Lots of meetings, fast and complex information, and high pressure to be efficient: many people are experiencing this at the moment. Digitalization is driving the speed of complex information exchange while also offering tools to provide more structure and efficiency to process this information. When working in tandem, job sharers must ensure that the essence of information flows sufficiently and continuously between them. A real challenge! Although job sharing as a concept has been around since the 1980s, it is only now, in our digitalized world, that its popularity and implementation is increasing. A coincidence?
Luca Prietz has devoted her master's thesis to the topic of digitalization in the job sharing model. I could have continued our conversation for a long time. Thank you for the interesting exchange!
Svenja: Hello Luca, nice to talk to you! Can you give us a brief intro to your exciting research topic?
Luca: Gladly! It's about digital collaboration in management tandems, specifically hybrid collaboration, since there are few tandems that work together completely digitally. I have been investigating how tandems experience the situation with the increased level of digitalization since Corona, what challenges they see and what success strategies they use to deal with the challenges. The starting point is the basic hypothesis of the research literature that trust and communication are weakened in digital work. I thought to myself: Wow, that's really interesting in terms of job sharing! Is the relationship of trust in tandems really weakened by digitalization? How does effective communication work in hybrid tandems? I then examined these and other questions through expert interviews with tandems and job sharing experts.
Svenja: So, science currently says that the relationship level is more difficult to maintain digitally than in person. Why?
Luca: Communication is limited in the digital environment because information gets lost. For example, body language and presence in the room are missing. In addition, trust is actually built through an intensive phase of getting to know each other. Especially in job sharing, this phase of getting to know each other is particularly important in order to lay the foundation, to get to know each other and find out: can I rely on the person, what are their values and what makes them special? If communication is limited during this important phase, it has a negative impact on factors such as feedback, appreciation and, of course, building trust. Something is simply missing, and I was very eager to see how it works in practice.
Svenja: Now I'm curious, of course: What did you find out?
Luca: Based on my literature research, I assumed that it is very difficult to establish a relationship digitally, but the interviews show that it can be done! But it takes longer.
Svenja: Does that mean that a tandem can develop completely digitally and still build a trusting relationship, but then it takes more time?
Luca: Exactly! Nevertheless, I would still recommend meeting in person as much as possible at the beginning so that things can move faster. And once you have reached a level of trust, you can also increase your digital exchanges again.
Svenja: Very exciting! So anything is possible, but at different speeds! This is an important take-home message for companies that want to establish tandems at a distance or under isolated home office conditions!
Luca, in our preliminary work I learned a very nice term merge from you: VUCArona. Can you briefly explain what it means, also for people who are not yet familiar with the VUCA term?
Luca: VUCA describes a major change in the world of work and business and is made up of: Volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. Basically, the acronym means that the world has become much more interconnected, less predictable and more ambiguous. Corona has further intensified the four factors. The exciting thing in my study was: my interviews showed that job sharing is a totally strong leadership model in this VUCArona change.
Svenja: Our studies overlap. During the first lockdown, we researched the robustness and power of tandems under precisely these circumstances [Link] and came to the same conclusion. It's great that you were able to replicate the results!
Luca: Yes, I could clearly see that. The top sharers report feeling strong and secure compared to individual managers because they have the support of the other person and even greater flexibility. Everyone was very enthusiastic.
Svenja: Did the metaphor “marriage-like” situation come up?
Luca (laughs): Yes, exactly! It is a close bond.
Svenja: Let's take another look at the results. A lot has changed for all of us due to VUCArona. Are there any digitization aspects that are tandem-specific?
Luca: Yes, the first thing we all have in common is that the density of information has increased. One meeting follows hot on the heels of the next, more information is flowing faster and faster. Then there are three things that are specific to a tandem:
To let the mass of information flow efficiently in the tandem exchange and to keep up to date. In a tandem, you need this flow to represent each other, of course. Designing a corresponding documentation cleanly is quite a challenge here.
Maintaining the relationship level in the tandem. In other words, not losing sight of each other in the face of all the pressure to be efficient and creating enough encounters, including in informal exchanges.
The technical framework. In other words, systems that actually work and allow job sharing models in the first place.
Svenja: Oh yes, the perennial issue of unwieldy systems! We have already written a lot about this, unfortunately SAP still does not address the topic. We will keep at it. But I wanted to come back to the first point. In practice, we experience the risk that tandems run the risk of slipping into a split due to the flood of information and work compression, and of distributing work among themselves rather than sharing responsibility. Have you also observed this effect?
