#23 Future of Work Summit in London

Welcome to the first newsletter sharing insights from my very first "business trip" where I traveled for work - quite an exciting feeling, busy but worth it! I went to London Tech Week, listened to and met super interesting people, and made a bunch of learnings which I will share in this week's newsletter.

My day 1 – Climate Tech Summit

Even though the topics at the climate tech summit were obviously surrounding climate change, there are quite some learnings for team and company leaders, too:

• There is not only pressure from the outside for companies to comply with ESG goals and act more sustainably, but inside there are strong voices, too, that if recognized can result in greater engagement: Employees wish to become more sustainable – people want to be part of the solution!
• An interesting thought: Billions of small actions caused the climate problem, so why not reverse that to fight climate change. As over 50% of emissions are a result of direct consumer actions (as shared by the founder of Olio – "the #1 free sharing app"), each individual, each employee, affects climate change. Analyzing, recognizing, and acting on those actions can already have a hugely positive effect on our planet's climate and also the businesses' climate – one of the most inspiring companies out there helping you do that for you entire business is called Plan A run by the most incredible founder Lubomila Jordanova.
• Imagine growth away from consumption and think of a happy and healthy society. Positive growth should elaborate on the manners of responsibility in our day-to-day choices: the people we hang out with, depression we might see in someone, where we work, and how we feel – which all goes beyond the products and services we consume.

Employees are now flocking to work with companies that have a positive overall external purpose and offer meaningful work.

• A leader should be attuned to getting their team members on the right path. But you don’t need to have all answers: "As a first-time founder I may not know how the next 12 months will be but I can share what we can do in the next 3 months." – Sarah Sclarsic
• Trust: requires a shared intent or shared purpose, because if you aren’t going to do what say you're doing it will hurt trust. If shared intent is lacking you will be distrusted, if the shared intent exists it strengthens trust.

That's a wrap of day 1 from the very sunny London

My Day 2: Future of Work Summit

• A summary of what the future workplaces should look like that highly resonated with me:

Digital-first together with a purpose

• We need communities – because community drives wellness! We need different people to come together and encourage a selfless act of being together. Workplaces today need to create a social fabric that keeps people in the organization. But those social fabrics need to have a purpose. It though is not mandatory to be in-person to be able to come together.

We need to create environments where people can socialize where people want to stay

• Tools we use to communicate and collaborate need guidelines: Best practices are needed for tools such as slack or others to learn how to get best out of it and to reduce the negative effects they might have.
• How do we keep employees? Generally, I believe it should never be the question of "how do we keep them" or "how do we get them back into the office" because if you create that purpose, show them their value and be open to creating those bridges between employees wants and the companies needs, then none of those questions will be difficult to execute on. A statement to bear in mind, though, from the conference:

Friction is harmful. Give people choices.

Thanks for reading.

Till next week and enjoy the sunny weekend.

Franzi