Jun 23, 2022
David Stoddard is COO and Partner at Barnett Waddingham, a leading independent UK professional services consultancy at the forefront of risk, pensions, investment and insurance, with almost 1,500 employees in 9 offices.
(By the way, Pilar was very impressed by their website, have a look.)
David is the Chief Operating
Officer, one of 100 partners, and he leads the non-client facing
areas of the business, including the transformation across the
business - Work Smart. The company has 9 offices across the
UK.
Pre-pandemic, the office was at the centre of
the work and the hub of connection.
David and his team surveyed the employees
through a regular pulse check throughout the pandemic, as they were
concerned that people felt disconnected and were going through
difficult times. They surveyed how people were feeling, what was
working well, what wasn’t working well, etc.
Some
of the things they found when they surveyed their people confirmed
their expectations, like people seeing a benefit of working
together, and the benefit of having more time to work in a focused
way, and the work life balance that the pandemic had provided. It
was also very clear that everyone’s experience was personal, and
had different views on what the best ways of working were.
The
team also found a few surprises amongst the survey replies, like
the fact that some people had adopted pets during the pandemic and
so were concerned about having to leave them in order to go to the
office.
The
organisation is now adopting the Work Smart framework, but with the
knowledge that each part of the business is very different, eg some
dispersed team which are client-facing, some teams where
individuals benefit from focus solo time etc.
Clients shared much of the feedback with what
they’d had from their colleagues. Clients also find the benefit of
getting together in person, for example every three months, or at
the beginning of the relationship. However, when there is already
trust within a relationship, this is not as important, and meetings
can take place online. In fact, throughout this process, they have
been able to share some of their learnings with their clients, as
they were also adapting to different ways of working.
18.50mins
The intention of the Work Smart framework is to create a framework that’s best for clients, colleagues and culture. Underpinning it is the belief that some activities at Barnett Waddingham are done best face to face, for example being immersed in a call when you have just joined the company. Apprentices and graduates can learn by osmosis by being in the same physical space.
At the same time there are some
activities which are best done in quiet spaces, and for some people
that will be the home - but some people will prefer to do these
activities in the office.
Being conscious of what you’re
doing and why during these experiments is important. Asking people
to come back to the office needs to be more deliberate and the
benefits of people being physically together need to be made
explicit.
The “contract” with work has changed from the
default being to go into the office, to consciously choosing to do
so, or request so.
Leaders in the organisation also need to change
how they work, as working with an office-based team is different to
learning a hybrid team.
29.15mins
There is a risk of “cultural drift” happening
over time, if you don’t deliberately work to sustain the culture of
the organisation. People tend to be members of different teams, so
there is the question of where do you form the greatest sense of
connection or belonging? Probably with your immediate team, but
then how do you connect to the broader culture? Social events are
one example of bringing people together from different parts of the
organisation.
There will be a period of adjustment as people
discover what it’s like to be in the office now, as opposed to in
the past. Meanwhile, David and his colleagues are still
testing new ways of working, refining the technology, adapting
their facilities and training their people. David believes hybrid
is here to stay, and you can resist it, or embrace it. If you
embrace it and get it right, you can create a sustainable and
competitive advantage.