HBR Articles

Many people swear by their personal productivity hacks, whether that’s the elusive “inbox zero,” time boxing their calendars, or even their good old pen and paper to-do list. However, these and other individual techniques and preferences fall short when working in a complex organization with interdependencies among people and teams. To make a true impact on the productivity of an entire organization, improvements must be made on a systems level, writes Daniel Markovitz in this article.

Employees who had to shift to urgent new priorities and maintain a “fire-fighting” pace of work to deal with the challenges of remote work are now at risk of burnout. Rather than continuing down the same path, it might be time to pause, reflect, and rethink digital transformation strategy to ensure your people still feel connected to the big picture vision.

One of the biggest challenges of working remotely is the inability to informally ask questions and share information. Even with intentional team building – like virtual happy hours and games – remote workers still report feeling disconnected from their co-workers, notes Barbara Z. Larson in this article. Larson asked Mark Strassman, an executive with 20 years of experience leading remote teams, about his three favorite ways to collect and collaborate with colleagues virtually.

When it comes to career planning, being too optimistic could hurt you in the long run. For instance, if your career path assumes you’ll be in the same role, with the same company, working with the same team a year from now, then you are not taking into account the potential risks that could threaten your vision of the future, suggest Jonathan Brill and Dorie Clark in this article. Brill and Clark developed a three-step framework that anyone can use to ensure their career plans are robust – no matter what the future holds.

Before the pandemic, people were already starting to ask, “Do we really need to all be together in an office?” And now that organizations and individuals have learned how to perform well while being distributed, many are wondering if work from anywhere is here to stay. Prithwiraj (Raj) Choudhury, associate professor for Harvard Business School, has spent five years studying the best practices and culture of work from anywhere companies and the upsides for individuals, organizations, and society at large.