Debbie Lovich: 3 tips for leaders to get the future of work right | TED

Summary

This speech challenges the outdated, rigid work structures rooted in the industrial era. The speaker reflects on how the COVID-19 pandemic revealed the potential of flexible, trust-based work models, emphasizing collaboration across silos without bureaucratic hurdles. They urge leaders to maintain this progress by trusting their employees, using data-driven approaches, and rethinking traditional schedules. Through examples like Dropbox and Mr. Cooper Group, the speaker highlights successful remote and flexible work transformations, advocating for a more humane, productive future of work that prioritizes people's needs and engagement.

Takeaways

• 🛣️ The roads of Boston are often thought to be based on old cow paths, symbolizing outdated and inefficient practices.
• 🏭 Work structures are still based on industrial revolution models, with fixed job descriptions, time, and location.
• 🚀 COVID-19 forced a rethinking of work, removing low-value tasks and fostering trust, collaboration, and flexibility.
• 🤝 Trust became essential during the pandemic, showing that people could be productive without micromanagement.
• 📊 Leaders must adopt a data-driven approach, as workers have diverse preferences and experiences, even within the same family.
• 🧪 Experimentation is crucial in shaping the future of work. Companies should test flexible work models and gather feedback.
• 🕒 The future of work isn't just about schedules, but also reducing unnecessary tasks like long commutes and redundant meetings.
• 💡 Companies like Dropbox and Mr. Cooper Group are successfully adopting remote-first or home-centric models.
• 👥 Call center workers at Mr. Cooper Group thrived with remote work, leading to improved productivity and satisfaction.
• 🌍 Leaders must rethink traditional work models to attract and retain talent, leveraging flexibility and trust for a better future of work.

Q & A

What is the speaker's main argument about the current state of work?

The speaker argues that the current model of work, with fixed job descriptions and rigid schedules, is outdated and based on industrial-era practices. They suggest that work should be reimagined to allow for greater flexibility, trust, and a more human-centered approach.

How does the speaker compare Boston’s roads to the traditional work model?

The speaker compares Boston's winding, nonsensical roads, said to have been built over cow paths, to the rigid structure of the traditional work model. Just as it doesn't make sense to base a city on cow paths, it doesn't make sense to base modern work on outdated systems from the industrial revolution.

What does the speaker suggest happened to low-value work during the COVID-19 pandemic?

During the COVID-19 pandemic, low-value work largely disappeared, and people worked together across teams and companies to get things done. The focus shifted away from rigid job descriptions and more towards collaboration and adaptability.

What does the speaker believe is one of the main reasons for the backlash against return-to-office announcements?

The speaker believes the backlash against return-to-office announcements is due to the gap in perspective between senior leaders and employees. While leaders may want to return to pre-pandemic structures, employees have experienced greater flexibility, trust, and autonomy during the pandemic, and they don't want to go back to the old ways.

What is the speaker’s first tip for creating the future of work?

The speaker’s first tip is to trust your people. Employees have proven their trustworthiness throughout the pandemic, and leaders should focus on creating a trusting culture rather than imposing rigid rules.

Why does the speaker emphasize being data-driven when redesigning work?

The speaker emphasizes being data-driven because people's needs and preferences vary greatly, even within the same organization. Instead of relying on senior leaders' opinions, companies should gather data from employees and experiment with different work models to learn what works best for their teams.

What does the speaker mean by 'thinking beyond the schedule'?

By 'thinking beyond the schedule,' the speaker suggests that reimagining work should go beyond simply offering two days of remote work. Instead, companies should take this opportunity to redesign work entirely by eliminating unnecessary meetings, long commutes, and rigid schedules.

How did Dropbox change its work model after COVID-19?

Dropbox moved to a remote-first work model after COVID-19, pushing for more asynchronous work. They also implemented core collaboration hours to ensure workers across different time zones had overlapping periods for real-time collaboration.

What was the leadership team's initial reaction to the idea of home-centric work at the Mr. Cooper Group?

