When the global health crisis hit, kicking off the work-from-home revolution, many businesses were forced to adapt their leadership strategies to meet the needs of remote workers. This became a focus for many, who spent their time exploring how they could maintain operations while supporting those working from their homes.
Today, however, things are changing once more. As the world begins to return to normal, attitudes towards remote working are evolving. Businesses want to see their teams coming together again. And employees themselves are beginning to realise that working from home has disadvantages as well as advantages. While they enjoy the healthier work/life balance that comes with remote working, they also miss having the opportunities for in-person collaboration and face-to-face interactions.
Employees want a combined approach; they want to embrace hybrid working.
The latest figures suggest that 85% of working adults in the UK want to go ‘hybrid’. And this poses yet another new challenge for leaders across many organisations.
The Hybrid Challenge
The challenge that hybrid working poses is that leaders cannot revert back to their pre-COVID leadership methods, nor can they continue to rely on their newer approaches that have succeeded throughout the remote working era. Instead, they need to create a new set of processes to ensure they’re able to fully support a workforce that is part in/part out. The style must ensure leaders are connecting with those out of the office, while also meeting the needs of those that are in the office.
How can this be done? Here are a few top tips from the Bond Williams team on how to build successful hybrid leadership teams to support workers in the new normal:
- Equity, not equality
The importance of diversity and inclusion is becoming more and more understood. And while this is certainly a good thing, it’s vital for today’s leaders not to draw too close a connection between D&I and equality. In a hybrid landscape, it’s simply not reasonable to treat everyone the same. Home workers and office workers will each have their own needs, and leaders must be sure they are considering the different needs of different workers when developing expectations or offering support.
- Leadership, not management
While the term ‘leadership’ is certainly not new, the concept itself is. Until very recently, ‘leadership’ and ‘management’ were used interchangeably, and today there are still many leaders who employ management techniques. This, however, can be detrimental in a hybrid environment. To be successful, leaders must be willing to make the shift from ‘production’ to ‘people’, focusing not on end results, but on helping workers settle into their new hybrid roles so they can do their best work.
- Trust, not doubt
Perhaps one of the biggest obstacles standing in the way of your team becoming successful leaders is that it can be tricky to understand how much support home workers and office workers need. Too little, and productivity can suffer. Too much, and employees feel as though they are being micromanaged. Successful leaders must be able to trust that their teams – whether at home, or in the office – are working in a way that’s right for them, and which helps them achieve their best.
- Flexibility, not a fixed approach
Maybe the most important factor of all is that leaders must be able to approach their new role with an open mindset. This can be difficult, especially for leaders who thrive on structure and predictability. But when teams are working from different locations, and on different schedules, there must be some degree of flexibility to ensure that everyone can work together, support each other, and collaborate. Leaders should embrace new ways of working and understand what works best.
At Bond Williams, we believe that a successful leadership team is key to succeeding in the future; in a future where hybrid working looks set to become the norm. We’re here to help you build a team that supports your business and supports your people.
