Let’s take the “blame”​ out of the great reset!

A few weeks back Elon Musk’s email to his employees evoked a lot of strong reactions.

Responses ranged from anger and disbelief to support and understanding.

And this is no different from the conversations happening across organizations around the new ways of working with the great reset.

Employees feel wronged at having to sacrifice work-life balance to meet work demands. When the same work can be done from home why should they spend time, effort and money to come to work. Yes, they did it before BUT hasn’t the last 2 years taught us that it is not really needed?

Organizations feel that employees are disloyal, difficult and unappreciative of the challenges of running a business. That they do not understand the loss of opportunities, connections and learning that comes with remote work

But, what if we take the blame out of the great reset and focus on just the facts.

The facts:

1. Most companies are still recovering from the economic impact of the last 2 years. We’ve seen enough companies shut down and a lot of companies are still tethering on the edge
2. Most employees are still recovering from the emotional, physical and financial impact of the pandemic on themselves and their families. Many have lost loved ones and are still grieving.
3. Everyone has learnt that a lot of work can be done remotely which we thought was not an option.
4. The last two years have also taught everyone the value of connections and relationships in the workplace. And at home.
5. Companies are still struggling to try to understand the new way of working that will meet their needs.
6. Employees are reevaluating their needs, preferences and priorities.
7. It is a new situation for everyone and everyone if trying to find answers

Let us just start by accepting that everyone’s needs, capacities and priorities have changed.

AND prioritizing your own needs does not make you a bad company OR a bad employee.

And it’s okay if someone or someplace which was a perfect fit for you earlier does not work well for you anymore – because they or you want something else now.

What if we stopped blaming and have honest conversations about how we can make this work?

Because there may be no single answer to this situation.

Everyone may need to create their own next normal which may be different from everyone else.

And there will be some churn and chaos for a while.

People will move out of organizations and find new places that work better for them.

Organizations will re-evaluate what works or doesn’t work for them and what needs to change.

But eventually, the dust of the great reset will settle and we will find our own spaces again.