Approaches for Leading a Hybrid Work Teams

 -from the kitchen table of Michael Legut PhD

Key Takeaways

• The hybrid office environment often impacts the level of engagement between team members.
• The team members connect with each other differently for project tasks, planning, and hand-offs.
• Standard attendance policies may not be the most optimal solution for a team’s work needs.
• Leaders need to understand the task demands and complexity of the team’s work.
• Considering a team's Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing dynamics can provide answers.

The pandemic and remote office experience has changed the way your work team works. Obviously the most significant change is in the way team members engage with each other. To keep your team performing at an optimal level, you need understand those changes and adapt your approach with how you lead your team.

In my previous article I explored collaboration and cooperation between team members.  The focus of this article will be about ways that leaders can address team performance challenges related to a hybrid office environment.

Many news stories have already reported successes and challenges that leaders are experiencing as they manage employees who are working remotely some days and in-office other days. https://www.inaa.org/benefits-of-working-in-an-office-vs-remote-work/. One common theme is related to the changes with co-worker relationships in the hybrid office environment. These changes often impact the level of engagement between team members and how effectively they work together.

So where can leaders begin? The first step is to understand what is different with the team’s work in a hybrid office situation. This is not so much about the specific task but more about how the team connects with each other for project tasks, planning, hand-offs and conflicts. Unfortunately, many HR leaders are setting up standard policies that require employees to be in the office Tuesday through Thursday and allow them to be remote Monday and Friday. These policies may not be the most optimal solution for a team’s work needs and performance.

A simple way to begin is to look at the factors that make up of most work activity. These are the relationship requirements, the degree that the work requires low or high degree of team interaction, and task complexity, the degree to which the work task requires multiple inputs and hand-offs. Once you understand the relationships needed and the task complexity of your team’s work, you can plan for the situations in which remote or in-office experiences can enhance your team’s performance.

We all know that some in-office interactions can be a distraction especially when the team members really need to be very focused on completing a very detailed task. As the leader you should be managing your team’s work activity and development. You can do that by being more intentional about when your team should be remote and when they need to be in the office. Here are four team scenarios you might consider when deciding whether your team needs to be more or less in the office.

Forming

The Forming scenario includes situations where the team is at the start of a project or new members are being added to the team. This is a time when the goals or objectives of the team’s work are established and everyone needs to be aware of the resources and experiences that each team member brings to the table. When a team is Forming it is useful to schedule more in-office opportunities to help team members build relationships, understand their role in the team and how they will need to work with other team members. 

Storming

Another scenario might be called Storming. Every work team effort has some unexpected task or personality problems that hinder work progress or create employee conflicts. In these situations, it is useful to have in-office team meetings because the issue often requires more co-worker communication to clarify roles, responsibilities and accountabilities. Furthermore, in-office meetings can help the team to experience how they can solve problems together and this will encourage employee commitment to the solution.

Norming

Norming would be another type of team scenario. A team that is Norming generally works well together. Team members follow through on their tasks and offer support to each other to get the work done. They understand expected outcomes and acceptable behaviors. When the leader observes these behaviors, in-office meetings can be less frequent. However, it can be useful to plan in-office social events, development activities, celebrations of successes, and re-connect the whole team with company culture.

Performing

Finally let’s explore the scenario where the team is truly performing at a high level. In a high performing team, everyone is working to ensure the best outcomes are achieved. Often a high performing team will have a common approach to problem solving, and they will adjust work and team assignments to achieve success. In a high performing team, the leader’s role is more focused on managing conflicts between their team and other teams. In many ways, a high performing team can self-manage decisions on the need for remote or in-office meetings and the leader only needs to be aware of those decisions.

Hopefully this blog will help leaders consider options regarding when a team can benefit from being more remote and when in-person meetings are more beneficial. As always my goal is to help leaders understand how cope with post-pandemic work issues and to help build effective hybrid work teams. I can be reached at www.leaderimage.com or on my LinkedIn page.