Overcoming the Challenges of Hybrid Teams

If there's one topic that I've been asked for advice on more than any other lately, it's how to cope with #ReturnToOffice and #FutureOfWork plans that include hybrid teams. (And by hybrid teams, I mean teams where some people are physically together in an office while others are remote.)?

With my psychology hat on, I have to admit that hybrid teams worry me.

In the before times, everyone was together and we dealt with the pros and cons of office life. Then during the pandemic, everyone was apart and we figured out how to work as a virtual team. In both cases, team members had (mostly) shared experiences. Now, hybrid teams will create different experiences for people on the same team and the implications could be profound.?

Ultimately, I believe that hybrid is the best answer because it will provide greater flexibility to make work fit with the rest of life, allow access to a more diverse and dispersed workforce, help delineate between time for heads-down productivity and time for heads-up collaboration, and reduce how much energy we deplete maintaining large offices and commuting (good for the planet and for us).?

But I expect the transition to be bumpy. And that's where I dug in for my March content.?Here's a digest of my articles this month.

Week 1: This Might Hurt A Bit?

I started with an overview of what I see as the most worrisome issues that hybrid teams will face. In?The Pros and Cons of Hybrid Teams,?I?describe three important processes that will be more difficult for remote workers than for their in-office peers. 1. Building trust. 2. Accessing information (both content and context). 3. Asking for help. Of course, I provide a few tips and tools for helping you overcome these struggles and level the playing field for remote team members.

Week 2: This Might Hurt A Bit?

My introduction to the trust issues on hybrid teams in Week 1 seemed insufficient so I returned to the issue of gaps in trust in Week 2. In?Building Trust in Remote and Hybrid Teams, I broke trust down into its four constituent parts: connection, credibility, reliability, and integrity, and gave you some strategies that you can use to foster trust among members of a virtual team at each of the four levels.?

Week 3: Can I Turn Off My Camera, Please?!?

One of the most important ways you need to reset if remote and hybrid teams are a part of your future is to take a long, hard look at your communication approaches. Most of us have been going ditch to ditch between full-on Zoom video calls and terse, easily misinterpreted emails. In?Are You Using the Right Virtual Collaboration Tools, I provide a framework for how to assess the content of your collaboration and a menu of options to better fit the communication technology to the task at hand. Here's the downloadable poster that you'll find alongside the article.?

Week 4: But What About the Fun??

I didn't want to leave the subject of hybrid teams without addressing the thing that's become abundantly clear; while we can be productive working remotely, it's just doesn't feel as much like being on a team. In?How to Strengthen Connection on Remote and Hybrid Teams, I lay out the three categories of team interactions that have been sacrificed in favor of structured, task-focused time together. I advocate for adding more unstructured work time, structured social time, and unstructured social time if you want a positive team dynamic.?

I believe the hybrid teams are here to stay and for the most part, I'm happy about it. The benefits will be worth the investments that will be required to make hybrid teamwork work. Just don't forget to make the investments. Otherwise, hybrid teams could be the worst of both worlds, instead of the best.?Resource of the Month

Resource of the Month

Online Versus In-person

?I was having a wonderful conversation about hybrid teams with my client, Liz. Her organization is starting Return to Office with a 2/3 split of in-office versus remote. She asked what advice I would give to their managers about how to use the precious two days in the office. That got me thinking about what makes an interaction office-worthy. Use this quick checklist to think through your upcoming agenda and to decide whether your content is best suited to an in-person meeting or a virtual session.?

From My LinkedIn Couch

As I mentioned in last month's newsletter, I'm working to make my LinkedIn feel like the coolest couch on the internet. I want to create a safe space for us to have the most important conversations about work. I've been really bowled over by the caliber of the conversations so I'm sharing some of your contributions each month.?

Unsolicited Feedback... Gift or Gaff?

