Lynda Gratton was recently a guest on Dan Pontefract’s podcast, where she shared the four-step process for hybrid work outlined in her new book, Redesigning Work.

In conversation with Dan, Lynda also examined some of the reasons why work wasn’t working for us even before the Covid-19 pandemic. In Lynda’s view, there was already a critical need to make work more humane – and the pandemic merely provided us with a unique opportunity to do so.

So, what does redesigning work really mean? Firstly, it involves reframing the relationship between place and time in the context of work. Secondly, it means applying genuine design thinking principles to the way work is reimagined – using a process of intentional design to understand how work gets done, whether location is important and what combination of factors makes people most productive.

Leaders may not be deeply involved in the detail of this design work – but they need to understand it, sponsor it, and learn how to talk about it. As Lynda says: “We humans are very influenced by stories, and the great leaders of the moment are giving a sense to the people of how to be.” In essence, this means that leaders have a part to play as the chronicles of redesigned work, not just acknowledging hybrid and asynchronous working as part of the way we work now but embedding them into their own working habits. According to Lynda, this is critical to success: “In organisations that are moving ahead, leaders are not just talking about [hybrid]; they are doing it themselves.” CEOs, take heed.

You can listen to the podcast episode – or read the article based on it – on the Forbes website.