I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but it seems like everywhere you look at the moment, there’s another article or thinkpiece on Hybrid Working and how it’s changed the face of work since 2020.
And I’m adding my voice to all the others out there – but you might ask why, and to what end?
It’s because hybrid working can either work for your business, or against it: the key is how you approach it and bake it (or don’t) into your company culture and as a leader, you might be struggling to strike the right balance.
Because whatever gets the best out of your team is really what you’re trying to do, right? Whilst still being output-driven, listening to the needs of your team and also being willing to hold people to account… it’s one of the hardest things in leadership.
Having been on both sides of the fence, I can see how it can work well, but also how it can pose challenges.
For every team member whose productivity has gone through the roof now they don’t have to commute for hours on end every day, you have a new starter who’s struggling to connect with their colleagues or fully buy into the vision of the business because they’ve never actually set foot in the office.
For every company that can make their daily stand-ups work, even if there’s at least three people dialling in, there’s another that’s struggling to make the remote workers feel included.
My personal opinion (with some caveats, obviously!) is that if you’ve got absolute clarity on what someone’s role is and if you and the team are output-driven, holding each other to account, ultimately it shouldn’t matter where you are.
If you’d like to know more about how you can make hybrid working work for you, we’ll be taking a deep-dive on it at this month’s WiserWednesday panel event, talking about High Performing Hybrid Teams above.
It was a fascinating debate about hybrid working. Spoiler alert, it isn’t going away, so it’s going to take a shift in how we manage our teams, and the trust we place in our workers to get hybrid to work. Key steps include clarity, compassion, collaboration & communicate, communicate, communicate! Plus, having a growth mindset will help, and why not make coming into the office a magnet not a mandate! Our awesome panellists this episode are Alison Coward (Founder of Bracket), Cate Murden (Founder of PUSH), John Hopkins (Founder – WorkFLEX-Australia) & Danny Smith (Hybrid Consultant and Ex-Oyster HR). Host is James Potten. Enjoy!
