What do we need to think about to make hybrid working models successful?

Flexibility and the ability to identify performance regardless of work location.  I.E.  Those visible in person shouldn't' be the only ones up for recognition such as bonuses and promotions.  There are plenty of potential leaders who can lead remotely without concern and these individuals need to be identified even if they're not physically present.  Measuring performance regardless of location is key in operating and leading in a hybrid model.

The most important thing for teams to innovate and thrive is having diversity of thought on the team.  Teams were fine expressing themselves in a “neutral zone” i.e. when everyone was at home.  With a hybrid environment we need to ensure people have an opportunity to express the thoughts versus sidebar conversations, hallway conversations etc.   This is tough as humans were made to connect and once they are in a room together they will.  In this new environment as leaders we need to be purposeful and conscious of the absence of some teammates.  This requires empathy and meeting people where they are so they feel valued.  

We need to think about the best way to communicate (in both directions) between local and remote workers.  Not just from an efficiency standpoint, but adding and evaluating other touchpoints to ensure EFFECTIVE communication and remind team members of what their options are for feedback loops both within the team and with various management members, as appropriate.

Need to consider async vs sync communication patterns.  What is required for in-person regarding set expectations and what can be remote. All of this boils down to communication with employees.  If employees leave or job hop it can be costly, need to understand actual cost based on staffing for people based on business outcomes.  If you don't perform this analysis, throwing money to the wind on the ops side of the ledger.  Monitoring people is an issue, work needs to be based on targets and outcomes not time and location.   I ran a startup 100% virtual and was able to make it work very well with good comms. 

Before COVID, lots of us had distributed teams. Whether somebody works in Chicago versus San Francisco doesn't make any difference to me. They’re simply not with me in the same room, so it’s not that new. I’m from the Netherlands, where hybrid working has been around for 10 years because they're running out of space. As a manager, you can say, "There's something I want to discuss. Would it work if the three of us meet in the office next week?"

The office becomes more like a meeting place where you have rich conversations. Everybody knows that when you put people in a conference room, something happens that doesn't happen on a Zoom call. Maybe that's where the perceived increase in productivity comes from, because everybody that's not physically in a meeting room has their video off, so they can crank out all these emails.

We're trying to control something that is organically evolving. We're all still trying to figure this out. Some people don't like to be working from home because they don't have the discipline that is required to stay focused in that context, so it's not for everybody. There are people that just want to get back to the office, especially if they’re in a negative environment at home; at least they get a bit of a mental break when they’re in the office. We need to think about whether there is an added value to being in the office for certain discussions. Maybe the person that only creates invoices can stay remote forever. It doesn't matter if the office doesn't provide added value for them to do their work.