Commentary From Crisis Management Expert Edward Segal, Author Of Crisis Ahead: 101 Ways To Prepare for and Bounce Back from Disasters, Scandals, and Other Emergencies (Nicholas Brealey)

In the early days of the Covid pandemic, many business leaders tried to figure out on their own—or are still learning—how to make hybrid working arrangements succeed at their companies and organizations.

Indeed, an international poll last in October found that only 20% of respondents—increasing to 25% in the UK—considered their organizations were well prepared for flexible working.

Wherever you fall on the hybrid spectrum, here's a reality check about some of the most important best practices to help ensure this increasingly popular office alternative is working or will work for you and your employees.

Clarity

Neil Miller is the host of The Digital Workplace Podcast. He said, "The most important question you can ask is 'Why?' What are you hiring the office to do for you that you don't think can be done in a distributed way? Rather than just assume you know the answers, ask your team and let them create the list.

"Once these objectives are set, give as much clarity as possible to optimize the use of co-located time. Make sure everyone knows the expectations, what communication tools you are going to use, and what the central source of truth is. When you move the center of work away from the office, you need to clearly state where it is moving to."

Make The Best Of Both Worlds

Antonio Argibay, the managing principal of Meridian Design Architects, has led their hybrid office since August 2020. He said, "Best practices for implementing a hybrid workplace should start with the most salient aspect of this workplace strategy—you are in the office for part of your time and the other part is somewhere else, most cases your home.

"Making the best out of both worlds is what will make or break a hybrid work strategy and to make the best of hybrid work teams you must keep in mind [these] three Cs:

Communication

"This is the key to any successful team productivity. Make your brick and mortar workplace a social and community-oriented space that encourages interaction. Your remote workplace must be technically adequate; for example, your internet bandwidth has to be robust enough [to] conduct good quality video and audio."

Culture

"Culture is the sum of a company's values in action over time and it is important to emphasize your company's culture and values to maintain cohesiveness.

"Your brick and mortar office should support your culture by providing for social spaces to interact with fellow workers and management. The execution of all remote work assignments has to be consistent with your culture. For example, if the company fosters a close relationship with family, providing flexibility as to when tasks get done is important."

Care

"Care is a broad and important aspect of hybrid work. Empathy is considered by many to be the most important leadership skill and accountability from employees is the key ingredient of initiative and ownership of the work. To create a healthy hybrid relationship, both of these aspects of care have to be present."

Listen

Vashti Chatman is the chief talent officer at ENGINE, a media and marketing company. She advised, ""When building hybrid work cultures, it is best practice for companies and organizations to first listen to their employees.

"Listen and work to understand what employees value and need to deliver their best work. Then shift all policies and practices to focus on a performance culture versus an attendance culture. Lastly, reimagine how employees come together as colleagues and with clients to create better experiences and a sense of camaraderie."

4 Pillars

Denise Graziano is a strategic advisor on team performance that impacts a company's bottom line. She said there are four pillars for successful hybrid team performance.

Data

• Data and analytics about teams to more strategically leverage strengths and avoid potential blind spots.

Communication

• Communication tools and practices to avoid costly internal or external comm gaps which can negatively impact customer deliverables and business results

Policies

• Policies to avoid proximity bias or other inequitable advancement, opportunities or treatment for those who are less visible or off site.

Training

• Training to provide managers with adequate skills for adaptability, emotional intelligence and remote leadership. For example, the #1 skill employees value from their managers is confidence, but the #1 skill employees feel their managers lack is communication.

Put Everything In Writing

Gilles Bertaux, co-founder and CEO of Livestorm, a video engagement platform. He advised that, "Writing is always best to avoid distorted messaging: document everything, keep track of your findings, keep track of your projects.

The more you write down the fewer questions or miscommunication you raise. Keep things neatly organized in a documentation space and surface those writings whenever the topic emerges. Keep a good balance between async/sync: we're often tempted to pile up live meetings when in fact a pre-recorded video, a collaborative [docuement], or a chat thread would suffice."

Monitor—But Don't Micromanage

Bertaux said, "The hybrid work situation is a new way of working for the vast majority of companies. Monitoring from a distance and virtually is the new normal post-pandemic. But there is a fine line between monitoring and micromanaging. Monitoring should come from managers by coaching their team, be present to answer questions and show support. Many tools are available now to work the asynchronous way: Slack, webinars, recorded meetings, ASANA, Lattice.

"[F]find the right balance between monitoring and…giving enough space to the team to feel valued and empowered," he concluded.

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