My father worked for the same company for his entire career. He started out as a junior, did his exams at night school and ended up as a director. His progression through the business was carefully managed by his betters, taking time in each department to learn the broad skills and people networks needed to advance in an orderly and timely manner. It was all laid out for him and he worked hard – he was a company man and part of a community.
When I started work it was already quite different. Corporations used to have inhouse departments dealing with every aspect of their business. It gave control and allowed people like my father the opportunity to learn how the whole business worked, but it was inefficient and, in the drive to increase margin, many departmental capabilities were outsourced. Working for a design consultancy I was part of that new satellite system. We were sub-contracted by companies like Hoover that used to have inhouse design teams.
After my father’s experience I was surprised by the complete lack of a development plan, but soon got used to the more organic way that existed within the design community. I picked up skills, knowledge and experience rubbing shoulders with a wide array of people working in my discipline. Yet we still worked very closely with our clients and spent a great deal of time together, so our skill sets rubbed off on each other and our knowledge on both sides broadened. It built a strong appreciation and respect across business functions and made our collaborations effective, productive and enjoyable.
In the early 90s Charles Handy, the business philosopher, described the shift in corporate structure in the ‘Age of Unreason’ as the Shamrock Model with core, peripheral and contract workers interacting to form a whole. It makes sense, being more efficient, flexible and dynamic, but he later he goes on to warn in the ‘Empty Raincoat’ about the problems if a balance is not kept. With his warnings unheeded what we have today is a dynamic business model that is being unbalanced by economics and time. One critical aspect of this imbalance is the loss of that invaluable accumulation and application of broad knowledge. It’s the top bar of T shaped thinking that’s withering away. To work well as an effective business team, you need to apply breadth as well as depth to your thinking.
The lockdown was a tipping point. Prior to that we gathered at each other’s offices for meetings, visited factories and R&D centres and got the tour. We ate Prêt sandwiches together over lunch, we gathered at workshops and travelled abroad and dined together in the evening. This was not wasted time. At every point we exchanged information, knowledge, advice and opinion; we learnt from each other, we appreciated each other. We have returned to more normal ways of working but not to the same degree. The lock down brought the video call which saved us at the time – we could work solo and from home! It was so easy, efficient and yet, as a consequence, removed the supposably superfluous social interactions- no time to top and tail a meeting with a chat – we got the job done, clicked leave and join the next one.
Businesses are continually being squeezed in the name of efficiency. They are short staffed yet facing further redundancies, so the video call is here to stay as it permits yet more tasks to be squeezed in that appear on the to-do list. It allowed ‘work from home’ so commute time could also be put to better effect.
Perhaps fed up with the rat race, many elder statesmen and women seem to have taken early retirement without passing on their deep knowledge. The next layer of management, pressed for time and left without their mentors will not easily attain the level of judgment their predecessors possessed and have little time to nurture their team below.
Formal training plays a role, but it is the peripheral knowledge that is threatened. Few of our junior marketing clients know what a Pantone colour is, or how a label is printed. It’s not part of their core job but they may be asked to make decisions on colours that could have implications on cost, time or quality down the line. We are always happy to explain but we are noticing that many are unwilling to admit their lack of understanding in formal meetings and there is little time to gauge their knowledge level, or the informal situations to correct it offline. The more they know how we work and the more we understand their situation the better the collaboration.
So, this is my call to action – make the effort to meet in person! Get into the office more often and encourage more social reasons to do so. Why not come and work for a day in our place and we will come and work at yours? Shut down the Miro board and gather at workshops for a day or two. Don’t have lunch at your desk and find time for a tea break and a chat. Mentors find a mentee and mentees find a mentor but not just in your team – try another department or even an outside contractor, you will find them willing. Once we start to meet face to face our natural instincts to socialise will return with all the benefits that will bring.
