Table talk: Do senior leaders need to be in the office?

Leadership

Jan 24

To paraphrase a famous saying - if you really want to get to know someone, go and share food with them.

Whenever we can, we connect with the senior leaders we work with over a meal because, as we know, mealtimes create the space for a different sort of conversation.

Our 2023 Annual Client Dinner was one such occasion. So we thought we’d share where our conversation took us this time, as we discussed where we are working (and how), as well as what work means to us and the people we lead.

The conversation quickly turned to one of the biggest challenges in the modern workplace, hybrid working and the role of a leader in these times.

Every business will make decisions for their own teams on how best to square that circle but here’s where we started on the wider discussion around hybrid working:

Face to face meetings are now a premium experience. They have cost and practical implications for you, your people, and the environment, so make them a ‘value add’ activity. Incorporate social time, celebrations, and collaborative work to deepen relationships.
Coming to the office has never been something that was always helpful to everyone, all the time. Evidence from multiple studies show that open offices, poor meeting hygiene, and stressful commutes have all diminished the value the office over time. So, where there is a mandate to get staff back to the office, its essential to look again your preferred culture and put in place good practices to keep the office accessible, professional, and lively.
Don’t forget the added value of flexibility for your teams. In the fierce competition for talent, being able to walk the dog and drop off the kids is in the same place on the employee ‘wish list’ list as the rewards package. In a recent poll, 67% of mid level staff said they would take a pay cut to retain flexibility in their working hours.

Around the table there were certainly differences of opinion and some important questions – for example, if coming to the office is about visibility and productivity, what does that say about how we lead people in other countries who don’t share an office with us? Do we lead for outcomes, or do we manage for outputs? When is it vital that we can ‘look each other in the eye’?

Despite differences we also saw eye to eye on the underlying issues. We were all interested in making the most of the time we have with the talented people in our teams. Where there were differences, understanding why they had different views helped us to see all the different parts of the puzzle that is hybrid working. As the world seems more and more divided, being able to listen and discuss different opinions with heavy respect for the people who hold them is a breath of fresh air and a hallmark of leadership maturity.

At FiveAndCo. we are convinced that uncovering and listening to the diversity of experience and thought in our teams is one of the secrets to thriving – in what you do, how you do it, and how you feel about it. We hope you get a chance to share a meal and a different sort of conversation with your team in the year ahead.