{"id":45919,"date":"2022-10-24T05:13:43","date_gmt":"2022-10-24T09:13:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/?post_type=emagazine&#038;p=45919"},"modified":"2022-10-24T05:13:43","modified_gmt":"2022-10-24T09:13:43","slug":"leadership-adapting-hybrid-work","status":"publish","type":"emagazine","link":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/secure-futures-magazine\/leadership-adapting-hybrid-work\/45919\/","title":{"rendered":"Hybrid workplaces need a business culture change to match"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Companies are struggling with how to move to let employees have the choice to work at the office, from home or somewhere else \u2013 known as hybrid work. A 2022 study by career consultants Zippia found that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/advice\/hybrid-work-statistics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">84 percent of companies have implemented or plan to implement remote work<\/a>. Employees are more than ready for it, with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.accenture.com\/us-en\/insights\/consulting\/future-work\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">83 percent saying they prefer hybrid work<\/a> in Accenture\u2019s 2021 Future of Work study. Yet, as the economic outlook worsens, it\u2019s possible that employee urgency about hybrid work could wane in favor of job security, benefits and company culture. A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bcw-global.com\/p\/expectations-at-work\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">2022 Expectations at Work study by BCW<\/a> (part of WPP) indicates that a certain \u201cconfidence across the different employee groups has been eroding, triggering a change in the core expectations and priorities employees now seek from their employers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In any event, implementing hybrid work well is harder than most leaders think. On top of general post-pandemic fatigue, there are hard questions. How much can you require workers to come into the office or stay home? When and why should we be in either space? Should we change contracts and compensation? Which IT systems will we need? The answers are complex, and there\u2019s no one-size-fits-all.<\/p>\n<h2>Three things to think about<\/h2>\n<p>Outside in-person roles and sectors like manufacturing, hospitality and medical procedures, many have now experienced remote work. In the US, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/data-graphics\/data-remote-workers-declining-may-2022-rcna28499\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">thirty-five percent worked from home during the pandemic<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ons.gov.uk\/employmentandlabourmarket\/peopleinwork\/employmentandemployeetypes\/articles\/ishybridworkingheretostay\/2022-05-23\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">In the UK<\/a>, it was as much as thirty-eight percent, and in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statista.com\/topics\/7356\/remote-work-in-france\/#topicHeader__wrapper\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">France, nearly thirty percent<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Businesses must decide the future of their work conditions. Allowing office <em>and<\/em> remote work means adapting your reality, being more flexible and changing how you communicate. When considering hybrid work, leadership should assess three things: How to create a company culture that fosters optimal employee engagement, best serve existing and future clients, and give teams the right oversight and tech.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"c-promo-post\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"o-row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"o-col-12@sm\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<article class=\"c-card c-card--link c-card--hor@xs c-card--small@xs\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"c-card__figure c-card__figure--small@xs c-card__figure--medium@sm\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/secure-futures-magazine\/customer-service-ai-cx\/40643\/\" class=\"c-card__figure-link\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/media.kasperskydaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/92\/2021\/07\/20044051\/246_customer_service_ai_header-500x500.png\" class=\"attachment-card-default size-card-default wp-post-image\" alt=\"customer service ai\" data-src=\"https:\/\/media.kasperskydaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/92\/2021\/07\/20044051\/246_customer_service_ai_header-500x500.png\" data-srcset=\"\" srcset=\"\">\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"c-card__body  \">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<header class=\"c-card__header\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"c-card__headline\">Related article<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"c-card__title \">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/secure-futures-magazine\/customer-service-ai-cx\/40643\/\" class=\"c-card__link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span>Before using AI for customer experience, change these things<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<svg class=\"o-icon o-svg-icon o-svg-right\"><use xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\" xlink:href=\"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/kaspersky-emagazine\/assets\/sprite\/icons.svg#icon-arrow-long\"><\/use><\/svg>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/header>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"c-card__desc \">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>AI, if well implemented, can transform customer experience at scale like no other tool. To make sure your business benefits, put these things in place first.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<footer class=\"c-card__footer\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"c-card__list\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul class=\"c-list-labels js-has-reading-time\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"c-list-labels__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/secure-futures-magazine\/category\/artificial-intelligence\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span>Artificial intelligence<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li><span class=\"js-reading-time\"><\/span> min read<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"u-hidden js-reading-content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAlmost every business wants to put customers at the heart of what they do \u2013 in a Pegasystems survey of 5,000 customer experience practitioners, 92 percent say being customer-centered is a high priority for their organization. So naturally, companies are all over any technology that can improve customer experience on a large scale, and artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the most promising.