Are you hybrid-ready?
The subject of hybrid working has become to HRDs what Brexit was to the British Media before the pandemic - omnipresent and grabbing most of the attention away from all other topics. Like Brexit, it is also open to interpretation, possibly making some leaders who understand the gravitas but not yet the strategy, to feel like chanting ‘hybrid means hybrid’!
What does it mean? What considerations do organisations need to have when planning for it? And how can they make a success of it?
The underlying premise of hybrid of course is that organisations moving their people back into office spaces will now have a landscape mixing both at-home and in-office work. However, what factors should determine the balance that is ultimately struck?
Some leaders seem to have settled on what appear to be arbitrary ratios, requiring X amount of hours or days present in the office. Thriving People suggests that the first question to be asked is what the organisation is seeking to achieve. In first defining its direction and goals, organisations can then approach the question of ratios by how the various options serve their ultimate purpose. What do the metrics show about productivity, collaboration, engagement, wellbeing and innovation this last year at your organisation? If for example all or many of these were in fact higher than previous years, what benefits would a return of any kind to the office bring? If we try to set aside our ‘but this is how it’s done’ mindsets, we can seek instead to answer the more potent question of what would serve the organisation’s goals best? There’s no one size fits all solution.
This stance also goes towards answering the second and third questions posed here. The particular considerations that need to be taken into account when planning for a hybrid future will be influenced by what best serves the higher goals of the organisation. If people are in fact more productive at home, but managers lack certain skills to handle remote teams, the focus should be on upskilling managers rather than relocating individuals back to the office. How can the organisation rethink its approach to performance management, meeting structures, decision making and idea sharing to meet the needs of these new ways of working? That seems to be more productive than trying to shoehorn people into fixed parameters that ultimately don’t serve them or the organisation well. This therefore also answers how organisations can make a success of their hybrid strategy. Focus on what truly serves the organisation’s goals, not what seems to fit the existing narratives we all had about what it means to work. Let hybrid mean something meaningful, not just hybrid!
