Episode
#183 | Return to Office Isn't a Policy Problem. It's a Values Conflict You're Being Asked to Enforce.
- Published
- Aug 4, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 1011
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Summary
▶︎ #183 | Return to Office Isn't a Policy Problem. It's a Values Conflict You're Being Asked to Enforce. In this solo episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast, Aleksandra Lemańska goes deep on a subject she's been asked about constantly: how to lead your team through a change, like a return-to-office mandate, especially when you're not fully on board with it yourself. The spark for the episode was a question from a manager during a change management workshop: "How do I communicate this with honesty when I don't agree with the decision?" Alex is candid that she's been in that exact position herself, and that most leaders treat RTO pushback as a logistics problem (commute times, desk assignments, productivity data) when what's actually being negotiated underneath is trust and autonomy. Alex walks through the Wheel of Conflict to diagnose what's really happening (focusing on conflict of data, structure, and values) and explains why most RTO friction shows up dressed as the first two but is almost always the third, which is exactly why productivity studies never resolve it. She also brings in the PCM lens on how the same changes land as a completely different kind of loss depending on personality base, and shares the script she uses for leaders who need to defend a policy honestly without either lying to their team or undermining leadership above them. If you're currently standing in front of your team defending a decision you didn't make, this episode gives you the language and the framework to do it without losing trust on either side. Mentioned in the episode: "From Code to People: The CQ Leadership Method That Transforms Technical Experts into Leaders Teams Actually Want to Work For": https://fromcodetopeople.lemanskills.com/ ✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎ LinkedIn: @aleksand…