of tools and resources designed to enhance flexible workplace policies while achieving consistent growth and stability.

Ready to enter the future of work? Find out more about how CiT can boost your flexible workplace strategies and consolidate your processes.