Debbie Lovich: 3 tips for leaders to get the future of work right | TED

115,141 views ・ 2021-12-24

TED


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

00:00
Transcriber:
0
0
7000
00:13
When I moved from New York to Boston in 1989,
1
13204
4375
00:17
I completely lost my sense of direction.
2
17621
3125
00:20
It wasn't me, though,
3
20788
1291
00:22
it was those winding, nonsensical Boston roads.
4
22121
4458
00:26
Urban legend has it that in Boston,
5
26621
2208
00:28
they paved over cow paths to form the very roads we have today.
6
28871
5083
00:33
Now, if you're an urban planner designing a city from scratch,
7
33996
3375
00:37
you would not base it on how the cows wandered.
8
37413
3041
00:41
And if you think about it,
9
41788
1916
00:43
that's exactly what we've done with work.
10
43746
3833
00:47
Hundreds of years ago, in the industrial revolution,
11
47621
2958
00:50
people left their homes to perform repetitive tasks
12
50621
3458
00:54
in the fixed time and place of the factory floor.
13
54121
3291
00:57
And when knowledge workers entered the scene,
14
57454
2625
01:00
we kept the same model,
15
60121
1291
01:01
this time with fixed job descriptions and fields of cubicles from nine to five.
16
61454
6250
01:07
Even globalization and technology did little to change the dynamic.
17
67746
5208
01:14
Fixed time, place and job descriptions are the cow paths of work.
18
74579
5709
01:20
And like cow paths for roads, it just doesn’t make any sense.
19
80329
3834
01:25
I've been challenging and changing how companies work for the past 15 years,
20
85079
5709
01:30
starting with my own company, Boston Consulting Group,
21
90829
2917
01:33
and then with dozens of other Fortune 500 organizations.
22
93788
4875
01:38
And I have to tell you something amazing happened to work
23
98704
3959
01:42
during the tragedy of COVID-19,
24
102704
2334
01:45
especially those first weeks and months.
25
105079
2750
01:47
If you remember,
26
107871
1292
01:49
all the low-value work disappeared.
27
109204
1709
01:50
It didn't matter what your job technically was.
28
110954
2209
01:53
People just worked together across silos and even companies
29
113204
3834
01:57
to get stuff done wherever, whenever, however it was needed.
30
117079
5209
02:02
Leaders simply had to trust their people.
31
122329
4375
02:06
They didn't have time for endless steering committees
32
126746
2875
02:09
or death by PowerPoint.
33
129663
1833
02:12
We just needed to trust people to deliver,
34
132913
2208
02:15
and they did.
35
135163
1250
02:17
So I'm on a mission.
36
137121
2333
02:19
A mission to bottle these great work practices
37
139496
4333
02:23
and not go back to the old ways.
38
143871
2917
02:26
And yes, of course, I want to get rid of endless back-to-back zooms
39
146829
3542
02:30
and loneliness and days that blend into evenings.
40
150413
3208
02:33
But we have to make sure we don't go back
41
153663
3125
02:36
to the rigid, structured, bureaucratic,
42
156829
3625
02:40
sluggish ways that sucked the joy out of work.
43
160496
3542
02:46
And I have to tell you,
44
166079
1875
02:47
the future of work is not going to be created
45
167996
3208
02:51
with top-down, opinion-driven edicts
46
171246
3958
02:55
from senior leaders whose day-to-day realities
47
175246
3125
02:58
don't match those of us dual-career, time-pressed and income-pressed people.
48
178413
6625
03:05
Of course, senior leaders want to go back.
49
185079
2292
03:07
That worked for them.
50
187413
1291
03:09
But they have to recognize that for 18 months now,
51
189496
4208
03:13
their people experienced unprecedented agency, control, flexibility,
52
193746
6750
03:20
trust and accountability.
53
200538
3041
03:23
And people don't want to go back.
