The Flexi Decade

Posted on 24th May 201030th November -0001 by DWAdmin

In my introduction to Dynamic Work, I speak of the surging business mega-trend towards flexibility in the current years…

“Dynamic Work is becoming as much of a business imperative for the new millennium as was embracing the PC in the 80s and embracing the Internet in the 90s.”

An organisation which shares my assessment of this trend is one I have supported for a number of years now, Working Families. They focus their lens on the trends in business around how businesses approach family issues which they distilled into…

1980s – ‘Movement Begins’ – “Work-life balance was primarily a ‘mother’s issue’ championed by women who wished to return to work. Interest from organisation centred on childcare as they sought to recruit and retain women.”
1990s – ‘Family Friendly Years’ – “Flexible working of all kinds evolved as a way for employers to enable women to reconcile work and family life.”
2000s – ‘The Flexi Decade’ – “Technology starts to have a more significant impact in changing how and where work is done, and employment regulations help support this change. Increasingly flexible working is seen as making ‘business sense; and linked into employee engagement and heightened performance”

Limbo Working

Posted on 15th January 201030th November -0001 by DWAdmin

One of the first issues I faced over a year ago is what to call this ‘thing’. This trend, this approach. Certainly, there is no shortage of buzzwords being coined regularly to capture different dimensions to ‘Dynamic Work’.

CNN has done a piece which captures a much of the distributed, indeterminate, flexible nature of ‘where’ side of working. The article ‘Working in Wi-Fi Limbo’ (thanks again Dr. Bret)

“If you ask Adrian Miller where she works, her answer may depend on where she happens to be standing. Miller calls her messenger bag ‘global headquarters.’ She calls a New York City lobby her ‘satellite office.’ ‘My office is my briefcase,’ says Miller, who offers sales training to companies and networking advice to individuals. Miller is a member of a new breed of worker who doesn't work at home or an office. They work in limbo, somewhere in between. They are the urban nomads who drift from one Wi-Fi watering hole to another with their laptops — working alone while surrounded by people.”

When I first speak to people about ‘Dynamic Working’, often the response is ‘Oh, you mean ‘home working.’ To which I respond, ‘Well, that is one alternative place people can work, but there are also cafes, business centres, hubs, libraries, park benches…just about anywhere…’

Technorati Tags: Wi-fi,CNN,mobile working

The Third Space

Posted on 21st October 200930th November -0001 by DWAdmin

When I start to talk to people about reducing the fixed costs of fixed desks and fixed office space, the most common response is, “Oh, you mean home working…” Well, yes…and no. Part of the challenge of Dynamic Work is the too widely held view that the only two places in the work are home and work (and maybe a fun place you go on holiday once a year).

For a while now, Starbucks, these day often synonymous with out-of-office-out-off-home working, has coined a term for this extra geographic dimension – ‘The Third Place.’ Here are a few erudite commentaries on the appeal of this non-work/non-home workspace…

· Howard Schulz on the notion of the ‘Third Place’ – “You might say, 'OK, they're full of crap.' And you know, this is how we feel," says Schultz. "We're in the business of human connection and humanity, creating communities in a third place between home and work."

· Steve Clayton on “I get my best work done at Starbucks” – In fact my favourite spaces to get work done are well outside of the office – even the home office. I often wander down to a coffee shop or Shackology where there is free WiFi and a good vibe that doesn't stop me working. People think I'm joking when I say I'm going to the coffee shop to work but it's where I get a lot of good work done.”

· Katie Ledger on “My office is Starbucks” – “I don't spend long periods of time in coffee shops but it's just being able to do business ANYWHERE that makes it so exciting. Lots of new ideas coming out of this space at the mo.”

If anyone is passing through Marlow, give a shout for a ‘meeting’ at my local third place and location of an increasing proportion of my productivity

Technorati Tags: Starbucks,Third Place,Katie Ledger,Steve Clayton,Howard Schulz

Tired Dragons

Posted on 15th October 200930th November -0001 by DWAdmin

In honour of Father’s Day, I thought I would pay homage to an inspiration of my father, Rev. Edwin Lynn, to my interest in Dynamic Working. Dynamic use of spaces where people come together must be in my genes. You see, 36 years ago, decades before carbon concerns, economic crises and intensified pressures of two income families, my father, wrote a book called ‘Tired Dragons’, subtitled ‘Adapting Church Architecture to Changing Needs.’

His introduction could just as readily describe the increasingly outdated fixed and fractured workspaces in outdate office buildings where so many labour every day…

“Once upon a time there were church structures built with dignity, sustained by belief, and strengthened with community purpose. Many of these structures are today’s tired dragons, their energies spent, their fire nearly extinguished, their tails drooping.”

