Thrive, Don’t Just Survive
The return to the office is here—and whether you’re energized by in-person collaboration or dreading the daily commute, this shift is changing the way we work. The key to making it work for you isn’t just showing up—it’s about being intentional with your time, energy, and focus.
Whether you’re eager to reconnect with coworkers or silently mourning the loss of your sweatpants lifestyle, the key to making this transition work for you — whether you’re an employee, leader, or organization — is intention. It’s about rethinking productivity, reclaiming your time, and using the right tools to effectively manage your work and personal life.
That’s where InteraWorks’ Effective EDGE and Best Year Yet programs come in. These aren’t just productivity hacks – they’re proven systems for working smarter, staying focused, and achieving meaningful goals, no matter where or how you work.
This toolkit will support you in:
- Reclaiming control over your time (even with a commute)
- Finding balance between work, family, and well-being
- Navigating in-office communication like a pro
- Leading your team with clarity and purpose
- Aligning company goals with individual success
For the Employee:
Taking Back Your Day
Returning to the office doesn’t have to mean losing control of your time—it’s an opportunity to reclaim it with the right strategies.
Rebuild Your Morning Routine
A smooth morning sets the tone for a productive day. But with a commute back in the mix, how do you keep mornings stress-free and set yourself up for success?
- Win the Morning, Own the Day: Streamline your routine by laying out clothes, prepping meals, and organizing your essentials the night before. The less you have to think about in the morning, the more energy you can devote to what truly matters.
- Start Your Day with Clarity Using the EDGE Model:
- EMPTY: Gather all tasks, emails, and notes in one central system so nothing gets lost.
- DECIDE: Use the Four Ds (Do, Delegate, Defer, Delete) to remove the noise and focus only on what moves the needle.
- GROUP & EXECUTE: Organize tasks by priority and urgency, ensuring you hit the ground running when you start work.
- Turn Your Commute into a Productivity Booster: Instead of seeing it as lost time, use it to your advantage. Listen to a podcast, practice mindfulness, or mentally outline your top three priorities for the day so you arrive at the office focused and ready to go.
Pro Tip: Using EDGE can help you gain back up to 11 hours a week—that’s time you can spend on fitness, family, or personal growth.
Balance Work, Exercise, & Family
In-office work can blur the lines between work and personal life—but with the right approach, you can maintain balance without sacrificing productivity.
- Establish Clear Boundaries to Protect Your Time: Block out time for deep, focused work and set expectations around availability, response times, and after-hours communication. Creating intentional space for work and personal priorities leads to greater efficiency and less burnout.
- Work Smarter by Aligning Your Day with What Matters Most: Instead of getting caught up in busywork, focus on high-impact tasks that align with your goals. By intentionally prioritizing where you invest your time and energy, you can achieve more while feeling less overwhelmed.
- Move with Purpose—Because Your Well-Being Fuels Performance: Productivity isn’t just about sitting at a desk—it’s about staying mentally and physically engaged. Incorporate walking meetings, step away for lunch without distractions, and schedule “Think Time” for big-picture strategy and problem-solving.
Challenge Yourself: What if you ended your day feeling accomplished—not drained? That’s the power of focusing on the right things instead of all things.
Master In-Person Communication
In a remote world, text and email became the default. Now? Face-to-face conversations are back—and they matter. Strong in-person communication helps teams collaborate more effectively, build trust, and prevent misunderstandings that often get lost in digital exchanges.
- Maximize 1:1s for Clarity & Connection: Instead of endless back-and-forth emails, structure quick, purposeful check-ins that allow for real-time problem-solving, stronger relationships, and more efficient decision-making.
- Rebuild Your In-Person Communication Confidence: Body language, tone, and presence matter more than ever. Rebuild strong social habits by practicing eye contact, active listening, and intentional engagement to foster better collaboration.
- Make Meetings Work: Not every conversation requires a formal meeting. Streamline discussions, reduce unnecessary invites, and prioritize efficient, focused conversations to keep productivity high without wasting time.
Try This: For every meeting request, ask: “Could this be a well-structured email instead?”
For Team Leaders:
Creating a Culture of Success
As a leader, you set the tone for your team’s return to the office. The right systems make all the difference.
Set Clear Expectations & Priorities
Employees perform better when they know why they’re back in the office. Define the purpose of in-person work and structure expectations:
- Clarify the Purpose of In-Person Work: Be transparent about when and why face time matters. Define a clear balance between office and remote work, ensuring employees understand how in-person collaboration drives innovation, strengthens team connections, and enhances productivity while allowing for flexibility where it makes sense.
