Struggling to get the most out of your hybrid or remote team? Here's a 3-step action plan to copy.

It's not easy being a manager.

As Emily Field at 麦肯锡 writes: "managers face pressures from above and below, they tend to be both underdeveloped and unempowered, and they face growing pressure to deliver in flatter, faster, and leaner organizational structures, all of which leads to being underutilized and unappreciated."

I've highlighted before that managers are more important than ever . Especially in hybrid and remote organizations, they are how employees receive their Employee Experience. Managers also determine directly how productive and engaged employees are, drive well-being and equity, and immediately impact how long employees stay at their companies.

So how to embrace the challenge? Two weeks ago, I wrote about 12 ways in which managers can be successful , including establishing psychological safety, clearly communicating their rules of engagement, being the stewards of wellbeing, and more. If you're wondering how you stack up, you can Test Your Hybrid Management Effectiveness here.

But strategy is just strategy. If you're struggling to get the most out of your hybrid or remote team, here's a simple template for boosting their effectiveness.

Step 1: Survey the team

Misalignment between managers and their teams is extremely common. Don't hypothesize about the challenges preventing your team from being a high-performing machine; instead, ask and listen to them.

In 2019, the fast-food chain Taco Bell faced a challenge in its hiring process. The company struggled to attract and retain employees, particularly those in leadership positions. Taco Bell decided to take a new approach to address the issue: it asked current and ex-employees about what would get them to stay in the job longer.

The surprising answer wasn't money, job conditions, or even rude customers. Instead, it was the lack of upward mobility and further education. Learning this, Taco Bell launched the successful "Start with Us, Stay with Us" initiative, sponsoring on-the-job training all the way up to college degrees .

As a result of these initiatives, Taco Bell was able to significantly improve its employee retention rates and attract more high-quality candidates for leadership positions. The company also saw a boost in sales and customer satisfaction, as employees were more motivated and engaged in their work.

Running a team survey

Ready to survey your team about ways they think you could all work towards better outcomes? Gallup recommends asking 12 key questions :

1. I know what is expected of me at work.
2. I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right.
3. At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.
4. In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work.
5. My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person.
6. There is someone at work who encourages my development.
7. At work, my opinions seem to count.
8. The mission or purpose of my company makes me feel my job is important.
9. My associates or fellow employees are committed to doing quality work.
10. I have a best friend at work.
11. In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress.
12. This last year, I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow.

These questions will highlight where in the "employee hierarchy of needs " your biggest challenges fall. (If you score 100/100, please inbox me and let me feature your story ;))

Avoid common pitfalls that "Corporate" Christie Hoffman gathered about why surveys typically fail: nothing happens after the survey closes, worries about retaliation, and the fear that you won't understand the team. Run the survey intending and committed to turning results into action.

Step 2: Build Your Engagement Strategy and Cadence

Employee Engagement sometimes gets talked about as frivolous events and activities. That's not the case.

Engaged employees are emotionally committed to the company or you as a manager. They go above and beyond – the opposite of quiet quitting. Your Employee Engagement Strategy is a plan to fuel those flames based on where you know the room for improvement exists.

The best Engagement Strategies come to life through five elements that ensure enough opportunity to meet your engagement goals and ensure a high-performing team.

A. Weekly Team Meeting

Unless you are part of a broader team that frequently meets where all key agenda items get discussed, create a Team Meeting of your own. Just like every meeting, your team meetings need a clear POP (Purpose, Outcome, Process.)

The Purpose of the team meeting is to create alignment and clarity on what the team will work on in the next week(s) so that the team will work as effectively as possible.

The Outcome is a prioritized to-do list for each team member.

The Process is to reflect on the company's (current quarter) goals, your team's goal to achieve that, and then the short-term priorities as shared by you, followed by project status updates and a Q&A by all team members to see if their priorities match yours.

The most effective teams meet weekly . Making this weekly meeting part of your intentional in-office days if you're a hybrid team will make the meeting more effective and create a great reason for people to come into the office.

B. Daily Alignment

Just because you've reflected on your key priorities doesn't mean everyone at all levels is ready to use their time effectively.

Often, hybrid and remote workers go in the wrong direction because they interpret the task differently or don't have the toolset yet to deliver. In the office, this was easily spotted through over-the-shoulder management and quick discussions.

To keep your hybrid team productive, daily alignment is key. You can do this via a stand-up meeting, where everyone reports what they will focus on and what's blocking them. You can also (as most teams prefer ) do this online with updates in Teams or Slack.

If you're on Slack, take a look at our Lexi Daily bot , which helps you collect updates on team members' key priorities asynchronously.

C. One-on-Ones

The lion's share of an employee's experience with the company is through you as a manager. As I shared last week, one-on-ones "provide dedicated time for managers and their direct reports to connect, discuss priorities, and address any challenges or concerns. These meetings help avoid some of the pitfalls of hybrid and remote work, including building trust, addressing isolation, fostering alignment, and providing feedback.

However, one very common pushback from managers is that they don't have the time to conduct productive one-on-ones. The trick is to invest in training team members to take an active role and get more value from these meetings. Turn the tables, and let them drive one-on-ones, coming to you with clear points to resolve, priorities to align, and work to celebrate.

The Issues – Priorities – Accomplishments?framework is a great way to achieve this. Per Officevibe research, employees prefer to meet somewhere between weekly and monthly . Discuss with your team members which frequency they prefer, and most importantly, don't skip meetings once they're scheduled.

D. Monthly Team Building Activities

Work can't be just work. The highest-performing teams connect as people just as much as they do as coworkers. Organizing team-building activities will help do this, and they're less labor-intensive than you may think. Here are some ideas:

1. Join a Learning & Development activity together. Learning together can be a great way to build bonds and feed the human need for growth .
2. Work on your well-being as a team. Like L&D, well-being is a great way to provide deep value to your team as people and coworkers. (And just like L&D, a monthly LIVE Wellbeing session is included for FlexOS Employee Experience members.)
3. Have a themed lunch. A monthly theme lunch where work topics are taboo is a great way to get your team members to connect as people. You can make it extra special by picking a monthly theme or making it a potluck.
4. Celebrate a holiday. There are a lot of holidays beyond just Christmas! Every month there's something you could create a meaningful gathering around.
5. Do something fun! Or, just let team members suggest fun activities outside of the office – they'll be delighted if you fund the activity and perhaps a drink or two.

Managers can access a large library of Engagement Ideas on FlexOS. You can also browse our FREE gallery of short-form Ice Breakers , perfect for kicking off team days or meetings.

E. Quarterly Cross-Team Connections

Your team could work well together, but there may be an opportunity to connect more with other teams. Aim for a quarterly opportunity to let your team members purposefully connect with other teams.

Getting your team to share their successes, learn from other teams' achievements, see how their work connects to others, and how challenges are similar across the company delivers a lot of value.

Cross-team connections have been proven to increase employee engagement, boost innovation, streamline work processes, and build trust. Meet with another team leader, and hatch a plan for how to get your teams to get to know each other better.

3. Measure, Learn, and Optimize

What works for one, doesn't work for another. Putting together your own Engagement Strategy and Cadence is a great way to start managing a higher-performing hybrid team, but don't stop there.

Ask for frequent feedback, let team members rate the various meetings and activities you organize, and openly discuss what's working and what isn't.

If you have experience in a team-level engagement strategy, I'd love to hear what you do differently. If it's your first time putting one together, I'd love to hear how it works out for you.

Have a great and engaging rest of your week,

Daan