The Office Chronicles

Summary

Best-selling author Julia Hobsbawm joins Kursty to discuss her new book The Nowhere Office. In their discussion, they discuss how workplaces need to shift to embrace social health, how they can be a source of wellness, what managers need to do to overcome the 'Great Resignation', and the biggest powershift in the workplace.

Since Covid, people have strongly insisted on a genuine work-life balance. Organizations that don’t understand this desire are losing out to the great resignation. Those who do understand this fundamental mindset shift are now in the process of becoming forever changed. Tune in for a deep dive into what organizations must do to stay relevant, productive, and desirable.

Julia Hobsbawm is the author of The Nowhere Office. She is also the author of five other highly acclaimed books and is the founder of Editorial Intelligence. Julia has been awarded an OBE for her services to businesses.

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Timestamps

[00:21] What is Space Matters about?

[00:47] Who is Julia Hobsbawm (Author of The Nowhere Office).

[03:51] Do you feel like you’re in a Nowhere Office?

[05:30] Writing the book while dealing with heavy personal issues.

[07:36] Two key approaches have shaped The Nowhere Office's ideas.

[09:44] 6 ways our work landscape is permanently changing (and why the workplace will never return to pre-covid ways).

[12:16] What if work was a source of well-being (instead of stress and confusion)?

[16:02] The unreasonable expectations placed on HR departments.

[20:00] The biggest post-covid powershift in the workplace (and how to navigate hybrid working schedules).

[27:37] Where is The Nowhere Office (how physical workplaces are changing forever)?

[31:26] The great resignation: what managers MUST change to attract top talent.

[35:10] What’s next for Julia Hobsbawm (book launch, pilates, and what she did with her office)?

5 Key Takeaways

1. Work is shifting in 6 significant spheres. These are (1) time and place, (2) identity, (3) purpose and productivity, (4) the way we network, (5) management and leadership, and (6) wellness and wellbeing.
2. The workplace shouldn’t limit itself to providing mental health support for people who seek it. Rather, work should be a source of well-being in itself. Some workplaces can be a source of unreasonable expectations, elitism, and confusion.
3. HR departments usually have a huge mandate that keeps them busy. Paradoxically, they are awarded too little agency to do it well.
4. A significant result of the pandemic is a power shift between managers and employees. Knowledge workers have amassed much larger negotiating power than pre-COVID. This is particularly evident when negotiating remote working schedules and work preferences.
5. The idea of an office filled all the time with a particular number of people is now an outdated, unproductive, and undesirable idea. Organizations that want to remain relevant and attract top talent must shift their policies to keep up.

Links

The Nowhere Office by Julia Hobsbawm

Connect with Julia Hobsbawm: Website</&l
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Follow The Office Chronicles Linkedin page for more information, to share an idea for an episode or start a conversation around any f the topics covered in the show.

Summary

Managing Director of Blue Zoo Animation Studio Tom Box joins Kursty to discuss how they almost doubled their staff during the pandemic. They talk about how to successfully set up a hybrid working environment, ensure you are true to your corporate values, and what doesn’t work well when going fully remote.

Tom Box is the co-founder of Blue Zoo Animation Studio and AnimDojo. Blue Zoo animation started when a few friends at university decided to start an animation studio from their bedrooms. Today, Blue Zoo has been responsible for creating some of the most popular children's TV animations. Their clients include Nickelodeon, the BBC, Disney, and many more.

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Timestamps

[00:35] Episode overview: Growing an animation studio in the pandemic.

[02:01] Who is Tom Box, and how has he doubled the size of his team during the pandemic (Blue Zoo Animations)?

[05:24] What allowed Blue Zoo animations to thrive during the pandemic (satellite studios and company values)?

[09:50] Why you should never send a blanket email to all your staff about following the rules.

[12:00] A litmus test to check if you have a culture of trust in your workplace.

[14:56] How can a creative animation studio run on remote working?

[17:37] How Blue Zoo adapted to the pandemic (technology, communicating with clients, mental health).

[20:52] Lessons learned from running a fully remote animation studio in the pandemic.

[24:06] Why this animation studio will NEVER go fully remote.