His words on the simple seating in the church could have been taken out of a business justification for removing all the fixed desks in our office (something my team and a number of units at Microsoft has instituted).

“In the context of order, pews have taken on a theological importance. Their symmetry symbolizes the desired order–not the extreme social order of the pew renters and purchasers of colonial times but the order of religious tradition. However, to sit securely in the pews, smugly oblivious with present changes is inconsistent with a revitalized, meaningful religious belief. Architects have created fancy building shapes and spectacular roof structures, clergymen have inspired changing worship forms. Nevertheless, congregations have refused to change their attitudes, and their immobile seats confirm their rigidity. The obstacles are difficult to overcome. Until the rigid pew structure is changed, the church will not substantially alter its present course. The pews are where the people are, and unless they are willing to alter their patterns, there is little hope for the tired dragons. This does not mean that by destroying all pews we would have a revitalized church; it only means as long as pews are worshiped, there is little hope for a relevant church.”

In the world of Dynamic Work, as long as desks and cubicles remained fixed in place, there is little hope for a ‘relevant’ business.

Technorati Tags: Tired Dragons,Edwin Lynn,church architecture

Telecommuting Tips

Posted on 12th October 200930th November -0001 by DWAdmin

CIO magazine ran an article ‘7 Things the CIO Should Know About Telecommuting’ with great pointers on this tactic for exploiting Dynamic Work…

1. Telecommuting Saves Money. Truly.
2. Telecommuters Really Can Be More Productive.
3. Telecommuting Doesn't Work for Every Individual.
4. Trust Your People.
5. Hone Management Skills for Telecommuting.
6. Keep the Telecommuter in the Loop.
7. Tools and Technology Make a Big Difference.

I often see #5 – Management Skills – as one of the major blockers. Managers don’t support telecommuting and flexible work not truly because of concerns about the employee or the business, but rather concerns about their ability to manage.

“Telecommuting is a true test of a manager's skill. It's hard enough to measure employee output when the individual is in the office; now supervisors need to add the complexity of doing it from a distance. And not every manager possesses the necessary skills for keeping tabs on telecommuters.

“Elizabeth Ross, director of technology projects execution at AMEC Earth & Environmental, has telecommuted and managed telecommuters. She sees a direct relationship between the strength of a manager and the telecommuting experience. ‘Managers who know how to manage resources, subcontractors, and the like, can make the situation work, sometimes exceptionally,’ she says. ‘Managers who don't communicate well, [who] don't know how to manage their own time well, and so on, don't get around to checking in or managing the telecommuter very well — if at all.’ “

“It's that latter kind of manager (for example, the inept manager) who's typically the least supportive of telecommuting, according to Ross, because the work arrangement highlights the manager's weaknesses and requires him or her to improve or change his or her style. For that reason, user experience consultant Albers suggests that only managers ‘who have demonstrated extraordinary organization and leadership abilities’ should be allowed to manage telecommuters.”

Technorati Tags: CIO Magazine,management skills,telecommuting

Dynamic Education

Posted on 10th October 200930th November -0001 by DWAdmin

The ‘workplace’ for our children is school and this institution suffers many of the same issues as the ‘knowledge worker factory’ mode of daily working. And here too the notions of flexible and ‘dynamic’ learning are just as applicable.

Dan Ramus, Microsoft ‘Futurist,’ and steward of its ‘New World of Work’ thinking, is a digital soul mate on the matters of Dynamic Work. His blog ‘The Future of Information Work’ carries lots of posts that support and extend the ideas and notions shared here. His recent post ‘Five Way To Reinvent Education and Stimulate the Economy’ describes an educational system as flexible in its use and application of resources as the Dynamic Workplace…

1. Complement teachers with retired or out of work professionals.

2. Think of schools as multi-purpose and cross-generational ‘learning hubs’ for flexible use or resources and facilities.

3. Foster entrepreneurship.

4. Distribute learning so it isn't about an educator or a single school.

5. Adopt new learning models that cross school boundaries, regional boundaries, even international boundaries.

Dan’s call for a dynamic learning place evoked memories of my own high school days where my first foray into activism was to protest a newly instated absenteeism policy. Essentially, the school said that 10 absences meant a mandatory failure grade. Not only did this smack of a violation of due process (which I had just learned something about in my civics class), but also it defined that the only real education was sitting in chairs in classrooms. At this stage of my life, I was getting involved with community programs, private study and a host of exploration. Who cared if I missed the class, as long as I caught up on the notes, did the work, learned the material and ultimately made the marks? I successfully fought back against this effort to straight jacket learning into presenteeism , and yes, the school kindly rescinded the policy later that year.

