Hybrid Teaming by Design

A tidal wave of change is occurring that makes the way we work almost unrecognisable with the global shift to rapidly evolving flexibility, economic challenges and Covid19 workplace compliance requirements—all shifting concurrently—change is not only constant but also exponential in its pace and scope. Companies in all industries are experiencing the effects of the Covid19 Crash Course in not just working but especially teaming at a distance. Many teams and their leaders have shifted from being co-located to remote to nowadays a shuffle between the workplace and working from home – requiring a hybrid mode of teaming. This shift has placed greater importance on evolving our techniques to support hybrid teaming to break down silos and strengthen organisation-wide innovation.

Taking insights from recent work surveys, Be Confident has distilled four common themes in this tidal wave of change.

Four Change themes

1 Shaping the new role of workspace
2 Introducing hybrid teaming and creating organisation-wide cadence
3 Continuing to attract talent and onboard meaningfully
4 Taking learning and development to the next level across the workforce

The first two themes address the opportunities of change in the way we organise our people as we consider which new behaviours arising in the crisis, we want to make permanent before we loose the benefits of the prolonged experience that occurred in lockdown. Returned teams asking – Where did everyone go today? What I came to the office to find isnt here anymore? – may leave people unsure of the purpose of the the workspace and introduce hybrid teaming.

1 Shaping the new role of workspace - Enlightened flexible workforce revolution

With the possibilities of flexible working being experienced by many rather than a few during lockdown, we are now in the midst of an enlightened flexible workforce revolution requiring a mindset change on a workplace not required full time.

Albeit Covid19 have a vastly diminished presence here, NZ organisations are sense-checking for ways support workforce wellness and provide a safe environment while also taking a pragmatic look at their overall workplace footprint requirements. There is high awareness of real estate to better position a fixed overhead. With this shift in space use and size, encouragingly comes a real desire to make smarter use of the workplace where people have a compelling reason for how they return to a new normal.

2 Introducing hybrid teaming - our human craving for a sense of team

This compeling reason to return needs to be clear on how the workplace enhances how we team and has us looking at better ways to avoid unintended silos and work across the business. Setting out how collaboration face to face enables us to make complex business decisions with the right pace.

A feature of lockdown was our human craving for a sense of team. Faced with sudden lockdown, we scrambled to tech and upskill and connect as teams virtually. Looking beyond talking heads, that online exchange of information in a virtual team environment, studies highlight a gap to truly being able to collaborate and innovate at distance without new techniques and tools. We have known for some time that the strength of teaming is key to reducing the time to bring innovations to reality . As we respond to the economy challenge’s, we need great teaming to accelerate innovation, to quickly regain productivity and competitiveness.

There are large shifts in the ways business value is generated. Beneficial advances in digital productivity come with a degree of complexity. In response to Covid19, organisations have put a premium on flexibility and innovation and truly understanding customers. Negating distance issues with tech, reducing tolerance of silos, and supporting virtual ideation practices, businesses considered successful through this Covid19 period of time are innovating and being competitive. They are reacting quickly virtually and pivoting operations through enhancing collaboration across stakeholder groups and keeping decision making at pace.

Force – The sudden Covid19 acceleration of tech based collaboration

The force of collaboration tech and human capabilities has been accelerated thanks to Covid19. Data informs us of high levels of collaboration success for some work types and higher remote working experience levels.(6a)Research challenges convention with some finding, when done right, virtual brainstorming can be twice as effective as brainstorming face-to-face.

To ensure the smooth running of operations and keeping the level of connection high, more people now need to have transparency as to when is team time and the best ways to work with each other.

Cadences - opportunity to continue to stretch what is possible in the virtual world

Curating shared spaces and creating cadences are ways of best enabling hybrid teaming, addressing cultural impacts and maintaining productivity. A number of organisations are in that phase of wondering about the best ways for teams to share space cross-functionally. Ways that ensure teams maximise benefits of returning to the physical place of work while ensuring the economics of space stack up for the finance team.

In creating cadences for people to be in the presence of each other with the view to reducing cross- team gaps, there remains opportunity to continue to stretch what is possible in the virtual world.

3 Continuing to attract talent and onboard meaningfully
4 Taking learning and development to the next level across the workforce

The third and fourth factors address changes in the demand and skill growth experience of talent. The brave new world reshapes which talents are required , and where they exist now. The virtual ease of pulling talent into our organisations and the best ways to upskill our existing workforce, in particular those in leadership and management roles. And it’s not just about ability to use remote working tech and digital systems, it is mostly about mindset – both collaborative and creative – in order to work in new and different ways, generate new ideas, and deliver results. More and more, the emphasis on being able to solve and create through teams, and capturing the collective wisdom, and as leaders embue a sense of connection and belonging amongst a valued and engaged workforce.

There’s more urgency than ever before for organisations to transition from hierarchical, siloed structures to supporting hybrid teaming as we increase our flexibility at work . With the economic rebuild challenging every company, emerging technologies transforming how work gets done, and customer expectations on the rise, hybrid teams offer a faster track to innovation. Hybrid teams with the right skillsets to flex in and flex out of the workplace can cross functional boundaries. They can go beyond siloed structures making sure that skilled employees from different teams are brought together to work in a cohesive manner both virtually and in person.

Understanding team workstyles & the cadences for hybrid teaming are crucial as companies focus on innovation, speed and risk-taking. Now is the time to reframe the way we support leaders and managers. The role of the workplace has changed, we now face the challenge of adapting the way we work to suit a diverse range of working styles and mixed work modes in our new connected work environments.