[27:37] The undocumentable learning experiences you miss out on if you only work remotely.

[34:11] 3 things to consider before setting up a hybrid workplace.

[39:32] Making physical changes to your office to make it more democratic.

[42:00] Why companies who won’t figure out hybrid working will lose out.

[43:55] The future of Blue Zoo, B Corp certification and sustainability.

[46:16] Do you need to know how to draw to work in animation?

[48:51] How to connect with Tom Box.

5 Key Highlights

1. Trust and diversity can make your company resilient in the face of a storm (like COVID-19). Ask yourself: Why do you force people to work in ways that aren’t suitable for them?
2. If you want to authentically build trust in the workplace, ask yourself, “Does this rule treat my staff like children?” before you establish any office rule. If it doesn’t pass that test, then you must have a strong (pretty much legal) reason to implement that rule.
3. People really thrive by seeing each other. There is a tonne of value in having meetings without an agenda. You need a good balance between social communication and project communication.
4. Working remotely does not bring to life the physical movements and nanosecond facial expressions crucial to bonding, creating, and communicating.
5. Getting your sound set up right and having enough screens to facilitate good eye contact are two important aspects you need to consider before setting up a hybrid workplace. Ignore this, and you'll turn Zoom meeting participants into second-class citizens. Experimenting is how you get hybrid working right.

Links

Young Animator of the Year UK: Website

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Follow The Office Chronicles Linkedin page for more information, to share an idea for an episode or start a conversation around any f the topics covered in the show.

What’s it like to design, build and operationalize a Workplace project during 2020 a Netflix office? What’s the workplace culture like? How does Netflix stay genuine? Nasreen Potter from Netflix tells all about what it’s like to work there.

She shares the Netflix workplace philosophy, how they justify their office space investments, how they engage employees with relevant communication and the secrets behind their vibrant work environment.

Nasreen Potter is a Workplace Director at Netflix. Previously she was Workplace Director at LinkedIn and Regional Workplace Lead at Microsoft.

“There isn't a limitless bucket of money available to everybody, especially in our line of work. And we need to be really fussy figuring out what is going to help move us forward and then fixing it.”

“If the space isn't working for the purpose that it was intended, right, then you are wasting your money anyway.”
Support the showWhat we discussed

(00:24) Diversity, equity, and inclusion at Netflix
(03:13) Pale, male, and stale: “this is not my tribe”
(07:40) How workplace feedback at LinkedIn is different
(09:39) Netflix workplace philosophy
(12:39) Netflix’s pandemic project
(18:24) Authentic DEI vs. faking it
(22:08)How to lead inclusively
(24:14) Tick box communication
(28:30) Why we need farewell parties
(29:35) First days back at Netflix
(32:32) What if we can’t afford to fix the office space? (solved)
(34:05) Secret behind Netflix’s buzzing office
(40:12) Measuring space usage
(41:15) Who does the Netflix CREWS team hire?
3 things to remember:

1. Diversity and inclusion is not just a tickbox - thinking of ways that it permeates throughout every touchpoint and process is key to authentically living and valuing DE&I.
2. If your office space isn’t serving the purpose it is meant to serve and you are not working on fixing it for financial reasons, then you might be losing more money waiting to fix it.
3. To have a buzzing workspace you first have to have a culture that allows and encourages a buzzing workspace.

Links

Connect with Nasreen Potter: LinkedIn

Connect with Kursty Groves: LinkedIn | Twitter | Ask a question or pitch an idea: [email protected]

Support the show

Support the show

Follow The Office Chronicles Linkedin page for more information, to share an idea for an episode or start a conversation around any f the topics covered in the show.

Be a fly on the wall in two hot topic discussions that took place in the LEGO Workplace Symposium:

1. What is the purpose of the workplace?
2. Hybrid headaches over the past year

You’ll listen in on groups of executives from many large companies like Microsoft, Netflix, Unilever, Spotify, Ikea, and Booking.com discuss a range of topics about finding a compelling purpose for returning to the office and how to minimize the speedbumps that come with hybrid work.

A recurrent theme within the discussions is that hybrid work and returning to the office is forcing companies to be more intentional with what in-person work looks and feels like.