The leadership team at the Mr. Cooper Group was initially hesitant about adopting a home-centric work model. They raised concerns about onboarding, training, coaching, and maintaining company culture. However, they were convinced after realizing how much their call center operators valued the flexibility of working from home.

What is the speaker's overall mission for the future of work?

The speaker’s mission is to ensure that companies don’t revert to the rigid, bureaucratic work models of the past. Instead, they advocate for a more flexible, humane, and engaging future of work that prioritizes trust, data, and rethinking traditional structures.

Outlines

00:00

🐄 The Origins of Modern Work Structures

The speaker reflects on how outdated work structures, much like Boston's roads formed from cow paths, are no longer suitable for today's world. Work practices established during the industrial revolution have persisted despite significant changes in the nature of work. The speaker shares how the COVID-19 pandemic forced a shift in these work structures, breaking down silos, fostering collaboration, and giving workers more agency. The future of work must not revert to old, rigid models but should build on the trust and flexibility that emerged during the pandemic.

05:03

🤝 Building a Trusting Work Culture

The speaker emphasizes that trust is essential in the future of work, as most workers have proven their reliability throughout the pandemic. Rather than creating rules that cater to a small number of abusers, leaders should focus on nurturing a culture of trust. This not only motivates and retains employees but also reduces the time spent enforcing unnecessary rules. Trust, therefore, becomes a cornerstone for creating a productive, engaged workforce.

10:04

📊 Data-Driven Decisions for a Flexible Future

Leaders are often convinced their opinions are facts, but the speaker argues that the future of work requires a data-driven approach. People have different needs, as illustrated by the speaker's twin sons who reacted differently to remote schooling. Leaders should gather data by experimenting with various work setups and surveying employees regularly. By doing so, they can learn what works best for their teams, fostering a more effective and personalized work environment.

🕒 Rethinking Work Beyond Traditional Schedules

The speaker challenges the idea that remote work should be limited to just a few days a week. Instead, this moment is an opportunity to rethink how work is structured, reducing long commutes, unnecessary meetings, and rigid schedules. Companies like Dropbox and Mr. Cooper Group have embraced remote and asynchronous work models, enhancing flexibility while maintaining collaboration. By thinking beyond conventional schedules, organizations can create more humane and productive workplaces.

💼 Innovating the Future of Work Through Flexibility

Kelly Ann Doherty from the Mr. Cooper Group helped her leadership team recognize the benefits of a home-centric model for call center operators. By addressing concerns about training, mentoring, and culture, she convinced her team to embrace flexibility. This approach not only improved employee satisfaction and productivity but also attracted new talent pools, such as military spouses. The speaker applauds such initiatives as examples of reimagining work for a more flexible, productive, and humane future.

Keywords

💡Cow Paths

This term is used metaphorically in the script to describe outdated or inefficient systems and practices in work culture. Just as Boston's roads were humorously described as being built on old cow paths, the speaker likens current work structures—such as rigid office schedules and traditional management styles—to these winding, inefficient paths. The term signifies the need for a more flexible and intentional design of modern work environments.

💡Trust

Trust is a central theme in the video, especially regarding remote work. The speaker argues that during the COVID-19 pandemic, leaders had to trust their employees to be productive without constant oversight. This trust led to unprecedented levels of autonomy, flexibility, and accountability among workers. The speaker emphasizes that trust is essential for building a positive work culture that can attract, retain, and motivate employees, rather than relying on restrictive rules and micromanagement.

💡Future of Work

The 'Future of Work' refers to the evolving landscape of how work is structured, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The speaker suggests that the future of work should not revert to the old, rigid practices of fixed schedules and physical office spaces. Instead, it should embrace flexibility, data-driven approaches, and employee-centric models. The goal is to create a work environment that is more engaging, productive, and humane.

💡Data-Driven

Being 'data-driven' means making decisions based on actual data and evidence rather than opinions or assumptions. In the context of the video, the speaker advocates for using data to understand employees' preferences and needs, especially when designing new work models. For example, companies are encouraged to collect feedback from employees about their experiences over the past 18 months to create a work environment that suits different individuals.

