One place I didn’t expect to (or, maybe I hoped not to) talk about RTO (return to office) ‘stuff’ was BetterUp‘s hashtaguplift2024, which I attended last week in San Francisco. I have personally stopped feeding the topic of RTO (though I support my thought-sharer friends who continue to do so with fervor on all sides of it).
So, when BetterUp’s Alexi Robichaux asked Brene’ Brown about RTO in their fireside, I am glad I allowed myself to lean in and listen deeply rather than leaning out. Because, well, I loved her answer, which wasn’t as much of an answer as it was a reframing of Alexi’s question.
Firstly, Brene’ paused for a while, clearly thinking about the question (anyone who listens to her pods knows that Brene Brown is the best at pauses). Then, in a thinking-out-loud kind of way, she shared that her team works hybrid and comes together in person each week for creative sprints (my words, not hers), allowing the needs of the work to drive (again, my words, not hers). She also shared the import of flexibility to her, and what that could look like.
Where she went next, however, is what I found myself nodding in agreement to the most (I could not write fast enough to quote her here, and she kindly asked that we not video her, so I am paraphrasing).
On RTO…Brene’ does not care where her team works; that is not the question she asks. Rather, she wants to know how they (her team members) think. She wants to know the ‘why’ behind their choices. Those things are what matter to her. Those are the questions she asks.
That answer — or, more aptly, that reframing of the question — is off the back of her sharing that she sees the current state of employee well-being (including leaders) as one of being disconnected, disregulated, and distrusting. If Brene’ thought RTO itself was/is the key to solving for these three D’s, 1,500 of us would have heard it from her in that moment. We did not. What we did hear, however, is a set of deeper questions we could and probably should be asking.
Thinking more about this on my train home, I was reminded of a very impactful (on me, at least) ‘Dare to Lead’ 2-part pod episode from May 2021 with Brene’ and Priya Parker about the Art of Gathering (link to pod). While this episode was early in us figuring out the returning part, most of the lessons it shares — and, importantly, the questions it asks — are, I believe, even more relevant today, almost 3 years later. I encourage those reading this post to listen/re-listen.
At the risk of giving away the punchline, we should be thinking and acting very intentionally about why, how, when and where we gather for our work. True in 2021. True before 2021. True in 2024.
Even though I choose not talk much about RTO and the physical workplace these days, I remain steadfast in my support of reasonable amounts of choice and flexibility, in allowing the work to drive the where, and in gathering with intention. Oh, and in choosing meaning over mandates.
