Organizational Development Helps You Move from Command and Control to Agile and Distributed
A funny thing happened on the way back to the office – we didn’t all go. For many, the future of work is not in an office space.
Remember the headlines last year? CEOs pounding the table. Large companies like Amazon, UPS, JPMorgan Chase and Boeing demanding employees return to the office. Predictions that the work-from-home (WFH) revolution was over.
Well, here we are in mid-2025, and according to the Survey of Working Arrangements and Attitudes (SWAA), the needle has barely moved. In 2022, office workers worked from home about 44% of the time. Now? 43.2%.
Across all sectors, WFH accounts for about 27% of paid days. That’s not exactly a plunge from the 26-30% SWAA has recorded for the last year and a half. The pandemic spike above 60% is long gone. But so is the assumption that we’d return to the March 2020 level of 7.2%.
In my last book, Insightful Leadership, I wrote that the pandemic accelerated history. Well, according to SWAA, the pandemic permanently increased remote and hybrid work, equivalent to almost 40 years of pre-pandemic growth.
As of spring 2025:
- 13% of full-time employees are fully remote.
- 27% work hybrid schedules.
- 60% are fully on-site.
In other words, 40% of full-time employees are not in the office full time. That’s not a blip; that’s the current future of work.
And research shows that’s your new baseline working model.
This Is a Leadership Problem, Not Just a Scheduling Issue
If you’re a CEO or business owner, this shift isn’t just about laptops and Zoom calls. It’s about managing a fundamentally different organization. In your new organizational structure, location is fluid and authority is distributed. Therefore, the old “command-and-control” structures will strangle your ability to adapt.
With an occasional disruption, you could afford a slow, top-heavy hierarchy. In today’s world of perpetual disruption – pandemics, tariffs, tech shifts, supply chain shocks – that’s a recipe for missed opportunities and costly mistakes.
This is where Organizational Development comes in. It’s not about making people “feel good.” It’s about rewiring how your organization makes decisions, develops talent and responds to change.
Organizational Development aligns structure, people, processes and culture with strategy so you can execute at the speed of reality. Organizational Development increases employee engagement while maintaining work-life balance.
That’s how you build a workforce ready for this “current future of work” – and whatever comes next.
Where Hybrid Models and Remote Models Break
The future of work isn’t a level playing field. Team members can accomplish some roles from a laptop anywhere in the world; others require physical, on-site work. That split creates real risks if you don’t manage it intentionally.
Tompkins Ventures has seen five recurring pain points in companies navigating this reality. The first three can be quite visible:
- Communication and collaboration barriers: The absence of hallway conversations or quick desk drop-ins can leave remote employees out of the loop. Misunderstandings multiply. Collaboration slows. Problem-solving declines.
- Organizational Development solution: Redesign communication workflows so they’re location-agnostic. That means building structured collaboration routines, documenting decisions and training teams on digital collaboration tools. This does not require more meetings. It does require smarter, consistent information so nobody relies on proximity to stay informed.
- Equity and inclusion: When some people are in the office and others aren’t, proximity bias can creep in. Promotions, raises and plum assignments can skew toward those physically present.
- Organizational Development solution: Put in place transparent performance metrics and project-assignment processes that focus on output and impact, not face time. Train managers to recognize and counter proximity bias. Review promotion and pay decisions for patterns that might disadvantage remote staff.
- Maintaining workplace culture: Organizational culture used to live in the office. Now, you can’t rely on pizza lunches or chance encounters.
- Organizational Development solution: Intentionally design culture-building into your hybrid or remote model. That could mean virtual town halls with interactive segments, hybrid social events and shared rituals. These events should reinforce company values whether you’re in Dallas or a dining room. Coach managers on how to lead engagement activities that resonate across locations.
Leveling the Playing Field for a Distributed Workforce
The last two challenges are less visible but just as damaging if ignored.
- Access to tools and technology: In-office workers can pop down to IT for a fix. Remote workers may wait hours (or days) for help. That kills productivity.
- Organizational Development solution: Use Organizational Development to align your support structures with your workforce reality. Build remote-first IT support and integrate cloud-based onboarding. Train managers to ensure that every employee has the same level of access and competence with required tools.
- Blurred work-life boundaries: In remote settings, the workday can bleed into the evening, leading to burnout and disengagement.
- Organizational Development solution: Define clear norms for response times, meeting hours and offline periods. Coach leaders to model healthy boundaries. Make sure they log off on time, take breaks and respect time zones. Reinforce these expectations in policies and performance conversations so “availability” isn’t mistaken for commitment.
In short, hybrid and remote work magnify cracks in leadership, process and culture. Organizational Development closes those gaps by making sure you design the way you work for the way your people actually work – wherever they sit. That’s how you get fairness, engagement and performance without letting geography dictate opportunity.
Engage with the Future of Work
Another memo from HR will not resolve the future of work. To support employees long-term and shape flexible working arrangements and support employees, leaders must:
- Acknowledge the shift and stop wishing for 2019.
- Invest in Organizational Development, not as a cost, but as a competitive advantage.
- Embrace change management as an ongoing discipline, not a one-off event.
- Pair technology with trust, using digital tools to empower, not control.
At Tompkins Ventures, we’ve helped companies across industries turn disruption into opportunity. If you’re serious about evolving your organization to meet the reality of remote work, hybrid models and the future of work, let’s talk.
Because the future of work isn’t coming. It’s already here. And it’s not going back.
Related Reading
- The Risks of Rejoicing Over the End of Hybrid Work
- Liberate Your Boards with Organizational Development
- Starbucks’ RTO Mandate? Not that Bad …
Jim Tompkins, Chairman of Tompkins Ventures, is an international authority on designing and implementing end-to-end supply chains. Over five decades, he has designed countless industrial facilities and supply chain solutions, enhancing the growth of numerous companies. He previously built Tompkins International from a backyard startup into an international consulting and implementation firm. Jim earned his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University.
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