5 step to make sure that hybrid working works for your team

Two? plus years of the pandemic has ensured that 'hybrid working arrangement' is not just a great topic to be spoken at conferences and written in articles, it is as real as any other people practice. Whether hybrid working is going to become a norm across organizations - the jury is still out there and we will know in the next few years.?

However, what is definitely going to stay is that most organizations and teams will need to fundamentally revisit their ways of working to assess, evaluate and maybe accommodate some form of hybrid ways of working because much of the talent out there is keen to work completely remote or at best in a hybrid environment.

Therefore, how can organizations / teams and their leaders prepare for this new way of working - here is my take on it -

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The first step to ensure that hybrid working works for you is by finding out if it does. In an effort to get the best inside the company, it is easy to make commitments that we can’t keep. If you tell somebody we are flexible and we will figure it out after you join, it simply means that you really don’t know if that will happen or not.?

Don’t say it if you don’t mean it. Just because the whole world is talking about hybrid working and therefore you want to announce hybrid work in your organization also, will not cut it for you.

It is a loss of trust, face and faith. Too big a price to pay for any talent out there and a sure shot way of taking a negative hit on your employer brand.

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The second step is to understand the adjustments which will need to be made around your organization’s ways of working, mindsets, processes and such. You will also have to evaluate the impact it may have on your top line and bottom line before committing to it.?

For example - daily morning sales calls at 10 am which were possible when everyone was under one roof may not be possible when people are working in remote mode. Or even the opposite could be true. Since everybody was remote, it was okay to connect for half an hour at a set time without worrying about time zones, because that’s all the connection that was happening during the day. With people going into offices, being on the move - everybody will prefer their time zones.?

We are humans. We fail. Even at the best of times. When an employee wants to continue working from home, don’t immediately assume that they want to slack. You remember there used to be a mindset that working from home was equal to a paid leave. That mindset really brings down the whole organization. And as we go back to physical work, it is possible that this might resurface. Be wary.?

It is best to have some grounding policies in place. For example, Google maintains that they want to create a hybrid workplace where around 60% of employees work in-person at the campuses, 20% working from new offices, and the additional 20% working from home. Slack is ditching hybrid and in-person. They want everybody to work from home indefinitely.?

These principles help leaders be wary of what works for the company, and therefore how to cascade it to teams.?

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The third step is that once committed, you need to be willing to make adjustments to your own working style, thought process and interactions with others both in person and in virtual mode. Don’t hold off on meetings because somebody comes to office only on certain days. Familiarize yourself with technology, experiment with different types of screen placements.?

Google has a campfire method. Hosts set up meetings in a circular setting with remote employees on their own screen in the circle. They want to check if this creates equal participation for both remote and in-person workers. I mean think out of the box.?

If the policy isn’t followed by infrasturctural or hardware/ software level enablers, then it’s just words on a document.?

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The fourth step is to not equate facetime to how much a person is available/ working/ productive. Yeah no seriously, don't go back to the stone age. Working from home has its challenges and employees have proven that even those can be overcome and circumvented. So open yourself up to the possibility.?

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The fifth step is a no brainer. Practice hybrid working yourself too instead of landing up in the office daily! Don’t preach what you can’t practice. Also it creates unnecessary peer pressure. Suppose if you are the boss and you show up everyday while saying that hybrid working is cool with you - it’s really not. So be a leader and walk the talk.?

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So what’s next for those of you who want to give this a shot??

Purely deepdive into your organization context and understand how much of hybrid work you will be able to support and encourage. You can do this by talking to people leaders and business facing folks to understand what your customers will be comfortable with and what your leadership will be able to put on the table.?

Then look at your talent right from the time of their onboarding and understand what trends are like there - do more of them prefer hybrid or are most of them requesting an office to work from.?

Finally, look at the commercials of the situation. Managing the logistics of a 500 seater building is a huge administrative challenge. But then so is the task of managing 500 remote employees.?

Simply put you have to choose which battle you want to choose. What works for you contextually because it grows your organization, and not simply a perk that you offer because everybody else is.?

For you - this is a journey. Let’s not call it a project. It may or may not work out for your context, and there is no right/ wrong way here.?