💡Great Resignation

The 'Great Resignation' is a term used to describe the mass exodus of employees from their jobs in response to the rigid return-to-office mandates post-COVID-19. The speaker highlights this phenomenon to show the disconnect between senior leaders and employees' desires. Many employees experienced greater autonomy and flexibility during the pandemic and are now reluctant to return to the previous, more restrictive work environments.

💡Flexibility

Flexibility refers to the ability of employees to choose how, when, and where they work. The speaker stresses that the pandemic has proven that workers can be productive without being tied to a fixed location or schedule. Flexibility became a crucial aspect of work during the pandemic, allowing employees to manage their personal and professional lives more effectively. The speaker argues that maintaining this flexibility is key to the future of work.

💡Hybrid Work Model

The hybrid work model is a blend of remote and in-office work, allowing employees to split their time between working from home and the office. While not explicitly named in the video, it is implied in discussions about flexibility and remote-first models. The speaker advocates for a thoughtful approach to hybrid work, ensuring it is not just a simple schedule change but a reimagining of how work can be more effective and engaging.

💡Culture of Trust

A culture of trust involves creating an environment where employees feel trusted and empowered to manage their work without micromanagement. In the video, the speaker points out that a trusting culture will not only improve motivation and job satisfaction but also reduce the need for strict rules and constant oversight. This culture was put to the test during the pandemic when employees had to work remotely, and many proved their ability to deliver results independently.

💡Experimentation

Experimentation in the context of the video refers to the process of trying out different work models and strategies to find what works best. The speaker emphasizes the importance of treating the evolution of work as an ongoing experiment, with hypotheses, control groups, data collection, and revisions. This approach allows organizations to learn and adapt rather than assuming a one-size-fits-all model for all employees.

💡Asynchronous Work

Asynchronous work means that employees do not need to work simultaneously. Instead, they can complete their tasks at different times, allowing for more flexibility and accommodating various schedules. In the video, the speaker mentions Dropbox's shift to a 'remote-first' model that prioritizes asynchronous work to enhance collaboration without the constraints of fixed working hours. This approach can reduce the need for constant meetings and help employees achieve better work-life balance.

Highlights

Urban legend has it that Boston's roads were paved over cow paths, which reflects how we've structured work in similarly outdated ways.

The industrial revolution brought fixed times, places, and roles for work, and this model hasn't changed much even for knowledge workers.

During COVID-19, many low-value tasks disappeared, and people collaborated across silos to get things done, showing how adaptable work can be.

Leaders had to trust their employees during the pandemic, which resulted in improved productivity without the usual bureaucracy.

The future of work shouldn't return to rigid structures but should embrace the flexibility, trust, and accountability employees experienced during the pandemic.

Senior leaders often want to return to pre-COVID work models, but employees have experienced newfound agency and don't want to go back.

The difference in perspective between senior leaders and employees is a key driver behind the backlash to return-to-office mandates and the 'great resignation.'

To create a better future of work, leaders must trust their employees, use data-driven approaches, and think beyond traditional schedules.

COVID-19 exposed how differently people work—like two genetically identical twins with vastly different preferences—showing that work models need to be adaptable.

Experimentation is crucial: companies should test flexible work models, collect data, and make adjustments based on employee feedback.

The future of work isn't just about remote work; it's about eliminating inefficient practices like long commutes, unnecessary meetings, and administrative tasks.

Companies like Dropbox are embracing remote-first models, with asynchronous collaboration and core collaboration hours for team efficiency.

Mr. Cooper Group adopted a home-centric model for their call center employees, who reported higher productivity and job satisfaction.

Leadership teams at companies like Mr. Cooper are using data and employee feedback to rethink traditional office work, enabling flexibility while maintaining productivity.

This is a unique moment to design a future of work that is more engaging, productive, and humane, making work better for both companies and employees.

Transcripts

Transcriber:

When I moved from New York to Boston in 1989,

I completely lost my sense of direction.

It wasn't me, though,

it was those winding, nonsensical Boston roads.

Urban legend has it that in Boston,

they paved over cow paths to form the very roads we have today.

