Leading the shift from remote to hybrid working for organisational effectiveness.

Self-limiting beliefs are a problem precisely because they are limiting. They aren’t a driver to better yourself, they are a reason to never attempt to do something you could do well. We are not designed to beat mediocrity. While supporting others to develop, I am in a position to witness people becoming more aware of their self-limiting beliefs as we talk, and then support them to begin to overcome them. More recently, this has left me concerned that the influence of self-limiting beliefs seems to be getting ever stronger than usual in isolated working environments… and I’m reminded of just how important social interaction is in helping to shape our view of ourselves and our working lives.

I recently saw a post on LinkedIn that said “poor communication leaves too much room for imagination and misinterpretation” and it got me thinking about our current virtual workplace situation. Our experience in working with top performing organisations meant that we were discussing effective virtual communication as early as 2016. However, the uncertainty that dominated 2020, has left many of us feeling disconnected / unsure and these feelings have been shown to leak into the ways we communicate with others, particularly behaviours during virtual meetings. Lets take a closer look at some of the common thinking traps that leaders could fall into as a result of hybrid working. 

We recently heard this story from a senior leader about their experience of working remotely:

They were involved in a meeting with the objective of making a significant decision about future products & services. Some attendees were physically sat together in an office, while others joined by video conference from a variety of locations. During the meeting, three of the office-based people were seen engaging in a side conversation just before a coffee break. When the meeting reconvened, it became clear that the decision had been made in the room without the full involvement of the remote leaders.

This highlights a couple of factors that organisations need to consider as they make plans for if, when, and how to bring people back to a shared location again.  Let explore them so you can adapt your leadership style to create that 'one team' feeling again. 

Making good decisions has always been a challenge. If the thinking sets off in the wrong direction, or if insufficient challenge is given as the thinking develops, poor quality or downright wrong decisions can result.

It is the cornerstone of high performing organisations, and is difficult enough under normal circumstances. But when operating in a hybrid working environment, two challenges emerge.

One is about the quality of the decision, and the other is about the effectiveness of the sign-off and handover at the interface between departments in a large scale organisation. For both of these challenges it is about how you can adapt your approach to the decision making process in line with being a new generation of leader, who can PIVOT in a hybrid environment. Let’s explore each of these challenges in more detail…

'Hybrid' - the long- awaited sequel to 'Remote'... Many of us are anticipating a number of pros and cons to this set up, but might there also be some unintended consequences we should be mindful of in the drive to enable a balance between office and home-working?  How will our leaders in organisations manage this?  They need to learn to PIVOT...