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Remote Work: What Are the Pros and Cons? with Wharton's Martine Haas — Ripple Effect Podcast

September 12, 2023 / 20:34

This episode features Martine Haas, a management professor at the Wharton School, discussing hybrid work dynamics, management challenges, and the importance of workplace culture.

Martine Haas explains the current state of hybrid work, emphasizing that it has become a common compromise for organizations. She notes that both employees and managers have adapted to this model, recognizing the benefits and challenges it presents.

The conversation highlights the power dynamics between in-office and remote workers, focusing on access to resources and visibility. Haas stresses that managers need to understand these differences to ensure fairness in the workplace.

Technology's role in facilitating hybrid work is also examined, with Haas acknowledging its advantages while cautioning against over-reliance on it. She distinguishes between fixed and flexible hybrid work models, noting that flexible arrangements tend to create fewer issues.

Finally, Haas discusses the five C's of hybrid work: communication, coordination, connection, creativity, and culture, urging managers to actively assess and improve these areas for a more equitable work environment.

TL;DR

Martine Haas discusses hybrid work dynamics, management challenges, and the importance of workplace culture in this episode.

Episode

20:34
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structurally when you've got some people
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in the office and some people not in the
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office it creates real variation in
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people's experiences of work and in
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their ability to work together and
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fundamentally I think there's two big
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components that are kind of important
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because they both create power
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differences between people who are in
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the office and people who are not right
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and one is people's access to resources
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and the other is visibility right if
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you're in the office you probably have
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more visibility to your manager welcome
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to the ripple effect the podcast that
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takes you on a journey through the minds
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of work and faculty I'm your host Dan
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Loney and in each episode we'll be
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diving deep into the inspiration behind
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the groundbreaking research that Wharton
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professors have conducted and exploring
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how their findings resonate with the
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world today well great to be joined
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right now by Martine Haas who is a
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management professor at the Wharton
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School and also director of the Lauder
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Institute for management and
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International Studies Martine great to
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have you back with us thanks for a few
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moments today thanks it's great to see
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you Dan so the topic of hybrid work is
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obviously one that I think for most of
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us going back three or four years really
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wasn't in our vernacular but now here we
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are the pandemic has you know for the
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most part come and gone what are your
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thoughts on kind of the state of hybrid
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work right now in in the moment but also
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maybe what your expectations are for
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hybrid work as we move forward
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well it's a great question I guess it's
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the million dollar question that's on
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everybody's Minds um you know this the
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state of hybrid work right now in some
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ways looks surprisingly and I don't want
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to use the word stable but you know it
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looks strong I guess
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um in the sense of you know even in the
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last six months only the last year or so
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it feels like a lot of organizations
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have kind of converged on hybrid work as
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you know a sweet spot I kind of think of
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it as it's not it's not perfect but it's
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kind of a good compromise between the
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the tensions and the benefits that we
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see to workers who might want to be
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remote more of the time
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um some might want to be in the office
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but a lot do you want to be remote into
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managers who might want to be remote but
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a lot of times want their folks in the
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office and so it's it feels like it's a
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compromise that both sides have kind of
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come to even the firms that were kind of
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strongly you know we're going to let
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everyone be remote they've kind of
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realized wow we're losing some stuff
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maybe we kind of need to do more things
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together and on the other hand the firms
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that have been you know let's be
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completely and not uh you know
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completely in the office of realize that
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work is really like the strong pressures
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to let people work hybrid at least some
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of the time so it feels like we've
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settled into something of a routine in
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many companies where which looks hybrid
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right where people are in the office
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some days and not others and it's it's
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it's likely given that there are
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benefits on both sides and reasons to do
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both so we will this will be the way it
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looks for at least the foreseeable
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future right now
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so you mentioned managers and and I
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guess let's start there with because
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managers in the scope of the operation
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of a company and and the employees
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certainly have a lot to deal with I
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guess what is it that we need to know to
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better understand how managers are going