\r\n\r\nBut to get an AI implementation right and have a systematically good customer experience (also known as CX), you must go beyond the technological solutions. AI magnifies or at least surfaces quirks in human behavior otherwise softened as messages pass through many hands. That's why in preparing for AI, I recommend you look closely at your organization's strategy, structure and culture.\r\nSuccess of new tech is all about the human factor\r\nNo matter the sector, human interactions are crucial. No technology can replace or undo the wrong customer experience mindset. Digital customer experience expert Am\u00e9lie Beerens told me, \"The success factor is the human factor.\"\r\n\r\nWhen there are many technologies, people and functions across an organization contributing to customer experience, it's easy for the weakest link to cause failure.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nMindset, alignment and execution make or break any customer experience change, including AI-driven enhancements.\r\n\r\n\r\nCompany culture influences how much you center customers\r\nPrompted by the internet giving individuals a louder voice, company boards have clamored to reorient their strategy toward customers. It makes sense: Studies show customers are willing to pay more for and be more loyal after a good experience.\r\n\r\nBut wanting to be customer-centered isn't enough. Your strategy, culture and people will be instrumental in making customer centricity come alive. Customer service author and host of Punk CX podcast Adrian Swinscoe wrote, \"Companies with open and collaborative cultures are likely to have more success implementing AI for customer experience than more product-focused or hierarchical organizations, who are likely to struggle with siloed working, data access and sharing, and unaligned objectives.\"\r\nEngage your employees in the AI execution\r\nDespite businesses saying the customer is their highest priority, most customers don't feel that way.\r\n\r\nCan AI contribute to delivering a better customer experience at scale? Aligning an organization with the right technological solution is where things often break down. Good execution relies on employee engagement and dedication.\r\n\r\nA PwC (formerly PricewaterhouseCoopers) survey of 15,000 customers in 12 countries showed a company's employees have a big impact on customer experience, especially for higher-value products. Swinscoe writes, \"Companies should focus as much on their employees and their experience as they do on their customers.\"\r\n\r\nHuman interaction not only reinforces brand, it becomes part of the data set informing AI initiatives. As the number of interactions grows, the case for automation rises. AI \u2013 which ranges from narrow, such as If this then that formulas, to complex processes involving machine learning or neural networks, such as General or Super AI \u2013 helps manage the sheer volume.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nFor the foreseeable future, fully automated and excellent customer service is unlikely. The best solutions use humans and AI \u2013 often called augmented intelligence.\r\n\r\nTake, for example, Digital Genius, a customer service automation platform. Digital Genius gives customer service agents for airline KLM AI-generated alternatives to choose from when replying to a customer. The AI uses the customer's data alongside inquiry information to suggest responses, removing menial tasks so the agent can work in ways that value their ability.\r\nThe AI journey is internal first\r\nConsidering how to use AI can be informative and structuring for organizations. It forces you to assess your first principles and values down to the customer outcomes you want.\r\n\r\nThere are many ways to use AI in customer experience. It can triage incoming messages, augment and measure employee interactions with customers or run chatbots.\r\n\r\nAs with any new process, there must be much forethought and readiness to make mistakes, learn and correct. Senior teams (the C-suite) must understand and support what the company wants to achieve in customer experience. But they often don't: The Pega 2020 customer experience survey found 64 percent of customer service programs don't have a senior team sponsor, making it hard to implement the program organization-wide. Perhaps that's in part because PWC's 2021 Pulse survey found just 47 percent of executives understand how robotics and AI may improve customer experience.\r\nLearning alongside your AI\r\nInfusing the customer journey with AI needs ongoing learning and vetting to avoid biases negatively affecting customer experience. AI mirrors both our best and worst traits.\r\n\r\nTo start using AI as part of your customer experience program, the AI learns from a data set of human-to-human interactions from customer databases and relationship management. And that's easier said than done.\r\n\r\nCreating, cleaning and organizing the AI's learning data set is a heavy lift needing considerable resources. For best results, get C-suite sponsorship, diversity in the team and customer-facing employee representation. Beerens says, \"Diversity and integrity are the secret ingredients to building a strong data set.\"\r\n\r\nGetting customer experience right can't be reduced to a single statistic \u2013 it's a moving target. Keep sight of your brand's mission, and don't let the technology (and the IT department) lead the way. AI has a role to play in customer experience, but it's vital to get the business culture \u2013 mindset, beliefs and behaviors \u2013 right before delegating customer relationships to a machine. As Swinscoe says, \"Everything is an input, even the team you hire to help build, test and implement these models. Everything matters.\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/footer>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n<h2>Charting a post-pandemic path<\/h2>\n<p>Effective change requires knowing where you come from. When a legacy company \u2013 one that\u2019s existed for decades \u2013 wants to make a significant change in how they work, it must understand its existing corporate culture. After years of working one way, principles and work styles become ingrained, including relationships with customers and suppliers.<\/p>\n<p>The pandemic created an exceptional moment when companies brushed existing culture aside. There will have been changes, many of which will be invisible. Still, there are also dark clouds on the horizon: Economic uncertainty, consumption habits and expectations changes, and social and political unease.<\/p>\n<h2>Using empathic leadership to engage<\/h2>\n<p>Research from the University of California, Berkeley Haas and Stanford University found the <a href=\"https:\/\/cmr.berkeley.edu\/2021\/07\/how-have-organizational-cultures-shifted\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">pandemic provoked many favorable changes in beliefs, behavior and relationships<\/a>. They reported, \u201cOrganizational cultures in the pandemic era have generally shifted away from a high-performance orientation to one that prizes empathy, understanding and mutual support.