The pandemic has brought terrible impacts and, with these impacts, crises that transformed the way we act, live and work. In this post-pandemic world, now that some time has passed, we know that the long-awaited return to normality is not a return, but an evolution towards the new normal.

Among the many perspectives that can be developed in this scenario, the workplace is the context where this new normal way of acting is the most impactful and, undoubtedly, with the most lasting repercussions.

The transformation effort necessary for individuals and companies to adopt remote work was so intense, it had to be so comprehensive in such a short period to ensure the survival of companies and the sustenance of careers, that it is not recognized as possible to simply return to the way in which work was done before. People changed and so did businesses.

The penalties and benefits of forced distance were experienced for too long to be ignored, either because of the trauma of the problems or because of the desire to continue with the benefits; individuals and companies yearn for a new reality that is neither the previous one nor the one experienced in this phase. This is where offices have acquired a relevance that few companies considered: a brand experience, commitment, community and culture.

Some time ago, we realized that the conversation is no longer about face-to-face, remote or hybrid work; people and businesses are consistently opting for hybrid and it's paying off. Companies such as McKinsey, Deloitte and PWC, as well as educational institutions such as Harvard and MIT, have published research and cases that demonstrate the effectiveness of this model in 2023, and the outlook for the future is promising.

In addition, the conversation focused on an underexplored aspect of work before the pandemic: whether the work to be done can be synchronous or asynchronous, and how face-to-face and remote modalities contribute to each of the scenarios.

Asynchronous work is a method in which collaborators don't need to be connected simultaneously to perform their tasks. This approach allows for scheduling flexibility, allowing team members to contribute at different times, depending on their convenience. For example, while some members may be drafting proposals in the morning, others can review and provide feedback at the end of the day, without the need for real-time interactions. This model values autonomy, encourages concentration on projects and allows for a more adaptable approach to the balance between personal and professional life. The work may or may not be interdependent and linked, but operationally it can be done in isolated parts, such as most data collection, information structuring, data analysis, conferences and audits, prototyping, initial concepts, technical developments, and so on

On the other hand, synchronous work is characterized by collaboration in real time, where team members interact simultaneously. This occurs in face-to-face or virtual meetings, live brainstorming sessions, or during chats and video conferences. For example, a software development team can hold daily meetings to discuss project progress, share ideas and solve challenges in real time, promoting instant communication and immediate collaboration between members. This modality is effective for quick decisions, instant exchanges of ideas and for moments that require immediate feedback or direct interactions between collaborators.

Once this is mapped, offices can be a space of productive experience, commitment, brand experience and community for employees to access resources and live unique experiences that cannot be experienced remotely and, in this way, make people yearn for moments of face-to-face interaction, even being able to measure the effectiveness and impact of the office on business results, innovation and people's commitment.

According to research conducted by McKinsey in the United States in 2023, the three main reasons why people choose to work remotely are:

1_ Save travel time.

2_ Increase productivity.

3_Save money.

As for the three main reasons for face-to-face work:

1_ Work together with your team.

2_ Comply with the policies of the employing company.

3_ Increase productivity.

The common point is obvious; both environments offer conditions that boost productivity. It's important to understand which activity is most productive in each environment, and the reasons for remote work are directly related to quality of life; after all, who doesn't want more time and money?

On the other hand, working in the office has brought up two extreme issues. On the one hand, teamwork that can only be provided by the company through company demands and rituals, but, on the other hand, we have to go to the office to comply with rules, out of obligation. Psychology has already demonstrated that, in the face of rules, people comply with them, and for this reason they stifle the part of themselves that would resist, reducing the level of attention, commitment and capacity for action, or people rebel; they may not disconnect, but they begin to create a force of resistance that also leads to decreased productivity and commitment.

Designing and working with spaces that can promote teamwork and face-to-face interaction experiences, and offer high productivity resources for the asynchronous work that will be done in the office, are key elements in meeting the expectations of talents, companies and the new normal, driving results.

