12 things to do when leading HYBRID groups

When some people are here and others are offsite or in another location, don’t just wing it, or bumble through it. 

Plan for it, and be ready to adapt. 


These are the things I prepare, consider and address when I’m training or facilitating, to bring a team or group together who are spread over several locations. 

It’s not everything but it’s many things. They take into consideration that we are all humans, just trying to do the best we can - often under some tricky or less then perfect conditions. 


The 12 things:

Plan - what is it
Tools - which ones
Structure - what am I following
Tech - what are we using

Activities - which ones 
Questions - what will I ask
Techniques - what will I do if...
Input - how will I collect it

Visualize - how will I show it 
Warmth - how will I convey it
Adapt - am I willing to
After - then what...


This is my checklist for a meeting or workshop and I don’t ‘take off’ without having considered or prepared them. 

How will you handle hybrid

Microsoft, Atlassian, Google, Slack and Square announced recently that their people could forever work from home if they wanted to. 

They’ve set a precedent and trend for other companies to follow.  

The reality of a HYBRID work force means you’ll begin to have a mix of where people are for every meeting, workshop, team and project. 

Some people are here, some are there; some people are together with others and some people are alone. 

There will be some online and others who may be in the room with you. 

This can create challenging issues with engagement, involvement, participation, contribution and communication. 

How will you handle this hybrid way of working in say, a meeting or workshop? 

When we bring people together we need to:
- Engage their interest 
- Involve them in the work
- Align them as a group or team 
and then, help them
- Commit to decisions and actions. 

This need to juggle and switch across groups and locations is a new way of working for many. 

It raises questions, combinations and tricky logistical situations. 

Plan ahead but be ready to adapt. 

Some people are here, some are there, some people are alone, some are together

This is the hybrid way of working. Remote, distributed, co-located and in person. The leader or facilitator, well, they could be anywhere!

The realities of work now mean you’ll likely have a mix of where people are located. 

How do we lead meetings and workshops like this? 

It's a new way of working for many of us and can raise questions, queries and tricky situations:

- how do you achieve and maintain engagement across all of these different spaces
- how do you know people are engaged and participating
- how do you get people involved
- how do you use breakout rooms if not everyone is on their own device
- what do we need to do differently than if everyone is in the one place (all online or all in the one location)?

Think about it and plan for it.

Getting started when it’s all too much

Waiting for the perfect time? Waiting to launch an idea, press ‘go’ on a project - there may not be a perfect time. 

When we wait for the right time, perhaps we’re just waiting until we feel right. 

But if we keep waiting until we feel ready, brave, complete, right, correct and as perfect as can be, we will be waiting a long time. 

We can burn and waste a mighty lot of time in that state of inertia, waiting ... until. 

Before a hot air balloon takes off, pilots launch small lit balloons and watch how they respond in the air. 

They can read the weather forecast or muster all the courage and bravery they have, but that’s not as good as a trial. 

A trial balloon is a smaller version of the big thing and gives them some of the most real and visible evidence of what will happen when they launch the bigger one. 

Launching a trial balloon is something we can send out early on in our endeavor to check the market’s response ... and our response too. 

What’s a trial balloon you can put out there to help you get some insight on how your ‘thing’ might go? 

Launch something. Little. 

Could you morph that idea

When we’re problem solving, trying to find a solution to a situation, we usually brainstorm some ideas. 

Working alone or together with others, we throw ideas about, hoping to land on something that’s worthy of following through and implementing. 

So have you tried morphing those ideas? And could you if you had to?

Morphing happens in animation and films as one thing changes gradually, step by step into something else. 

What if one of the ideas on your list could work to solve the problem at hand, but it needed to change? And then change again?

Could you do it? Would you let go of it and let it morph?

Sometimes we hold on so tightly to a decision or idea that we won’t be swayed or moved no matter the potential or the evidence. 

Even when that idea may not be working. 
Even when it could work if it was changed or adapted - even a little. 

Our willingness to morph an idea is powerful given the world we’re living in. 

Look at the ideas you’ve got ready to go. Which of them would you be happy to morph or change? 

And are there any you’re holding on to a little too tightly?