Close by and included. Far away and left out.

Would you know it if you were doing it : excluding or forgetting someone because they’re not right here? 

You’d more likely notice it if you were on the receiving end of being excluded, left out or forgotten. 

As hybrid work has some of us here, some of us there and some of us anywhere, the danger of the unconscious ‘proximity bias’ is also here, there and anywhere!

The challenge of remote leadership may be deferred to focus on the ease of leading those who are here, near us. 

This article in Digiday highlights some of the things to consider about proximity bias. 

And as with all unconscious biases, we may not even realize it’s happening or that we’re doing it. 

Seek to include. Deliberately. No matter where people are. 

5 ways to build hybrid team trust

With some people in the office, some working from home, some working from hubs or other locations, the leadership juggle of a hybrid team is real. 

It’s bringing plenty of new challenges for leaders, and many of them aren’t obvious or visible challenges. 

Take psychological safety and trust. 

🥏 How do you know you have it with your hybrid team? 
🥏 How would you know if it was fractured? 
🥏 What can you do to repair, build or remedy trust and safety in a hybrid team? 

These five tips from this article in Forbes magazine can help: 

1. Relaunch with a kickoff 
2. Level the field for all
3. Over communicate 
4. Understand preferred working styles 
5. Establish new rituals and norms. 

You’ll need to do something - it won’t just happen automatically. 

These tips give some scope, ideas and tactics to make hybrid work for all ... no matter where we all are. 

The overwork of remote work

Productivity might be up but the dangers of overworking are right there too. 

With thinner lines between work time and home time, and the office just a virtual click away, the dangers of overworking have been revealed in the Microsoft Work Trends Index. 

It’s not sustainable ... even if it’s easy to work longer hours. 

It’s not healthy ... even if you forget to take a break. 

It’s not truly being productive ... if you’re exhausted. 

Leaders of remote and hybrid teams must engage in ways that uncover the well-being of that team. 

Look at your working day : 
- do you ‘push through’ or take breaks? 
- do you work anywhere anytime or have boundaries? 
- do you keep going and work through what would have been commute time? 

Change to the nature of work requires adaptability from us humans. But take care... the trends of the last year are revealing our tendency to overwork. 

12 insights on how workplaces are changing

Traditional workplaces are changing. And we have to change with the change! 

Check out these 12 insights from Harvard Business School faculty members like Amy Edmondson, Tsedal Neeley, Raffaella Sadun and more. 

Whether you agree with them all or not, they show the scope and extent of how workplaces are changing. 

Here’s the 12 :

1 Prioritise face time at the office
2 Have honest conversations with employees
3 Weigh the risks of loneliness
4 Consider a flexible hybrid approach
5 Be honest about the company’s needs
6 Keep talking about caregiving obligations
7 Show compassion amid the stress
8 Be sensitive to trauma and burn out
9 Lead with empathy
10 Prove that your building is healthy
11 Reject virtual work at your company’s peril
12 Be fair when deciding who works remotely

And .... 
13 make work inspiring at the office or not. 

Each one opens up a range of questions for conversation and consideration. 

Which of them are ringing bells for you? 

Read the full article or bookmark it for a later read. It’s a beauty! 

Connecting deeper ... remotely

In these hybrid times when people may be here, there and anywhere, there’s a danger we miss the good quality, deep connections. 

Not the login type of connection - nor the break the ice chit-chat connection. 

But rather, the deeper ability to engage with people, to bring warmth, humanity and empathy to an online call with a remote team. 

To say ‘it’s not the same as face to face’ or ‘it’s hard to read cues and body language’ is to try to use the same techniques. 

But you may have to do something different. Many things different. 

How can you better connect with your team no matter where they are? 

Many days of each week I’m working with a brand new team, a new group of people I’ve not met before. Swift and deep connection with them is a priority. 

We’ve got to be able to get close online, to trust and build engagement so we can achieve what needs to be achieved. 

And quickly. 

Consider how you’ll make connections with your team, group or meeting participants. 

Every time. 

Don’t leave it to chance. 
Or think it’s not important. 
Or that you’re already well enough connected. 

How deeply you can connect with people affects everything else that follows.