5 outdated workplace norms that need to go, as per Adam Grant

Popular organisational psychologist, professor at Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and author Adam Grant often shares his insights about the future of work and how it is changing. In 2023, he was named as the Number 2 most influential management thinker in the world by Thinkers50. More recently, Adam Grant shared his thoughts about five workplace conventions that belong in the past, in a session from Davos on 'Reskilling for the Intelligent Age'. Here, we share his views:

"On average, most people at work spend more than half of their time in meetings where very little gets done. And oftentimes, people walk away more depressed than they were when they came in. I think the point of meeting is to bond, to learn or to create. And we don't need to do that together every day. We need to do it together once a week," Grant said.

According to Adam Grant, the modern workplace and its problems need modern solutions. And he believes that in order to increase people's productivity, one needs to rest and have a work-life balance as well. Talking about this, Grant shared that working five days a week is an outdated workplace norm; instead, companies should look at a 4-day workweek. "There's an emerging body of evidence suggesting that the 4-day workweek may be an advantage for well-being and work-life balance without any cost to productivity. And in some cases, even benefits to productivity," he said.

Adam Grant also emphasised the need to do away with the corporate ladder and have uniformity instead. "Any time you have an idea, you can pitch it to anyone in the hierarchy above you. If one person says yes to it, it gets a green light, and now you can begin to tinker on it. I think that's a great way to make sure that pilots happen, that people end up experimenting and tinkering and ultimately innovating," the organisational psychologist said.

Instead of having a traditional interviewing process, Grant suggests two things: "Number one, we need to give people demos. Figure out the skills that are most critical for the job and then give people a challenge where they can showcase those skills. That's where you really get to see their capabilities."

He also emphasised on the importance of giving chances to interviewees. Why? If an interviewee messes up, give them a second chance. "It's not how they perform in the first interview that ultimately shows their agility. It's how well they learn and progress from what didn't go well in the first interview into improvement in the second interview. And there's brand new evidence from military jobs that if you give people a do-over, you become better at predicting who will be successful in your organisation," Grant said. And so, giving candidates a second chance offers them an opportunity to show their resilience, a skill which is much needed in today's workplace.

Grant believes that people come up with stronger ideas than groups. Brainstorming is something one needs to do away with at modern workplaces. "Good news is there's a simple workaround that's been studied for years. It's called brain writing. All you do is give people a problem or a prompt in advance, you let them generate their own ideas independently, and then ideally you keep them anonymous. You have everybody do a separate rating of the potential of that idea. At that point, having gotten independent idea generation and judgment, you bring the group together to evaluate and refine," Grant said.

Do you agree with Adam Grant that these specific working models are now outdated? Tell us your views in the comments section below.

Maintaining a healthy work-life balance is essential for one's overall well-being, productivity, and happiness. Excessive work stress can lead to burnout, health issues, and strained relationships, while too little work engagement can affect financial stability and career growth. And so, having a balance allows people to prioritise their personal well-being, spend quality time with loved ones, and also pursue hobbies without compromising on their professional success.