How to Lead Your Hybrid Team

There was a time when you just needed to pop your head out of a cubicle and ask everyone to grab a cup of coffee and join you in the meeting room. But things have changed today.

As you are looking to return to the office amid this uncertain time, you realize that some of your employees are working on-site, some are working from home, and there are a few who do a little bit of both.

And this has made things complicated for leaders. It is not easy to keep your on-site team and off-site team on the same page. It is not easy to promote a positive team culture when your people aren’t together.

Leading a hybrid team can feel overwhelming, but rest assured—it is feasible.

Let’s find out how to keep your entire team productive –regardless of their place to work.
But first of all, let’s go through this quick definition of a hybrid team.

A hybrid team refers to a team that is combined with on-site employees and remote employees. However, now that the corporate world has become more flexible and employee-friendly than ever before, this definition has become vast. Today’s hybrid team also includes the employees who can choose where they want to work from.

Hybrid teams are new territory for a lot of leaders, meaning that you might face certain issues. That’s okay—provided you are dedicated to learning from them.

Let’s walk through some key strategies to lead your hybrid team in this post-pandemic world.

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    Promote a Remote-First Culture:

    Some of your employees might be working from home. Operating a remote-first team can be crucial in such a scenario to make remote work the default option for your team. It means that your people can work from anywhere. Even some of your employees are working on-site, providing an option of remote work helps you create the right systems and processes to let your team do great work—whether they are at the office or anywhere in the world.

    To imply this strategy, you need to provide collaboration tools as well as centralized communication platforms such as video calling.

    Avoid Micromanaging: 

    When your employees are working from home or remote location, it can be tempting to keep an eye on them or be suspicious of their every move. But this might impact the morale and dedication of your team. If you let your employees choose where they get their work done with maximum productivity, then you are required to trust them. That’s why you need to foster a result-based culture for your hybrid team. This means that you are stressing the results being produced by your employees, rather than getting conscious about the process or the details of how they are doing it.

    You can promote this culture by setting clear goals for them as well as the responsibilities to be fulfilled.

    Build a Feedback Culture:

    Feedback is important for the ongoing development of your team. However, not all employees know how to ask for it. You can do this by scheduling a personalized meeting at least once per month where you can ask about their daily work, issues and career goals as well as provide constructive feedback.

    Encourage Your People for Social Connection:

    There are a lot of factors to keep in mind while handling a hybrid team, but the emotional side needs just as much emphasis.

    The rapport with the people we work with determine job satisfaction, performance and happiness. According to one study, people who have a friend at work are likely to be more engaged and productive than those who don’t have. Creating those bonds become a little more challenging when your team is not working together, and a feeling of being lonely has become a key concern associated with working remotely. Even worse, if on-site employees get the regular opportunity for shared lunches and engagement activities, remote team members are likely to feel even lonelier.

    That’s why you should encourage your team for social opportunities regardless of their location. You can do this by creating a fun message channel for friendly chatter like pet photos or movie recommendations. Also, allow for personal updates and small talk.