Hybrid working: Are you at risk of implementing a one-size-fits-none approach?
Is your approach to hybrid working really working for all?
In the 1800s, the Industrial Revolution moved workers from fields to factories. In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic was the catalyst for a similar shift, with most suddenly forced to swap their offices for their kitchen tables. This once in a generation opportunity to reimagine how we work has been welcomed, with 85% of those questioned for a recent Office for National Statistics survey admitting they wanted to use a hybrid approach of both home and office working in the future.
In the Treehouse, we’ve been talking to existing and new clients about the demands that hybrid working is placing on professionals in all industries and at all levels: leaders, managers and team leaders. There certainly seems to be an appetite to embrace change, but we sense there are still some barriers to actually designing and implementing your hybrid policies.
So, how can you ensure you implement an approach to hybrid working that works for all?
The first step is to acknowledge that you don’t already have all the answers. You may think that you know what your team wants, simply greater flexibility and more opportunities to work from home, but you will find that their needs are far more complicated than just physical location.
We’ve learnt that each level of a team has distinct learning needs and it’s essential that you tailor hybrid working programmes for each group. If you fail to assess and respond to the individual needs of each level of the team and make everyone, no matter their position, feel supported, appreciated, and empowered during the transition, you may find your approach becomes one-size-fits-none.
The key to success is to take a hybrid approach to hybrid working.
We suggest breaking down an organisation into three levels: leaders, managers, and teams. Starting by addressing the needs of these three groups individually will be the best way to create a hybrid working model that will fulfil the needs of the majority, not the few.
Leaders:
As a leader, you are probably the person your team looks to for answers, but this is unchartered territory and you now need to adapt and learn the necessary new skills to help navigate others through the transition to successful hybrid working.
Although this opportunity to reimagine the world of work is good news, as a leader you now have to take a step back from an environment you know and have succeeded in, and find the growth mindset to identify new processes and solutions.
As well as finding the solutions, you also have to develop your communication skills to clearly explain any new policies to your team. Effectively communicating the thinking behind any hybrid solution and encouraging every member of staff to buy into it is an essential change management skill that every effective leader now needs to hone.
Hybrid working brings with it many benefits, but it also has negative health and well-being implications. As a leader you now have an important pastoral role to play, nurturing relationships and communicating to staff that the organisation understands the new challenges and that you are there to offer support. Similarly, you must regulate your own work-life balance to help you cope with change.
Find out more: What skills do leaders need for the Hybrid Working era?
Managers:
Keeping the wheels on the bus turning has just become even more difficult, with remote and hybrid working adding many challenges to the role of manager.
As a manager, you may not have been involved in building the strategy behind any new hybrid working approach, but you will be required to implement any changes and keep all members of your team, no matter their location, on time and on task.
You’ll be expected to develop new communication channels and encourage your team to use them. Seamless collaboration and communication in a hybrid world will be the glue preventing your team from segregating and stagnating.
Hybrid working means presenteeism is now outdated and as a manager, you must adapt your thinking and performance measurements to take a more outcome-focused rather than output-focused approach to managing your team.
Pastoral care will become a far more important part of your role but remote working brings some challenges to that task. Where team members were previously there in person, you now have to effectively communicate with them both face-to-face and remotely and learn the skills to gauge a team members well-being and morale no matter where they are working.
Developing these soft skills will be key to making all employees feel appreciated and empowered.
Find out more: What skills do managers need for the Hybrid Working era?
Team Members:
Hybrid working means that being part of a team now looks very different. Formal and informal discussions whether in the boardroom or by the water cooler have now been almost entirely replaced by video calls or emails.
You will already have had to learn how to work much more independently but in a hybrid working model, you will have to develop the skills to work both alone and face-to-face.
Time can be wasted without knowing and understanding the systems and processes you should be using in a new hybrid working world and it is up to you, and every colleague in your team, to play your part by taking the time to understand the resources and tools at your disposal.
Relationship building remotely is one of the hardest skills of hybrid working but forming and nurturing bonds with customers, suppliers, team members and managers is essential if your projects are to be kept on track.
You must not allow more home working to lead you or your projects to stagnate. It’s up to you, and the colleagues on your team, to continue to collaborate, innovate and drive success.
Being open and trusting of your managers and your co-workers will help you draw support from others. Being alert to your own and others' emotional reactions will also help you to respond and adapt to the changing situations and challenges that the hybrid working world brings.
Find out more: What skills do team members need for the Hybrid Working era?
The future of work is hybrid
While surveys are clearly showing that the great shift to more work-from-home has been welcomed and surprisingly effective, there is no doubt that it has brought some negatives in terms of diluting office culture and belonging. But the future of work is most certainly hybrid and implementing a new normal that combines the best of office and remote working will require you, and every member of your organisation, whether a leader, manager or team member, to adapt, develop and play your own part in driving the future.