While companies around the world wrestle with how to bring employees back to work, the truth is that employees want the flexibility of working from home, for at least part of their workweek. The shift to hybrid teams is here to stay, and leaders are going to have to ramp up their ability to lead people that may be on-site and working from home.
Leaders can have an even greater impact on engagement and performance by focusing on these best practices for leading hybrid teams.
1. Build Psychological Safety
At the heart of it, being a great leader (and ultimately a great boss) is about how effectively you can create trust within a team. Hands down, trust is the single most important factor, as the starting point in creating and sustaining a high-performing team.
Here at The Roundtable, we’ve seen numerous teams expedite their “storming” using the TCI model and other tools and move toward creating a strong high-performing team. We’ve facilitated numerous sessions and break-through often happens when people can be vulnerable, bring forth ideas, admit mistakes and discuss challenges freely.
As leaders, it’s time to kick the “never let them see you sweat” adage to the curb. Instead, transparency, openness and candour are the name of the game. Create space for you, and your team, to trust one another enough to open up, admit mistakes and get on with the task at hand.
2. Be an Intentional Leader
Organizational culture and employee engagement are the direct result of the daily actions we take and the words we use. Get intentional about how you lead and the impact it has on culture and engagement. The more you know and understand yourself, the better. Situations are never one-sided and every manager needs to be aware of how they may be contributing to the drama.
Define your core guidelines, working agreements, values don’t just stick them in an employee handbook that will gather dust on a shelf. Turn them into a living, breathing document that gets shared within your team. Review and update it regularly. Celebrate those that exemplify them.
3. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate
You really can’t communicate enough when your team is virtual and a mix of full and part-time. The most challenging situations come down to communication (or rather, lack of or poor communication). Increase your regular check-ins with your people and don’t assume that, because someone was fine yesterday, they’re also fine today. Lead with empathy. However, don’t back down from difficult discussions. Provide feedback (or feedforward!) that your employee needs to hear in a manner that’s firm, fair and friendly.
How The Roundtable Helps Hybrid Teams
Peer group coaching may be just what your organization has been looking to help build psychological safety and communication skills in order to take its employee development efforts to the next level. If you’d like to know more about our group coaching programs, contact us to start a conversation.