Now, if you're an urban planner designing a city from scratch,

you would not base it on how the cows wandered.

And if you think about it,

that's exactly what we've done with work.

Hundreds of years ago, in the industrial revolution,

people left their homes to perform repetitive tasks

in the fixed time and place of the factory floor.

And when knowledge workers entered the scene,

we kept the same model,

this time with fixed job descriptions and fields of cubicles from nine to five.

Even globalization and technology did little to change the dynamic.

Fixed time, place and job descriptions are the cow paths of work.

And like cow paths for roads, it just doesn’t make any sense.

I've been challenging and changing how companies work for the past 15 years,

starting with my own company, Boston Consulting Group,

and then with dozens of other Fortune 500 organizations.

And I have to tell you something amazing happened to work

during the tragedy of COVID-19,

especially those first weeks and months.

If you remember,

all the low-value work disappeared.

It didn't matter what your job technically was.

People just worked together across silos and even companies

to get stuff done wherever, whenever, however it was needed.

Leaders simply had to trust their people.

They didn't have time for endless steering committees

or death by PowerPoint.

We just needed to trust people to deliver,

and they did.

So I'm on a mission.

A mission to bottle these great work practices

and not go back to the old ways.

And yes, of course, I want to get rid of endless back-to-back zooms

and loneliness and days that blend into evenings.

But we have to make sure we don't go back

to the rigid, structured, bureaucratic,

sluggish ways that sucked the joy out of work.

And I have to tell you,

the future of work is not going to be created

with top-down, opinion-driven edicts

from senior leaders whose day-to-day realities

don't match those of us dual-career, time-pressed and income-pressed people.

Of course, senior leaders want to go back.

That worked for them.

But they have to recognize that for 18 months now,

their people experienced unprecedented agency, control, flexibility,

trust and accountability.

And people don't want to go back.

And it's this difference in perspective from senior leaders and their people

that's one of the main reasons driving so much backlash

to all these return-to-office announcements over the past months,

with employees venting on social media

and quitting in what’s being called the “great resignation.”

And employees, I don't blame you.

But before you take to social media and walk,

try talking to your leaders,

tell them what you loved about the past 18 months.

Tell them what you want to keep.

They might be more receptive than you think.

And leaders, let me share three tips --

rather three must-do’s -- to get the future of work right.

Number one, trust your people.

Millions of workers and employees have proved their trustworthiness

since March 2020.

But even with that, so many leaders want to go backwards.

As part of the work I do, I've spoken with hundreds of leaders

over the past 18 months,

and I get some really crazy questions.

One is, "Well, Debbie, how can I tell if my workers are productive

when they're working from home?"

And I can't help but say,

"Well, how do you know they were productive

when they were in the office?"

Just because you could see someone, doesn't mean they're productive.

Or I have to love this, "You know, when it's safe to go back to the office,

we're going to let people work from home two days a week,

as long as it's not a Monday or Friday

because we don't trust them not to slack off and take long weekends."

What does that say about the culture of trust?

Will there be abusers? Of course, but they'll be a tiny few.

So why make rules for the vast majority

who've earned your trust every day for the past 18 months?

A trusting culture will not only attract, retain and motivate your people,

it'll also save you a lot of time enforcing rules.

So that's number one.

Trust your people.

Number two, be data-driven.

We all have our opinions about how work should be done,

and the more senior we are, the more we're convinced

that our opinions are not just opinion, but they're fact, they're truth.

But one thing COVID’s taught us is that people are so different.

I have genetically identical 17-year-old twin boys, Abraham and Boaz,

and I emphasize the point "genetically identical,"

because these two guys could not be more different.

Abraham really struggled when school went online.

He did everything he could

to engineer outdoor, socially distant get-togethers

because you can't call them playdates when the boys are 17.

(Laughter)

But his brother, Boaz -- Bo was loving life!

"Ma, this is fantastic!

I don't ever have to leave my bed!"

My boys couldn't be more different, and so are your workers,

so we must get data.

How? Well, try this.

Get some of your best people together and ask them,

"What did you love about these last 18 months?

