On this episode of the Unlearn Podcast, Barry O'Reilly chats with Brian Elliott, Senior Vice President at Slack and Executive Leader of the Future Forum, who also served as an Executive Product Leader at Google. Having observed Brian’s work, Barry says, “I was constantly inspired by the work Brian and his team were doing in the Future Forum, researching challenges about the future of work.” Brian and his co-authors, Sheela Subramanian and Helen Kupp, have encapsulated the findings of the forum - as well as the lessons they learned through their own experiences - in their new book, How the Future Works.

From Arrogance to Transparency

Brian discusses how his perception of management evolved as his career developed. "I learned a phrase early in my profession that states ‘Seldom wrong, never in doubt’... a sort of arrogance," he recalls. He rejected his initial arrogance in the wake of Maria De Leon’s advice and observation, and realized that the greatest way to foster camaraderie and a sense of common purpose is to be open about the company's future, aspirations, and financial path. “Transparency actually creates trust,” Barry comments, “...it helps people gain clarity of what is actually happening.” Being the one with all the answers is not conducive to a healthy workplace culture, both men agree. 

The Future Forum

Brian joined Slack five years ago and was immediately intrigued by the company's research team, which later became the driving force behind the Future Forum. The research-based consortium focuses on creating a better future of work that is flexible, inclusive and connected through quarterly employee experience surveys and executive working groups. Since the issues are multidisciplinary, they survey 10,000 knowledge workers from all around the world. Leaders from multiple sectors are encouraged to experiment with these solutions to champion global change.

Debunking the Myths

Brian debunks five major myths about the workplace, using research from his book, How the Future Works. These include:

 Return-to-Office Mandates: Top-down policies for returning to the office are a one-size-fits-all approach that ignores that each team may have a different rhythm.

Brainstorming: The whiteboard is an antiquated method of brainstorming based on groupthink. The true danger of this strategy is that it excludes under-represented groups: the person wielding the pen, usually a member of the dominant age group, culture or gender, has the power to add or eliminate ideas as they see fit.

Work Flexibility: He advocates for a shift away from the traditional 9-5 workday in favor of shorter, more efficient blocks of collaboration time when teams are available for meetings and real-time responses to one another.

Asynchronous development: Brian debunks the assumption that meetings are where fresh ideas should be presented. Instead, managers should allow their teams to think and develop asynchronously.

Classic Leadership Perspectives: If managers want to retain their high-performing personnel, they should veer away from the belief that leaders should shield their teams from difficult decisions.

Looking Ahead

Brian is eager to discover more about the untapped potential of new trends such as asynchronous work models and scheduled flexibility. He's also interested in discovering strategies to safeguard a team's psychological safety by providing and encouraging skills training for frontline leaders. He's also intrigued by the concept of professional flexibility for deskless workers.

Go to BarryO'Reilly.com for full show notes.

Resources 

Brian Elliott on LinkedIn | Twitter 

How the Future Works by Brian Elliott, Sheela Subramanian and Helen Kupp

Future Forum