An Introvert Recommends a Return to the Office

I was recently given a good reason why knowledge workers need to return to the office.

If not every day, consistently.

And I think it’s spot-on.

I think it’s spot-on despite the fact that my productivity at home (and on the road) is much higher than when in the corporate office. 

Despite the fact that I have learned through my years that there are few things as unproductive as a multi-hour face-to-face team meeting.  I find deep, abiding truth in Bartleby’s Law, the 2018 precept that notes that, for gatherings of ten people or more, “80% of the time of 80% of the people in meetings is wasted.”

Despite the fact that I have been through dozens of face-to-face team “ideation” sessions that have, in high hopes, taped sticky notes across meeting room walls only for the recommendations to be blown-up in VP turf wars or the inevitable re-org.

Despite the fact that a commute of 90 minutes is time wasted, podcasts and audio books be damned.  Despite the fact that Microsoft Teams works as well at home as it does in the office.  Despite the fact that I prefer the convenience of a home bathroom to dashing down the hall and searching frantically for an open stall before rushing back to the cubicle for the next Microsoft Teams call.

Despite the fact that I no doubt register on the introvert side of the scale.

I’ve a brother who is a managing partner of a major office of a prestigious architecture firm. (He’s the smarter and better-looking brother.)  He commutes daily to a beautiful office in a beautiful tower designed by his firm. He can look out from ceiling-to-floor plate glass and see other office towers designed by his firm. He’s in the business of selling and creating physical spaces for people to work toward common goals.

As you can imagine, he’s all in favor of workers returning to offices.

But not only for the reason you think.

As the managing partner, my brother is responsible for the development of the professional staff.

He has learned, through his years, that there is significant, outward-rippling value in the give-and-take of an in-the-arena, face-to-face idea pitch. Where an idea (a concept, a vision, a value proposition) is put forward and peers (and clients) are asked to voice an opinion.

For those pitching, it’s an iron-on-iron (clang!) reality check, where sparks can fly, reputations can be won, and deals can be lost. 

For those observing – in his case, project team members and (against the back wall) recently-hired associates who are finding their way -- it’s real-time case study in what works and what doesn’t. 

In a face-to-face pitch, no one – presenters, team members, peers, clients, tenderfoot observers -- can hide behind a blanked-out video camera. Body language is front and center. And, as we know, body language speaks volumes: the crossing of arms and in-seat squirming, the averted (or rolling) eyes and phone tapping, the nodding of heads and thumbs raised.

The verbal give-and-take also echoes. Through the response and conversation, you gain an immediate verdict on your idea. Silence is deafening.  You also find out who is threatened, who’s invested in assisting, and who’s the influencer of the decision.  With luck, the conversation will lead to a better idea or improvement. At best, it’s collaborative ideation.

(Inevitably, you’ll also learn who is the office suck-up, but you probably knew that anyway.)  

Such sessions hone ideas to a sharper point. Ideas are better after than they were before.

Such sessions cannot be replicated fully via Zoom, Teams, Webex, or Meet. Sorry. I’ve done both through my many years, and the virtual cannot match the physical.

Such sessions are also among the best ways to teach the young, to share best practices, to inculcate a deal-and-award winning culture. Observational learning soaks in – it’s neural osmosis.

My brother points out that, while there is emerging real data about how the pandemic and remote learning impacted the educational progress of students of all ages, there is little knowledge as to the impact of the pandemic and remote work on the development of young professionals.

Across the newly hired of the pandemic years, he sees evidence of lower quality work, of more-than-before struggles to master a skillset or complete work on time, of how to be “professional” within and on behalf of a firm.   The potential implications are costly, and far-reaching: slower career advancement and noticeably slower salary growth.

What to do? Well, attendance at in-office, face-to-face pitch sessions, for one.  But also, additional investment by senior staff in mentoring and professional development – which is also most effective face-to-face.

Yes, there’s a reason to go back to the office.  

It will make us better.

See you there.

To be continued.

I’m Jon Stine, 35+ years in business and technology.

I read, I write, I advise.

Jcstine1995@gmail.com, +1 503 449 4628.