The Cubicle Crutch is preventing radically innovative work
Over the past year, I have had several Tik Toks pop into my algorithm showcasing examples of remote micro-managing, and highlighting the fear leadership has in their team as they continue to work from home.
From these use cases — and my own experience working with teams across the globe; a teams’ failure to do radically innovative & disruptive work, is due to two primary factors; digital literacy education aka the Cubicle Crutch, and the nonexistent company culture that celebrates a-sync work and exploration.
On a larger scale, digital literacy is defined as, ones ability to navigate the digital world using reading, writing, technical skills, and critical thinking.
Within “corporate” America, I’m referring to everyone with a desk job here, we can easily recognize the digital gap between Gen X (Boomer) employees, and Millennial / Gen Z hires.
The reason for this divide is simple. Gen Xers were not exposed to technology from a young age, and therefore lack the interest and motivation to increase their skills, as most see software as too complicated to understand.
Caused by the continued unwillingness to learn, most C-Suite leaders hire “tech-savvy” assistants to complete digital tasks for them such as printing documents, editing slide decks, and yes, even submitting receipts to finance.
I call this the Cubicle Crutch.
The Cubicle Crutch is an activity in which an employee, instead of utilzing their own digital literacy skills, finds the closest available coworker to “pop-in” and support completing the task.
However, this isn’t just an Executives issue. What we are witnessing through the growth of web3 tools and WFH, is there is no longer a need to rely on others’ knowledge at a moment's notice.
But, old habits die hard.
Since these teams can no longer scan the office floor to see who can troubleshoot a printer error, or can be interrupted for a quick question, leadership has replaced this practice with something even more annoying.
Queue the little green Slack dot.
Teams that fall into the Cubicle Crutch silo, who are still requiring their employees to be “always available” during working hours, were engrained with an inherent fear of remote work. Even back in 2015, my boss’s message was consistent, “if I can’t see you, you’re not working”.
Remote work isn’t broken due to low-performing employees, but because older leadership has yet to embrace a digital workflow culture that promotes a-sync, radical work.
A-sync work is the practice of working on a team that does not require all members to be online simultaneously.
Radically innovated & disruptive work leverages core competencies to make future products and services more accessible, affordable, and available to a larger population. While this wasn’t entirely necessary prior to 2020, it is now crucial for teams to pivot and embrace the possibilities that come with building a digital company culture and ridding themselves of the Cubicle Crutch.
There are three primary actions a company can take to rid themselves of the Cubicle Crutch.
First, redefine what an “emergency” is.
Actually, scrap the word entirely. There’s no such thing as an emergency in 95% of organizations across the globe. If you fall within the remaining 5%, hire a dedicated internal team for incoming requests. This article is not about that process though.
“Emergencies” stem from the lack of resources such as a company wiki, and the unwillingness to search for knowledge on our own. By relying on any one employee for information, we create a chain reaction that ultimately hinders productivity and increases human error due to the distraction of chiming, dinging, buzzing, and the unending emails hitting our inbox.
Next, define and (re)develop company values into actionable principles that every employee (no matter where on the ladder) can embrace, together.
Here are a few value → principle examples:
“Transparency” → As a transparent team, we provide opportunities for our team to provide constructive feedback without fear of repercussions.
“Progress = Perfection” → We encourage our team to explore and improve outdated processes that will move our company toward its ideal state.
“Take Responsibility” → We trust our team to make good decisions, take accountability, and speak up on behalf of others.
Do non-client-facing roles really need to be available at 9AM on the dot? I doubt it. Part of defining company principles is setting expectations toward what productivity means to your team.
To embrace a-sync work, the expectation would be for everyone to meet on Monday morning for a standup meeting. Here, you can set goals & expectations, ask strategic questions, and clarify any roadblock within a project. Executives are not excluded from this activity. By goal-setting and troubleshooting together, the company grows together.
From there, trust the team will complete their assigned responsibilities by the deadline and leave them the fuck alone.
Third, you are not a family, so leave the dysfunction at the door.
Radically innovative teams document everything, there are no secrets. When mastering a-sync work, there is a shared expectation that each employee documents their processes within the Company Wiki (which can be done in Notion).
I recommend dedicating a special team to building and maintaining a highly organized Company Wiki, that can help ease the transition to new software.
Far too often, CEOs and Executives (of the Gen Xer population) vocalize their digital literacy incompetencies in front of employees, clearly stating they themselves will never actually use the system.
Let’s be clear, to successfully implement the practice of radical, a-sync work, it is the responsibility of leadership to embrace and help implement these changes top-down even if they are personally uncomfortable. Failure to do so, will continue to result in a mass exodus. Teams want to be trusted that the expertise they were hired with will do more than respond to emails or help Cindy fix the copier.
When executives begin to think of their entire team as actual contributing members of the organization, that is where the magic happens. We see heightened levels of productivity, a reduction in human errors, and an increase in sales.
And frankly, by developing a strong digital workflow culture, there should be no need for any software that dings without warning.
Written By: Sara Loretta
👋🏼 Sara Loretta is the Chief Digital Architect & Founder @ _systms™ — she’s also the 10th US Certified Notion Consultant, and 1st Certified Paperform Expert. Through her work and creatorship, Sara is focused on connecting and educating teams on tech, workflows, and all the ways they can optimize their business to scale.
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