RTO – Is It Time For High Performing Sales Team To Plan A Return To Office

That surreal chpater of life – The Pandemic is far in the rearview mirror, so far back there it kinds of feels like some sort of weird dream. However we have woken up to a new type of reality of working-life,  the way we work has undergone a transformation, with remote work becoming the norm. Sales teams, like many other sectors, adapted to the virtual landscape, but now, as we step into 2024, the time has come to reevaluate the role of the physical office space in driving sales team success.

I am very “Pro Office” and very vocal about the concept of proximity and its impact on the performance of sales teams. Sales professionals thrive on learning from one another, and the proximity of team members plays a crucial role in this process. When team members are physically present, they can engage in spontaneous conversations, share best practices, and learn from each other’s successes and failures. This dynamic interaction helps sales teams ramp up to peak performance more quickly, which is essential for achieving and exceeding sales targets.

Recognition is another vital factor in motivating sales teams. While virtual leaderboards have been effective in acknowledging top performers, there’s something uniquely powerful about teams being physically together to witness individual high achievers receiving recognition. It fosters a sense of camaraderie and healthy competition, inspiring others to strive for excellence. The physical office environment provides a stage for celebrating success and boosting team morale, which can be challenging to replicate in a virtual setting.

I think we need to pause and look at the changing posture of tech titans like Meta, Google, LinkedIn, and Microsoft, having started  this year to mandate a partial return to the office. These decisions are not made lightly; they are backed by data and insights that suggest the benefits of physical proximity outweigh the potential drawbacks.

As we step into 2024, it appears that we are at the beginning of the next chapter of modern working. The return to the office is not a mere reversal of the past but a reevaluation of the role of physical spaces in the future of work. It’s about striking the right balance between remote and in-person work to optimize sales team performance.

No doubt hybrid working gives some great benefits, but I tihnk the lean in this next chapter is to have more time in office and outside of it…

I’d love to try and gather some thoughts and inights from the sales community, so if you are reading this please do email me with your point of view on the sense of the “Great RTO” and how you feel about it. You can get me here