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Events

Out of Office was hosted by Credit Suisse

Out of Office Conference Exchange

Work is an activity not a place. The future is agile!

Get a snapshot of some of the key themes and issues explored throughout the 2010 Opportunity Now conference.

Link to relevant Opportunity Now research and publications available on the website

If you are an Opportunity Now member you can also exchange ideas and network with other members! Click on a discussion topic below and post your thoughts.

Check points for accessing Exchange Online:

1. Are you a member of Opportunity Now? (Only members are eligible for Exchange Online)
2. Are you Registered on the website?
3. Have you Signed In to the website?
4. In case of further query contact Debbie Sharp Website Editor.

what do managers and teams think about agility?

The conference drew on Opportunity Now's major research project in 2010 which spans three insightful reports.

The first stage of the research, Out of Office: Building Teams for a Flexible Future, surveyed over 1500 managers and team members to understand their attitudes towards agile working practices.

You can explore the full findings online or download the Executive Summary

A clear link was shown between agile working and employee engagement but also a perception of career penalty for agile workers was found. Management skills and leadership emerged as important factors.

agility in practice

A second publication, Out of Office II waslaunched at the conference. In this stage, focus groups were held to delve into the challenges that organisations face with regard to agile and flexible work practices and to uncover practical solutions and best practises.

What do you consider to be the greatest challenge to implementing agile/flexible working in practice? Exchange Online

The key recommendations for organisations from Out of Office II are:

Make the business case and position agile working as good working practice
Show strong leadership
Support and challenge managers
Shift the focus from the individual to the team
Reflect the agile model for management in performance assessment
Support agile workers
Provide the technology infrastructure for communication and knowledge sharing

leadership and transformation

The final stage of the research focused on leadership. The Out of Office survey revealed a credibility gap between organisational values and leader's behaviours. In addition, the challenges that organisations are facing and will continue to face over the next few years have renewed interest in the qualities of good and bad leadership and the capacity of leaders to achieve genuine transformation.

The recent econonmic turbulence has exposed the dangers of group think and highlighted a need for a greater diversity of perspectives and styles in boardroom decision making.

Is a new leadership model needed to help create the workplaces of tomorrow? Exchange Online

Leading Change: Insight and Inspiration from Successful Leaders was also launched at the conference and delegates heard from Sir David Varney in the expert panel discussion who is one of the seven senior leaders interviewed for the report.

"I realised that it is vulnerability that makes you a strong leader and invulnerability which makes you weak. Vulnerability means understanding that others sometimes know better than you and you should be able to articulate your views in a way that invites rather than discourages dissent. Diversity has to be the natural partner of this kind of leadership style. There is so much to be gained by looking for ideas in different places."
Sir David Varney, Chairman, Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust

tools and solutions

Workshops were geared towards the practicalities of changing work cultures to become more flexible and forward thinking, of overcoming geographical or perceived boundaries to create what is potentially a new concept of the team.

Which new skills and behaviours will be needed for future workplaces? Exchange Online

See also the IBM Report Transforming the Workforce (195 kb) and the Human Capital Management Discussion Group on Linked In

Downloads

"Like hermit crabs seeking larger shells, people today are yearning for more accommodating arrangements in which to undertake their work."

Richard Donkin, Author of The Future of Work and Out of Office Keynote Speaker