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.catalyst.org\/reports\/empathy-work-strategy-crisis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Empathy \u2013 especially from leaders \u2013 has a direct, positive impact in the workplace<\/a>, according to Catalyst research. With more empathic leaders, 61 percent of employees report being able to be innovative, compared with 13 percent of those with less empathic leaders.<\/p>\n<p>Increased uncertainty and the need for dramatic change will make leaders with empathy even more valuable to their companies.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>In stressful times, softer, friendlier attitudes may get compromised, so leaders must double down and carefully model the behavior they want to see across their organization.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Leaders should especially watch employee engagement. In light of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.weforum.org\/agenda\/2022\/06\/the-great-resignation-is-not-over\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">high resignation rates post-pandemic<\/a> and recruitment challenges, HR departments should pay extra attention to onboarding in a hybrid environment. With recruitment and initial training done remotely, new employees struggle to understand the culture and establish trusting relationships with others.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>When leading a company or a team, show up fully as yourself. Be transparent about your own issues and connect authentically with your teammates. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>When you show up as your whole self, vulnerable and imperfect, it will help you to build trust and foster sincerity. Of course, that doesn\u2019t mean you shouldn\u2019t strive to be the best version of yourself. Being open, genuine and humble makes your colleagues and employees more likely to speak up and feel engaged. Two-way communication will be your bread and butter to survive the transformation to hybrid work.<\/p>\n<h2>Focus on customers<\/h2>\n<p>Since it\u2019s harder to manage communication in a hybrid environment, it\u2019s tempting to use data, financials and automation to manage customers. But the human element, in all its messiness, is more important. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/secure-futures-magazine\/customer-service-ai-cx\/40643\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Employees\u2019 roles and engagement are critical to good customer experience<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The pandemic, social movements (like Black Lives Matter) and global political turmoil have changed how customers feel, interact and buy. As expectations change, staying keenly attuned and finding ways to understand better your past, current and future customers will be essential.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ll also need to work to break down company silos and product-centric orientations, which put the focus a few steps away from the customer. Bill Kanarick of EY explains in MIT Technology Review, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.technologyreview.com\/2021\/09\/09\/1035190\/a-customer-centric-approach-is-key-in-a-post-pandemic-world\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Customer-centricity forces you to take a horizontal view where you\u2019re trying to orchestrate across the organization to the benefit of the consumer<\/a>.\u201d In other words, customer experience relies on people in different departments across the company, often without a common line of command. While it may be challenging, winners know how to take risks, move fast and focus on a few key levers and performance indicators rather than trying to meet <em>all<\/em> needs and clunky dashboards.<\/p>\n<h2>Support systems that facilitate your goals<\/h2>\n<p>Systems support internal operations, so how you facilitate communications aligned with your business goals and leadership style should be a top priority. There are many communication tools, like Slack, Adobe Cloud and Microsoft Outlook, and great add-ons for hybrid work like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mural.co\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Mural<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/miro.com\/signup\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Miro<\/a> for brainstorming and workshops, <a href=\"https:\/\/rally.co\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Rally<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/doodle.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Doodle<\/a> for meeting management and <a href=\"https:\/\/monday.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Monday.com<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/trello.com\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Trello<\/a> for project management.<\/p>\n<p>Another important aspect is configuring cybersecurity, especially for sensitive data. Your systems will need security tailored to changing locations, moving pieces and the varied tech found in homes and remote offices.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/hybrid-work-tips\/40648\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Security responsibility in hybrid work falls more on employees<\/a>, says Leonid Grustniy: \u201cTransporting your work \u2013 laptop, files, flash drives \u2013 between the office and home can place corporate data in danger from carelessness or even theft.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Regardless of tools, leadership must focus on human matters: Empathy, doing what you say and saying what you do, being fair and firm in how you treat employees, and most importantly, modeling the behavior you wish to see.<\/p>\n<p>The move to hybrid work will take much trial and error, and flexibility. Larger tech companies like Amazon, Apple and Google will likely pave the way in how we manage hybrid and remote conditions, but applying other organizations\u2019 ideas isn\u2019t enough. Every sector and different company culture will need its own solutions. Good luck on your journey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Many businesses are talking about moving to hybrid work, but the changes hybrid requires of leadership go far beyond choosing between the office and home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2653,"featured_media":45920,"template":"","coauthors":[4108],"class_list":{"0":"post-45919","1":"emagazine","2":"type-emagazine","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"emagazine-category-leadership","7":"emagazine-category-remote-working","8":"emagazine-category-tech-for-business","9":"emagazine-tag-hybrid-work","10":"emagazine-tag-work-from-home"},"hreflang":[{"hreflang":"x-default","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/secure-futures-magazine\/customer-service-ai-cx\/40643\/"}],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/emagazine\/45919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/emagazine"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/emagazine"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2653"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=45919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}