Principles of High Performing Hybrid Work

What exactly is “hybrid work?” And how do we solve the age-old issue of effectively collaborating in a blend of physical and digital environments?

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By Winnie Huang and Ryan McCreedy

Realities of hybrid work

“Hybrid work” has existed for decades. We define it as the many ways we interact with our teammates to get work done, whether it be in-office, remote, across time zones, or on-the-go. Effective hybrid working clarifies when, where, and how teams work together, which includes a blend of people, process, and technology to meet collaboration and business needs.

Hybrid is not being in the office “x days” and being at home “x days.” Businesses have navigated offshore practices, global offices, and remote working arrangements for decades, often with the same challenges we’re still seeing today. Remote-based employees were often treated as “out of sight, out of mind,” and COVID-19 brought more awareness to these issues. With 76% of employees saying they would quit if not given sensible control over when, where, and how they work, organizations need to think about how they define hybrid work.

So how can you provide flexibility, inclusion, and connection for employees in a mix of virtual and physical environments?

Based on Slalom’s future of work research and our perspective — or “ETHOS” for hybrid workplaces — we recommend three actionable principles for leading and teaming to enable high-performing collaboration in the hybrid working environment.

1. Demystify team norms

In today’s environment, teams constantly form or change, and it’s critical to explicitly define norms instead of relying on informal means alone. Communicating clearly how meetings should be run, how communication channels should be used, and the expectations team members have of one another ought to be explicitly stated to remove confusion.

Having these guidelines will also help teams navigate through disagreements and resolve conflicts. Think of it like the design of a physical office HQ — the design of your digital HQ affects employee experience and ease of doing work. We’re able to “read the room” in-person, but now we must read the digital workspace — a far more challenging task! By removing confusion on communication channels and etiquette norms, we can reduce the time spent navigating systems, which ultimately impacts the bottom line.

While technology enables multiple ways to connect nowadays, availability of tools doesn’t automatically lead to successful collaboration. Teams must be thoughtful about how they use technology to reap the benefits of these tools. Paying attention to differences in time zones and when/how to connect with team members at a time convenient for the majority enables global teams to work efficiently. Global teams may succeed initially at a rapid pace but can fail in the long term if norms implicit to specific regions or countries create work silos without the wider global team being in the loop.

Hybrid working is very different for many people, so teams appreciate guidance on even the most tactical things. We’re not encouraging you to define each and every way you work together, but to consider establishing certain norms, such as:

• Get tactical about choosing between chat vs. meeting. Define with your team what should be addressed via a chat versus an actual meeting. Stopping by someone’s desk for a quick question could be the same as a quick ping, while grabbing a room for an impromptu brainstorm could be the equivalent of a video meeting.
• Determine meeting-free hours and/or days. Dedicate time for focused, self-reliant work so team members can operate at their own pace, on their own schedule and collaborate with others in a way that’s convenient for them.
• Align on working hours. Allow for a degree of flexibility on when work gets done while establishing hours where active, live collaboration is expected. Consider alternating hours as needed to be equitable and considerate of global time differences and boundaries
• Embed mindful facilitation techniques. Consider your team’s personality characteristics and ways of sharing in remote settings. For example, avoid having the loudest voice in the meeting anchor everyone’s thinking — instead, encourage other techniques such as silent brainstorming or adding thoughts and opinions in the chat.
• Plan for video-on (vs. video-off) opportunities with intention. Encourage having your video on to promote bonding or facilitate team discussions, while allowing for opportunities to have your video off during information-sharing meetings or to mitigate video fatigue.

What are the key objectives your team is driving towards? What are the problems your team are trying to solve? By focusing on the “why” of work and coming up with team norms early to support the “how,” we can build trust and achieve team cohesion.

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2. Connect with intention

Approximately 77% of the workforce believes meaningful connection and intentional social interaction are most important to job satisfaction. Even in the pre-pandemic world, less effective communication was seen to be “resolved” by in-person contact.

Paradoxically, we have a plethora of technological advances to collaborate effectively across virtual spaces, yet employees that share physical space are 20% more likely to use digital communication than virtual employees. According to a recent study (conducted by one of our authors), employees feel less connected to their co-workers as a linear function of time removed from them physically.

So, what gives?