Tune in to reflect on the many different ideas being thrown around the room answering the question: how can we make the workplace work harder for us? You’ll also hear interesting ideas about How to recreate on-site experiences as off-site experiences.
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Timestamps

[00:30] Hot topic discussion(1/4): What is the purpose of the workplace? What is our end goal?

[01:02] Is the purpose of hybrid work to provide flexibility or to cut costs?

[06:07] Have people always wanted hybrid work or do they want it because of the pandemic?

[09:06] How hybrid work changes the face of society (and the responsibility that comes with it)

[10:07] “We build culture in the office” is a weak purpose for in-person work (how to be deliberate with why we meet in person)

[12:10] Consequences of not having a hybrid option

[17:47] “Build the experience you want to be part of, and they will come”

[19:43] The risk of hybrid work and the shifting power dynamic

[23:08] How hybridity is affecting retail businesses

[25:33] Hot topic discussion (2/4): Hybrid headaches

[26:50] Lessons from experimenting with hybrid over the past year

[30:03] How remote work steals your “reclaimed” time

[31:46] Why do some people never want to return to the office again?

[34:13] How do we recreate the coffee machine connection in hybrid mode?

[38:36] Why do people work where they work?

[42:01] Will we always feel like a little dot on the screen in remote meetings?

5 Key Takeaways

1. If there is a clear purpose explaining why work needs to be in-person, hybrid, or remote - it’s much easier to get the buy-in of your team to comply with the rules. You have to give people something to believe in.
2. People have likely always wanted the flexibility that hybrid work offers. However, the pandemic empowered them to seek what they want.
3. Having beautiful offices is not a compelling enough reason for people to want to return to the office. You have to think of what experience they want to be a part of. Think of it this way: what kind of experience will make people feel the urge to return to the office?
4. When mandating a specific number of days per week for in-person work, your reasoning has to be grounded in data or else people will see through it. If you expect people to come into the office 3 out of 5 days, you’ll have to explain why it’s 3 and 2 or why it’s 3 and not 4.
5. The power dynamic between employees and their employers is shifting. People have more choices and feel more empowered now. The shifting power dynamic poses a major risk for employers who don’t adapt.

Links
The Workplace Leader Podcast
Connect with Kursty Groves:

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Follow The Office Chronicles Linkedin page for more information, to share an idea for an episode or start a conversation around any f the topics covered in the show.

What if you could have a ‘destination office’ rather than a bland office that people dread coming into?
How do you create spaces at work that energize people?
How do you make people look forward to their days in the office?

It’s not just hitting KPIs that creates value at work. Connection, community, and collaboration create immeasurable value. Tom Kegode and Kursty discuss how to use office spaces to grow social capital and why social capital is a necessary form of productivity.
Tom Kegode is the Work:Lab Lead at Lloyd’s Banking Group where he is creating new imaginations and realities of work. He’s had a 13-year career at Lloyd’s so far.
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What we discussed:
(00:22) How did work at Lloyd Bank change over the years?

(09:09) Collaboration spaces are NOT enough

(15:10) What’s hard to replicate virtually?

(17:29) Transactional work vs. joyful work

(23:11) Having a floor dedicated to testing workspace configurations

(30:33) Building critical mass for rich work experiences

(33:32) The new way to feel belonging at work

(41:11) Getting in touch with Tom Kegode

4 things to remember:

1. Collaboration is the byproduct of connection and community. Collaboration can happen anywhere as long as you have community and connection.
2. Productivity isn’t just progressing on your KPI, forming social connections and increasing your social capital are their own forms of productivity.
3. When work gets reduced to a transactional task, rather than a joyful and energetic experience it becomes easy to quit.
4. It’s really important for everyone to feel like they’re part of something when they enter their office building. There has to be something meaningful and fulfilling they’re getting by being present there at the office.

Links

Connect with Tom Kegode: LinkedIn

Connect with Kursty Groves: LinkedIn | Twitter | Ask a question or pitch an idea: [email protected]

Support the show

Support the show

Follow The Office Chronicles Linkedin page for more information, to share an idea for an episode or start a conversation around any f the topics covered in the show.