3 things hybrid companies need to be successful

3 things hybrid companies need to be successful

Should businesses return to the office, work remotely, or adopt a hybrid model? The debate over what is best for businesses after COVID dominated headlines and boardroom discussions last year.

The majority of the discussion regarding this topic has been focused on culture, work-life balance, and budgets. All of these are important considerations, but perhaps the most important question is simply: how can we make this work functionally?

Those returning to the office will most likely find that things have returned to the way they were before. Those opting for full-time remote work will likely find that their answer lies in the systems they have been using for the past few months.

Hybrid work is new territory for most companies. It requires a unique approach that involves more learning, more planning, and more optimizations. But if successful, hybrid is the model with the greatest potential for success. It taps into a broader talent pool, caters to everyone's preferences, and creates a compromise framework within your company's structure.

Here are three things your business needs to be successful with hybrid work.

A remote-first-mindset

Hybrid work is similar to being friends with a vegetarian - you always have to keep him in mind when making dinner plans.

Proactivity is required to ensure that remote workers have access to the same capabilities and information they have in the office. Otherwise, your processes and systems will fall apart.

Start with the tools you need for successful remote work. This includes:

  • Communication tools like Slack or Microsoft Teams enable remote workers to have quick conversations or get quick feedback without scheduling a meeting.
  • Virtual meeting tools that enable group discussions and valuable personal contact between employees.
  • Collaboration tools such as Miro or Google Docs that enable colleagues to give and solicit feedback and contribute to ideation and creation in the same way.
  • Work management tools (such as Monday.com or Asana) enable all employees to create tasks, describe requests, concretize ideas and set deadlines transparently and remotely.

For your next meeting, please consider the needs of our remote employees:

  • Add a link for a video call to each invitation. Make sure that the meeting rooms are well equipped for excellent audio and video quality.
  • Create a shared online document instead of printing documents.
  • Plan to use a virtual whiteboard instead of an actual whiteboard.
  • When you have a lunch meeting, do not just order catering. Give people at home credits for food delivery.

Finally, establish virtual touchpoints with management and mentors:

  • Create weekly open office hours for management teams that anyone can join. So many opportunities and obstacles are identified through simple, casual discussions that can take place over lunch at the office, but in this case need to be planned for remotely.
  • Schedule regular one-on-one meetings with all members of your team to allow time for work, career and personal life on site.
  • Plan virtual lunch-and-learns, capture trainings, and animate staff to document procedures and best practices.

The introduction of a remote-first ethos allows everyone to work comfortably, feel belonging and contribute equally - regardless of which office.

An engagement for asynchronous work

Too often, companies try to recreate the office environment for remote workers. This approach usually doesn't work and sacrifices the best parts of remote work: the ability to work uninterrupted and set a more flexible work schedule.

Rather than trying to create an identical work environment at home, you should embrace asynchronous work.

Asynchronous work means working independently and in your own time. This does not come at the expense of collaboration. It simply means that a person's role in a task does not depend on the presence or involvement of others.

When people work remotely, technology affects all of their interactions. They are reliant on internet connections, document permissions, and invitations to video calls. Asynchronous work frees them from these restrictions, so they can work when they are best suited for their new remote environment. This also works for people in an office setting. They can work at their own pace and spend less time in draining video conferences.

How can a company adopt asynchronous work?

There are two main principles, that you should use:

  • Work out in the open. Asynchronous work and transparency go hand in hand. Employees must be able to access information and perform their tasks at any time and anywhere. This means that task information, files, feedback, briefings, and anything else that could affect their work must be publicly available and accessible. Save documents on the company drive with public permission. Share ideas on public channels. Look at your day closely and think about everything you do that someone at home can't see - and then find ways to make it visible.
  • Team alignment. If you receive a task, see it through to the end. But what is the desired outcome? What is the common goal that the team is working towards? Employees who are in sync with one another make better, quicker decisions because they understand the purpose of every task. Alignment also builds team bonds and makes collaboration easier because everyone has the same end goal in mind. Include your team in setting goals to build buy-in. Then take some time every day or week to realign your team with your shared goals and everyone’s role in achieving them. This can be done in team meetings, on Slack, or by emphasizing the “why” in tasks and briefings.

A workflow-management-solution

In order to be successful as a hybrid company, you will need to adjust your workflows to your new reality in a proactive manner. What is the first step?

Understand the core workflows of your company:

  • How does each project go from idea to completion?
  • Who is involved and in which step?
  • Where and when do you work?
  • Which tools do you use?

This should help you map your workflows for hybrid reality while identifying blockers and bottlenecks.

Blockers often emerge there. Information gets stuck in one person's app, or team members have difficulty finding and sharing important information. This is where a workflow management solution comes in.

You ideally want something that you can use to customize the flow of information between the tools in your stack, without having to code or IT for each new project. If your focus is on easy automation, this may be one-way solutions (those that send information from one tool to another), such as Zapier or IFTTT.

If your focus is on collaboration, a bi-directional workflow solution (which enables information flow between tools) may be the right way to go.

Once your workflows are set up, share them widely. Clearly defined workflows increase transparency, build alignment, and enable a remote-first approach. They connect everything and provide all employees with a clear path to success.

Happily Hybrid

Remote work can be new territory for a lot of companies. You'll need to be prepared like any other explorer, so you and your team can overcome any challenges.

Ensuring your hybrid team's success in the new work world requires a remote-first mindset, an asynchronous approach, and a workflow management solution.

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