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. 

Career killers to beware of

Balance, solution thinking, self-care. 

These kinds of things now fit into the category of helping your career ... not killing it. 

Check out this Forbes article and see how you might be killing it. 

And not in a good way! 

Self doubt. 
Willing to make mistakes. 
Risk taking. 
Empathy and biases ... 

They’re here too. 

Read on. 

When there’s no space for more to dos

It feels rough when your to do list gets a few more things added to it. 

Particularly when nothing has been ticked off or deleted from it. 

It can feel like there’s just no space. 

So how do tasks end up on your list? 

- Boundaries
Do you let or allow tasks to be added? 

- Requests 
Are they added once you’ve heard about them and accepted a task? 

- Assumptions 
Is it just assumed that it’s your task ... after all, you usually do it? 

- Defaults
Do you step in to pick up a task ... because no one else does? 

Or something else? 

This is not about being unhelpful or rude or not volunteering. It’s about recognizing what’s on your list of responsibilities and actions. 

And it’s even more about being aware of how they got there. 

Check the actions you’re planning on doing: today, tomorrow, next week. 

- Keep a handle on your boundaries. 
- Tune in carefully to requests. 
- Remain aware of assumptions. 
- Challenge the defaults. 

Why something is on your list is important to understand. How it gets there is just as worthy of our attention. 

It could free up a heap of space. 

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. 

Leading change ... remotely

For leaders in these times of remote and hybrid work, change still has to happen. 

Guiding, leading and inspiring change can require some new and different techniques.

There’s still a requirement to have:

⏺ Engagement for change 
and 
⏺ Capability for change. 

This week I’m working with a leadership team to prepare them to better engage their team for change. 

We’ll be focusing on how to have better, more engaging conversations about change ... remotely. Handling tough questions, raising challenging topics, building greater human connection... online. 

Then it’s onto the skills the entire organization needs - to ensure teams have the capabilities to embark on the changes planned. 

This includes being able to work in a hybrid environment - where some people are onsite and some are working remotely. We’ll build problem-solving, sensemaking and decision-making skills. 

Whatever you’re changing, think about 
- engagement... for the leadership team,
and 
- capability... for the wider organisation. 

Tackle both for more successful remote, hybrid change.