Leading a Hybrid Workforce

Building high performing teams requires three things: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. With the rise of hybrid work, autonomy is taking care of itself, as we empower people to work remotely and trust them to deliver independently. But what about competence and relatedness? What do those two elements mean, and how do we place them at the forefront in a hybrid work environment?   

Like most problems, this does have a simple solution, but one that can be tricky to see if you’re too embedded in the act of finding it: high performing, successful hybrid teams start with strong leadership, and actionable guidance you can put into practice today.

Lead with Empathy

Context is everything. To start, it’s important to recognize the mental and emotional impact of being in the world in 2021. To help your team members feel safety and belonging, model vulnerability. Share your personal experiences with staff, create space for sharing, and take the time to listen deeply to them in turn.

For a hybrid team, this might look like surveying the team to determine if the format and cadence for 1:1 meetings is working for them—maybe someone would prefer an in-person walk if possible, or another might feel more comfortable meeting over the phone or on a call with video disabled. Proactively reaching out to create a unique 1:1 plan with each of your reports will help them feel acknowledged and remind them that you’re committed to making their return to the office or remote role a success. 

Once you’re in the conversation, consider asking about how they are doing personally and acknowledge their experience. Sharing details about your own challenges and wins will help normalize sharing and build trust within your relationship. Soon, this modeled behaviour will trickle down into relationships at all levels of the organization. When it’s working really well, you’ll see a supportive and connected team that gives feedback openly and strategizes with ease.

Take Communication to the Next Level

Hybrid work is changing the way teams communicate. We are chatting asynchronously, using multiple online tools to collaborate, and opting for email instead of meetings more often than before. This is a lot of process change, and can overwhelm a team that’s new to those processes. To support your hybrid team’s success, you’ll need to leverage this communication in a way you haven’t before and fine-tune processes on an ongoing basis. 

To start, talk to your team about processes that are working and any that need to be adjusted. A simple survey could be used for this purpose and Internal champions can be identified and assigned to involve the team in making necessary changes. Continue to revise and refine your plan for your hybrid model, always looking to the future and including lead time for announcing any changes that are coming down the road. Remember that changes that seem small to company leadership may have larger impacts on an individual contributor’s day-to-day—always lead with empathy and acknowledge how this will affect them. 

To ensure a high level of competence within your team, performance management programs and project check-ins may need to be reviewed. Keep an eye on productivity and be clear about expectations for working hours, meeting attendance, and time-tracking. If there are different expectations for in-office team members vs. remote staff, be sure to communicate this to the whole group in the name of transparency and provide rationale. 

As a general rule of thumb, err on the side of over communication and, if things aren’t going according to plan, communicate that as well! Being transparent about how you're leading, and involving the team in the process of iterating until it’s right will inspire them to keep communicating openly as well. 

Focus on Equity

In order to increase relatedness in an organization, employees must feel safe and supported. Empathetic leadership and increased communication go a long way toward creating psychological safety for staff, but equity must also be a focus within a hybrid work environment. As leaders, we have the responsibility to create an equitable workplace and communicate the steps we are taking to preserve it. 

To support internal equity, leaders must acknowledge potential power imbalances and take steps to address them. For example, if in-office team members have more opportunity to interact with leadership team members, consider implementing recurring video calls between leadership and remote staff. 

Remember that it’s not the job of the employee to self-advocate when they are not afforded the same benefit as others. Leaders must look for these inequities and proactively address them. A great way to do this is by formally creating space for team members to share how they feel about their current position (remote or in-office) as it relates to the rest of the team. This could be through a survey or in a company-wide meeting with anonymous Ask Me Anything questions. Document survey results and identify trends, then share back trends and action plans to the team to increase transparency. 

Lead On

By bringing your authentic self to work each day and clearly communicating your commitment to supporting your team in an equitable way, you’ll be ahead of the game. Higher performance from your team is achievable, and it’s something you can unlock by focusing on relatedness and empowering your people to reach their full potential within a supportive environment. 

As always, remember to encourage questions and ideas from your team. Make them part of the process, and they’ll become part of the solution as well. 

If you would like any additional support leading your hybrid team, don’t hesitate to connect with us.