Let’s be honest: remote work has been forced by COVID-19, and while most employees enjoy it, many leaders cannot wait to get people back to the office. Therefore, it is no surprise that more and more companies are mandating three to five days per week in the office. But is travelling back in time to pre-COVID-19 possible, and does it make sense?
Although face-to-face interaction is irreplaceable for fostering strong relationships, trust and creativity within a team, it’s harder to justify the argument that returning to the office is necessary for enhancing team productivity.
There are better ways to ensure productivity than conducting remote calls from the office. Outcome-focused frameworks, such as Objectives and Key Results (OKR), can help ensure teams stay productive without sacrificing the benefits of flexible working hours and locations.
Shared goals, transparency, and collaboration in delivering outcome-oriented milestones offered by OKR are much better ways of ensuring that teams work towards achieving the organisation’s strategic objectives.
While OKR helps to ensure teams are doing the right things, increasing the frequency of performance reviews and feedback check-ins is needed to ensure that every employee knows if they are doing the right things and if they are doing them right.
OKRs and frequent feedback can create a high-performance culture based on trust without pushing employees to spend 80-100% of their working time in the office.
What is your opinion? Share your thoughts.