Hello Hybrid Playbook

DORIS Research is a fantastic team of design thinking experts, dedicated to user insights that help leaders make better decisions. They research the workplace, productivity, people and culture. When the pandemic hit, there was no doubt the number of offices shutting down would inspire people to rethink the purpose of the office. 

 

As researchers, DORIS knew this was their opportunity to help vision that future. 

 

This came in a two part study, the first titled “The Future of Work,” where through semi structured interviews and a virtual usability study around productivity produced a number of insights around innovation, collaboration, accessibility, strategy, and productivity. 

 

But what are insights without action items. 

 

This is where I was brought into the project, taking insights and turning them into something usable for leaders. Here are the three things we included in our book that separates us from a “how to” list: 

 

A good goal

I know, I know, you might be thinking “duh!” Starting with a well formed goal seems obvious, but it’s easier said than done. And when we looked at the number of variables that go into creating a hybrid space, the list seemed to be endless. (See figure 1 for the index)

 

We started each section of our book with getting a baseline for what decisions a team wanted to make. We then formatted the sections with a thought starter activity, data to give context around the topic, a decision making activity, and finally a communication and action plan. But more on that last part later. 

 

Consensus building 

Each activity was designed to make a decision. Some decisions were around when people should be working, where they should be working and who was eligible to work remotely. Other decisions were thinking about what an organization might provide to employees who are working remotely, such as a stipend for office supplies. 

 

What made our approach unique was that we leveraged. Divergent and convergent thinking. Ideally, each member of a Return to Office team would have their own booklet. This allowed us to have everyone on the team answer the same question individually before having to share their thoughts. This prevented the loudest voice in the room from being the only decision maker, a common challenge when facilitating. 

 

Communication and action planning

Last but not least, the most important factor in our work book. Data and decisions are nothing without a plan to execute it. At the end of each section was a carefully created worksheet around communicating the decisions to employees, and what next steps needed to happen to implement the decisions made. 

 

When facilitating, I see frequently teams come to a decision and leave it to chance that someone will pick up the initiatives and they will magically get done. Not this time. We asked what executive will champion the new policy, and because we know executives are busy, we asked who will support the executive. Change is most effective when supported at the top level of an organization, so it was important to keep the leader in the loop.

 

Overall, the book sold 300 + copies and is now available on Amazon. The book didn’t bring in the most revenue for our organization, but did allow us to put our money where our mouth was as experts in facilitating leaders through complex decision making processes.