Work like a Boss: Nancy Lyons Shares How to Adapt to Do Great Work
By Nancy Lyons
I’ve spent the bulk of my career thinking about creating workplaces that contribute to people feeling good at work. As a CEO, that’s meant —and still means—focusing on work culture as much as the other core facets of business, like strategy, operations, and finance. While I can’t fix most things right now, I realize my dedication to building a people-centered work culture means I can offer some perspective on one of the biggest changes our culture experienced last week: remote working. Most workplaces went from having (maybe) a few remote workers to now having entirely distributed workforces. That’s a huge shift for work, and for the people doing the work. But I have been working like that for twenty years because the flexibility that comes with working where you want and how you want has been an integral part of our culture. I hope I can offer some things for newly-remote workers to think about that aren’t so much about the immediate how-tos of setting up and operating a remote office, but more about establishing a new mindset and set of behaviors to help adjust to the shift and to the unfamiliarity of what’s happening.
Here’s what I’ve been thinking about:
Our personal and professional boundaries will get very blurred while we adapt, which can feel overwhelming and vulnerable to some people. We’re about to meet everyone’s cats and dogs, see our colleagues’ kids interrupt a meeting at least once, and get a view of the bookshelves and artworks at our homes. It can be weird for people to suddenly see what we consider our private space (since not everyone has home offices). Be respectful, curious, and human by smiling and acknowledging this unusual time.
Go easy on yourself and the people around you. There is no way we can work at our usual pace or with our usual concentration. For many of us, our confidence and identities are intertwined with our jobs. A struggle to focus or a drop in productivity might effect on how we feel about ourselves. Be kind to yourself and others during this roller coaster of a time. We are already so stressed about non-work things, let’s try to make the work part as supportive as possible.
Find unplanned opportunities to connect. Work is not just about how we’re working, it’s also about how we’re connecting. Remote working can feel more structured because drop-ins and spontaneous conversations aren’t as simple. At Clockwork, we have a standing, 1.5-hour optional hangout that anyone can log onto for company, conversation, and connection. This is especially helpful for people who live alone and feel this required isolation more severely during social distancing.
Be sensitive to meeting overload. The world of business has become dependent on meetings. We are overscheduled and over-committed. Too many meetings makes getting the work done hard. My advice is that if it can happen in an email, make it so. Spare your colleagues days stacked with meetings. Talk to your coworkers, your teams, your departments, your management, and start to have active discussions about how to shift away from meeting dependence. Explore ways to be more efficient and productive. Now is the time to reevaluate what really matters. Don't just continue to use inefficient working processes because you’ve always used them. Now, we all have an opportunity to do it better.
While we have been physically working in new ways over the last four weeks, many of us have probably also been thinking about work in new ways. That’s great because the way we work can be improved. A lot. I’ve explored many workplaces and work cultures that elevate their employees, and I’ve come to realize that we’re reaching a moment of pivotal change. The next iteration of work life will focus on fulfillment and connection, we need both of those things now more than ever. That’s why I’ve decided to make my book, Work like a Boss, available for preorder during this time, knowing that the coming months will bring to light many new insights about what’s really important when it comes to the work we do in the world.
I hope that you join me in this conversation to make work more fulfilling and meaningful.