Along with upending societal norms and familial lives across the globe, the COVID-19 pandemic also fundamentally changed the way we work due to the large scale lockdowns.

The pandemic resulted in over 20 million people having to work remotely with regards to UK-based companies in 2021, while only 14% of them were planning to do so before the pandemic started, according to the Office for National Statistics.

While some detested the home work environment, others relished in the freedom it offered workers. Caretakers were able to offer more in person time to their loved ones, more people became digital nomads, travelling the world without missing a meeting or email, and workers with disabilities landed positions they wouldn’t be able to do if it were in person. 

However, a persistent issue remained with a mostly remote work force, which Dobbie points out: “creativity is not a solitary endeavour, there’s something magic when you put creative people together in a room.” 

So, he’s bringing everyone back together. We sat down with Dobbie to discuss what prompted MadeBrave to back on its promise of ‘work anywhere, forever’ and what have been some of the challenges in reintroducing face-to-face engagement within the business.

Making space for ‘Creative Collisions’

Creativity was something he needed from his workers at MadeBrave, a strategic brand agency. Growing brands demand thinking outside of the box and pushing the norms, which is something, according to Dobbie that requires a team to do. 

“You can still have a creative brainstorm over zoom,” said Dobbie. However, he insists that oftentimes great ideas come from people overhearing discussions about projects they’re not even involved in. 

“I encourage my office, if you hear some kind of brainstorming and you can add something, shout it out,” he said. In an online space, the person with the answer might not be ‘invited’ to that brainstorming session. 

“There’s great value in moments, creative collisions, that just happen and they’re the ones that aren’t in meetings.”

Backtracking as a step forward

In 2020, three months after the first lockdown, MadeBrave announced its whole team could work from anywhere, forever. When asked why he went back on this idea, Dobbie explained it with an example:

“You don’t get to the moon by figuring out how to get there, then tell everyone you’re going. You tell people you’re going there, and then you figure it out.”

By this he meant in business, staying agile and changing often is one of the keys to success. If you spend too much time pondering over if something is worth doing, you may miss out on something great. He believes “you’ve got to just be brave and try things.” 

According to Dobbie, when you make these shifts, you have to do them for the right reasons, and above all, be honest with your team. 

Team feedback 

The draw back to the office was not out of the blue at MadeBrave.

In fact, throughout the pandemic, its office space remained open to staff, and many workers came in on a regular basis. What they found however, without agreed upon days in the office, was alot of missed connections. 

“We’ve kind of had this hybrid model, nothing has been forced. It was just kind of let’s see what happens organically,” said Dobbie. He noticed that most people would come in sporadically. 

“What that did though, was sometimes people might make a longer trek in or get the energy of going in that day and they get there and there’s only three people.”

Dobbie found this model made it hard to plan anything: “A lot of our culture was about surprise and delight moments, and you can’t plan these when you don’t know there’s any sort of critical mass, but then they also don’t become so special when you have to tell everyone come in because we’re going to do something.”

He found he wasn’t alone in this mindset, when he surveyed the team about what was or wasn’t working in their ways of working. “I got the feedback and it was like music to my ears,” he said. 

When looking at the survey results, Dobbie found that the workers wanted more space to come together, time to collaborate together, and be part of a creative community together. Dobbie says there was no pushback or other answer to what he was about to do. Which was when he pitched together days. 

Together days vs Mandated office days

Where some CEOs might come out and say they are mandating two or three days at the office per week, Dobbie opted for a different approach – “together days.” The employees are still asked to show up two times per week, but the emphasis is on collaborating and learning with each other during that time, than it is about being watched while they work.  

“I think how you choose your language has a big influence on people. The way I’ve communicated with our team is that this is a time for us to come together as a team,” he said.  

“It’s like a time where we can be creative together, we can learn and share skills and knowledge, grow together and celebrate together, and problem solve together, laugh together.”

“Its hard, depending on the size and scale of your business, but I think if you can get around to people and talk on an individual basis and try to cover as many bases, just make sure the reason isn’t built around watching people,” he said.

Along with together days, Dobbie is bringing in some programs to entice employees to be there in person. On the first Tuesday of every month, MadeBrave is hosting a “big brave breakfast,” where staff will enjoy a breakfast together, talk about their work and celebrate each other’s victories. MadeBrave is also introducing “lunch and legends,” where entrepreneurs or people with interesting stories will join the team once a month. 

MadeBrave also mentioned a new program coming down the pipeline which will be centred around bringing in guests from the creator economy.

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Accommodating your workers

No matter how it’s spun, however, asking employees to come in person can be a large barrier. Especially if they are caretakers or work from far away. 

“I don’t want to take people’s flexibility away,” said Dobbie in response. “I’ve said to the team, if you need to care for people, if you’ve got children, I want this to be a family friendly business. So it’s okay if you need to leave at two o’clock to go get a kid, that’s fine.”

As for workers living outside of MadeBrave’s office in Glasgow, Dobbie spoke with them before the announcement to cut out a deal. 

“With those people specifically, we’ve budgeted now to fly them in, twice a month, but they only have a requirement to come once,” he said.“That’s the rule now, but it’s on us. So I pay for the travel, I pay for the hotel.”

“I’ve tried to build this around doing something bigger than ourselves and being part of something that we all believe in,” said Dobbie. 

“All I’m doing here is testing and trying and seeing if something works. It might not work, it might work. If it doesn’t, we’ll change and do something else.” 

“I think in business, change is the only constant.”