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to be able to deal with the component of
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hybrid work in terms of running their
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their divisions their operations
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well there's a lot to know I guess um
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but you know I think one really
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fundamental underlying thing that we
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need to recognize because it affects so
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much else what happens is that
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structurally when you've got some people
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in the office and some people not in the
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office it creates real variation in
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people's experiences of work and in
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their ability to work together and and
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fundamentally you know that I think
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there's there's two big components that
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are kind of important because they both
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create power differences between people
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who are in the office and people who are
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not right and one is people's access to
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resources right the resources are
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whether it's it's the photocopier or the
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manager's ear or with support of advice
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from other workers you have more of
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those resources if you're in the office
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with other people usually than if you're
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at home this is assuming some people are
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working payments some people are in the
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office you know at any given point in
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time and the other is visibility right
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if you're in the office you probably
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have more visibility to your manager
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probably your managers in the office too
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but even if they're not other people are
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seeing it you know hearing your work and
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you know they're more it's more obvious
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what you're doing and so resources and
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visibility matter because their basis of
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power in organizations where people who
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have more of them tend to have more
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power and that tends to mean that we
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when you you know are in the office more
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you kind of have more access to some
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other stuff and maybe more power than
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people who are in the office less
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particularly people who are never in the
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office but people who are in the office
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there saw a given day or any given week
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um and so I think managers need to sort
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of start with that fundamental
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recognition that people are just in
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different structural positions and as a
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result
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all is not equal right it's an unequal
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playing field and that means that we
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need to develop ways of competencies
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around managing that it doesn't have to
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be a bad thing and as I mentioned before
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there's lots of advantages to it
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um but it needs to it needs to be
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actively managed and people need to have
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you know have recognition and assistance
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in building the competencies to manage
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that situation whether they're prepared
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people who are watching about the other
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people in the office both of them and
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the managers so does technology as part
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of kind of the the overall mix here does
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technology make it easier or harder for
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the manager to be able to do a lot of
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those things and it may be you know it
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may depend on manager to manager how
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they react to the use of zoom and and
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and texting and all of these different
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components that we now use more often
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yeah I think of course technology makes
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it easier oh we wouldn't be doing it at
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all right and the reason why hybrid work
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is now so widespread when it really
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didn't even you know as you say it
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wasn't even part of our vernacular for
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either four or five years ago
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um is is because of Technology without
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question right and the fact that Zoom
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you know came along and not only that it
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came along but that we all shot up that
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learning curve to a level that everybody
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even the the least technologically adapt
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managers could basically manage symbols
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now right and that has enabled this in a
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way that it just wouldn't have happened
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not nearly so fast otherwise we already
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had a lot of this technology and it
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wasn't happening so fast so technology
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makes it all possible but it doesn't
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make it all perfect
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um and I think there's a tendency to
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recognize sorry not to recognize that
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some of the imperfections are things
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that really need attention right and
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there's all sorts of stuff that happens
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when we rely on technology unthinkingly
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um that can be pretty dysfunctional
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actually for our ability to work
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together effectively collaborate things
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down the best possible way
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so when you're talking about the the
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idea of hybrid work there are a couple
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of different components I think that you
