Better Apart: Helping Remote & Hybrid Teams Thrive
Hybrid work environments are challenging us to rethink the way we lead. As organizations double down on their existing hybrid models or prepare to kick start a hybrid structure, many are asking what can be done to manage this successfully. How do we stay connected? How do we ensure equity in experience, face time and exposure? And how do we collaborate, build trust, repair trust and more?
Recently, The Talent Company proudly hosted a webinar for business leaders and HR professionals presented by Liane Davey, PhD, bestselling author, keynote speaker, HBR contributor and well-known Expert in team effectiveness, strategy, and leadership development.
In that session, Liane Davey shared important research and insights about what it takes for remote and hybrid teams to thrive. Watch the webinar here: https://thetalentcompany.ca/on-demand-webinars/better-together-apart/
6 Take-Aways from the session are outlined below:
- Trust is harder to build (and easier to destroy) virtually. The relationship between trust and performance is stronger in virtual/hybrid teams. It is important for leaders to focus on building trust by demonstrating Connection, Competence, Reliability, and Integrity with team members.
- Lack of context leads to unflattering judgments. Without shared content or context, problems are attributed to skills or character and trust erodes and performance suffers. Investing time to understand each other’s context helps to avoid this pitfall of hybrid and remote teams.
- Unseen work can lead to resentment. Unseen work is the effort (physical, cognitive, and emotional) that is required to complete one’s job but is not visible to others. Leaders play an important role in surfacing and addressing this before it becomes toxic to the team.
- Virtual teams use written communication more, which leads to negativity bias. Being thoughtful of when to use rich vs. lean and synchronous vs. asynchronous communication is important for leaders in carefully balancing efficiency and connection.
- Absence of subtle cues prolongs conflict. As leaders, it is harder to see the early signs of conflict. Checking in often and looking for cues is important for identifying and resolving conflict before it grows, creates mistrust, and affects other interactions.
- Social friction reduces people’s willingness to ask for help when they need it. Virtual knowledge sharing is a helpful approach to overcome the social friction of asking for help.
Being mindful of these pitfalls of leading in a remote or hybrid setting helps leaders focus on the actions that build trust and connection with teams. By thinking strategically about how to communicate, build trust and surface conflicts, leaders will be well prepared to successfully lead remote and hybrid teams.
For the Better Apart: Helping Remote & Hybrid Teams Thrive Webinar, visit:
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The Talent Company works in partnership with Liane Davey of 3COze to offer team and leadership effectiveness programs to support organizations, teams, and leaders.
For more details on our programs, including Leading Remote and Hybrid Teams, please contact Liane Taylor, Practice Leader for Leadership & Coaching at [email protected]. For more details on The Talent Company: www.thetalentcompany.ca
