The one question you should ask your team before the 'return to work'​...

92% Of HR Leaders Set Employee Experience As Top Priority In 2021

Read the headline of a Forbes article published last year. It gave me hope that workplace dynamics had a genuine chance of evolving. And quickly.

The possibility that necessity would nudge leaders globally to be spearhead a more human approach to how teams create visions, achieve goals, communicate, collaborate, debate and celebrate. That our collective ways of working would become more free range than factory farm in nature.

Almost a year on from this article, the 'return to work' phrase is a harbinger of how little attitudes have really changed.

Staff are not 'returning to work' - they have been hard 'at' work all this time.

Some even describe it more like living at work than working from home.

The media is awash with studies and articles about the pro's and con's of 'returning' vs. remaining remote. The truth is, it's all academic.

You only need to ask yourself one question.

What do you need in order to perform well?

Asked from the perspective of a sole contributor, as a team, as a leader and as an organisation, you start to build up a picture of what your modern workplace model could look like.

This single, simple question gives you an end point to work back from to identify how, when - and from where - people work best. It's also a good starting point for teams to have conversations about what's required to perform well together - from wherever they are.

Performance expectations are the one thing everyone can agree they're here to meet. Whether performance means safety secured, saved lives, delivered projects, successful campaigns, sales targets, units moved, risks averted or legislation that's passed.

If you're in a leadership role that gives you the freedom or flexibility to influence what the return to the workplace looks like, then ask this question.

Gather information, find the key themes and then lead with consideration and curiosity. You'll be making a powerful statement about the kind of leader you are and the more adult directed performance partnership you want to create (rather than the traditional command and control leadership style that requires on site visibility).

If you only do one thing towards creating more psychological safety and trust in your team, make it asking this question: What do you need in order to perform well?

You could wait for another worldwide crisis to prompt change, but why not use this one?