Tips to Build Successful Hybrid Teams

For the sake of their employees’ safety, firms were obliged to close their physical offices due to the epidemic. Despite its significant presence, remote work has emerged as one of the most effective corporate operating models during the pandemic. However, what occurred after the pandemic’s dread and effect were greatly reduced proved to be far superior: the hybrid working model. The hybrid model of business operation employs two approaches: one in which some workers work from the office and the rest from home, and the other in which all employees pick up days to work from the office and home, respectively. However, this has undoubtedly made it difficult for managers to properly manage hybrid teams. As a result, Tsedal Neeley, a professor at Harvard Business School, provides some practical tactics for building and managing successful hybrid teams in this audio episode on the HBR IdeaCast channel.

Neeley begins by outlining how working in remote and hybrid teams has shown us that despite not working from physical offices, a lot can be accomplished and that it not only improves work-life balance but also gives flexibility to employees. She coined the phrase “hybrid 3.0,” which refers to employees’ concerns about interacting with AI bots. She feels that the hybrid operating model that employees are now in is just here to prepare us for a future that includes digital developments such as AI bots. One of the suggestions she makes during her discussion on how to establish effective hybrid teams is to consider if the digital tools we have to meet the requirements of the task we have in front of us. She says that we need to fine-tune our objectives in conjunction with balanced digital tools and synchronous means of communication. She contends that a large part of creating effective hybrid teams is dependent on managers concentrating on the organization’s primary idea and strategy and determining how hybrid teams best complement it. She also underlines that if employees are called to the offices to work, it must be for a task that they cannot do while working from home. She notes that, while it is more beneficial for the entire team to sit together and focus on a specific job, this may not be practicable with hybrid teams. As a result, she advises managers and leaders to focus on empowering their people regardless of the place they are working from. Finally, she emphasizes that trust is essential for effectively forming and maintaining hybrid teams. Employees must be trusted to provide productive results whether they work from the office or from home. It may be concerning that the task is not under your oversight, but here is where trusting your team comes into play.

Managing hybrid teams successfully is difficult work for managers, but it is also critical for the organization’s progress. Managers may establish individualized effective ways to manage and construct successful hybrid teams that operate best according to the organization’s goal by following the aforementioned suggestions.