Hello Hybrid - ebook

As many workplaces experience more hybrid ways of working - some people are here, some there, some on site, some working from home - the challenges of engaging and leading in this environment can be tricky. 

We don’t want the worst of online and face-to-face combining to create an awkward, disengaging and excluding hybrid world. 

No, let’s bring the best of both face-to-face and online together to create this new world of hybrid. 

Sadly, it’s easy for us - thanks to our biases - to forget or exclude people. And even more so in a hybrid world. 

Our Proximity Bias draws us to those who are nearer and more visible. 

And the complexities of building psychological safety are many. 

It’s a bit of a juggle to lead multiple people in multiple places. And it’s not static: it changes day by day, week by week!

How do you better lead a team to collaborate, plan, meet and work well together? 


‘HELLO HYBRID’ is a 40-page ebook - based on my keynote presentation and workshop of the same name - and includes 12 practical techniques to consider and apply. 

Get it here

Connecting with no watercooler

Many people grieve the spontaneous and serendipitous connections at the watercooler. 

Lots of moments have been lost with remote work: 
interactions in the kitchen, collecting documents from the printer, walking to and from (and in) the bathroom, riding the elevator, walking to the station or car park, strolling to the cafe, walking between meetings...

So many incidental interactions and happy collisions (or avoidance 🥸) that were happening, and now aren’t. 

Alex Howland, Ph.D. suggests 4 ways to spark watercooler moments in Forbes:
1 camera off and avatar on
2 channels for non-work conversations
3 cross functional digital events
4 creative virtual worlds. 


🎯 AND these techniques work well with teams I’ve been working with:
- drop in zoom for coffee or chat, anytime
- shorts: 12 minute check ins and catch ups
- play time: virtual casual play time, reminiscent of school days, no work only play
- commute pairs: hang out with 1 other person as you begin your work, to chat, connect and share 
- cowork: mics off and cameras on for calm companionship. 

Experiments are useful. What will you try? 

It’s the creative challenge of the changing times we’re in. 

Back-to-back is bad to worse

If the view is ‘full of colour’ when you look at your diary or schedule, you could be in the back-to-back brigade who don’t get a break. 

The scheduling - and acceptance - of a day of meetings running one into the other, is tiring, inefficient and distracting. 

This Forbes article by Bruce Rogers talks more about how our brains needs a break. 

Our ability to focus lessens as the day goes on and the cognitive load of no, or few, breaks doesn’t serve us either. 

Microsoft recently made changes to their deep down default settings in Outlook for appointment durations and scheduling. You can customize them further for your own preferences and well-being. 

This is in an effort to reduce the rotten fatigue that results from a back-to-back schedule. 

But it also takes individual, leadership and cultural shifts on ‘how we do things around here’ to bring an end to the back-to-back-badge-of-busy. 

Here’s how I roll: 
- Finish early. 
- Schedule breaks
- Block out time. 
- Protect the boundaries. 
- Model better behaviours. 

There are clear ways for us to adopt to get from bad-to-better in the breaks-for-brain game. 

What are you doing to break the back-to-back?

Psychological safety in a hybrid world

The mix of some people here, some people there, some people anywhere, is creating this hybrid world of work. 

And it requires some subtle responses. 

Psychological safety is still psychological safety. No matter where people are working from. 

Amy Edmondson’s work is extended here in collaboration with Mark Mortensen in this Harvard Business Review article that’s a must read for leaders and managers. 

Navigating the hybrid world of work requires a step by step process. 

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.