54
203621
2250
03:25
And it's this difference in perspective from senior leaders and their people
55
205913
5583
03:31
that's one of the main reasons driving so much backlash
56
211538
3875
03:35
to all these return-to-office announcements over the past months,
57
215454
4709
03:40
with employees venting on social media
58
220204
2625
03:42
and quitting in what’s being called the “great resignation.”
59
222871
3500
03:46
And employees, I don't blame you.
60
226413
2708
03:49
But before you take to social media and walk,
61
229163
2916
03:52
try talking to your leaders,
62
232121
1875
03:54
tell them what you loved about the past 18 months.
63
234038
2750
03:56
Tell them what you want to keep.
64
236829
1584
03:58
They might be more receptive than you think.
65
238454
2834
04:01
And leaders, let me share three tips --
66
241329
4459
04:05
rather three must-do’s -- to get the future of work right.
67
245829
4542
04:10
Number one, trust your people.
68
250413
3250
04:14
Millions of workers and employees have proved their trustworthiness
69
254829
4709
04:19
since March 2020.
70
259579
2084
04:21
But even with that, so many leaders want to go backwards.
71
261704
3084
04:24
As part of the work I do, I've spoken with hundreds of leaders
72
264829
3750
04:28
over the past 18 months,
73
268621
1750
04:30
and I get some really crazy questions.
74
270413
3541
04:33
One is, "Well, Debbie, how can I tell if my workers are productive
75
273996
4333
04:38
when they're working from home?"
76
278371
1542
04:40
And I can't help but say,
77
280871
1708
04:42
"Well, how do you know they were productive
78
282621
2375
04:45
when they were in the office?"
79
285038
1916
04:46
Just because you could see someone, doesn't mean they're productive.
80
286996
3208
04:50
Or I have to love this, "You know, when it's safe to go back to the office,
81
290204
3542
04:53
we're going to let people work from home two days a week,
82
293788
2708
04:56
as long as it's not a Monday or Friday
83
296496
2542
04:59
because we don't trust them not to slack off and take long weekends."
84
299204
3625
05:02
What does that say about the culture of trust?
85
302871
2500
05:05
Will there be abusers? Of course, but they'll be a tiny few.
86
305413
4166
05:09
So why make rules for the vast majority
87
309621
3500
05:13
who've earned your trust every day for the past 18 months?
88
313163
4083
05:17
A trusting culture will not only attract, retain and motivate your people,
89
317288
5625
05:22
it'll also save you a lot of time enforcing rules.
90
322954
3125
05:26
So that's number one.
91
326121
1333
05:27
Trust your people.
92
327496
2125
05:29
Number two, be data-driven.
93
329663
2833
05:33
We all have our opinions about how work should be done,
94
333663
3250
05:36
and the more senior we are, the more we're convinced
95
336954
2459
05:39
that our opinions are not just opinion, but they're fact, they're truth.
96
339454
4292
05:43
But one thing COVID’s taught us is that people are so different.
97
343788
4666
05:48
I have genetically identical 17-year-old twin boys, Abraham and Boaz,
98
348496
4958
05:53
and I emphasize the point "genetically identical,"
99
353496
3208
05:56
because these two guys could not be more different.
100
356746
2750
05:59
Abraham really struggled when school went online.
101
359538
4250
06:03
He did everything he could
102
363829
1584
06:05
to engineer outdoor, socially distant get-togethers
103
365454
5042
06:10
because you can't call them playdates when the boys are 17.
104
370538
2875
06:13
(Laughter)
105
373454
1167
06:14
But his brother, Boaz -- Bo was loving life!
106
374663
3583
06:18
"Ma, this is fantastic!
107
378288
2333
06:20
I don't ever have to leave my bed!"
108
380663
2541
06:24
My boys couldn't be more different, and so are your workers,
109
384163
3750
06:27
so we must get data.
110
387954
3792
06:31
How? Well, try this.
111
391788
2583
06:34
Get some of your best people together and ask them,
112
394413
3083
06:37
"What did you love about these last 18 months?
113
397538
2666
06:40
What did you hate?
