Too much freedom?

Mano straipsnio turinysI had sessions with a few leaders who recently have joined the organization or have been promoted to a role and they struggle with discipline at their team. People are used to “free and easy” environment, little or no rules, and new leaders struggle to implement any discipline. They are met with hostility: “everything was better before you came, “why do we need new rules if we deliver”, “don’t break it if it’s working”.

Transitioning from a "anything goes" position to one of "discipline" can be a challenge, but there are ways to make this transition more smoothly.

I will give a recent example of working from home policy. A new leader came to run a department and there was a lot of freedom to come to the office at random hours and work from home anytime. However, team members started complaining that not everyone does the same workload, some people are very difficult to reach, some misuse work from home and others have to be available in the office instead.

Here are some key steps on any transition:

• Understanding the Need. The first step is to understand why this transition is necessary. Perhaps it has been observed that the current super relaxed environment is causing more stress. Understanding the necessity is crucial in supporting the changes. In the example, team itself saw that current state is not working, but didn’t want to lose the benefits of looser working from home. Leader has decided to give equal possibilities to work from home to everyone, however, they would have to participate in person for team’s meeting so that everyone can participate in task planning and make decisions together.

• Communication: Communicate the transition from "anything goes" to discipline to the entire organization. Explain the reasons and goals you aim to achieve with this transition. The new working policy was communicated to the entire organization of how these employees can be reached in person and in what ways otherwise. It was also made clear to the organization how the employees like to get different requests, which media so that are not bombarded with random messages and requests that can get lost in chats.

• Establish Rules and Procedures: Set clear rules and procedures that must be followed. Ensure that all employees know and understand these rules. So the leader have decided to implement 10 days of work from home per month where employees can choose the days and in the office the rest of the days and during team meeting days.

• Training and Education: Provide training and education to your employees so they know what is expected of them and how to do it correctly. Some people in the team have been struggling using online systems, some were not aware that they need to be available for calls and chats even if they work at home.

• Lead by Example: leaders should be an example to other employees. Follow to the established rules. Leader had the same exact working hours and work from home policy.

• Regular check-in: Monitor how the team adapts to these changes. Regularly assess and update rules as time goes. In the future, the leader has agreed to review if 10 days is too much or too little. They have decided to prolong this time during summer period.

• Cultivate a Culture: Encourage discipline in the culture: include recognition and rewards as well as feedback or training when people deviate from the rules. Employees who were not performing well and were not responding to the calls, work from home policy was suspended.

• Announce Achievements: communicate the results to the organization thus motivating your employees to continue with the progress. Other departments have decided to follow a similar structure, the number of complaints of un-responded tasks has gone down.