Page 32 - newDATAmagazine | 01>05>2021

There are now many more people using not seised the opportunity to really rethink and
social technology to do their work. However,
the majority is using these tools as a digital
version of their long-lived ways of working. The
face-to-face meetings became video calls; the
water cooler moments were transferred to
often-awkward weekly online sessions; the
random requests for help to the colleague in
the nearby desk became direct messages on
any given chat platform.
Initially I got excited with the prospect of
these imposed switches actually leading to
deeper and long-lasting changes to the way
teams work, the way performance is appraised,
the way leaders guide and inspire their teams,
the way organisations engage their people, or
the way people learn with each other.
Now, when I listen to conversations around
me, I sense that most organisations are merely
using social technologies as interim solutions
until they are given the green light to go back to
the office. Back to normal, as they see it.
For many management boards, for many
leaders, these tools have been a great way to
stay afloat, to survive. But because they have
32 newDATAmagazine.com
transform their way of working, I foresee that
many organisations will push their teams back
to the office and to the known reality of in-
person work.
I totally get it. If you compare face-to-face
and online meetings, the former offer a better
experience; if you want to keep an eye on your
team, it is easier to do so in the office. But why
are we not questioning the need for meetings,
or at least for so many of them? Why are we not
designing performance evaluation focused on
work quality and not desk time? Why are we not
rethinking the way we communicate and
collaborate with each other?
For the last 20 years I have been trying to get
more organisations to see the potential of
embracing enterprise social tools such as
Microsoft Teams, Workplace by Facebook,
Slack, Atlassian's Jira, and many others, to:
Ÿ work smarter and be more effective;
Ÿ generate, circulate and retain critical
knowledge;
Ÿ collaborate and communicate across
time, geographies, hierarchies and
functions.