Know Thyself
An Ancient Greek aphorism inscribed at the Temple of Apollo, this pithy phrase has long lived on. Today, oddly, it might be usefully applied to employees looking to adapt successfully to the long awaited ‘return to work’.
Whatever its final guise, the return to work is likely to entail greater flexibility and autonomy for employees in terms of where, when and how they work. To get the best out of the situation everyone will need to give some thought to what makes them tick. Given the long-ingrained habits of ‘going to work’, it’s not something that most have given a great deal of thought to. They turn up at the office in the morning, leave at the end of the working day and sit at their desk in between, with the occasional excursion to a meeting room.
The last eighteen months have seen all that change, for most instead a home-based virtual working model. The model has worked better for some than others. Our research tells us that many miss the guiderails of a more traditionally organised working environment and many struggle with the lack of demarcation between home and office. Working from home suggests more flexibility and autonomy but actually having no choice but to work from home is not liberating.
In truth, most people don’t know themselves very well. Perhaps they’ve taken a Myers Briggs test, to which insights they apply as much importance as to their star sign. Very few have analysed what actually makes them productive and happy in their work and even how they really want to live and allocate their time.
The post-pandemic world for all of us offers an opportunity to take more control over our lives, but also a responsibility. Because without ‘knowing thyself’, people will not be in a position to craft their working ‘strategies’ and employers will not understand how to support and facilitate productive work, help properly support employee mental health or in the new world turn themselves into the most attractive and engaging places for talented people to want to work.
Has your organisation done the work to make working work for everyone? You might find our ideas and techniques for helping people support their own mental health and for organisations build their psychological capital interesting. Or you may be intrigued to take a look at our new WorkSmart tool.