
Fatima Koning is a proud champion of the hybrid model and has helped firms worldwide embed it successfully. Quality in-person collaboration still has a vital role in the new world of work, says IWG’s Chief Commercial Officer.
Covid-19 was the catalyst for a seismic shift in the way people work. The pandemic turbo-charged a revolution already underway, proving that technology can support productivity anywhere. At the same time, it highlighted the financial, environmental and human cost of traditional commuting, the waste of time and energy associated with sitting on trains or in traffic for many hours each week, and the positive impact of reducing this on individuals’ mental, physical and emotional wellbeing.
A proud advocate for the hybrid model, I help companies from around the world hone policies that allow them to make the most of it – reaping its many benefits by empowering employees to split their time between locations: the head office, local co-working centres and home.
Local co-working centres offer most workers the best of both worlds, featuring calm, well-equipped, professional environments without domestic distractions but within an easy distance of home, school or childcare facilities. Global corporations such as Standard Chartered Bank and NTT have partnered with IWG, offering their people access to more than 3,500 locations worldwide.
Bringing people together ‘IRL’ is critical for generating ideas, encouraging team bonding and creating a solid company culture in the hybrid model. There are personal and practical benefits to face-to-face contact, too. IWG research shows that 97% of HR experts in the USA report a direct correlation between employees’ wellness and productivity and the number of days they spend at the office with teammates.
Simply demanding that your people spend a certain amount of time in the office – or meet an arbitrary monthly target for clocking in – won’t cut it in the new world of work. Business leaders need to be aware that people’s mindsets have altered irrevocably.
Microsoft’s 2022 Work Trends Index referred to the “worth it equation” and pointed out that “leaders must establish the why, when and how of the office”. In other words, it’s now incumbent on the C-suite to ensure that visits to the company HQ have a clear purpose and tangible benefits.
What is a curated meeting?
The curated meeting is not a new phenomenon – or at least, it shouldn’t be. However, the concept is undoubtedly appealing to anyone who’s ever attended a session that felt unnecessary, unproductive or as though it could easily have been replaced by an email.
The word ‘curated’ implies careful, deep-level planning. It suggests that thoughtful choices have been made about whom to invite to the meeting, what to discuss and how to present any relevant materials. A curated meeting is the antithesis of things happening by accident – and worlds apart from the sort of ‘quick catch up’ that, in many pre-pandemic workplaces, could quickly turn into meandering, time-wasting conversations with no tangible outcome.
Whether designed to solve a problem, make a decision or generate creative ideas, curated meetings always have a clear purpose and offer demonstrable value. In short? They convincingly address the ‘why’ in Microsoft’s earlier question, giving employees a good reason for coming together in person.
Tips for running high-quality curated meetings
There’s no one-size-fits-all way to run a curated meeting, but the tips below should help ensure that yours are productive, engaging, and enjoyable.
1. Consider your ‘why.’
First and foremost, make sure you know why the meeting is necessary and what it needs to achieve. If you aren’t clear about this, your attendees won’t be either.
Above all, remember that curated meetings aren’t for distributing information. They should involve actual participation and achieve something in person that is qualitatively different to what you could achieve without bringing people together.
2. Make it collaborative
Set goals for the meeting as a group and involve everyone in deciding the outcomes. This might mean creating an agenda for the meeting at the outset or augmenting one that’s been pre-prepared.
3. Promote participation
A curated meeting should carry no passengers: no one in the room should sit silently, bringing nothing to the table.
However, encouraging participation can be difficult. After all, only some find it easy to make their voice heard among more confident colleagues.
The key to redressing this balance lies in the preparation. For example, you could have people come to the meeting with some work they need to share to meet its goals.
Ask questions that provoke debate and discussion throughout the session, and – especially if the meeting is long – blend a variety of activities with regular movement to help keep everyone alert.
4. Act as a facilitator
Instead of driving your meeting from the front, allow colleagues to lead it, directing the session towards the right outcome.
Manage conflict or disagreement should they arise, and task yourself with ensuring that everyone in attendance has their say.
Guide the group towards the goals you set together at the beginning of the meeting, but be flexible about your route to get there.
5. Ensure it’s enjoyable
In a hybrid world, getting together should be something that colleagues enjoy. It should bolster relationships, encourage the sharing of good practices and remind everyone why it’s great to work where they do.
There’s no reason why a curated meeting can’t have sociable, fun moments at the same time as achieving its objectives!
6. Follow up effectively
Finally, you can make the most of your curated meeting by ensuring you finish it and follow up on it effectively.
Before saying goodbye on the day, assess whether the meeting goals have been achieved as a group. Was the outcome what you expected or needed it to be?
You can be sure your curated meeting went well if everyone leaves with a clear idea of its decision, the problem it has solved or the solution it has generated.
It’s also important to be clear about the next steps. Who is taking which task away to work on? Who needs more information, and who else in the team can provide it?
Test and learn
Like any company’s hybrid working policy, curated meetings require regular review and evaluation. Business leaders must assess what’s working and what could be improved and consider how and why.
Getting the best out of people and their time at the office together requires a ‘test and learn’ approach that offers continuous improvement. That’s the approach we take at IWG. While we’ve been a hybrid organisation for over thirty years, we’re still adapting and evolving.
As the leader of teams in over 120 countries globally, organising in-person events can be challenging – but I ensure that when people come together, it counts. We hold curated meetings and workshops, meet up at local flex spaces and hold regional and global sales conferences.
Like many other companies, our team is happier and healthier working in the hybrid model. What’s more, research from Accenture shows that 63% of high-growth firms have embraced ‘productivity anywhere’ working models, underlining the relationship between employees’ well-being and commercial success.
Slack, Zoom and Microsoft Teams look set to be permanent fixtures of our working lives – but I still believe there’s no substitute for a well-planned, well-executed session where people can collaborate face-to-face. While preparing for curated meetings might cost leaders a little extra in terms of their time and effort, the payoff is always worth it.
Far from encouraging isolation or allowing divisions to develop within teams, the hybrid model offers a new, more productive, more meaningful kind of collaboration while giving people the flexibility and autonomy they want. It’s an approach that immensely benefits firms, individuals, and the planet – which is why business leaders worldwide are adopting it with ever-increasing enthusiasm.
About IWG Plc.
IWG is the global leader in hybrid work solutions and workspace brands. We create personal, financial, and strategic value for businesses of every size. From some of the most exciting companies and well-known organizations on the planet, to individuals and the next generation of industry leaders. All of them harness the power of IWG’s hybrid working platform to increase their productivity, efficiency, agility, and market proximity.
IWG’s unrivalled network coverage includes approximately, 3,500 locations across more than 120 countries and 83% of Fortune 500 companies are amongst our growing customer base.
Through our brands including Regus, Spaces, HQ and Signature, we help millions of people and their businesses to work more productively. We do so by providing the world’s leading hybrid work platform with professional, inspiring and collaborative workspaces and digital services all available via the IWG app. For more information
Visit www.iwgplc.com and for more information on partnering with IWG, see: https://www.iwgplc.com/develop-a-location