114
400246
1250
06:41
If we were to give you a magic wand
115
401538
1708
06:43
and you could create the perfect work environment for you,
116
403288
4125
06:47
what would your days, weeks and months look like?"
117
407454
3125
06:50
And then experiment. Yes. Experiment.
118
410621
3458
06:54
So many people are saying COVID's been the biggest work experiment ever.
119
414121
4458
06:58
I beg to differ.
120
418621
1250
06:59
I'm not a scientist, but I know
121
419913
1541
07:01
that prospective experiments have hypotheses, control groups,
122
421496
4375
07:05
data collection, learning loops and revisions.
123
425913
3166
07:09
We didn't do that.
124
429121
1458
07:10
And so now’s the time to experiment.
125
430621
2000
07:12
And we don’t have to wait until it’s safe to go back to the office.
126
432663
3208
07:15
We could do it now.
127
435871
1167
07:17
Take two teams that do similar work,
128
437121
2875
07:20
let one flex and work whenever and however they need,
129
440038
3958
07:24
and another, give them fixed times.
130
444038
2000
07:26
You want them online and you want them working.
131
446079
2667
07:28
And then measure.
132
448788
1333
07:30
Survey them every week.
133
450163
1875
07:32
Everyone says people are oversurveyed.
134
452079
2000
07:34
People are not oversurveyed when it comes to this topic.
135
454121
3083
07:37
They want to have their opinions heard.
136
457246
2375
07:39
So ask them, "How's it going? Are you delivering value?
137
459663
3625
07:43
Are you able to collaborate well? How's your work-life balance?
138
463329
3084
07:46
What do you love? What do you hate?"
139
466454
1750
07:48
And take those learning and spread them around.
140
468246
2667
07:51
This is new for all of us.
141
471746
2375
07:54
We're not going to get it right
142
474163
1541
07:55
the first, second, third or even fourth time.
143
475746
2875
07:58
But together with conversation and data, and experiments,
144
478663
4458
08:03
we're going to learn our way to a better future of work.
145
483163
2958
08:06
So that's number two.
146
486163
1250
08:07
Number one, trust your people.
147
487454
1584
08:09
Number two, be data-driven.
148
489079
1917
08:11
Here's number three.
149
491038
1708
08:12
Think beyond the schedule.
150
492788
2541
08:15
Guess what? The future of work
151
495371
1458
08:16
is not two days that you get to work from home.
152
496871
2958
08:19
This is our chance right now
153
499871
3417
08:23
to reimagine, reduce, replace or even eliminate things
154
503329
4375
08:27
like long commutes,
155
507746
1458
08:29
endless meetings with too many people there,
156
509246
2417
08:31
recurring meetings that never go away,
157
511704
2125
08:33
synchronous work, silos, command-and-control leaders,
158
513871
3667
08:37
administrivia --
159
517579
1292
08:38
that's my word for the low-value stuff that clogs our calendars.
160
518913
3500
08:42
In other words, we could stop contorting our lives around work,
161
522454
4708
08:47
but we could actually reshape work to better fit our lives.
162
527204
4083
08:52
So that's number three.
163
532537
2292
08:54
Think beyond the schedule.
164
534871
1625
08:56
And guess what, a lot of companies are getting it right.
165
536537
2834
08:59
Take Dropbox, for example.
166
539412
1709
09:01
Before COVID, Dropbox only had three percent of their workers
167
541162
3709
09:04
working from home.
168
544912
1459
09:06
They're now moving forward with a remote-first model
169
546412
3625
09:10
and trying to push as much asynchronous work as possible.
170
550079
3750
09:13
And to help collaboration with their model,
171
553871
2583
09:16
they're setting core collaboration hours that very slightly by time zone,
172
556496
4583
09:21
so they have four hours a day
173
561121
1708
09:22
when you know everyone is online in case you need to collaborate.
174
562871
4250
09:27
One of my favorite examples is the Mr. Cooper Group.
