What to do to make work truly smart

The transition has begun! Just a few days after the government and unions gave the green light to the national protocol with guidelines to regulate “agile” work, it is now clear that smart working (not to be confused with tele-working) will be the main modus operandi for people and companies, regardless of whether they work from home or the office.

As I pointed out recently in an interview with Il Sole 24 Ore, however, many changes are needed at the individual and organizational levels for a turnaround to take place that can spread new ways of working and doing business that jointly ensure results and individual and organizational well-being.

In “Lean Lifestyle Strategy” I devoted two specific chapters to the topic and shared the eight steps that I believe should be approached very carefully by companies when planning a transition to smart working:

1. Consolidation of hardware and software infrastructure system
2. Defining new organizational rules, process revisions, operating principles, and key habits
3. Defining the new performance management criteria
4. Design and delivery of a specific training plan
5. Design and implementation of a specific communication system
6. Design and implementation of a digital knowledge management system
7. Implementation plan with monitoring and review steps
8. Initiation and execution of smart working, monitoring and continuous improvement cycles

In this article, I want to delve into the second step and share some business rules that have proven to be very effective in practice: rules and practical principles that make it possible to combine operational effectiveness with people’s quality of life.

9 business rules for smart working

1. Avoid meeting overload.
   The ease of organizing a remote meeting does not mean that all meetings are useful. So? Delete, merge, reduce duration, reduce participants.
2. Establish boundaries and set a day of the week with no meetings,either physical or virtual.
   Work should not be confused with meetings! If you set time rules a priori in the conduct of meetings you will achieve more effectiveness and less stress.
3. Apply the rules of slotting and establish regular cadences for subject areas.
   Do not leave the choice of time of day to hold meetings to chance. Advice? The morning concentrates individual or at most small group work and meetings all in the afternoon.
4. Appoint a leader for each meeting.
   It can be the same person who convened it and will be responsible for granting the floor, following up on the agenda, keeping time, and developing the final action plan.
5. Establish and disseminate a shared method for managing video conferencing.
   Trivial? Perhaps so, but common sense does not go hand in hand with good practice. Then, define the rules of remote meeting management to avoid wasted time and inefficiency.
6. Establish moments of measurement and surveying.
   Surveys, interviews, data analysis: more than before, the company needs to constantly listen to what is happening in employees’ work lives.
7. Help employees establish a fixed place in the home to devote to work.
   Equipping the worker with technical equipment is the minimum. It is also important to help him with financial contributions to equip himself with physical spaces that help him work better (e.g., desk, ergonomic chair, headphones).
8. Helping employees define space-time boundaries.
   Even the smart working protocol has stipulated this: working from home does not mean being available h24! Yes, to moments of absolute disconnection that allow work and family spheres to be separated.
9. Constantly monitor people’s energy and concentration levels.
   At home, distractions multiply, multitasking can increase, and thus stress can also increase and decrease the quality of work. You must frequently gather feedback from the field to understand how to help people work with more results, agility and well-being.
   

And what rules would you like to add? What operating principles have you applied or would you like to apply? From sharing our experiences we can contribute together to making our organizations Lean Lifestyle Companies, companies that aspire to create maximum value and express their full human, technological and organizational potential.

See you soon and Happy Lean Lifestyle!