Luca: It didn't come up that specifically in my interviews. But there was a tendency to want to protect the tandem partner from too much stress and to take on too much yourself. And some tandems initially find it difficult to find the right balance of information sharing.
Svenja: So there are definitely some tandem-specific challenges. And how do the top sharers feel about hybrid working overall?
Luca: Overall, it was very good. Hybrid has actually always been in use, but of course there has now been a huge shift towards less presence and more digitalization. Job sharers, who know both worlds as a tandem, i.e. before and after Corona, greatly appreciate the higher degree of digitalization. However, not without also mentioning the challenges just discussed. Therefore, it is particularly important at the beginning to go through several iteration loops in order to find the right individual hybrid path as a tandem in order to be able to work together successfully.
Svenja: Yes, each tandem has to find its own way and rhythm, but are there also generalizable success factors?
Luca: Yes, it is. Basically, for example, it is better to find a few tools as a tandem than to find a whole shopping cart.
Svenja: What are they?
Luca: It's difficult to say that this or that is perfect. But there is a tendency towards one tool, where as much as possible works, for example One Note, because good documentation is possible there. Some tandems also exchange their feelings about it. Most tandems also use MS Teams and Outlook for this, so a triple combination of chat tool, email program and documentation tool. But all tools also have weaknesses. For example, you can't create appointments using a shared email address in Outlook. It would make sense to develop tools that enable shared accounts. Unfortunately, ERP systems like SAP don't allow two people to be mapped to one position by the system. And that's very annoying for job sharers. Incidentally, voice messages are also very popular, which can also be done in MS Teams. People simply use them to make a daily summary in the evening and save what they have experienced during the day, often adding a small hashtag so that it can be found in the chat again.
Svenja: Oh yes, but please don't send numbers, dates and facts in a voice message! Some tandems even play the messages at double speed, but that's a matter of taste. At this point, I would like to make a recommendation: the dictation functions are now also great on both the iPhone and Android: you can find them on the keyboard. Which topics are better suited for digital communication and which should be discussed in person?
Luca: Relationship issues, creative topics and strategic issues are suitable for in-person meetings. These are all matters that involve complex information and require a deep exchange. Topics that need to be dealt with quickly or are not as important should ideally be discussed digitally. It is also important that shared experiences continue to be had. After all, spontaneity disappears in the digital realm.
Svenja: So no more spontaneous chats in the coffee kitchen...
Luca: Exactly, and you can plan for that. For example, a walk in the park once a month.
Svenja: But is it really the same if the meeting is not a spontaneous impulse but is fixed in the calendar?
Luca: Unfortunately, I can't answer that based on the study data. But my opinion is: no, it's not the same. That's because spontaneous experiences bring people closer together and are often deeper. But to avoid losing the connection, planned meetings are also useful. For example, a planned exchange about values in tandem. So I recommend regular blocks of planned tandem time.
Svenja: I agree, and ideally for the whole year, before the operational business takes over the calendar. I have another question from a cognitive psychology perspective: Do you have the impression that job sharers have a deeper understanding of their work because they have to process all the information again for their tandem partner – and thus reflect on it? For example, When a job sharer is in a meeting and taking notes for their tandem partner, putting themselves in their tandem partner's shoes, considering what is relevant and essential for them and the role, is there perhaps a reflection process that does not take place in individuals?
Luca: That's a very interesting thought. Even though I haven't explicitly examined the aspect, it was mentioned in the interviews. Tandems have reported that by keeping a record of the minutes, they themselves have a much better overview of the topics, they are better memorized and a better structure is created. So I do think that this can have a huge influence on the quality of leadership, but at this point it remains a hypothesis.
Svenja: It's great that we can take up the hypothesis and develop it further. In this way, our studies flow into each other a little. In our latest study, which we conducted together with the University of Heilbronn and Twise, we looked at the quality of work results, among other things, under the umbrella term “performance” of job sharers. That brings me to my last question. Luca, is there anything else you would like to share with readers about hybrid working in job sharing?
Luca: Yes, and the quote that I found most beautiful in my interviews: Don't lose sight of each other! It summed up so beautifully what is important in digital collaboration. On the one hand, not to lose sight of physical meetings, not to lose sight of each other and also the relationship, not to lose sight of the people. So that not everything is geared towards increasing efficiency and productivity, but also on the personal level.
Svenja: Then we'll end the interview with this very nice quote! Dear Luca, thank you for this great master's thesis!
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