Hybrid work is here to stay. According to a survey of more than 500 leaders conducted by Okta, 45% of European organizations allow their employees to work remotely up to three days a week. Similarly, a recent report from McKinsey American Opportunity revealed that almost 60% of people in the United States work from home at least one day a week. The situation in Latin America appears to be the same; a We Work study in the region found that 81% of those surveyed consider the hybrid model to be the ideal for the post-pandemic labor market.
In this scenario, many leaders are struggling to effectively manage and motivate their teams. While it may seem challenging to lead a remote and in-person team, there are some key strategies that can help you be a better leader in a hybrid-work environment.
1. Communication is key in hybrid work environments
In hybrid work environments it is necessary to increase efforts to foster unity and trust. And communication is vital for this goal.
Communicating clearly and often effectively is essential for keeping your team on the same page. Make sure to provide clear instructions and expectations for tasks and projects, and make your communication as timely and detailed as possible.
But that doesn’t mean we should have meetings all the time.
To have effective meeting with the teams, it is important to ask yourself:
- Is it a topic to be coordinated with the whole team?
- What priority does this task have?
- Is a meeting necessary to resolve it or can it be worked asynchronously?
In this way, you can avoid bad meetings and steal staff’s time and mojo.
2. Create a healthy culture
According to Harvard Business Review, when employees feel like they belong to an organization or team, they’ll experience higher levels of well-being and engagement and will perform better on the job. Additionally, McKinsey & Company reports that healthy cultures have 3x greater total returns to stakeholders.
Some initiatives to build a healthy culture can be:
- Promote transparency: In a hybrid workforce, you can increase transparency using technology. Therefore, you can be proactive in providing employees with what they need to succeed at work
- Support cross-departmental collaboration: That doesn’t mean that everyone comments everything. But, cross-departmental work could give birth to new ideas and strategies.
- Implement a mentorship program: Keep employees engaged with their career growth at your company by offering them the opportunity to participate in a mentorship program.
- Promote fun for example, you can host virtual events like coffee chat or online happy hour. You can also host off-site experiences and team-building activities.
3. Encourage work-life balance:
As leaders, it is important to remember that our team lives outside of work. When employees are able to achieve a good work-life balance, they are more productive and satisfied in their roles.
Here are a few ways that leaders can encourage work-life balance for their teams:
First, set a good example. If you are constantly working late and taking work home, your team will likely feel like they need to do the same. Speak to your team about your own work-life balance and encourage them to make time for themselves.
Next, set reasonable expectations. Make sure that you are not asking your team to do more than they can handle. Make sure that you are assigning tasks that make sense for their skill set and that their workload is manageable.
In addition, be flexible. It can be difficult for employees to juggle their work and personal lives if their work schedule is inflexible. Offer flexible hours and the opportunity to work from home when possible.
Finally, create a supportive work environment. Show your team that you care about them and their wellbeing. Encourage them to take breaks and provide resources for mental health support.
Would you like to have more tools to improve your leadership in hybrid work environments?
In MBI Talent Group, we can help you with our leadership consultancy. Our goal is to create a safe space in which the leader and their team feel confident to explore the challenges they face, the actions to take and the key competencies to develop. Do you want more information? Write to us in the comments and we will get in touch with you.
