Working from home has its advantages, but it's not perfect
Get this: LinkedIn recently cited research showing that 97.6% of remote workers prefer to work remotely, at least some of the time, for the rest of their careers. Further, I’ll bet many of them would prefer to work remotely 100% of the time, never having to commute or share an office with others.
I’m confident in LinkedIn’s stat, which closely mirrors others. But to me it’s impossible to get an objective sampling when asking if one would like to work at home forever. That’s like asking a kid if he’d like to eat all his Halloween candy tonight. You already know the answer, and you can’t devise a dependable methodology to do anything about it.
But I do know this. If something becomes possible, it becomes expected. Well, remote work, as we’ve proven, is possible; you can fill in the rest.
A lot of people are missing the boat here, however. In fact, they’re missing several boats.
The first boat is not as big as might appear. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated three months ago that between 2019 and 2021, the number of people primarily working from home tripled from 5.7% (roughly 9 million people) to 17.9% (27.6 million). The rest – a far greater number – can’t. So, are we looking through the wrong end of the telescope?
A much bigger boat, though, is the oft stated but little understood issue dubbed “The Future of Work” where all that seems to be discussed is technology, real estate costs, or just one – of four – levels of hybridism. And that one only in terms of logistics, not cultural dynamics.
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Business is one gigantic, never-ending experiment in solving problems or seizing opportunities. They’re one and the same, as problems are simply opportunities poorly dressed. How, though, do we actually solve problems?
According to University of Illinois at Chicago’s Associate Professor Emeritus of Managerial Studies Dr. Robert Cooke, a renowned expert in organizational culture, virtual teams do not perform as well as face-to-face teams in solving problems. We use two processes, says Cooke: the rational and the interpersonal. Although we saw “heroic problem solving early in the pandemic, virtuality is not an automatic solution to either rational or interpersonal problem solving,” concludes Cooke. Data indicated that when it comes to depending on remote work, some groups just got it and some just didn’t, making adaptability an issue.
Cooke’s model of organizational culture reveals three types of behavior: aggressive/defensive, passive/defensive, and constructive. The distance of virtuality makes it easier to extend the two non-constructive cultures’ behavioral norms. In short, says Cooke, “We’re seeing the electronic disintegration of the interpersonal process.” Organizations considering working remotely forever or for years are missing a critical point. Sure, we can work virtually, but it’s not as good as being together. There’s no overstating the value of and need for in-person collaboration.
Says who? Let’s look at two giants in the field of human motivation and human performance.
Abraham Maslow (1908-1970), who changed the way we view human motivation, proposed his now universal Hierarchy of Needs, teaching that after meeting our basic physiological and security needs, our next most fundamental need is belongingness. Our hominid ancestors lived in clans – not alone – because there were decided advantages, and to this day that’s unchanged. We gather as families, congregations, corporations, teams, fan clubs, political parties, orchestras, neighborhoods, and so on. We humans simply do better that way.
Kurt Lewin (1890-1947), the father of social psychology, identified something he called process gain, an invisible force that resides within supportive, interdependent groups to foster improvement in the journey from idea creation, to decision making to implementation. Process gain explains why teams outperform individuals and why some teams outperform others.
From Maslow and Lewin, we learn how we work together, articulate shared visions, set goals, establish norms, build values, and – ultimately – create value. And you don’t do that virtually. It’s what organizations have long been working on: organizational culture.
And that’s the point. Does anyone think this can be achieved virtually? Are we ready to discard decades of building culture by yielding to the awkward passions of the last three years?
Are there advantages to remote work? Of course! Should we incorporate it? Absolutely. But it can’t be the central driving issue. It is not – and cannot be – the core of this discussion.
There are bigger fish to fry.
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Eli Amdur has been providing individualized career and executive coaching, as well as corporate leadership advice since 1997. For 15 years he taught graduate leadership courses at FDU. He has been a regular writer for this and other publications since 2003. You can reach him at eli.amdur@amdurcoaching.com or 201-357-5844.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Returning to the office is needed, because we work better in groups
