Creating Successful Hybrid Teams — My perspective of Management 3.0 article
This morning, I just got an email from Management 3.0, of which I regularly receive. I decided to share it and add my own perspective to it. It’s worth reading!
Creating Successful Hybrid Teams
_____“We like to give people the freedom to work where they want, safe in the knowledge that they have the drive and expertise to perform excellently, whether they are at their desk or in their kitchen. Yours truly has never worked out of an office, and never will,” Richard Branson
As an Agile Coach and a Change Management instructor, I have always been intrigued by the words of wisdom imparted by Richard Branson. He definitely promotes a new way of working compared to many of the organizations and clients that I worked with. That being said, it was Covid and being able to respond to change, that allowed me to change my way of working and supporting the people that I interact with.
While we might not all have the luxury or the desire to never work in an office, today’s reality is that many of us will no longer work in them or will work in them a lot less than before. Work is going hybrid, which means companies will and are already starting to adapt to combining office work with remote work.
I have friends that work with companies that at every chance they can, want to force their employees back into the office. Me on the other hand, my client has been very supportive on the working from home front and seems to embrace the idea that “work can be done anywhere,” and will likely not enforce office working.
Employees will be both local and remote. The shift poses advantages as well as challenges for organizations, which is why it’s really important that leaders and managers invest time and energy into making sure they get the pivot right.
With my coaching style, I still believe that I am better having that face to face interaction, but over the last year and a half, I found that I can be very effective coaching remotely too. When the time comes where I might have to choose to work only remotely or in person, I feel that I could have a tough decision to make.
So here are three ways companies can create successful hybrid teams:
#1: Involve remotes like they’re local: Locally based employees are more physically visible, so it’s easier to involve them because they’re there. This is why it’s super important to be intentional about involving remote employees. They need to feel involved in the work and made to feel part of the process so they feel motivated and engaged.
Even remotely working or having people that work with us from overseas, I have been an advocate of the face-to-face interaction. I have always encouraged the Zoom cameras to be on where possible. It just makes for a more personable interaction. So if they are in the next town, or even the other side of the world, we want that visible bond to take place.
#2: Ask your people for input: Engagement surveys is one way to get employee feedback. By asking employees how they feel about motivation levels, you’re taking a temperature check and this is extremely important when transitioning from a fully office based team or a fully remote based team. Ask people how they’re feeling and also what they’d like to see in terms of their vision of a hybrid team.
Feedback is imperative! Here is where I somewhat disagree with the article. At least with the companies I work with, surveys are one of the hardest things to get people to complete. That is if Management 3.0 is referring to sending out a Survey Monkey link to everyone to get feedback, that is…. Doing pulse type activities can be more helpful and interactive. I discovered this Miro template that I thought was really cool:
#3: Manage by results not activity: Communicate expectations so that everyone’s on the same page and focus on results, not how ‘busy’ someone looks. Remote employees, will by design, be more out of sight, which is why it’s important to measure success by output and results, rather than perceived busyness.
Totally agree here! “Resource” (I hate that word for people) Utilization has proven time and time again that it doesn’t work. All you get from busy people, are busy people. Results on what is delivered is what really counts. Henrick Kniberg illustrates this beautifully in his video:
Learn how to build thriving teams, by taking one of our excellent workshops below!
This last line above, I kept just so that Management 3.0 can possibly get some traction in their workshops from this post. Are the referral checks in the mail? — Just kidding, unless you want to send me checks!
Stuart is an Agile Coach, ICAgile Authorized Instructor, Educator, Conference Speaker based out of the Greater Toronto Area in Canada. Constantly looking to build his Alphabet Soup of certifications. An active member of the Agile Community and Founder of the Halton Agile/Lean Network Meetup Group.
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