11 TIPS FOR BETTER ENGAGEMENT WITH YOUR HYBRID TEAM

Every organisation needs a plan that encompasses policy, physical space, and technology.

Starts by answering these three critical questions:

• How are people completing their work?
• Who will be able to work remotely, and for what activities do they have to come in?
• How often do teams need to gather in person? 

Use your answers to formulate a plan that supports flexibility.

From there, it will be easier to provide guidance to employees as you continue to experiment and learn.

There's no IKEA manual for the correct way of working since it's highly individualistic.

Each person is an expert in their own unique way of working. Rather than relying on assumptions, involve multiple perspectives in shaping the future of work and invite them to learn from the conversations.

It's normal to experience some resistance and fear about uncovering employee needs since it's uncertain the scale of what will be required as a result. Communicating that vulnerability can help to strengthen the collaboration process.

Explore the Ways of Working. Dive deeper into how the people in your teamwork and their underlying drivers of where, when, how, and with whom they prefer to perform their work activities.

Need some inspiration? V+C's case study library is a great place to start.

Data helps to further diagnose people’s current working patterns. With additional data insight about how the team uses online meetings, calendars, and communication via email and IM it helps organisations drive workplace change.

Here are some key insights from Microsoft's Work Trend Index Annual Report:

• High productivity is masking an exhausted workforce.
  Digital overload is real and climbing.
• The shift to remote work increased meeting time and IM loads while stretching workdays.
• Teams are more siloed in a digital work world.

A thoughtful approach to hybrid working can help you attract and retain top talent from competitors who are vying for the same talent pools.

A leader who makes conscious and deliberate action that contributes to the purpose and goals of the organisation is appreciated and respected.

A leader who considers those choices in the context of performance against private situations (including health, privacy, and well-being) will always come out on top.

One of our longstanding clients confirmed through their own experience transforming to the hybrid model that people required more guidance on managing the boundaries of their workday.

While many leaders may assume that people can figure it out for themselves, our data proves that most people feel overwhelmed and work more hours than before. With the lines blurring between work and home, they are struggling to know when work is done.

Providing a coach that can help through the transition provides a better employee experience.

Focus or deep work has become a human rarity as we are constantly inundated by device prompts and 'pings'.
On the Ezra Klein podcast, Cal Newport shares his perspective that:

• The constant switching between unstructured messaging, and email makes it impossible to work because network switching (while providing a faux sense of productivity) initiates biological processes that inevitably leave a cascade of partially completed tasks.
• The unresolved tasks create a feeling of frustration, fatigue, and anxiety in the brain because it can't complete the tasks.

When a leader’s appeal rests on a vision alone, leadership is not whole. What we need is a type of holding, so that we can move purposefully together as a team. The work of leaders who think clearly, offer reassurance, orient people, and help them stick together is as important as inspiring others.

It's a precondition for reimagining the future of work as mentioned by HBR's Gianpiero Petriglieri,  "For leaders in executive positions, this is the most impactful way of holding people in a crisis. Failing to provide it makes expressions of sympathy and understanding ring hollow. Providing institutional holding, conversely, will often make people forgive even personally dislikable leaders."

Differences in leadership style and behaviour can create dissonance and deviations from meaningful workplace transformation.

Vince Hawksworth, former CEO of Trustpower once said, 

“I think the challenge for anyone going into new ways of working, is to firstly suspend judgement for long enough to truly understand what it is, and secondly to have, at a leadership level, a great deal of intent to try and live the model.”

Vince Hawsworth
Former CEO | Trustpower

Be prepared to hold the team true to the vision.

The future of work transformation is primarily a culture project.

Despite common misconceptions, Activity Based Working doesn’t emerge automatically after an office redesign. Space and technology are fundamentally involved, but the challenges and opportunities in moving to new ways of working are related to cultural norms and behaviours.

To get you started adopting activity-based behaviours, here are four steps by Senior Consultant Zoe Chen: 

STEP 01

Start logging your activities: Do it as you go, or review it at the end of the day. Reflect and make a note of what the setting was for the activity and how effective it was.

STEP 02

Make a list of the activities that were not well-supported and answer the following questions for each one:

STEP 03

Test the alternative settings: Keep a similar log of your activities, the setting, and perceived support.

STEP 04

Plan the coming week so you can perform most of your work activities in an environment that provides the most support.