For synchronous and asynchronous work, technology companies have made practically all the tools available, and the co-production of documents in real time from anywhere on the planet is available to any professional with just a few clicks. But we all know the feeling of working sitting on the couch at home, at the dining table, or even in the office chair that we could buy close to home, and it's not comfortable doing it for long periods of time, just as it's not easy to deal with neighborhood noises.

But have in-person spaces elevated the work experience in the same way that technological services have, to allow everyone to work from anywhere?

Does your meeting room stay the same? Are there “digital” interaction tools, that is, things with which the person can switch from digital interaction on the computer screen to physical interaction almost immediately? Are there acoustic spaces for meetings and online sessions isolated from the noise of your neighborhood, ergonomic and modern furniture that can stimulate creativity, a sense of belonging and immersion in your brand experience?

Competition is not fair; how can they convince the modern worker to abandon the facilities of digital tools such as those of Google, Microsoft, Atlassian, etc., to present themselves in an office that feels and feels like a step back in time and, above all, in space?

Naturally, there are technological issues to consider, such as the speed and stability of the Internet, access to support equipment to bring food from home and avoid spending on restaurants in the expensive neighborhoods where the offices are located, but, more importantly, how are you designing workflows and your office to boost the power of pre-essentially asynchronous work and enrich the quality and variety of teamwork interactions when talents go to the office?

It is also important to note that each area or department will have different workflows depending on the nature of its processes, base discipline and the need to deal with customer, supplier and market demands at different speeds. Therefore, don't try to create a single model for the entire organization. They may have similar parameters, such as, for example, two days of remote work and three days in person, but the dynamics that each department will use must be designed to specifically drive that operation. In this way, there will be departmental rituals and institutional rituals.

Organizational rituals - they sustain a culture. Rituals are a set of movements, sounds, vocabularies and behaviors that, when performed together and with consistency and regularity, promote an expected effect. The corporate and work world is full of rituals, some of which haven't been updated in decades. The main element that powers the performance of rituals is the physical environment in which it occurs, and a great example of this is the “Burning Man” event, which brings together executives, entrepreneurs, artists and others to discuss different visions of the world. Could this be experienced from anywhere?

Spaces can and should also be high-performance, as long as expectations are mapped, aligned and agreed upon. After all, your company's performance show deserves a stage and scenography to match.

Whether it's a simple meeting, a convention or a commercial or results presentation, designing enriching spaces can be decisive in changing your rituals and, in this way, taking your results to the next level.

I insist on the topic of rituals, workflow designs and processes because, with advance and proper planning, even routine office visits can be expected, prepared and provide clarity about the expected results, both for professionals and for companies.

If you could evaluate from zero to ten, to what extent can your employees answer the following questions? _Why am I going to the office today? _What interaction will contribute the most to achieving my goals and results? • Considering what I know about my schedule, what are the most appropriate spaces in the company for me to carry out each responsibility and how do they help me? _ In moments of rest and break between tasks, what are the advantages of being present in the office?

With a career dedicated to performance management in companies, I have always been especially passionate about the word “performance”. It is used both to represent a ballet performance and to deliver the results of an industry. And the similarities are great.

In a ballet performance, there are a number of things that must be done with precision to obtain the desired result; there is a clear objective of generating an emotion in the audience; there is a choreography designed especially for that, and there is the realization of the choreography by talented dancers.

In organizations, there is a clear objective defined in the strategy, just as in the case of choreography; there are processes and routines designed especially for that, and there is a group of talented professionals dedicated to making the strategy happen.

In this way, what qualifies a performance? Would it be the final result of the delivery or would it be the set of expectations agreed, aligned and realized? Does the audience know if the choreography was carried out as designed? From this perspective, performance, which does not exist without results, is a factor dependent on expectation.

In the same way that we looked at the numbers at the end of the income statement and rated whether it was good or bad, based on expectations. Spaces can and should also be high-performance, as long as expectations are mapped, aligned and agreed upon. After all, your company's performance show deserves a stage and scenography to match.