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Top 10 tips to successful Flexible Working programs

How do you create and deliver a successful Flexible Working program? What are the challenges? How do you create the “Aha” moment for your employees? These were among the questions debated at a recent Flexible Working Best Practice Workshop hosted by Johnson Controls workplace consultants in EMEA. Client representatives from the BBC, Ericsson, CISCO, CSC, Barclays, WPP and TFL offered excellent insights into their operations and change programs. The delegates shared an uncanny similarity in the challenges they faced. What approach would work as a driver for change – carrot or stick? How do you overcome resistance to change? Do levels of investment really have to make the difference?

In trying to answer these challenges, delegates presented their experiences, what had gone well and the barriers they overcame. A list of top 10 tips emerged from these presentations (see graphic). Discussion focused around best practice and fell into three key areas - positioning, engagement and communication:

Our top ten tips
  • Positioning:

Whatever your organization’s vision – make it clear. Whether the adoption of flexible working practices focuses on the practicalities of desk sharing, or is used to enable a broader cultural change, clear messages supported by senior management is vital. The change program should be aligned with business objectives and so part of the organization’s strategy.

  • Engagement:

Tool kits for Workplace Evaluation should look to use a mixture of qualitative (anecdotal) and quantitative (statistical) data to support the discovery and proposal of what is achievable. Reliance on one form of data has its pitfalls; many of the delegates found a particular challenge in the sale of new ways of working when only referring to how efficiently space is used. Telling a story, supported by real life experiences will help sell the concepts and principles of new ways of working. Before and after stories can be very persuasive.

Flexible Working workshop

Identify the language and the behaviors that support the project and encourage senior leaders be the first to make the step across to the new working environment, leading by example. Involve your audience - those happy with the change and those who are not. A vision achieved in collaboration with all parties will help provide the change program’s identity. This may take time to formulate and agree but an identity will personalize and project the vision in a more engaging way.

  • Communication:

Effective communication and the approach used are important to the success of a change program. Identifying an effective approach is not always easily achieved as it is different for each audience. However, as people are informed and engaged in the process they will adopt new working practices with fewer objections and reach the “Aha” moment more quickly. 

Participants in the workshop agreed that the opportunity to continue discussions about Flexible Working practices with their peers was one that they would like to pursue. The next session will be held 12 November 2009 in London and focus on tools and techniques to overcome tricky objections and manage the change effectively.

If you are interested in taking part in the next Flexible Working Best Practices Workshop please email us.
  • Engagement:

Tool kits for Workplace Evaluation should look to use a mixture of qualitative (anecdotal) and quantitative (statistical) data to support the discovery and proposal of what is achievable. Reliance on one form of data has its pitfalls; many of the delegates found a particular challenge in the sale of new ways of working when only referring to how efficiently space is used. Telling a story, supported by real life experiences will help sell the concepts and principles of new ways of working. Before and after stories can be very persuasive.

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