With covid being around for almost one and a half years, many companies during the time have switched from in-house to a hybrid team. But I have been running a hybrid team for almost three years now.
I have heard that hybrid teams have pros and cons. I believe that there are only positives to this system of teamwork.
What is a Hybrid Team?
It’s a simple meaning, a hybrid means a mix, a mix of a remote and in-house team. Your remote team can be from any part of the world. The best part of a hybrid team is you can hire the best talent, even if they are in the farthest of continents.
Both your in-house team experiences their workday differently from their remote counterparts.
The Essentials to Working with a Hybrid Team
While working with a hybrid team it is crucial to make rules to maintain continuous communication. Though hybrid teams present plenty of challenges for managers. Communication is paramount when running a hybrid team.
The essence of a hybrid team is to make it flow as smoothly as possible. While having the best of communication and flow.
- Discuss and Communicate – Discussion and communication will take your team a long way ahead. Clear communications as to their goals and objectives and most importantly deadlines. There should be open communication between team members, which means regular check-ins, longer and more specific meetings with set agendas, and weekly meetings for briefing.
Discuss how and when you’ll communicate, who needs to be in on the decision making, and how employees will structure their holidays and leaves. - Set Priorities and Objectives – Setting clear objectives will help to clear tasks with ease. The goals should be realistic, and make sure the goals are in sync with both the teams, in-house and remote.
- Adapt – A major issue with going hybrid that many managers face is with adaptability. When you are easily adaptable, things go in a flow. You have to adapt to new technologies and work settings. There are various apps I personally use to make this task simple and less complicated. I will list them below.
- Use technology to the max – I use many apps that help me track and assign work to my team. These apps make it a lot easier to monitor progress. To begin with I use an app called ClickUp. This app assists with assigning and delegating work, tracking working hours and projects. The next app I use is Google meet. We have our daily standups in Google Meets.
- Local = remote – The great thing about remote teams is less time wasted on travelling and less money spent on travelling to the workplace. Though remote employees miss the chance to build personal relationships the in-house team can.
Here’s a list of do’s and don’ts to run a smooth hybrid team.
Dos
- Setting clear priorities and objectives for everyone on the team. Be sure to focus on the most important parts.
- Be inclusive. All team meetings should be held online to make sure everyone is included and informed.
- Consider propensities. Question yourself if there are people on your team you have to give a fair chance and what will it look like if you give them a chance?
Don’ts
- Be inflexible. With Covid around, the future is indefinitely unpredictable. Here everyone needs to be flexible, even yourself.
- Empathy is crucial when working with a remote team. Help your team even when it’s difficult for them to ask for help. Don’t ignore signs of stress.
- Like it’s said all work and no play makes jack a dumb boy. Find out ways to have fun with your whole team.
Now let’s see some of the challenges of a hybrid workforce
- Exclusion of remote workers – not including remote workers only to cover costs of setting up a workspace and other services not only does that make them feel left out and might lower their productivity.
- Inflexibility – Employees and managers both have to unlearn old practices. Being flexible and catering to the employees’ needs will increase productivity.
- Communication gaps – Any type of team can have communication gaps. They won’t disappear if everyone just returns to office. Now that a lot of people are working onsite, decisions made onsite should include the remote workers as well.
- No remote first culture – Forever teams have been working onsite and now all of a sudden there are hybrid teams. Not everyone knows how to function with a hybrid team. To make it possible it is crucial to have a remote first culture. You have to restructure the workforce to support a remote first culture. Make it a more inclusive environment for the remote staff.
Always include remote workers.
Even though remote workers are not in the office, you have to make sure they feel part of the team.
- Don’t forget to include them in birthday celebrations, office parties, training and festivals.
- Meetings involving remote and in-office workers should be held in a way they both feel included.
- Plan virtual team bonding exercises.
- Organize company retreats that involve everyone.
How to create a hybrid work schedule
In-house and remote staff work differently, any manager will need to plan ahead to enable a dynamic team that collaborates. Creating a clear plan that scans out how both the teams will work and collaborate. Ask your team for feedback and make changes whenever needed.
Encourage visibility and openness in your team culture
We all know it is normal to think that the people we can’t see are not getting the work done. This is one of the reasons why we have to create a team culture that encourages remote workers to be in-sight and is open to communicate.
“In addition to all of the regular meetings throughout the week (stand-ups, project meetings, planning meetings, etc.), I realized early on that I needed to have scheduled one-on-one time with my supervisors, supervisees, and key positions in other departments.” Using workflow management software makes it even easier to keep track of remote workers.
It’s inevitable to encourage openness. A hybrid work environment is definitely going to have conflicts and it is up to managers to find solutions. Perpetually communicate about how your team is working, good or bad both. Be honest and encourage teammates, there are survey tools you can use to know thoughts about your team and their opinions on changes.
Train team leads and managers
40% of 215 managers surveyed in a Harvard Business Review study doubted their ability to manage remote staff.
Setting impractical expectations from managers that they will know how to lead a hybrid team without training is just plain wrong. While they will only learn from experience a little training will show them that you support their efforts.
Final thoughts
A hybrid team is inevitable for the future. It is better to get into the flow of running a hybrid team now than when it’s too late.
It does take trial and error to understand the dynamics of how the team will work, but you will definitely get there.