What did you hate?

If we were to give you a magic wand

and you could create the perfect work environment for you,

what would your days, weeks and months look like?"

And then experiment. Yes. Experiment.

So many people are saying COVID's been the biggest work experiment ever.

I beg to differ.

I'm not a scientist, but I know

that prospective experiments have hypotheses, control groups,

data collection, learning loops and revisions.

We didn't do that.

And so now’s the time to experiment.

And we don’t have to wait until it’s safe to go back to the office.

We could do it now.

Take two teams that do similar work,

let one flex and work whenever and however they need,

and another, give them fixed times.

You want them online and you want them working.

And then measure.

Survey them every week.

Everyone says people are oversurveyed.

People are not oversurveyed when it comes to this topic.

They want to have their opinions heard.

So ask them, "How's it going? Are you delivering value?

Are you able to collaborate well? How's your work-life balance?

What do you love? What do you hate?"

And take those learning and spread them around.

This is new for all of us.

We're not going to get it right

the first, second, third or even fourth time.

But together with conversation and data, and experiments,

we're going to learn our way to a better future of work.

So that's number two.

Number one, trust your people.

Number two, be data-driven.

Here's number three.

Think beyond the schedule.

Guess what? The future of work

is not two days that you get to work from home.

This is our chance right now

to reimagine, reduce, replace or even eliminate things

like long commutes,

endless meetings with too many people there,

recurring meetings that never go away,

synchronous work, silos, command-and-control leaders,

administrivia --

that's my word for the low-value stuff that clogs our calendars.

In other words, we could stop contorting our lives around work,

but we could actually reshape work to better fit our lives.

So that's number three.

Think beyond the schedule.

And guess what, a lot of companies are getting it right.

Take Dropbox, for example.

Before COVID, Dropbox only had three percent of their workers

working from home.

They're now moving forward with a remote-first model

and trying to push as much asynchronous work as possible.

And to help collaboration with their model,

they're setting core collaboration hours that very slightly by time zone,

so they have four hours a day

when you know everyone is online in case you need to collaborate.

One of my favorite examples is the Mr. Cooper Group.

And Mr. Cooper Group's been described as a mortgage giant no one's heard of.

A lot of their workers, a large percentage,

are call center operators.

And like many, in the first days of COVID,

they got them all home safely and successfully.

And guess what?

They were more productive, and they were happier.

But even with that data, many on the leadership team

wanted them back in the office as soon as it was safe to do so.

They just couldn't imagine call center work

being done from home permanently.

Well, that's where Kelly Ann Doherty,

their amazing Chief People Officer comes in.

When Kelly Ann and her team presented their recommendation

for a home-centric working model,

she got a ton of questions.

"Well, Kelly Ann, what about onboarding and training?"

She said, "Of course, we're going to get people together for that.

Home-centric doesn't mean we're never together."

"Well, what about day-to-day coaching and mentoring?"

"We're experimenting with software

that allows managers to do that even better."

"Well, what about culture? Communication? What about --"

And she just stopped them

It was a moment, and she said,

"I know you all want to go back to your offices.

So do I, but we have to take a minute

to walk in the shoes of our call center operators.

They are loving the flexibility.

They're saving real money by not commuting,

and we know this is a high-turnover population.

Imagine if one of our competitors is more flexible than us.

How many people are we going to lose?"

And with that, Kelly Ann and her team had the leadership team on board.

They’re moving forward with a home-centric model,

and they're investing in upskilling all of their managers

to be able to coach, mentor and manage their teams remotely.

And now they're taking it one step further.

They're tapping into more flexible talent pools,

like military spouses,

who need a ton of flexibility when their spouses are deployed.

In other words, Kelly Ann and the Mr. Cooper Group

are urban planners of the future of work.

They're trusting their people.

They're using data.

They're thinking beyond the schedule

to not go back to the old cow paths of call center work.

They're making work better for them, for the company,

the customers and their people.

This is our moment, right now,

to together with our people and our teams

design a future of work that's more engaging,

more productive and more humane.

Thank you.

(Applause)