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have to bring up one being this idea of
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of flexible hybrid and the other being
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kind of a a fixed hybrid if you can't
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take us through both of those and and
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differentiate the one from the other
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yeah I mean I think it's it's a pretty
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um simple distinction the fixed hybrid
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just kind of means that idea that some
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people are always in the office and you
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know there most of the time and if not
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all the time whereas some people are
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always remote right and that's a pretty
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you know extreme version of the
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situation but we do see that a lot um in
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many organizations uh whereas the
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flexible hybrid is when you're kind of
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somebody the same person is in the
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office some days and out of the office
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other days of the week right and I think
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the distinction is important just to say
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that the the flexible hybrid I think is
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less problematic or you you're able to
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work through more of the issues and see
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more of the issues that come up when
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you've got people coming in and out of
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the opposite creates a lot of its own
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you know issues too but at least you're
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not having people who are never there
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and people who are always there because
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when you have that situation the fixed
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hybrid some of these sort of
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um
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tensions or divisions or potentially
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potential golfs and understanding and so
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on are much more extreme than when
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you've got people coming in and out and
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and I think in the reality is that many
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organizations have seen that and a lot
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of a lot of companies are using um the
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flexible hybrid where people are coming
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in and out you know during the weeks or
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in part because of those reasons does it
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does it bring you into play a component
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of the the the playing field not being
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level uh for all individuals because of
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these Dynamics being different from one
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another
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yeah so the Plainfield is particularly
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unlevel when you are in this fixed
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hybrid system where some people never
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come in and other people are always in
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because there you really you know some
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people who have consistently more access
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to resources and visibility to high
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level management than the people that
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were more remote right and so you know I
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think there are the sort of issues about
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the the lack of levelness in the playing
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field are really important to recognize
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um in a hybrid system or in a remote
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work system where people some people
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have more of this than others right or
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more access to some of these species of
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power
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um and but but it's also the case and
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important to recognize that some people
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may be worse affected by the same sort
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of distance as others rather than others
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so if you have people who uh you know so
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I've written a bit about women right in
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the workplace
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um who may have a natural disadvantage
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in some sense in a male dominated
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workplace for example
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um in terms of whether they speak up as
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much or listen to as much or give them
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the best assignments or I've meant to as
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much even when you're working all
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together in the office now when you add
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that to what we call a remote work
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penalty right we know that some of these
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issues happen when you work remotely
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right you're less likely to have access
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to mentoring it may be harder to network
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it may be harder to get the best
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assignments it may be harder to speak up
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and you're giving you a couple of those
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two things together there might be
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particular people well I just did a
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woman as one example but they're not the
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only example who are particularly
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disadvantaged structurally
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um unless we take you know unless we're
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really aware of this and work hard to
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kind of offset these disadvantages and I
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want to say it doesn't mean that it's a
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bad idea for women to work remotely or
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anybody else right I think there's
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really great reasons why a woman at a
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particular career stage in Canada
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particular life stage might choose to
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work remotely but you should recognize
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that you need to recognize and I just
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need to recognize that and come with
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what we call a double disadvantage of
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sort of being a little bit disappointed
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anyway and then you've got the remote
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work penalty on top of it and let me
