How to boost your hybrid team culture

Hi there,

Way back in 1982, researchers Deal & Kennedy gave organisational culture its best definition: the way we do things around here.

You might even say:

It ain't what you do, it's the way that you do it.

So, culture is all about the behaviours we use to get what we do…done.

Up until recently, those behaviours were ripe and ready for all to observe and replicate in the office – like an unwritten rulebook playing out in live-action.

These days, live-action accounts for only a portion of our time at work. So if you want to learn about the culture on your team, you might find yourself doing some detective work…

And if it's harder to learn 'the way we do things' in the hybrid world, you can see how it could be harder to maintain a strong team culture...

But hybrid working is good for culture, right?

More autonomy over when and where we work is linked to a whole host of positive outcomes – like better wellbeing, higher engagement and productivity. And it's clear that hybrid working facilitates a more inclusive working culture.

So, to move forward, we need to find a way to build strong cultures in teams, whether they are based in an office full-time or not. ?

The greatest team cultures are built on connection, trust and psychological safety.

But remember: in a hybrid working world, we can't expect this to happen organically. We have to lay the foundation first. That means designing culture with intention.

Here are three ways to get started:

1) Redesign your team culture

You could look at this shift in the working world as an opportunity to change some things about your team culture – all while making it fit-for-purpose for the hybrid set-up.

Get together, as a team, and identify how you’d like to rebuild your culture. This involves agreeing on your ideal future as a group and developing actionable steps that the whole team can own, to make that future a reality. Everything about how you operate as a group is on the table here – like how you learn from one another, how you improve your processes and even how you have fun together.

?? Pro- tip: Take a look at my LinkedIn Learning course – Leading Culture Change in your Team – which lays out an easy-to-follow methodology on how to do just that.

2) Make your working routine predictable and explicit

Maybe you don’t need to change anything at all. The answer could simply be to get more explicit about how you do things. We've gone from a working world where the rules were implicit but broadly understood to a world where the rules are still implicit but far less well understood. That's why I’m a big fan of getting teams together to write out a charter for their routine as a group.? A forum for everyone to decide what works best to bring predictability into their working week – and to make the rules on ‘how we do things’ more explicit.

?? Pro- tip: Teams I’ve worked with recently got as specific as articulating things like: “how we show up to virtual meetings ”, “how we support one another when someone is sick” and “how we find watercooler moments every day”.

3) Make communicating your team’s superpower

To foster a strong hybrid culture it's especially important to get intentional about how you communicate. Set up clear communication channels and establish norms around their use. And get specific about when to use asynchronous tools like email or project management apps versus real-time communication tools like video calls or chat platforms.

?? Pro- tip: Ask the whole team to work together to develop solutions for effective team communication. You could even co-create a set of guidelines. This might seem over-engineered. But anything that removes ambiguity from a group dynamic will give an immediate boost to its culture.

Just one more thing...

You might have noticed a theme running through all of these suggestions: co-creation.

Involving people is an effective tool for successful change. But it’s also an effective way of boosting culture.?When you empower people to work together – to create something meaningful to them – they find ways to develop connection, trust and psychological safety.

So, the very act of getting people involved to boost your culture will contribute to the desired effect.

We’re all experimenting with what works best in the new world of work. So if you have any great insights to share, I'd love to hear them in the comments below ????.

Bye for now,

Erin

This newsletter is part of a series to help you find ways to change your experience of?work?for the?better. Subscribe and you'll find it in your inbox every month.

And if you'd like to check out more ideas about how to make work better, take a look at my courses on LinkedIn Learning here.