Read the original article published in Forbes here.
POST WRITTEN BY: Sara Whitman
I’m a chief people officer, and I support extreme flexibility at work.
Let me tell you what that means.
If you want employees who work hard, give their best, enjoy their work, tap into their true selves and welcome the differences of others, these nine principles that define extreme flexibility are worth your consideration.
1. Seek to understand: Employees know themselves best. As an employer, ask your employees these questions:
• In what conditions do you do your best work?
• When?
• Where?
• What typically gets in the way?
Then ask again. And again. Because the answers change based on the situation and circumstance. When you can listen and start to understand the answers given, you are better able to create the conditions for your employees’ greatest work to happen.
2. Grant runway: We know that mistakes are essential for innovation. An expressed willingness to make mistakes and do things differently requires freedom and a long runway. By controlling employees’ work and working conditions, you’re obstructing the outcome before potential can surface. By letting go and accepting — even celebrating — failures, you’re creating an environment where sparks happen. They connect and grow, exponentially impacting your result.
3. Encourage work from anywhere: As people living in a hyper-connected world, many of us struggle with needing to be in many places at once. We are chasing career and personal pursuits, attempting to perfect the art of the hustle without missing important family moments and personal interests. When employees can choose where to work, they can be more present for meaningful life experiences. The guilt and worry that comes with having to choose either/or diminishes. People can enjoy the best of what they’re building at work with what they’re also building at home.
4. Offer unlimited vacation: There are several schools of thought on unlimited vacation policies. One is that the policies have an unintended impact and discourage people from taking time off for fear of looking bad to managers and peers. Another is that organizations will suffer financially and impact productivity if people abuse the privilege by taking “too much” vacation. Another still is that people will self-monitor and adapt based on organizational norms and individual needs. The last is my belief. Giving people the time they need for respite and rejuvenation is a no-brainer, and the kind of employees you want will use the flexibility as it’s intended.
5. Emotions rule: Every person has a different cognitive threshold and ability to bounce back and work through grief or loss of a pet or a parent, divorce, or anything else that life can toss us. These things, and our need to manage them in our own ways, make us human. Employers must recognize and find ways to accommodate how we work through life’s difficulties. This means focusing on emotional intelligence and building skills and understanding among employees, managers and leaders. Emotional experiences aren’t going anywhere. It’s time for employers to deal.
6. Support professional, and personal, goal-setting: In a working world with extreme flexibility, goal-setting approaches allow employees to work toward both professional and personal goals, as Kim Scott addresses in her book, Radical Candor. Most employees will not be with one employer for the duration of their career. But for the time they are a key part of each other’s lives, it can be more meaningful when people move toward their life goals.
Want to own an alpaca farm and you’re working in banking? How can your banking role prepare you for that pursuit? Build your financial literacy. Understand the loan process and what approaches offer the best returns, and so on. Having those open conversations and then supporting the goals with targeted stretch assignments will keep your employees engaged and add meaning to their roles.
7. Give the benefit of the doubt: Typically, when an employee doesn't live up to expectations, employers create a story around why. Maybe the person doesn’t have the right skill set. Maybe they didn’t put in the effort or seek out support. Instead, start by sharing clear and direct feedback on what is lacking. Follow that with clear, direct questions to help understand the situation. Finally, suspend judgment, and be open to the possibilities. Giving that benefit of the doubt until the situation proves otherwise will save time and energy, while building the kind of trust at work that employers and employees alike crave.
8. Collaborate like your life depends on it: The best idea is sacred. Bringing it to life means working through a lot of not-so-great or semi-good approaches until the right one is set in motion. You may know a lot. You may be smart and have great ideas. But you are better and more with the person sitting beside you.
9. Embrace the career journey: I used to work with a hiring manager who refused to consider a candidate with a resume gap or any job changes in under two years. I have news for her: Good luck finding the best talent. Career trajectories aren’t as rigid as they once were, and often, the best talent wants to name their own hours, choose their own projects and work when they want. With the gig economy making its presence known, employers need to embrace this mindset with their full-time employees if they want to compete. While we’re at it, let’s cast off all judgment about whether it’s best to follow the career ladder, or if the lattice is the next ladder, or if jumping jobs gives better experience or demonstrates a lack of commitment. There is no one size fits all, period.
Many organizational leaders will say this idea of extreme flexibility won’t work for their business. But there is no other choice; this is the future of work. And frankly, as multifaceted human beings with untapped depth and potential, we all deserve it.