Hybrid & Huddles

“The most important of all these meetings is not the "Big Meetings" but the short and powerful daily huddles" - Unknown

It is no secret that the hybrid work environment is becoming the new normal. For the past few years, we have had to adjust to this new combination of remote and in-office work. In some cases, companies have adjusted well updating their IT policies, HR onboarding, scheduling “in-office days”, and developing new remote working skills. In other cases, companies have organically adjusted their approach and have let things evolve.

There are benefits of this new approach specifically:

Flexibility and Autonomy

Hybrid working allows employees to have more flexibility in their work schedules, which can enhance job satisfaction and contribute to a positive team culture.

Work-Life Balance

Employees may experience better work-life balance, leading to increased well-being and a more positive outlook towards work and colleagues.

Diverse Perspectives

With team members working in various locations, there's potential for a diversity of perspectives and ideas, contributing to innovation and problem-solving.

Access to Top Talent

With location no longer being a primary consideration recruiting can expand out of a daily commuting range and open up the possibility of attracting more top talent.

However, there are also challenges to consider and overcome for example:

Communication Breakdown

Lack of face-to-face communication can lead to misunderstandings. Regular virtual meetings, instant messaging, and video conferencing tools can help bridge this gap.

Isolation and Disconnection

Remote workers may feel isolated. Encourage regular virtual team-building activities, provide platforms for casual conversations, and maintain open lines of communication.

Maintaining Team Culture

Actively work on maintaining and evolving the team culture. Define and reinforce shared values, celebrate achievements, and create opportunities for social interactions.

To mitigate these challenges, we suggest the following:

Regular Check-ins

Many teams established a daily check-in or “huddle” during COVID-19 to stay connected. This is a MUST-DO habit for high-performing teams regardless if you are remote or in-person. Here are some best practices to ensure these “huddles” are effective.?

• Have a set “standing” agenda, starting with good news, review key metrics(widgets), share your number one action to complete that day, provide an opportunity for open discussion where people need help from one another, and include an area for cascading messages to other team members.
• Have a software application where everyone can prepare and review the necessary meeting information before the huddle. This is a huge time saver both in and out of the meeting. This software application not only moves the meetings along efficiently but also becomes an archive of information for new team members, team members on vacation, or those who missed the meeting.?
• Make these meetings mandatory, but also valuable and efficient. These daily huddles should run no longer than 15 minutes. If members have prepared and reviewed information before the meeting it will move fast and be the most productive 15 minutes of every day.
• Review your daily meetings monthly or quarterly. Ask for feedback from the team members are they getting value from the meeting, should we add or take away some agenda items? Like any standing meeting a daily huddle can get stale over time, so to ensure that it is always valuable take the time to review.

At Metronomics we provide a software package and CEO+Leadership team coaches to help establish best practices for team cohesion and high performance. If you are interested in learning more, please book a call with us here.

Regardless of your stage of transition to a hybrid work environment make 2024 your year to review and optimize your work environment.

Thanks for reading,

Shannon