Book

How the Future Works

Leading Flexible Teams To Do The Best Work of Their Lives

Brian Elliott, Sheela Subramanian and Helen Kupp

Wiley, 2022

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The COVID pandemic’s lockdowns compromised companies globally. The world of business had to continue, so people began to work from home and set their own schedules. Employees loved these new arrangements. Remote work became many people’s preference, and teams began to function as remote or hybrid collectives. An ad hoc solution that began as a response to an emergency is now how business gets done. Brian Elliott, Sheela Subramanian and Helen Kupp explore how companies can manage this new world of work with flexibility and effectiveness. They advocate continuing collaboration between employers and employees post pandemic, and show how flexible teamwork can prevail.

Summary

Traditional office work is obsolete.

Flexible work arrangements allowing employees to work remotely with independent schedules were once a privilege only for top performers – if even for them.Most organizations wanted employees to work in local offices and follow rigid schedules. That’s how things had always been.

Management thinkers believed office work fostered collaboration and enabled employees to benefit from each other’s knowledge and experience. Wouldn’t productivity, innovation and profits suffer if employees didn’t work together? How could managers supervise workers who didn’t share the same office?

Then, in 2019, COVID-19 changed everything. It quickly shut down offices and millions of employees began to work from home. Did productivity suffer? In fact, the new flexible work model increased productivity. Creativity and innovation flourished

Today, many employees love the independence of working from home. Recruiting has never been easier. For organizations, this means accepting significant change – and it remains unlikely work will ever entirely return to its...

About the Authors

Brian Elliott is a senior vice president at Future Forum, a Slack consortium. Sheela Subramanian is a VP at Future Forum, where Helen Kupp is senior director of product strategy and partnerships.

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