Worktech London: Some Takeaways

If I look back on life just 3 years ago, I was here there and everywhere, networking face-to-face 2-3 times a week and speaking at events at least monthly. In still such a London centric industry and being a Northerner, it has always taken quite a lot of effort to remain connected to the workplace network and attending events always works out fairly expensive too.

If we throw in a pandemic and working remotely in a different time zone from my colleagues, it's certainly felt a bit lonely at times and even good old introverted me needs to be around people (sometimes). I'm also a sucker for learning and after lots of repetition across the social media channels / webinars / podcasts I was feeling ready to learn something new. Anything new.

So, this week I attended Worktech London, geared up to see some old faces, new faces and learn some stuff along the way. Oh, and don't forget the free socks on offer.

The tube was quiet. The streets were quiet. Everywhere was quiet.

The event was quiet in relation to number of attendees but unfortunately not so quiet on the noise front during the presentations thanks to poor acoustics and people chatting away to exhibitors just 5 metres from the stage. My first thought was "how rude" but on reflection, we've all had enough of sitting and listening to faces, maybe we were all overdue some actually two-way communication? Maybe future events need to look at break-out sessions and workshops to allow a more intimate connection?

Here are some of the key takeaways from the speakers:

• Data collection should be human centred. We should engage with people for a positive change management process (Abby Gilbert, Institute of Future of Work).
• Long leases are a thing of the past (Communicated a number of times by various coworking / flex providers, obviously).
• Sir John Sorrell was excellent. He highlighted that the missing ingredient in the future of work is "delight". Not employee experience, but delight. Our buildings must be built properly, function properly, and they must delight because our lives are short, our working time should be enjoyable, fun, and productive. It's not a "reception", it's a "welcome", first impressions count, nobody wants to arrive to a desk with a person sat behind it who doesn't want to talk to you. If people don't move on, they become deep rooted. If they aren't re-potted, they will wither and die. There is such thing as being in one place for too long.
• We must take sustainability seriously (the buzz phrase repeated a few times).
• Covid has accelerated change and a shift in culture (Again something repeated quite a bit throughout the 2 days).
• People want to join a meeting room, with one touch, know who's there and who's speaking. The same person is using sensors to measure temperature, dust particles, noise and occupancy to give a 'quality rating' of the space to aid employee experience and decision making. They accept they can't get everything right across every location and it will be a learning process that will be adapted to suit each location, one size doesn't fit all (An end occupier).
• Everybody is looking at technology right now and we all need to ensure we understand our "why". Technology must be of quality, be accessible, be communicated properly and streamlined. We must listen to our people. (Poonam Bharj, Condeco).
• Assessing and developing culture is like doing a treasure hunt without a map. It's something that is plugged from the top and amplified through management which is why different departments have different experiences of company culture (Ali Khan, Shape Global Ltd).
• We need to be brave. Take big steps. Fail fast. Pushing the boundaries for the benefit of the people (Brain Marchal, Willis Towers Watson).

I must highlight there was a lack of diversity amongst the speakers that I found really disappointing, with a number of people commenting on the same issue, I hope feedback is taken on board for future events.

As the leaves fall and daylight hours reduce, the aid I want to throw to organisations is to stop looking at what everybody else is doing, understand your why, listen to your people and do what's needed to ensure they thrive.

Be a Good Human,

SFJ.

P.S It's just one week to go until my book 'The Human-Centric Workplace' is published!