HVO Search brought together

​

Dr Brennan Jacoby - Philosopher & Founder, Philosophy at Work 

Thomas Bucaille - Chief People Officer and CSR Leader, Petit Bateau

Ben Gould - Global Strategic Partnerships Manager, Workplace from Facebook

​

and leaders in Fashion, Beauty, Luxury & Lifestyle to discuss how the world of work is changing as a result of the pandemic and how to ensure teams work well together when they are not together. 

​

It certainly has been a few interesting months, with many of us adapting to working from home and virtually communicating with our teams, clients and customers. 

In our session - "Beyond the Office: Building a Successful Working Culture", we explored how the pandemic is affecting the way we work and its impact on relationships, collaborations, trust, leadership and productivity. 

​

​

​

The Questions We Explored...

​

During our discussion, we explored the following: 

​

Questions to Thomas:

How has leadership in your business adapted to remote working?

What has been an impact in productivity?

How is your business planning to return to the office?  

You’ve recently written an article where you say that the role of CPO needs to be Chief Party Officer,  what else can CPOs do to help companies thrive? 

How Can C-suite leaders empower their team when working remotely?

​

Questions to Brennan:

How do you manage trust when managing people remotely?

Relationships are, arguably, the key part of culture. As you did your PhD on trust in organisational contexts, what top tips do you give you clients who want to cultivate cultures that are climates where trust can thrive?

​

Questions to Ben: 

What changes have you seen as a result of the pandemic? 

What is different about how people interact now?

Working closely with CEOs what advice do you give them about how to use technology to manage their teams remotely?

​

Question to All:

What is the purpose of the office now?

​

​

​

Key Take-Aways

​

Thomas Bucaille

​

“What is the purpose of having a brick and mortar office today? We need to provide ourselves and our teams a good reason to come to the office. A benefit that outweighs their commute and being able to spend time with their family. Learning and building social bonds with your peers are one." 

Thomas Bucaille

​

How has leadership in your business adapted to remote working?   

          

We had to set up new rituals and routines and adapted our communications. Instead of having a long meeting once a week, we have a short one every day.

This acceleration and adaptation of communication has been at every level. From team meetings to brand newsletters.

The urgency of work and feeling of no time to deliberate has played a very positive role in decision making.

Because our meetings are shorter and more frequent, they have been more focused.

We're all directly connected to our audiences and getting immediate feedback. What used to be a more one-way communication is much more interconnected. 

​

 

What has been an impact in productivity?

​

We've managed to complete tasks in a matter of days that would've taken weeks or months before lockdown. For example, shifting production to produce PPE took us 48 hours, this would've taken weeks before.

We need to learn to keep the best takeaways from this social experiment.  

​

 

How is your business planning to return to the office?

​

We never stopped the workhouse and very quickly we came back to the factory site which permeated the feeling that we never really stopped. 

E-commerce has also never stopped. In the office, we've been back (in some ways) since June. 

This has allowed us to experiment with a hybrid model, providing more flexibility for home and office working. 

I hope the government restriction lasts a little longer so that people can get used to this way of working. 

We'll find new ways of working and we will make some mistakes but we will also increase productivity through this.

There's no alternative but to innovate and create new ways of working. 

​

 

You’ve recently written an article where you say that the role of CPO needs to be Chief Party Officer, what else can CPOs do to help companies thrive? 

 

CPOs need provide themselves and their teams good reasons to come to the office - reasons that outweigh the benefits of not commuting and spending more time with family. Something they cannot achieve by working from home with digital contact. 

They need to highlight and cultivate the social bond and community at work. 

The more we work in a fragmented way between digital and the office, the importance of learning together and from each other is key. CPOs should encourage this. 

​

​

How can C-Suite leaders empower their people when working remotely?

​

Our CEO (Petit Bateau) has allowed us to continued to work from home so permission is changing.

Common goals are really important to make sure the whole team is on the same path.

Leaders must think about whether the work that is being done is really solving problems and contributing to the team and business. 

​

​

 

Dr. Brennan Jacoby

​

​

“It's crucial to promote a climate at work where people feel safe and comfortable with making mistakes. There should be no mark of shame for getting something wrong. Research shows that we are more productive and do better work when we don't feel the need to be perfect at all times."

