Learn, Unlearn, Relearn

This is a time for all of us to realise that the concept of unlearning and relearning could not be more relevant.

In his book Future Shock (1970), the American futurist Alvin Toffler wrote:

“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn”.

The world has changed significantly since the onset of the pandemic. The post-pandemic era must be one of unlearning. 

The Future Forum Pulse report “Executives feel the strain of leading the ‘new normal’”, not only supports what I have been writing and speaking about over recent months but also stresses the need to unlearn and relearn.

This statement in the report from Brian Elliot, Executive Leader of Future Forum summarises the situation.

“In times of disruption, leaders can either lean in and learn new skills or fall back on what worked for them—often decades ago. Given macroeconomic stress, it’s understandable that many want to go back to what worked in the past. But two generations of digital natives have now entered the workplace. Workforces are more diverse, and there’s an accelerating pace of change and competition. That means that the job of leaders must change as well. And change, for everyone, can be daunting.”

The report acknowledges that there is a tug-of-war between employers and employees over what their working model should look like. Executives want to spend more time in the office and non-executives want to spend less. This misalignment is causing stress but rather than unlearn and relearn, leaders are responding by pushing for the old ways of working. They are demanding a return to the office on a full-time basis, a specified number of days per week, or specified days per week, and employees are resisting. They want both the flexibility and autonomy to work where they want, when they want and how they want.

Ryan Anderson, VP of Global Research and Insights at MillerKnoll said”

“If you’re thinking in terms of ‘returning’—returning to the old way, returning to the way the office used to be, returning to what worked for you—then it’s time to rethink that direction. We need to move forward to a new path, and that requires engaging your employees to establish new ways of working together.”

The report explores why “returning” is the wrong direction for a productive work environment and I want to add my narrative to that argument.

Confirmation bias

Future Forum data shows that workforce policy planning is largely happening at the executive level, with 60% of executives surveyed saying they’re designing their companies’ policies with little to no direct input from employees. This means they’re deciding these policies based primarily on the perspectives of people who share the same experiences and stressors as them.

Rather than unlearn and relearn that (a) that there is no going back and (b) the way forward is to cocreate the future with employees or alienate them, leaders are falling prey to confirmation bias. This is the mental shortcut that results in us seeking out, preferring, and remembering things in a way that suits what we already believe. Leaders will search, interpret, favour, and recall information that confirms or supports their belief that everyone must return to the office.

Overcoming confirmation bias is a significant mindset shift. The first and biggest step is to realise that you have fallen prey to confirmation bias, and it is controlling your thought process.

You must seek out other people with opposing views. Talk to your employees who disagree with the direction you a proposing. This is not about an argument but about listening, asking open questions, and being willing to hear views that you don’t agree with. Seek out other sources to digest arguments different from yours such as research and media opinion.

You must have an open mind. It is not going to work if you seek out other sources of information but refuse to listen to them. You must recognise when the information is credible and substantiates a change in your position. This is the time to unlearn and relearn.

Overcome the danger of being subject to confirmation bias by being open to the opinions of others, accepting that you may not always be right, and always being curious.

Culture and connection

I wrote a recent newsletter entitled “Culture Does Not Live Here” to counteract the argument that culture will be adversely impacted if everyone works remotely.

Many leaders believe that building organisational culture and fostering employee connection can only be done in person, in an office.

As I said in my newsletter, I challenge you to find a definition of culture that mentions a physical location, building, or office. Culture is about shared values and beliefs, expectations and assumptions, and patterns of behaviour. It has nothing to do with bricks and mortar.

The Future Forum report states:

“Despite concerns that flexible work damages employees’ sense of connection, new data shows that not to be true. Remote and hybrid workers are equally or more likely to feel connected to their immediate teams as fully in-office workers. And across the board, they are more likely to feel connected to their direct manager and their company’s values.

It’s worth noting that transparency is another key enabler of connection and healthy work culture. People who believe their leaders are transparent feel nearly four times as high a sense of belonging with their teams and report more than six times as high satisfaction with their work environment.”

Sheela Subramanian, co-founder of Future Forum says:

“I often hear leaders say that working away from the office makes it harder to connect and collaborate and eats away at company culture, and about 25% of executives surveyed listed that as a top concern in our survey. But this might be an issue of executives believing that what worked for them in the past is what works best for everyone, and the data shows that executives and non-executives have very different experiences. 

If leaders can overcome their confirmation bias and look for evidence of other organisations that have a great culture, are connected, and have a fully remote or distributed workforce, they may cease with the unfounded argument that remote work negatively impacts culture and connection. In my newsletter, I quoted the likes of GitLab, Spotify, and SAP.

Productivity

The other argument for a return to the office is the decrease in productivity when employees work remotely. This is despite the research that states productivity increases when employees work remotely.

Owl Labs 2021 State of Remote Work – 90% of employees say they are at the same productivity level – or higher – working from home compared to the office.

Stanford News 2020 - The experiment revealed that working from home during a nine-month period led to a 13% increase in performance – almost an extra day of output per week.

Catalyst 2021 - Compared to those without remote work access, access to remote work increases employee well-being, productivity, innovation, and inclusion.

Boston Consulting Group 2020 - 75% of employees maintain or improve productivity when they work from home. 

Great Place to Work 2021 - A two-year study by Great Place to Work® of more than 800,000 employees at Fortune 500 companies found that most people reported stable or even increased productivity levels after employees started working from home.

The Future Forum report states:

“But this is another case where the data runs counter to conventional wisdom: flexible work is associated with increased productivity and focus, not less.  Future Forum data shows that workers with location flexibility report 4% higher productivity scores than fully in-office workers, a difference that across a workforce can add up to material improvements to the bottom line. And schedule flexibility leads to even greater benefits. Workers who have full schedule flexibility report 29% higher productivity than workers with no ability to shift their schedule. They also report 53% greater ability to focus.”

We know that many leaders cannot measure performance based on outcomes rather than inputs. They believe that performance is measured by the hours spent at a desk. Even though that argument has no grounds because even when leaders could see a person sitting at a desk for 8 hours, it did not mean they were performing. This situation is evident by the increase in the global demand for employee surveillance software. I keep showing my readers this chart as I believe it is such an indictment of the poor levels of leadership we have in our organisations. The chart shows the month-by-month increase in demand for employee surveillance software compared to the 2019 monthly average.

Source: https://www.top10vpn.com/research/covid-employee-surveillance/

Leaders must unlearn how performance was measured in the past and relearn how to measure it today. If employees continue to be measured by the hours they spend in an office, they are going to leave. You will lose talent and be unable to attract it.

Summary

Leaders must unlearn and relearn that they must be open to the opinions of others. They must engage with employees.

They must unlearn and relearn that organisational culture and employee connection are not adversely impacted by remote work.

They must unlearn and relearn that performance is not measured by the hours at a desk. Performance is measured on outcomes, not inputs.

In my next newsletter, I will explore why leaders need to unlearn the role of the leader, unlearn the truth about trust and transparency, unlearn the role of the ‘office’, and unlearn their assumptions about employee expectations.