How to build and lead an effective hybrid working culture
/When the world locked down at the start of the pandemic, life suddenly became very transactional. Working from home meant limited human contact, no informal conversations or face-to-face meetings. And yet, organisations still managed to function effectively. Two years on and many organisations have not returned to their traditional workplace environment in favour of a hybrid model of work.
Hybrid working enables employees to split their working time between home and office. It’s a model that’s been largely embraced by organisations. And it’s fair to say that views on hybrid working are mixed. Some think everyone needs to be back in the office full-time, others would like to stay working from home full-time. But for it to succeed, organisations must develop a new supportive working culture.
Four in ten employees expect to work from home
A 2022 CIPD study[1] found that one fifth of workforces expected to work from home all the time post-pandemic, and two-fifths expected to regularly work from home.
Interestingly, the same CIPD study found that almost two-fifths of organisations are looking to put in place additional measures or investment to enable more hybrid or homeworking in the next 6–12 months. This tallies with the training we’ve been delivering to management teams in the public sector, health services, digital, retail and charity sectors to equip line managers with the skills, knowledge, thinking and behaviours they need to lead and support hybrid teams[2] .
Action-centred hybrid leadership
Leaders are responsible for intentionally overseeing three key areas to create a successful hybrid working culture. We call this action-centred hybrid leadership.
1. Building a hybrid team culture that involves your whole team
2. Overseeing the completion of tasks
3. Supporting individuals’ work and wellbeing
Let’s take a look at each one in more detail.
Building a successful hybrid team culture
Building a successful hybrid team culture is about balance - between home and office, work and life, support and delivery. Leaders must ensure hybrid workers are never ‘out of sight, out of mind’ and allow everyone the opportunity to shape their new way of working. So get your whole team together to discuss how you’d like to work together.
Key areas for discussion include:
How to structure your working pattern. How many days a week/month will the team spend in the office or working from home? Have designated a day when everyone must be in the office together?
Ways of communicating to keep everyone involved and informed. A good example is a daily rota for sharing office updates to keep everyone in the loop. The content could cover anything from who’s in the office that day to critical decisions or team birthdays.
Creating a schedule of daily and/or weekly meetings. Which meetings would you like to be fully remote, which ones will be hybrid, and which will be better face to face?
How to incorporate casual conversations and fun into your schedule to allow your team to build their social capital[3] , e.g. virtual coffee breaks where work chat is banned.
Consider creating a team charter or a set of team norms so everyone knows what’s going on and what’s expected of them (something Microsoft has committed to). What’s working / what isn’t? What would like more of / less of from each other? Review it regularly to identify areas for improvement.
Overseeing the completion of the task
In our experience, delivery-focused managers get twitchy if they can’t see people working. In a hybrid working culture it’s important to:
Manage by objectives and measure results by outcomes, not by the number of hours worked.
Define each task you set your team and plan how you will collaborate to achieve results.
Allocate work and resources across the team, mixing up office and remote employees.
Monitor performance against plan and make adjustments as you progress.
Support the individual
In a hybrid culture, line managers should intentionally support their teams in two key areas - the task and employee wellbeing. It’s easier to spend more time with the people we see, so be conscious of how you split your time and focus your attention equally on home workers and office workers.
Think about:
Your choice of communication tools. It’s much easier to build relationships over video or phone than via email.
The strengths of your team, how you might utilise these and identify opportunities for stretch.
Your team’s personal circumstances. Do they have childcare commitments? Are they facing any invisible pressures such as illness or caring for relatives? Is there anything your team are not saying to you? Many leaders find it useful to structure 1:1s to cover both tasks and wellbeing.
How to make everyone feel part of what’s going on no matter where they are working.
Hybrid working presents new opportunities for organisations and employees, many of which we’re yet to discover. To embed a new working culture requires a shift in behaviour, increased flexibility and a collaborative culture that includes and involves every employee.
Remember, hybrid working is something that is evolving for everyone. Take time to regularly review and assess what’s going well and identify what could be improved. Then take the necessary actions to make change happen.
If you’re new to managing a hybrid team and would like to learn how action-centred leadership can support your new way of working, take a look at our Managing a hybrid team training course[4] or contact us[5] directly.
Link to https://www.cipd.co.uk/Images/flexible-hybrid-working-practices-report_tcm18-108941.pdf
Link to https://3d-professional-development.co.uk/virtual-training-course-managing-a-hybrid-team
Link to https://3d-professional-development.co.uk/virtual-training-course-managing-a-hybrid-team