How To Lead Hybrid Teams In The Post-Covid Era

Published on November 17th, 2022

Everybody started talking about different ways of running hybrid teams after the Covid-19 induced restrictions changed the way we work forever. However, statistic shows that remote work isn’t a new concept stating that 1 in 5 Americans used to work remotely before the pandemic outburst.

This said a recent survey by JLL found that 66% of employees expect to work in hybrid workplaces in the post-Covid era. This finding has motivated leaders to find ways to boost cross-team collaboration in the dispersed workforce.

If you share the same concerns wondering how to lead highly productive hybrid teams, keep reading.

Here you’ll find effective ways to maintain seamless communication and boost hybrid teams’ collaboration and productivity.

Set Clear Expectations And Communication Rules For Every Role

When your employees are on the same page regarding their tasks and responsibilities and your expectations, they can be highly productive and work without obstacles toward set goals.

When it comes to communication, your team members need to know what messages and questions are worthy of hosting a team meeting, and which can be summarized in an email. Ineffective meetings can eat up most of the time employees can otherwise dedicate to completing critical tasks.

So what can you do instead of checking in daily with your team members to make sure they are actually working on assignments? The answer is simple. You can rely on an employee tracking system to show you in detail how your employees use their time at work.

This staff monitoring software will show you how productive they are, labeling their work hours as productive, idle, and unproductive. Besides tracking how your employees’ productivity fluctuates throughout the day, you can use office monitoring data to see the apps and websites your employees use most frequently to get their job done.

In this way, you can identify apps that help your employees be more efficient, versus various online distractions that can be serious time-wasters in the workplace.

Once you make an effective meetings schedule, stick to it, making sure that all employees, on-site and remote, can be heard and contribute in these meetings.

Identify Tools That Enhance Collaboration

If you want to run hybrid teams successfully, you need to create a level playing field for your office-based and remote employees alike.

So make sure that everyone in the meeting can clearly see the presentation board and have all the audio and video equipment needed for seamless communication. Involving online whiteboards in your hybrid team meetings can be a great idea especially when it comes to brainstorming sessions.

Besides providing optimal technological solutions to help remote employees participate in team meetings, you can make it easier for them to follow, if you summarize what’s going on in the conference room.

Your remote workers participating via video conferencing platforms are limited by their screens and can’t see the entire conference room, nor can they interject into the conversations easily.

This is why you need to act as a meeting facilitator, describing the atmosphere in the room, or summarizing the sidebar conversation from time to time.

Always Keep Company Culture In Mind

Keeping your hybrid teams connected on a more personal level, and building trustworthy relationships may be challenging, but achievable.

You can create a virtual water cooler atmosphere where your hybrid employees can get to know each other on a personal level and share their non-work related experiences and interests.

This said, try to create a relaxed and friendly atmosphere by hosting Zoom happy hours or organizing virtual cooking classes that will help your hybrid team bond and create meaningful connections.

Bear in mind that you manage people not robots, and make time for informal conversations to learn more about their families and life circumstances. One simple “How are you today?” can make a significant difference, showing your employees that you care about their well-being and put their needs before profit.

Final Words

The widespread opinion is that the hybrid work model is here to stay. So if you want to create and lead highly productive and collaborative teams make sure that all your employees start from the level playing field, using advanced technological solutions to communicate seamlessly and achieve their goals.

Creating meaningful relationships in the hybrid workplace may not be challenging if you use video conferencing tools to organize various activities that will help your employees to connect on a personal non-work-related level.

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