175
567162
3375
09:30
And Mr. Cooper Group's been described as a mortgage giant no one's heard of.
176
570579
4625
09:35
A lot of their workers, a large percentage,
177
575871
2083
09:37
are call center operators.
178
577996
1666
09:39
And like many, in the first days of COVID,
179
579704
3042
09:42
they got them all home safely and successfully.
180
582787
2709
09:45
And guess what?
181
585537
1334
09:46
They were more productive, and they were happier.
182
586912
2709
09:49
But even with that data, many on the leadership team
183
589662
3334
09:53
wanted them back in the office as soon as it was safe to do so.
184
593037
3542
09:56
They just couldn't imagine call center work
185
596621
2541
09:59
being done from home permanently.
186
599204
2417
10:01
Well, that's where Kelly Ann Doherty,
187
601662
1834
10:03
their amazing Chief People Officer comes in.
188
603537
3125
10:06
When Kelly Ann and her team presented their recommendation
189
606704
3208
10:09
for a home-centric working model,
190
609954
3083
10:13
she got a ton of questions.
191
613079
1375
10:14
"Well, Kelly Ann, what about onboarding and training?"
192
614496
3416
10:17
She said, "Of course, we're going to get people together for that.
193
617954
3125
10:21
Home-centric doesn't mean we're never together."
194
621121
2291
10:23
"Well, what about day-to-day coaching and mentoring?"
195
623454
2625
10:26
"We're experimenting with software
196
626121
1666
10:27
that allows managers to do that even better."
197
627829
2875
10:30
"Well, what about culture? Communication? What about --"
198
630746
2916
10:33
And she just stopped them
199
633704
1458
10:36
It was a moment, and she said,
200
636162
3000
10:39
"I know you all want to go back to your offices.
201
639204
2875
10:42
So do I, but we have to take a minute
202
642121
3583
10:45
to walk in the shoes of our call center operators.
203
645746
3833
10:49
They are loving the flexibility.
204
649621
2041
10:51
They're saving real money by not commuting,
205
651704
2333
10:54
and we know this is a high-turnover population.
206
654079
3500
10:57
Imagine if one of our competitors is more flexible than us.
207
657621
3291
11:00
How many people are we going to lose?"
208
660954
2167
11:03
And with that, Kelly Ann and her team had the leadership team on board.
209
663162
4042
11:07
They’re moving forward with a home-centric model,
210
667246
2708
11:09
and they're investing in upskilling all of their managers
211
669996
3416
11:13
to be able to coach, mentor and manage their teams remotely.
212
673454
5667
11:19
And now they're taking it one step further.
213
679162
2625
11:21
They're tapping into more flexible talent pools,
214
681829
2667
11:24
like military spouses,
215
684537
1500
11:26
who need a ton of flexibility when their spouses are deployed.
216
686079
3792
11:29
In other words, Kelly Ann and the Mr. Cooper Group
217
689912
3209
11:33
are urban planners of the future of work.
218
693162
3709
11:36
They're trusting their people.
219
696912
1709
11:38
They're using data.
220
698662
1334
11:40
They're thinking beyond the schedule
221
700037
2084
11:42
to not go back to the old cow paths of call center work.
222
702162
4625
11:46
They're making work better for them, for the company,
223
706829
3417
11:50
the customers and their people.
224
710287
1542
11:52
This is our moment, right now,
225
712912
3500
11:56
to together with our people and our teams
226
716454
3417
11:59
design a future of work that's more engaging,
227
719912
3959
12:03
more productive and more humane.
228
723912
2625
12:07
Thank you.
229
727662
1292
12:08
(Applause)
230
728996
1250
About this website

This site will introduce you to YouTube videos that are useful for learning English. You will see English lessons taught by top-notch teachers from around the world. Double-click on the English subtitles displayed on each video page to play the video from there. The subtitles scroll in sync with the video playback. If you have any comments or requests, please contact us using this contact form.

https://forms.gle/WvT1wiN1qDtmnspy7