Whether it's ABW (Activity Based Working) or teleworking, the biggest management challenge is the keyword "trust." Managers may be acutely aware of the difficulties of management, such as worrying about whether their subordinates are really working hard when they can't see whether they are working in front of them. In the Persol Research Institute "Quantitative Survey on Anxiety and Loneliness in Telework" (2020), it was reported that the most common answer among managers regarding their concerns about managing workers was "It's hard to understand the progress of work, which makes me anxious" (46.3%). In addition, the number one doubt or dissatisfaction that employees who come to the office have about workers is "I sometimes think they are slacking off at work (34.7%)." In response to these doubts, tools that randomly send and monitor subordinates' PC screens have also appeared.
Meanwhile, Veldhoen + Company, which has been working on work style transformation for over 30 years, has published an article titled "Trust, a skill to learn." The article begins by saying that issues with personal equipment, tools, and relationships with family when working work remotely will be resolved with time and habit, and goes on to talk about what is needed to manage a team working work remotely, as follows:
(The English translations in the articles below are provided by the author of this column.)
Modern leaders who manage team members working in different locations must first be able to clarify short-term and long-term strategies. They must clearly define the roles, goals, and responsibilities of each member. They must be able to communicate with their members at any time and discuss existing problems and challenges. At the same time, they must clearly demonstrate their trust in their members. There is an old Chinese proverb that says, "Use people without doubt, doubt people without use." This means that once you have entrusted someone with a task, you should trust them and not doubt them.
This is a concept that we all understood in the old way of working. Why can't we work in this way when we're working work remotely and not seeing each other? It sounds simple, but in reality, it's a complex challenge to proactively adopt true trust leadership. Trust is a powerful spice in team spirit, and team leaders who demonstrate good skills in trusting will be trusted and respected by their team members. That's why trust is a skill that deserves training and time for deep reflection, but is unfortunately often overlooked (or maybe even intentionally).
Thinking back, we often use expressions such as "I can trust this person" or "I can't trust this person," and tend to think of "trust" as an attribute or quality of the other person. However, when asked whether we have the "skills to build trusting relationships," we can reflect on it as something that concerns us more.
What actions can be taken to build trust?
When we decided to implement ABW at our head office, the concern that came up in the managerial workshop was "trust." In addition to the aforementioned fear of "will they slack off?", many managers expressed various other fears, such as "will they not be able to pick up on signs of mental or physical discomfort in their subordinates?" and "will they not be able to notice if their subordinates are having trouble at work?"
I would like to introduce "team agreements" as one of the initiatives that was effective in resolving such concerns. In this case, a workshop was held in each department, facilitated by a manager, and all team members agreed on and established rules regarding how to communicate, how to grasp the progress of work, how to accept new members, etc.
There are several points in which I feel this initiative is effective. First, in the process of reaching an agreement, sharing the vague feelings each of us has while working is the first step in building trust. Each time, I am made aware of the fact that my colleague "actually felt this way, was anxious about something," and by knowing this, I can take a step closer to communicating from the other person's perspective. Also, even within the same team, due to the nature of daily work, there will inevitably be people with whom I see more connections and people with whom I don't see more connections. However, through this team agreement, I can sit down and discuss the same topic with people with whom I don't usually have many connections, which can improve my relationships.
In addition, the "team agreement" is not something that is decided once and then finished, but is reviewed periodically as necessary, so that what is working well can be continued and what is not can be changed. This allows people to put new ways of working into practice with discretion and a sense of satisfaction, rather than simply being forced to behave differently than before. In particular, by discussing communication issues, discussions often naturally develop into discussions about how to use IT tools, and many teams find that momentum is created to use new tools. Also, when members change due to transfers, etc., initiatives that were being carried out in other departments can be brought in, creating synergy.
Furthermore, by actually setting the frequency and method of communication, you can improve concerns such as "younger employees are slow to ask for advice." For example, some of our managers independently implement measures according to the characteristics of their department, such as holding a short briefing every morning, setting aside time and days to ask for advice from subordinates, and setting aside regular one-on-one time. In addition, by deciding the method of contact in case of an emergency, it is easier for subordinates to contact you, and the manager can properly determine the priority and respond accordingly.
Have we really been able to "trust" it up until now?
After carrying out this initiative for about two years, I think that this was necessary regardless of whether ABW was implemented or not, and that up until now, we had been able to build trust just by working in the same space. I began to think that the concerns of managers, such as "I don't know the progress of my subordinates' work" and "I can't detect my subordinates' physical and mental health problems," were problems that arose even with traditional work styles, and that they arose simply because there were no communication rules or mechanisms to grasp these issues.
In our work style survey of approximately 5,000 workers respondents nationwide, we asked which of the five types of communication they "set aside dedicated time for", "conduct in daily conversations", or "do not conduct". The results show that, as a whole, there is a tendency for few respondents to say that they "set aside dedicated time" for various types of communication. In addition, the results show that the perceptions of those in positions and those without positions workers differ with respect to "checking the physical and mental status," "training and education of members," "future career development," and "feedback on strengths and areas for improvement. In other words, we can read from the results that even if rank-and-file employees believe that they are implementing these activities in their daily conversations, there is a possibility that their subordinates are not aware of this or do not perceive that they are implementing them. If such a state of affairs is maintained and the work style is shifted to one in which employees work at different locations, such as teleworking, it is natural that things like, "I could not recognize the signs of physical and mental illness in my subordinates," and "I feel challenges in training young employees" could occur.
Whether it's ABW or teleworking, in order to manage team members who are not in front of you, I think it's necessary to intentionally set up opportunities for communication and make tacit understanding and tacit knowledge visible. This should be effective even if people start spending more time in the office.
When working styles change dramatically like this, it is extremely important to reassess not only the office and IT environment, but also communication and management methods, and to change your style. Our ABW consulting services provide total support in a variety of areas, so if you are interested, please feel free to contact us.