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just add again not just women right so
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it can be underrepresented minorities it
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can be junior folks who you know don't
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really know their way around the
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organization very well
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um are relatively new it might be um
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non-native language speakers who don't
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feel that comfortable even face to face
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never mind when they're working remotely
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as well right in dinner in an
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organizational setting so for all sorts
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of people it's important to recognize
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that you know remote work has trade-offs
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and have some real benefits again but it
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can also be disadvantageous in a way
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that we may or may not recognize that we
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need to recognize that we're not kind of
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systematically disadvantage those people
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so so there are specific elements to
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specific challenges I should say uh of
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of hybrid work remote work because of
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the way that it is set up
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yeah I think there are you know you've
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got this kind of the fundamental kind of
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lack of levelness in the playing field
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and that plays itself out in a lot of
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different ways right so
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um I have that I've been using this
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framework a lot with some of the
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executives I teach um called the five
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C's or the fire that also there are many
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there are others too but these capture
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some of the most important I think
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challenges that we see kind of emerging
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as a result of this lack of levelness of
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the playing field right and so the five
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seas are around I mean some of these are
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very familiar To Us by at this point
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communication coordination connection
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creativity and culture right and so each
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of those
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um are you know have have the special
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challenges as a result of being of when
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you work in a hybrid system of course
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they all have their challenges even when
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you're not hybrid right but the fact
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that you have some people in the in the
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workplace in the office and some people
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not
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um can create particular challenge
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challenges around each of those five C's
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but it seems like culture is the one
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that is drawing a lot of attention these
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days and thinking about kind of the
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structure of what a company or what a
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manager wants around the office Place
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fair to say
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yeah I think that's a that's a really
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interesting conservation and and it's
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something that I noticed almost two
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years ago I was at a senior Retreat for
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our top CEOs top Executives and by
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facilitating a panel discussion which
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really had nothing to do with remote
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work at all literally two years ago and
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I was absolutely taken aback by how
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every single CEO on this panel there
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were three or four of them independently
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and sort of building on each other
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raised culture as the issue that they
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were really it was really top of mind
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and I think from a senior leader
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perspective I mean single need to do if
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we do it should think a lot about
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culture
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um and there's the question that hybrid
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work creates massive challenges for
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culture right if you just think about
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sort of traditional
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um you know traditional three aspects of
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how culture has maintained attraction a
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selection and retention right so culture
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is really important for attracting
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people but in order to be distinctive
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you have to have something distinctive
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about you and if you're sort of you know
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if you don't have a strong culture or a
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strong entity then what makes your
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investment Bank any different from any
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other Investment Bank that folks may
00:13:21
want to join rain
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um so that's the attraction piece you
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know um and then who do you select and
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who chooses to to you know who is really
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motivated to be there and wants to stay
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there over time right for junior people
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um culture is really important in
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helping to understand how things are
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done around here
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making sure the behaviors all sort of
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appropriate and are as productive as
00:13:44
they can possibly be and are ethical for
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example
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um but even for gender for senior people
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people have been there a long time right
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culture is really important for
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motivating people and keeping them
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excited or interested in coming to work
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and the less you have that the less kind
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of pool there is of the organization
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which is where you start getting
