Change has it's challenges when our workforce is remote

The theme at the Spring 2022 LMF Change & Business Transformation Leaders Practice was managing change in a hybrid working environment. Twenty London Market change leaders attended this quarter's Practice Group Breakfast, where we were joined by Ali Dove of Placing Platform Limited and their guest, Matt Unsworth, COO of Aon Commercial Risks UK. We also heard from Brendan Harley of Mendix and his guests from Valcon, Jason Jago and Andre Van Teeseling, who talked about the work they'd been undertaking with MS Amlin, in terms of digitising processes, practices and product lines.

Matt Unsworth explained how Aon was continuing to adjust and adapt to the new hybrid working environment, where the focus is very much on the client and collaboration - with Aon team members meeting in a physical setting where the workload, project or client needs are best served by doing so. Matt commented that Aon are still in a learning phase about remote working and they continue to learn how to achieve the optimal result for all stakeholders from such a hybrid working methodology. Matt praised the work of PPL and stressed how important the platform had been during the pandemic and how it continues to gain momentum and add real value to the business, their clients and the Market as a whole. There was a feeling that when it comes to change, it can prove tricky when those involved are remote from each other.

The polling carried out amongst participants at the breakfast suggested that staff are, on the whole back in the office 2-3 days a week and there is an expectation that this may increase to more days per week, over time. There was also a feeling that being together in a physical setting does yield better results, when leading change. For the full results, see our event outcomes page.

Brendan Harley asked Andre Van Teeseling about the work they'd undertaken with MS Amlin, where they had been asked to help digitise a significant number of product offerings and cut the lead time down from months and years to days and weeks. Using Mendix's Low Code platform, gave Valcon and MS Amlin the agility to transform at speed and with accuracy.

Our popular roundtable discussion, involving all participants looked at the lessons learned from trying to manage change in the post pandemic hybrid working environment. The balance of opinion was that there are operating benefits and advantages when change professionals and associated stakeholders can work in the same physical setting, but equally there was an acceptance that we're unlikely to return to the a pre-pandemic working model, so we need to adjust and find a happy medium. The journey of achieving agility and the optimal results from a hybrid working model continues and LMF will revisit this topic with Practice Group Members over the coming months.