Technorati Tags: Dan Rasmus,Microsoft,New World of Work,schools

N=1 and R=G

Posted on 9th October 200930th November -0001 by DWAdmin

I had the chance to listen to business management gurus C.K. Prahalad at the recent London Benchmark for Business event (thanks again Katie). C.K.’s presentation on ‘Realising the Opportunity’ talked about embracing the positive potential of the economic turmoil as being a catalyst for changes that have long been brewing and are primed for embracing all of which echo the core themes of Dynamic Work

1. Fundamentally Change Industry Structures
2. Require New Approaches to Managing
3. Provide Exciting New Opportunities
4. Put a New Premium on Innovation
5. Demand New Organisational Capabilities

He talked about the need for a change in ‘Organisational Capabilities’ from…

1. Hierarchies to Networks
2. Investment Capacity to Collaborative Capacity
3. Organisation Structures to Velcro Organisation

Prahalad concluded that the ‘New Game’ boils down to

· “N-=1”: Co creation of Personalised Experiences
· “R=G”: Multi-institutional and Multi-Geograohic Access to Resources

‘N=1’ or ‘Co-Creation’ is ‘dynamic work’ to the extreme. Making your customers your workers to the benefit of both. In the SOA context, ‘co-creation’ is akin to Microsoft’s “Software Plus Services” (S+S) vision. Combining the power of software (the organisation’s workforce) with tapping into the ‘cloud’ of value add content and services (the customer base).

“R=G” is practically the very definition of Dynamic Work. He describes it as the “Emergence of Nodal Firms and Supply Webs”.

Technorati Tags: C.K.Prahalad,Benchmark for Business,Software + Services

Free Agent Nation

Posted on 8th October 200930th November -0001 by DWAdmin

Seth Godin’s latest book ‘Tribes’ offers up a passionate plea for more dynamic work fuelled by the initiative of pervasive and distributed ‘leadership’ for change.

“Organisations are more important than ever. It’s the factories we don’t need.”

I like the quote because it provides an important point of clarity to his radical proposal. Too often, in fact often with the concept of ‘Dynamic Work’ here, people misinterpret that a call for dramatic change is a call for complete change. To go from one extreme to another. With Dynamic Work, people interpret that it’s all about taking everyone out of the office and going to home working. That is not the case. The ‘office’ still can be a useful tool in modern business (as ‘organisation’ are in Godin’s vision) and not all work that leaves the ‘office’ goes to the ‘home’ (it can go to lots of other places as well).

Godin offers up a trove of insights about Leadership (though not Management), communication, motivation and other essentials for driving a dynamic business built on new principles of community, customer co-creation and employee empowerment.

Technorati Tags: Seth Godin,Tribes

The Apprenticeship Problem

Posted on 26th September 200930th November -0001 by DWAdmin

One of the most prevalent obstacles I hear in terms of highly skilled knowledge workers adopting more flexible working practices is what I would refer to as the ‘apprenticeship problem’. At a Working Families event, a partner at a London law firm explained to me the dynamics of senior partners passing on their expertise no quite through osmosis but the physical proximity plays a huge role in involving the more junior associate in conversations that pass on specialised knowledge.

I have heard the issue raised a number of time since, most recently in a discussion at Dow Jones were we were discussing concepts in dynamic working. Gren Manuel, Editor Spot News, referred to it as the ‘kitchen issue’. That so much expertise is passed along informally during breaks in the kitchen where people share perspectives on work. Sort of a derivation of the ‘water cooler’ problem. But while the ‘water cooler’ issue alludes to the downside to the employee that by being out of the office they miss out on the fun of impromptu social interaction as well as entertaining and useful office gossip. The ‘kitchen’ problem refers more to the corporate loss from impromptu and informal knowledge transfer.

The matter of geographic proximity enabling subtle knowledge transfer is a very important matter. I do not think it need stand in the way to more flexible working. First, flexible working does is not an either-or, black-and-white matter. Rather it is a shaded gradient of how much flexibility is appropriate for a given role, company, context, etc. My premise in this blog is that modern technologies and practices can enable a greater degree of flexibility across all scenarios. So, in companies and jobs where this ‘apprenticeship’ dynamic is central, a strong degree of ‘face to face’ time will likely be key, but that does not have to mean 100% face-to-face time is the ideal blend.

Second, the ‘kitchen’ may be a key catalyst to knowledge transfer, but that doesn’t have to mean that there aren’t better ‘kitchens’ than the one stuck in the office space. It might be that dynamic work introduces new ‘kitchens’ outside the workplace that inspire similar if not better conversations and skills transfer.

Finally, I think the matter represents a challenge to these industries and new leaders in these fields will find ways to innovate around new approaches and techniques to knowledge transfer that just the time honoured impromptu face-to-face coaching.

Technorati Tags: Dow Jones,apprentice

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