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published attention and people just you
00:14:02
know being being happy to job hop
00:14:04
because they don't see anything special
00:14:05
about your organization so culture is
00:14:08
you know that has all these different
00:14:10
ramifications let me also ask you about
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the the component of connection uh and
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how you see that playing out as well
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um when you're talking about uh the the
00:14:21
success I guess it could probably be on
00:14:23
a variety of fronts how connection could
00:14:25
you could end up having an impact
00:14:28
right so connection is partly
00:14:30
um you know technological connection
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right into the logistical how easy it is
00:14:35
for us to do handoffs and stuff like
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that but of course the big piece that
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we've seen
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um and increasingly became we were
00:14:41
pretty aware of it as soon as it
00:14:42
happened in the pandemic but it's
00:14:43
persisted is social connection right and
00:14:46
so the ability to socially connect is an
00:14:48
enormous part of what happens inside
00:14:50
organizations and that has
00:14:53
um big advantages it has disadvantages
00:14:56
sometimes we all know you know some
00:14:57
other social connections at work can be
00:14:58
pretty you know not really always good
00:15:00
and sometimes we don't like being face
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to face with our bosses and sometimes we
00:15:03
don't want to go for our drinks with our
00:15:05
colleagues and all this kind of stuff
00:15:06
right but there is something about that
00:15:08
social connection and belonging that you
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get from interacting with people face to
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face in a non-worth of sleep is just
00:15:14
chanting and corridors that is really
00:15:16
important to people's mental health and
00:15:18
well-being is part of what we've
00:15:19
discovered right
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um and like without that you know people
00:15:23
can sometimes get you know really lonely
00:15:25
award or non motivated by their work
00:15:27
um so there's there's that piece of it
00:15:29
but there's also a connection is also
00:15:31
really important to kind of connect
00:15:32
culture a little bit that way
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um for Innovation right and so one of
00:15:37
the things one of the reasons why you
00:15:39
know a lot of tech companies care about
00:15:41
having people in the office is because
00:15:42
it's those random connections that
00:15:44
people make in the workplace
00:15:46
um that can lead to new ideas sparking
00:15:49
right and it's the fact that I happen to
00:15:50
get chatting in the elevator to somebody
00:15:52
who was wearing a badge from a different
00:15:53
group and I realized oh you know what do
00:15:55
you do when they start chatting and then
00:15:57
I realize there's a connection right
00:15:59
um or maybe it's you know in the
00:16:00
cafeteria line and when when everything
00:16:02
is scheduled and we have to do
00:16:05
everything right assume we nearly always
00:16:07
are doing it with us the fixed set of
00:16:09
people right our opportunity to connect
00:16:11
with people we don't already know in the
00:16:12
organization is much lower in a in a
00:16:15
zoom or poly remote world than it isn't
00:16:17
a face-to-face world and so those
00:16:19
connections that spark new ideas and
00:16:21
Innovations
00:16:23
um are really much harder to make how do
00:16:25
you think then the role of the manager
00:16:28
kind of is able to deal with those five
00:16:31
C's so that they can make the best of
00:16:34
what is not a bad situation but it it
00:16:37
brings forward kind of more of a tenuous
00:16:39
situation
00:16:42
yeah I think that one of the things that
00:16:44
we just we're that we're at a point
00:16:46
where what managers really need to be
00:16:47
doing is is continuing um if they you
00:16:50
know hopefully they were already to
00:16:51
think actively about
00:16:54
um what is going on in their hybrid
00:16:56
workplace and whether it's as good as it
00:16:57
can be because I think the the risk of
00:16:59
being where we are in this sort of
00:17:01
learning curve on hybrid work is that
00:17:04
we've kind of settled into something
00:17:05
many organizations at this point that
00:17:07
pretty much works you know
00:17:08
um and isn't terrible and is probably
00:17:10
pretty good and it's very easy to just
00:17:12
kind of say okay let's get on with this
00:17:15
now and do the work and try to normalize
00:17:17
right and not to realize that we may not
00:17:19
be doing as well on one of the five C's
00:17:21
or something else related to hybrid work
00:17:23
that I haven't mentioned like Rewards or
00:17:25
incentives right that we really need to
00:17:28
pay attention to so I think it's very
00:17:29
important at the stage for managers to
00:17:32
be taking the time to evaluate and
00:17:35
review where they are for example on the
00:17:37
five C's right
00:17:38
um and you know it can be as simple as
00:17:40
going through a checklist to you know
00:17:41
that's give give ourselves a grade right
00:17:43
maybe I do that as a senior manager or I
00:17:45
have everybody on my team also do that
00:17:47
let's see if we agree you right are we
00:17:49
you know great on you know communication
00:17:52
on coordination on connection on
00:17:54
creativity and on culture or do we see
00:17:56
areas where we you know there's room fat
00:17:58
treatment and if so we need to take a
00:18:00
step back brainstorm think about what we
00:18:03
can do better and try to implement that
00:18:05
and then you know review that another
00:18:06
six months down the line but sort of
00:18:08
settling into a pattern that's
00:18:10
potentially sub-optimal I think is a big
00:18:12
risk of where we are given how
00:18:14
exhausting all these transitions have
00:18:15
been in the last few years and the fact
00:18:17
that now things are pretty you know
00:18:18
relatively stable and so they stay that
00:18:20
way and it and it probably makes it a
00:18:23
challenge for the manager to try and
00:18:26
make the workplace as Fair as possible
00:18:28
for everybody because of all these
00:18:30
Dynamics yeah and so being aware which
00:18:33
means it's hard to be aware of
00:18:34
everything all the time right but at
00:18:36
least sort of scheduling in you know
00:18:38
every couple of months or every six
00:18:40
months of this let's review how people
00:18:41
are feeling about where they're working
00:18:43
and whether that's still working for
00:18:44
them maybe they want the option to
00:18:45
change because we know people's
00:18:46
circumstances always change throughout
00:18:48
their lives but also particularly in the
00:18:50
last in the last few years have been
00:18:51
changing regularly right and then asking
00:18:54
people I think you know and observing
00:18:57
um and asking managers you know do
00:18:58
people have the skills they need to be
00:19:00
working this way right and so if they
00:19:04
and that kind of goes back to this idea
00:19:06
of hybrid competence right so if you are
00:19:08
depending on where you are you know in
00:19:10
the office or working remotely or you're
00:19:12
a manager you kind of have a different
00:19:14
set of responsibilities
00:19:16
um related to trying to build hybrid
00:19:18
competence right I think the important
00:19:20
Point here is it's not just about the
00:19:21
person who's working remotely right it's
00:19:22
not the burden it's not only on them to
00:19:25
make sure that they speak up and are
00:19:27
heard and I listen to and are
00:19:29
representatives are not able to make
00:19:30
connections and everything else they
00:19:33
have for sure responsibility to do that
00:19:34
need to recognize that but it's also the
00:19:36
people who are in the office who need to
00:19:38
make sure that they are including the
00:19:40
people who are working remotely and
00:19:41
making space in time for them in the
00:19:43
conversations and not leaving them out
00:19:45
of importance or even magnet decisions
00:19:47
which is obviously something we can
00:19:48
easily you know we easily do where
00:19:50
people are not around right
00:19:52
um and so it's the people who are
00:19:53
working remotely it's people are in the
00:19:55
office and then it's the manager whether
00:19:57
it's of the team or of the organization
00:19:59
who needs to keep the whole thing in
00:20:00
balance and then you know it's short
00:20:01
that both sides are doing that and kind
00:20:03
of intervening is needed
00:20:05
um to make sure that you know everybody
00:20:06
is kind of where they need to be
00:20:09
Martine always great to talk to you and
00:20:11
get your Insight thanks very much all
00:20:13
the best thanks Dan great to talk to you
00:20:15
take care you too as well uh Martine
00:20:17
Haas Wharton management professor and
00:20:19
also director of the water Institute
00:20:21
thank you for listening to the ripple
00:20:23
effect we hope you found this episode
00:20:24
informative and engaging don't forget to
00:20:27
subscribe and leave us a review so that
00:20:29
we can continue to bring you the best
00:20:31
Insight from the warden School