The digital tools we use in remote environments were developed largely to help in-person teams collaborate on tasks — not necessarily to help teams connect personally. In the past, workplace connections spontaneously happened during the workday in hallways and kitchens. It can be challenging to recreate those unplanned encounters in a remote or hybrid environment. However, we can use creative strategies to allow opportunities for building closer relationships, such as:

• Creating connection rituals. Start and end the work week with encouraging your team to share a personal story either via chat or live in a meeting for a chance to learn more about each other beyond work (i.e., “Gratitude Mondays” or “Storytelling Fridays”).
• Encourage impromptu video chats. Ask to hop on an unscheduled video chat after a meeting or towards the end of the day is a valuable way to make up for the lack of in-person coffee or hallway conversations.
• Establish a safe and supportive space to ask for help. Share with your team what you maybe be struggling with and make it acceptable to be vulnerable so teams feel invested in each other’s personal growth.
• Acknowledge each other with praise and appreciation. Add five minutes to the start of a regular meeting dedicated to shoutouts to celebrate wins and express gratitude to teammates.
• Meet in-person to build up a “connection charge.” People build up connection in person, much like a battery gets charged. Recent research shows it’s critical to be intentional about the amount of time spent in office, as people are generally more productive at home, yet benefit from some in-person connection.

What moments bring a smile to your team’s faces? When do you observe mutual support and vulnerable sharing? By creating a safe environment where teams can admit mistakes, ask questions, try new things, and bring their authentic selves to work, we can create a container for deeper connection and foster belonging in the workplace.

3. Promote remote inclusivity

With some employees being excited about returning to the office, others prefer working remotely. Up to 50% of employees now work at least partially from home and don’t feel that their teammates treat them equally. Very often, hybrid environments suffer from bias in favor of those employees who come to the office. Yet many employees now work with teammates across the globe — some of whom they have never met face-to-face or even spoken to on the phone.

Workplace politics can feel more pervasive and difficult for remote employees, as they find it harder to resolve conflicts when they arise. As opposed to solving problems in the immediate, it’s easy to let conflicts drag on for weeks or more, impacting productivity, costs, deadlines, morale, stress, and retention.

It can be tempting to believe that bringing everyone back into the office would resolve these issues. However, our research found that 74% of employees will look for new jobs if required to work in the office three or more days a week. The importance of work equity can’t be underestimated, and it’s critical to ensure hybrid working teams are inclusive. Slalom believes in promoting remote inclusivity, leading with empathy, and learning from employees who work remotely, which means:

• Challenging your assumptions. Check your cognitive bias to avoid an unhealthy “us versus them” culture between teammates who regularly work in the office and those who work remotely. Focus on using qualifiable and quantitative measures for determining work productivity and contributions.
• Seeking to understand and empathize with others. Recognize that everyone has different preferences about everything from where to work to how they feel about vaccinations and consider all the needs and concerns of your team. For example, for those who have health concerns about returning to the office, consider hosting an outdoor social gathering instead.
• Respecting different needs and choices. Share your preferences and encourage others to do the same without judgement, and acknowledge that personal situations — including family and health — can influence whether someone works from home versus the office. Some may desire to be in-person and have restrictive factors preventing them from doing so.
• Managing events and meetings with a “virtual-inclusive” mindset. Proactively engage remote participants, even for ad-hoc physical meetings (i.e., “Let’s pause and bring Jessie in on this.”) and ensure the chat and video feed are actively monitored.

Where is information shared and are all teammates, regardless of physical or remote presence, included? What assumptions do you have about remote employees that should be challenged, based on your own experience or other observations? By reflecting and being intentional, we can ensure remote employees feel included and cared for, and teams can be productive whether in-person or remotely collaborating.

Hybrid leading

One in three business owners is concerned about losing employees due to not getting hybrid right. However, leadership in a hybrid environment isn’t much different than leadership in a face-to-face environment. If you’re a leader, you cast a shadow both physically and virtually — you need to embody the team principles that have been set in place so others do the same. You can lead in a hybrid working environment by showing up as a positive role model through spearheading a sense of accountability, which spreads to the broader team. Need more concrete examples? Check out Slalom’s hybrid leader and team toolkit.

To make it more real, consider developing/discussing scenario-based hybrid working cases so you can practice with your peers. How do we drive these important conversations and interactions with hybrid teams? In a hybrid environment, close supervision isn’t possible, so leaders must place trust in their teams to contribute and complete deliverables on time. Their journey to completion shouldn’t matter as much as the final work result. As a leader, you set the targets and trust your team to meet them.

Challenges in leading and “teaming” have always existed, but the pandemic reaffirmed that we will continue to migrate in a direction of hybrid work where some are in-office, remote, or even on-the-go. More important now than ever, the three hybrid working principles we’ve shared can help you demystify team norms, connect with intention, and promote remote inclusivity.

Slalom is a global consulting firm that helps people and organizations dream bigger, move faster, and build better tomorrows for all. Learn more and reach out today.