Top Tips For Managing A Hybrid Team

Your company has made the switch toward becoming a more flexible workplace and you’ve recruited the right talent for those remote or hybrid positions. You have a great team in place, but it all starts to fall apart. Your remote workers feel neglected; they have a hard time collaborating with the rest of the team and feel they barely know their on-site counterparts. Meanwhile the on-site employees question whether the remote team is even doing anything all day. There is a lack of trust, next to no collaboration, and production is at a standstill.  

There are many teams out there experiencing similar situations. Managing a hybrid team requires a different skill set than managing an onsite-only team. If you haven’t upgraded your management skills to lead a distributed team, you, and your direct reports, are in for a bumpy ride.  

We adopted flexible working for our staff years ago and have a few tips, picked up along the way, for managers looking to ease the tension between remote and on-site workers.  

Tip #1: Culture comes first 

If you think company culture doesn’t matter to remote workers, you’re mistaken. Company culture is determined by the values that an organization aligns itself with (concepts like inclusion, customer service, or philanthropy) as well as the actions an organization takes - or does not take; recognizing achievement, providing transparency, and supporting employee wellness are a few examples. Remote workers are highly affected by the culture a company provides, even though it may be provided digitally through emails, chat, and phone or video calls.  

It’s imperative that a strong company culture is put in place and championed from the top of the company downward, across every department and team. The values and actions that are prioritized in your culture will guide the company in times of conflict or confusion and will help steer team members to act in alignment with those values.  

If your company doesn’t have a good culture, you can start by creating a culture just within your team and including them in the process of creating it.  

Tip #2: Embrace different methods of technology 

As a manager, it’s up to you to make sure communication is enabled across the entire team. Remote workers can often miss out on water-cooler chat, which is an essential aspect of team building. One way to ease this feeling of separation is by having the entire company adopt a chat platform like Slack, Skype, or Google Hangouts.  

Create a channel or group for informal discussions where employees can talk about their kids, pets, or hobbies. Allow employees to create chat groups for projects or departments, where they can have conversations directly related to that topic. This can do a lot to foster a feeling of inclusion among team members.  

It’s important to not shy away from video calls as well. Face to face communication is not to be underestimated, even if it’s on a screen or monitor. Video communication can make people uncomfortable at first, but it’s an essential part of working on a hybrid team. For in-office workers, seeing their remote counterparts in a work setting, dressed professionally, and taking part in live discussions can build trust and respect. Remote employees will benefit from seeing their team members and being included in important discussions in a way that text chatting just can’t replicate.  

Don’t be afraid to try different methods of communication if one is not fulfilling the needs of your team.  

Tip #3: Trust in results 

People work differently and have different schedules of peak productivity. While it’s important that a project or department team all be available at some of the same times for discussion and collaboration, it might not be necessary that all team members work 8 AM to 5 PM Monday through Friday.  

Some folks might be most productive before dawn, while others might produce their best work in the afternoon or evening hours. If culture and communication is strong among team members, managers should trust in the results of their employees and not be overly concerned with when and where an employee is getting their work done. This goes for both remote employees and on-site. 

Managing a hybrid team takes a skill set that might be foreign to some managers, but it’s not an insurmountable obstacle. Fight the impulse to over manage and control your employees, focus on building good communication and collaborative skills across your team, embrace the technology that has revolutionized the way teams work together, and you’re well on your way to a happy and productive team.  

If you’re interested in training on how to be a better and more effective manager, Skywalk Group can help! We provide multiple customized training options to fit your specific needs; contact us today for more information. 

By Jessica Palmer