Leadership and trust make working from home a success

In the new episode of MTTV, Kanaal Z invited 3 CEO’s to discuss new ways of operating a business today and tomorrow. Our Managing Partner Michel Van Hemele participated.
Watch the full episode on Kanaal Z: https://mt-tv.be/uitzending-gemist/

Following statements were discussed:
•    Working from home implies that teams are no longer teams 
•    Decentralization creates tension between different business units and general management
•    As a company, you better focus on the core business and outsource any other activities

Working from home implies that teams are no longer teams 

All participants agreed that telework doesn't necessarily have a negative impact on performance and teamwork. It does however require a new way of leading businesses - 'leading by walking around' makes no sense anymore. Leadership in these challenging times is based on trust and assuring your teams are able to operate autonomously.
The panel acknowledges the increasing need for innovation and digitalization, both at their own companies, as well as at clients, in order to make telework efficient as well as comfortable for employees.

CEO’s however notice a trend of employees willing to come back to the office because they are in need of their informal contacts. 

Does a decentralized way of working create tensions between different business units and general management?

Most business already have a decentralized way of working, consequently CEO’s are not experiencing more tension than before. At the contrary, telework further accelerated decentralization. All panelists consented on both innovation and digitalization being key leading businesses in the new way of working.

As a company, you better focus on the core business, and outsource anything else.

All CEO’s agreed that focus on core activities is the way to go. Specialization is a must to maintain market position and create trust and reliability towards customers.
Michel Van Hemele witnessed Essensys supporting clients in offshoring departments such as HR or finance in order to focus on their core activities.