In the last post we discussed how to prepare yourself for working in a hybrid workplace. In this post we’ll pivot slightly to discuss how you can help prepare and manage your hybrid team. While many of the same principles apply, there are additional things you need to be aware of to make the transition as smooth as possible.
Is a hybrid model truly “the future of work,” as so many commentators have declared? It certainly seems possible, especially in the foreseeable future. Having gotten a taste of flexible work arrangements during the pandemic, many, maybe most, workers aren’t ready or willing to go back to the office full-time.
Dozens of surveys (like this one) confirm that employees overwhelmingly prefer a hybrid arrangement. So much so, in fact, that nearly half of the 2,000 workers polled in a 2021 survey about the workplace “say they would take up to a 5% pay cut to continue to work remotely at least part-time post-pandemic.”
How to Manage a Hybrid Team?
Well, leaving endless voicemails like this regional manager was is one way to do it…
Be that as it may, research also makes it crystal clear that this setup is not without its challenges. To wit, 80 percent of the HR executives surveyed in a 2021 study reported that their employees were “exhausted” by managing the ins and outs of hybrid work. The study, commissioned by employee engagement firm TinyPulse, found that while employees liked a hybrid setup, it wasn’t easy to stay on top of. This tells us that something is out of sync.
This may not be news to you. Perhaps you or your team members have struggled trying to implement various home/office combinations since the pandemic. Or maybe you’ve come up with a sustainable process that works for your team, but it’s all been informal. The bottom line is that if you’re anxious about how your team is going to navigate the transition to a more institutionalized hybrid workplace policy, you certainly aren’t alone.
With all of this in mind, here’s a brief list of hybrid workplace best practices. Use them to build a stronger, more resilient team that’s ready to make the best of the hybrid model.
Best Practices for Managing Hybrid Teams
Be Transparent
When the level of flexibility you’re able to offer employees doesn’t match their expectations, listen to their concerns and disappointment with empathy. Be as transparent as you can about your organization’s reasoning behind the policies being put in place. Never respond to inquiries with anything along the lines of, “Sorry, but it’s out of my control”—a response that signals helplessness and defensiveness. It’s a hybrid workplace best practice to surface concerns early and communicate consistently.
People will assume you have more answers than you probably do about new policies and protocols, and you may get asked questions for which no satisfying answer exists. Learning to provide honest responses will be key to showing good leadership to both remote workers and face to face employees (and it make employees feel included).
Proactively alert team members to any impending changes you hear about, and let people know what you’re doing to stay informed on their behalf. By effectively managing others’ expectations, you help ensure they don’t become obstacles to an already complicated transition.
Balance Individual and Group Needs
If you have some discretion over work-from-home (WFH) policies on your team, you’ll need to determine how to apply those rules to certain individual circumstances without being unfair to others. Reestablishing cohesion after being apart for so long is vital, so you don’t want to begin with some employees feeling resentful of the flexibility you show others but not them.
When possible, engage your team members in figuring out how best to use the discretion you’re allotted. Have each person express their needs and preferences, and within the bounds of what’s allowed, charge the team with working out how to balance them.
For example, single parents may have different needs for flexibility than empty nesters. People will be inclined to be more flexible for the sake of the team when it’s their choice to do so.
Encourage your team to create new work practices everyone can adhere to, regardless of their location. For example, ensure all team meetings include video links so people working from home can participate equally.
Or maybe you set defined working hours, like 11:00 am – 2:00 pm ET, when everyone must be available online, while also setting weekend boundaries when everyone is expected to be offline. The idea is that nobody feels left out or left behind, even if their schedules and worksites rarely overlap.
Quotation Call Out “Those impromptu encounters at the office help keep leaders honest. With remote work, there are fewer chances to ask employees, ‘Hey, how are you?’ and then pick up on important cues as they respond. But the data is clear: our people are struggling. And we need to find new ways to help them.”
– Jared Spataro, CVP at Microsoft 365
Focus on the Person, Not the Problem
One of the more obvious downsides of managing hybrid teams is that some employees simply aren’t naturally suited to it.
“Hybrid environments reward employees who think and act adaptably and flexibly, who are able to organize and coordinate across a complex and dynamic environment, and who are able to establish and provide evidence of their own trustworthiness when working in a context of low visibility,” write Mark Mortensen and Martine Haas in the 2021 Harvard Business Review article “Making the Hybrid Workplace Fair.”
The inverse of this is that “employees who are less effective at building relationships in either in-person or remote environments may find themselves struggling to work with collaborators who do work that way.” Just because someone’s smart and competent doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll excel in a hybrid environment. Many managers and employees have unfortunately discovered this the hard way.
How to Manage a Hybrid Team (and Thrive)
If this describes some of your former standout team members, don’t despair: being “good” at hybridity is a skill, and one that you can help them cultivate. One key action you can take is to focus on the remote worker’s underperformance as opposed to the employee themselves.
While a good rule of thumb under any work setting, this is especially important in a hybrid environment, when lots of new factors could be contributing to the issue.
Resist telling them what to do or being overly prescriptive about how to do it. You don’t want to dilute their ownership and commitment. Remember that working in isolation can make people more anxious about their mistakes, and this is a person who is used to seeing success.
Reassuring your remote employee that you are OK with missteps as long they are corrected and learned from will help empower them to solve a problem on their own. At the same time, you should remain available to provide guidance when needed.
Call-out/Tip
Figuring out how to manage a hybrid team effectively can obviously be very stressful. But if it’s any consolation, try to remember that pretty much everyone else is phoning it in too. Yeah, some hot new tech company you’ve been reading about may have always been all-remote, but unless you work in the same narrow space most of your colleagues (and competitors) will be scrambling to find their footing, just like you. All of which is to say: maybe don’t be so hard on yourself.
Spark Joy
This may sound cheesy, but it’s worth trying. (And important enough that I included this same tip in my last post, about preparing yourself for the hybrid workplace!) Keeping a positive attitude and acknowledging the humor in the inevitable mishaps your team will encounter—Zoom blackouts, dancing toddlers barging in during meetings, toilet paper rationing at the main office —can truly go a long way.
If your team isn’t particularly close, use the transition to build new levels of trust and camaraderie. Book clubs, online crossword days, and other small but meaningful efforts can help foster this in a low-stakes way. Doing these things won’t eliminate the stress of fighting a pandemic, but it will make the fight less intimidating as you bring joy and courtesy to others, and in the process, to yourself.
Managing hybrid teams isn’t for the faint of heart, but you’ve never one to back down from a challenge, especially one as important as this. Right?
Not Sure How to Manage Hybrid Teams?
Stop looking for which employees are working from the office and start assessing who’s actually doing the work.
Give leaders the tools they need to function effectively within your hybrid workplace policy–and make an impact.