Episode Highlights

  • The State of Hybrid Work
    Hybrid work has become a sweet spot for many organizations, balancing remote and in-office needs.
    “It feels like a good compromise between the tensions and benefits of both sides.”
    @ 01m 50s
    September 12, 2023
  • Challenges of Hybrid Work
    Hybrid work introduces power differences based on visibility and access to resources.
    “All is not equal; it’s an unequal playing field.”
    @ 04m 53s
    September 12, 2023
  • The Importance of Culture
    Culture is crucial for attracting and retaining talent in a hybrid work environment.
    “If you don’t have a strong culture, what makes your organization special?”
    @ 13m 16s
    September 12, 2023
  • The Importance of Evaluation
    Managers should regularly assess their team's performance on key areas like communication and culture.
    “It's important for managers to evaluate where they are.”
    @ 17m 32s
    September 12, 2023
  • Shared Responsibility in Hybrid Work
    Both remote and in-office employees must ensure inclusivity and communication.
    “It's not just about the person working remotely; it's a shared responsibility.”
    @ 19m 20s
    September 12, 2023

Episode Quotes

  • The pandemic has come and gone, but hybrid work is here to stay.
    Remote Work: What Are the Pros and Cons? with Wharton's Martine Haas — Ripple Effect Podcast
  • Hybrid work creates real variation in people's experiences of work.
    Remote Work: What Are the Pros and Cons? with Wharton's Martine Haas — Ripple Effect Podcast
  • Technology makes hybrid work possible, but it doesn’t make it perfect.
    Remote Work: What Are the Pros and Cons? with Wharton's Martine Haas — Ripple Effect Podcast
  • Culture is really important for attracting people to your organization.
    Remote Work: What Are the Pros and Cons? with Wharton's Martine Haas — Ripple Effect Podcast
  • It's important for managers to evaluate where they are.
    Remote Work: What Are the Pros and Cons? with Wharton's Martine Haas — Ripple Effect Podcast
  • It's not just about the person working remotely; it's a shared responsibility.
    Remote Work: What Are the Pros and Cons? with Wharton's Martine Haas — Ripple Effect Podcast

Key Moments

  • Power Differences03:47
  • Technology's Role06:20
  • Cultural Challenges12:56
  • Connection and Innovation16:21
  • Manager Evaluation17:32
  • Hybrid Competence19:06
  • Inclusivity in Work19:47

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown

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