Hybrid Work: Now What?

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I don’t know where your organization is exactly with your future of work plans, but I know that many of our clients, and others I have talked to in the last couple of weeks were planning to bring people back to the office this week, or soon.? Most of those organizations have now pushed back reentry – some to mid-October, some to the first of the year or later, and some haven’t yet released a new date.

If you find yourself “on hold” or “in limbo” (the two phrases I’ve heard most to describe the situation), there are some things you can do now, to maintain (or increase) productivity and set the stage for better long-term results once you do open the office doors again.

Understand People’s Emotions?

It would be hard to overstate the importance of this point.? How people feel about returning to the office, their willingness or anxiety about being in that shared space, how the uncertainty is impacting them, how they feel about the virus itself, and much more matters.? Since there is a wide range of thoughts and feelings on all of this, it is nearly impossible that you will understand exactly where all your people stand, and it is certain they are all experiencing the same thoughts and feelings as you are.? As a leader, investing time in asking and listening without judgment will be time well spent.? Organizationally, encourage and equip your leaders to do this. Note that while employee surveys are important, that isn’t what I am talking about here – I’m talking about one-in-one dialogue to understand and perhaps help people navigate this new delay on the path towards the future of work.

Keep People Informed and Engaged

Yes, the timelines may be uncertain.? Yes, you may be tired of announcing something only to have to change it again.? A natural reaction to that is to go silent and not let that happen again.? Thinking that saying nothing until you have definitive dates and plans is seductive, but not wise.? Continue to inform and share what you know when you know it with your teams.? In fact, I suggest you go further.? Engage your teams in the decision-making process as much as possible.? The more people are included, the less uncertainty they will feel, the committed to the next steps they will be, and the more productive they will be all along the way.

Assess Readiness

There are two parts to readiness – the mental aspects and the skill aspects.? If you take the advice above, you will be assessing many of the mental readiness issues. Beyond those, I encourage you to assess the skills people will need to succeed in your new workplace.? Both leaders and team members may need new skills and awareness for the complex communication and collaboration situations they will encounter.?

Provide Skills Training

Based on your assessment of readiness, now might be the time to provide training or coaching for the skillset and mindsets of hybrid work, or even to get people up to speed on new work and workflow processes.? Many organizations were so focused on building the reentry plan, that there wasn’t time to provide training.? With this delay in a return to the office, the opportunity to better prepare leaders and teammates with specific skill training is now available.? If your readiness assessment shows gaps, use this time to close them.??

Final Thoughts

While the delay is frustrating for everyone, when you us the time from this delay wisely, it will further secure your success when reentry does occur.? We are helping leaders and organizations with these issues every day.? Let me know what we can do to help.

In late February I created and recorded a LinkedIn Learning course titled Planning for a Hybrid Organization. The ideas in this course are still timely for organizations who haven’t yet determined/announced their future of work plans, and are extremely useful now if you are delaying that future vision for your workplace.

Enjoy the rest of your week – and the links to the resources below that will support your preparation and learning.? One or more may be just what you need to help you create Remarkable Results.

You are Remarkable!

Kevin ??

p.s.? September 30 we are hosting a special Future of Work Livecast, where we will talk about the very latest in hybrid and remote work challenges and opportunities, share some success stories with special guests and answer your questions? If you want more practical ideas for remote and hybrid work, and what the future of work will hold, register and join us for free. It is one more way we are helping you get Remarkable Results.

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