- Drive Results with the Cycle of Performance: Keep teams focused on what truly moves the needle by following a structured performance framework: Set Priorities, Create Actions, Schedule Time, and Review Progress. This approach helps employees manage projects effectively, stay aligned on goals, and continuously refine their work for maximum impact.
- Protect Time for Deep, Meaningful Work: In a world of endless distractions, focus is a competitive advantage. Encourage employees to set aside dedicated “Focus Blocks” by silencing notifications, blocking off calendar time, and communicating availability to their team. Creating space for uninterrupted, high-value work leads to greater efficiency, higher-quality output, and less burnout.
Build Engagement & Accountability
A disengaged team won’t thrive in any work model. Keep employees motivated by connecting their work to their bigger goals:
- Connect Individual Work to Company Success: When employees understand how their daily tasks drive the bigger mission, engagement and motivation skyrocket. Use a structured approach to goal alignment, ensuring that personal and team priorities contribute meaningfully to organizational success.
- Keep Momentum Strong with Meaningful Check-Ins: Regular monthly reviews aren’t just about tracking progress—they’re an opportunity to remove roadblocks, celebrate wins, and ensure teams stay focused on what matters most. Create a space where employees feel heard, supported, and empowered to continuously improve.
- Celebrate the Return-to-Office Journey: Transitioning back isn’t just about productivity—it’s about people. Create a “Wins Board” (physical or virtual) where team members can recognize everything from significant project milestones to personal victories like mastering a new routine, reconnecting with colleagues, or setting healthy work-life boundaries.
Leadership Tip: Ask your team: “What’s one thing I can do to make this transition easier for you?” Then act on it.
For Organizations:
Designing a Productive Hybrid Culture
Bringing employees back into the office shouldn’t feel like a corporate power move—it should be a strategic shift that benefits both employees and business goals.
Provide the Right Tools & Resources
- Empower Teams with Time Management Skills: Provide employees with the tools and training to prioritize effectively, manage workload efficiently, and stay focused in an office setting—so time in the office is productive, not just performative.
- Design a Hybrid-Friendly Workspace: Ensure meeting rooms and collaboration tools seamlessly support in-person and remote team members, making it easy to connect, contribute, and stay aligned—wherever work happens.
- Prioritize Employee Well-Being & Flexibility: A thriving workplace balances in-person collaboration with the realities of employees’ lives. Instead of rigid schedules, create clear expectations around when and why face time is needed, then empower teams to manage their schedules accordingly. Whether it is parents handling school pickups, caregivers supporting loved ones, or employees managing their well-being, trust, and flexibility lead to higher engagement, productivity, and balance.
Align Culture & Company Goals
Organizations that succeed in the return to office focus on long-term employee engagement:
- Align Organizational Strategy with Individual Success: Ensure that company objectives are clearly connected to employees’ daily work, helping them see their impact, stay motivated, and contribute meaningfully to shared goals.
- Cultivate a Growth-Oriented Workplace: Create an environment where continuous learning, adaptability, and personal accountability are encouraged and expected. Engagement and performance naturally follow when employees feel empowered to grow, reflect, and take ownership.
- Listen, Adapt, and Evolve: The best return-to-office strategies aren’t set in stone—real employee experiences shape them. Actively seek feedback, adjust as needed, and refine policies to create a workplace that works for everyone.
Big Picture: A thriving office culture isn’t just about where people work—it’s about how they work best.
Your Next Steps:
Making This Work for You
The return to the office isn’t just a policy change—it’s a chance to reimagine how you work and lead. Whether you’re an employee, a leader, or an organization, InteraWorks’ Effective EDGE and Best Year Yet programs provide the structure, tools, and mindset shifts needed to stay ahead in this new era of work.
Welcome back – Let’s make this work for you!
Author – Stacy Cross
InteraWorks Programs + Branding Lead
About InteraWorks
InteraWorks is a global learning company on a mission to elevate the human experience at work. Specializing in professional development and performance enablement, we offer top-rated learning programs based on four defined conditions that must exist for individuals, teams including Effective Edge, Best Year Yet, and the Essentials series. Our integrated learning framework and online tools generate immediate and sustainable breakthroughs in performance. Through decades of working at all levels in enterprise companies across many industries, we’ve built a reputation for helping people and organizations harness their focus, mindset, talent, and energy to produce results that matter most.
We’ve defined four conditions that must exist for an individual, team, or organization to be effective within the arena of performance and development; Accountability, Focus, Alignment, and Integrity. We’ll continue to explore these and more in our blog and look forward to your engagement and interaction with us. Stay tuned as we engage the edges.