I received some unsolicited feedback about the "whimsical" pictures I use on my LinkedIn posts and it really floored me. I was so upset and I just couldn't shake it. So, I decided to be fully vulnerable and to share my struggles on LinkedIn. Wow, did I get the most beautiful outpouring of support. I felt so much better about my choice to use in-the-moment, authentic, casual selfies as a way to complement the content of the post. At the same time, I asked for your take on unsolicited feedback. I got so many pearls of wisdom, including:

Hayley Lewis (who is always brilliant, BTW) said,?"When getting unsolicited feedback I ask myself if I think the person’s intent is to genuinely help (as opposed to scoring points). If I think they’re trying to help, even if the message was clunky, I’m more open to it. I then remind myself that I have choices. Just as they chose to give me feedback, I have the choice to ignore it."

Cathy Moore provided such a helpful thought.?"If you could sit on a cloud and look down on all this what is the real gift given by the person originally giving feedback? Soften your gaze so the feedback words no longer loom large. What blessing of learning, awareness, and/or new strength do you have or might you have now, that has been sparked by that person's good intent??Perhaps the gift is not about the photos."?Wow, was she ever right. I realized that my concerns were more about being too self-centered not about being too authentic. Thank you so much, Cathy!!!!

And many of you made the very important point that feedback is never objective or "the truth." As Ginny Biano-Mathis reminded me,?“giving feedback that says more about the speaker than the receiver.”

Fantastic Advice on?Hybrid Meetings

Craig and I were in Montréal facilitating an in-person session when we learned at the last minute that two team members would need to attend over video. We didn't have the right audio or video equipment and I was facilitating without a net. I posted a plea for help from the hotel lobby and thank goodness for this awesome community who came to the rescue!

Katharina Breme made a great suggestion that we were able to implement. She said,?"I find it helpful when the people in the room also connect individually to the online session with video so that everybody can see all the participants and they communicate through a joint speaker in the room."?Agree completely Katharina, this worked like a charm!

Chuck Durfee had my favorite suggestion.?"Assign a participant to be the remote person’s buddy and to advocate for them during the session. The buddy helps the remote person be heard, pay attention to side conversations, as suggested above."?I love this so much that I'm starting to recommend it not just for meetings, but for any remote employees who would benefit from having a buddy in the office. Thanks, Chuck. Brilliant!?

My friend John Tigh also suggested this super cool new tech gadget called?Rocketbook Beacons?that allows you to turn any whiteboard into a virtual collaboration tool. All it takes is four tiny stickers placed on the board. They're small enough to fit in your wallet... definitely worth having in a facilitator kit these days!?

New insight from?Stop Being So Focused!?

Carlie Bell was in agreement that unstructured time is critical, but she warned that they're hard to achieve. "Random breakout rooms do work though! It’s amazing how getting to know the people as people makes such a difference! ????"

Dale Harris had experienced the opposite problem.?"At first, I built a whole business based on unstructured work time.?Didn't work out too well. Then I remembered that saying about too much of a good thing.?Having a bit of it now really breaks the monotony and creates a space for amazing new ideas."?

I'd LOVE for you to come and grab a seat on my LinkedIn couch ??. Challenge, extend, apply, explain, clarify, synthesize, evaluate, relate... you can add to the conversation in so many ways!?

Thank You, Thank You!

Thanks to Alexander Schact for providing the scientistic evidence for why we need to say "no" to planning for 100% capacity and then for having me on to his podcast The Effective Statistician to talk about how exactly we can say "no" when someone overfills our plate. Check it out,?here!?

Thanks to Joe Hirsch, not just for the fantastic conversation we had on his podcast, but for turning all the insights into this amazing edition of his regular #SundaySwipe feature. I love?this?so much!?

Thanks to Anand Tamboli for drawing me into the world of technology and communication with?our conversation?on the lynchpin of team dynamics.?

I always save the biggest thanks for last. Thank you to the people who took the time to write back in response to the February newsletter. It's a high point for me to get your emails. Thanks to John L and John M for sharing your thoughts and support.?