"So first of all, understand what's going on," Gratton said. "And I start with a job, interesting. Not the people, the job. That, what is this job about? What is it that this person is doing? What's the team doing? Then understand the person, particularly in terms of where they are in their own life, really.
"Then, reimagine, be as imaginative and as creative as possible," Gratton said. "And one of the things I'm doing is really keeping an eye on what all these experiments are. I've explored, for example, the Canadian investment company that said, "Everyone can work anywhere they want for three months a year." Or companies in Europe who are now saying, 'Let's go for the four-day week.' Or companies that are saying, 'Let's think much more creatively.' The Wall Street Journal council I was at, the founder of Airbnb was there and he said, 'We can work anywhere we want now. We don't need to be back in the office.' So all of these, I would label as experiments. We don't know yet whether they're going to stick, but they're interesting.
"And then, the third stage is an evaluation stage," Gratton continued. "And I would evaluate it really against two big questions. One, is it going to help you to be the business you want to be in terms of your purpose and values and customers. And secondly, and importantly, is it fair? Is it going to be something where, after a year or six months, half of your employee group, are going to say, 'Look, this is not fair. I can't do any of this stuff'?
"And then the final point, the fourth point, is about how do you enact it? How do you actually get it done?" Gratton said. "And here I call out three groups. Leaders, obviously, in terms of their role modeling and narrative. Managers, and then also, something about employees, which my own consulting practice, HSM, is very focused on. How do you bring employees along?" What's the mechanism of doing that?