Dr. Brennan Jacoby

​

How do you manage trust when managing people remotely?

​

The first thing to flag is that our context shifts when we disperse. However, the nature of trust and human connection doesn't change. At the end of the day, our communities are made up of humans. We need to find a way of making tech more human. 

Clarity is really important when we are communicating behind screens. The clarity of our communication, expectations and preferences -- things which are always important, but feel especially so in the virtual context.

Be clear about when you are able to be contacted. As Brené Brown said, "clear is kind". Then colleagues don't have to tiptoe around you, they know that 10am is a time you are doing a project and the 12pm you are more available for a call. 

It's crucial to create a climate at work where people feel safe and comfortable with making mistakes. There should be no mark of shame for getting something wrong. Research shows that we are more productive and do better work when we don't feel the need to be perfect at all times. 

Under stress, we tend to overreact or under-react. For many people under lockdown they have started to become micro-managers or taking a big step back. Finding ways to manage your stress and maintain communication is key. 

​

 

Relationships are, arguably, the key part of culture. As you did your PhD on trust in organisational contexts, what top tips do you give you clients who want to cultivate cultures that are climates where trust can thrive?

​

It's important to cultivate an environment where workers feel comfortable being imperfect. 

Huge expectations can be damaging for effectiveness and productivity, not just mental health. I advise leaders to spot "sliding door" moments where they choose to "turn towards" the other person. What I mean by that is these moments will be significant 'relationship' moments. This may be when somebody asks "Can we talk about something?" or "Can we have a quick call". This isn't just about the work but the people. Listening and understanding what they are going through can help build trust. And in these moments, we need to turn towards our colleagues and put them and their interests first. 

Trust is about knowing that when you get into a tricky situation, your peers are humans and they recognise that you can't get everything right all of the time. 

​

 

You can read Brennan's report "The Virtues of Virtual" here.

​

​

 

Ben Gould

​

​

"The ingredients of what makes up a successful company are changing. Leaders are prioritising employee experience and engaging with employees in a two way feedback. Giving people a voice and managing that voice and respecting it is crucial."

Ben Gould

​

​

 

What changes have you seen as a result of the pandemic? 

​

There are two types of audiences right now:

1. knowledge workers who are in a physical space. 

2. those who are front line - shop floors etc.

Most of the time the second group is disconnected from the head office. Identifying these groups and helping them better connect with their team is really important. 

Being authentic and transparent is key.

There are two types of people when it comes to vulnerability, those who see it as a strength and those who see it as a weakness. I think that this has shifted. 

The ingredients of what makes up a successful company are changing. Leaders are prioritising employee experience and engaging with employees in a two way feedback.

Giving people a voice and managing that voice and respecting it is crucial. 

There is a new definition of work /life balance now. People are becoming more aware of the time they spend at work, commuting to and from work as well as time with their family

​

​

What is different about how people interact now?

​

Video presence is becoming increasingly important. The feeling we get when we join a meeting and feeling connected to those people and communicate in a more meaningful way is important. 

Making sure that people feel as though they are receiving the right information is key and this is comprised of what they need to to their job and ad hoc connecting with them in a more human way. 

​

​

Working closely with CEOs what advice do you give them about how to use technology to manage their teams remotely?

​

We ran a survey with our team and just over half of people wanted to continue remote working and just under half want to return to the office as soon as possible. 

Allowing people to share what is going well and what's not going well is really key. Creating transparent and authentic communication is key. 

The tools people use at home should be as easy as the tools they use in their personal life. 

​

 

What is the Purpose of the Office Now?

(In 3 Words)

​

 

Brennan - Forging new relationships

Thomas - Meeting human beings

Ben - Power of connection

​

​

 

So it's clear, during these past few months, working from home has had a positive impact on the way we work and the way we view work. Re-imagining the office can lead brands to building their community and employee experience. 

​

It is time to consolidate new ideas of working and now is the time to go into a more engaging, efficient and purposeful future. 

​

​

Audience Poll

​

During our live discussion we asked our 100 attendees what they thought about the future of brand communication. Here are their responses...

​