This week, we received more pertinent questions from our clients, partners and community. In this article, AKKA Architect’s CEO, Stephanie Akkaoui Hughes shares two of the latest questions and her thoughts!
Question: What do you think is our best ally while working from home?
There is a lot actually happening in the HR and Facility Management communities about digital tools to facilitate working from home and tips and tricks for how to make the most of it. And everything I’ve read out there is great and gives fantastic insights and ideas.
However, there is something I am missing in that discourse, and that is the why, the question of why are we doing what we are doing? One of the best allies to a successful working from home is, I believe, having your why clear. This of course connects back to preventing this loss of connection or loss of engagement that I mentioned in the previous article of the “You Asked” series.
During this time, there are a lot of uncertainty and questions up in the air. Things are so radically different, that there is a lot of questioning about what is happening and what might happen next, in the next weeks, months, years. All these questions are underlined by an almost new found reminder of what is important in life, a kind of return to the basics, if you will. And with that comes the question of why am I doing what I’m doing? and is it important?
So, I think the best ally of working from home for the benefit of people as well as the work and the company as a whole is to make this ‘why question’ very, very clear for everyone, in the entire company. This is the one thing that can prevent this loss of connection and engagement.
Why am I doing what I'm doing? Is it important?
Well, if you’re a HR manager, Facility Manager, a Corporate Real Estate manager or a Workplace professional of any kind, ask yourself this: How do we learn from now to make tomorrow better than yesterday? So, what can we learn from what we’re going through now, during this time to create a future that is better than the past?
For me personally, I believe that one of the worst things that can happen after all of this calms down is that we go back to business as usual. It may sound strange to say that. However, the reason I’m saying that is because while I don’t know what it is yet, I believe that there is an opportunity in this crisis for us to do better than we have been doing so far. This is a decision point for the world of work and an opportunity to reshape the future of work.
Obviously, don’t get me wrong. What is happening is a complete tragedy and any opportunity I might point to, in the middle of this tragedy is not to undermine any of negative things that are happening at the moment. And maybe now, more than ever, we do need to be able to look for the shred of positivity in a major crisis. There are actually opportunities for us to learn from what is happening and to do better.
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