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When the living room becomes the boardroom: CEOs on working from home

Thursday, April 30, 2020 — updated on September 19, 2020 - 19 min read

Kariuki Ngari, Standard Chartered Bank CEO. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Covid-19 has shattered the traditional approach to work. What worked before the pandemic is now being looked at with caution, as new ways of productivity and meeting in the work place shifts the ball to the court of technology.

This led us to seek the opinions of chief executives in various organisations and sectors to see how their out of office work experience has been since the government encouraged people to work from home to curb rising infections of this unseen enemy.

It’s amazing how quickly we normalize new ways of working. Video conferencing has become our new norm in conducting meetings. The one we use is reliable, intuitive and functional. However, what has needed to change is meeting etiquette. In a room where you can read someone’s body language, it’s easy to read when someone wants to make a contribution or raise a point. Video conferencing numbs that instinctive read of body language that allows everyone to make their points. I have found myself spending more time “going round the room” to check if everyone has made all the points they want to. It’s turned out to be a great discipline actually – by stopping and asking someone if they are happy to move on or have further points to raise is a mark of respect for that person’s role in the meeting. I really like it, and when we return to whatever our new normal is post Covid-19, it’s a methodology for contribution that I am going to take back into the physical environment.