We've heard a lot about this crisis being the ideal time for experimentation. Some people have taken it too far and are running corporate surveillance schemes that would make the Stasi green with envy. Don't forget that your employer has the ability to track any and all of your activity on your work devices. So if you're thinking about surfing the dark web or checking out porn on your work computer, think twice.
While this trend is worrying, it's not so much because we have at our fingertips the means for global, permanent, 24/7 surveillance, but more because employers are actually thinking about using them, for fear that working from home will turn your average worker into a Lebowski-class slacker.
It's not because micromanaging has become harder, that one should redouble their efforts to breathe down their employees' neck. I'd argue that on the contrary, it's time to let go of our control-freak neuroses (let's be frank, all of us A-type wish we could control everything) and trust employees to do their jobs. A lot of them end up being less productive, but not so much by choice, but rather because they have to try and run their household, do their work and care for their kids without any external help. I actually salute all the parents of young kids out there who have not yet gone completely crazy.
Instead of being the bottleneck through whom everything has to flow, try and let your employees roam free, take initiative and even come up with their own hacks to boost productivity. Maybe you'll figure out a way to groom your next generation of leaders in the process. David Marquet and Simon Sinek seem to think so.
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