3 tips for leading hybrid groups

Hybrid. It means ‘composite’ or ‘cross’. And the locations of people in this new world of work can certainly create a mix or cross of several things. 

Some people continue to work from home. 
Some are on site or on location with clients or suppliers. 
Others are in offices or shared working spaces. 
Some are mobile. 

And it will change. 

Here are just 3 of the many things to consider when leading a team and working hybrid:

▫️Who’s here ... who’s there. 
Know where people are located. And continue to call them by their name, not by their location. 

▫️Who’s together ... who’s alone 
Know whether people are co-located with others, or working alone. Consider how you’ll encourage greater connection and inclusion among and across the hybrid team. 

▫️On the same page ... on a different page
Identify where people’s thinking is at. Are you aligned and united or is there some work to do to clarify and build understanding?


As we work together in these hybrid ways, new techniques, tools and considerations will help us adapt and do well. 

It’s not easy and it won’t be flawless. 

But it’s worth the persistence for better connections with each other. 

Adapting to hybrid

A Harvard Business Review article ‘How to manage a hybrid team’ reports on what we’re seeing and experiencing: “your team members are likely contending with vastly different situations.”

Beyond just their locations of work, many are adapting to changing situations at home or the office and the more permanent distribution of team members across locations. 

This is the hybrid workforce. HBR suggests we ask: 

➡️ “What is the experience my employees are having at work, and how can I empower them to do the best they can?”

▶️ “What protocols can you put in place to ensure that the employees in the office are in sync with those working from home?”

Given people in your team might be located in different places but still need to be brought together - in meetings and workshops - how will you build empowerment and keep things in sync? 

Tips include : 
- beware of an ‘us vs them’ situation 
- be clear, inclusive and flexible
- know it’s not easy and will take some adjustment for all parties. 

For those who are new to this, be open to learning and experimenting, knowing that perfection isn’t possible, but progress certainly is. 

‘Any questions’ isn’t the only question

If there’s silence, people may not know what to ask; perhaps they don’t have anything to ask!

Maybe they’d like to share a story or an insight or make a comment. 

Comments and opinions have had a bad rap over recent years. 

Remember what would happen at a conference? Someone would approach the microphone and they didn’t have a question; they had a comment. They wanted to add their view and we’d get snappy about that. “Hey dude, questions only please!”

Why don’t we want to accept comments and opinions? Why are we only after questions? 

Question and answer is an interview or interrogation. It’s not really a dialogue or conversation. 

It’s a limited view of contribution, participation and interaction. 

Let’s allow anything!

I’ll often say ‘so ... questions, concerns, comments, compliments, complaints?’ 

That usually brings a smile to people and opens up the scope for all that is invited and welcomed. 

And then come all of their wonderful contributions, stories, learnings and insights. 

Magic!

‘Any questions’ is not the only way we can engage and connect with people. 

Invite more. 

“We want this session to be interactive”

Yes. We do too! 

There’s only so much listening or just watching of slides we can handle. Meeting after meeting or an all-talk workshop can become a bit much ... after a full day of it, a week of it or six months of it!!

So, plan ahead for interaction. 

🌟Ask a question and for the response to be in the chat box or to share an emoji

🌟Ask a question via a poll and see the results 

🌟Share a story and ask for stories

🌟Use the Spotlight feature (in Zoom) to feature a few people at a time in panel style, group share or a fishbowl conversation 

🌟Hear several people’s stories and weave them together, finding common themes or threads 


If you’d like the session to be interactive, you can be sure the team, guests and participants will probably want it to be interactive too. 

🌟Allow the time. 
🌟Vary the activities. 
🌟Encourage ... and then let the interaction happen. 

Loosen the grip on controlling all of the information. There’s some magic waiting there to be made. 

Who engages first

In a meeting or conversation, who goes first? 

Should I be actively engaged, in anticipation that you may or may not be engaging? 

Or should you be so engaging that you capture and hold my attention? 

Or can we both pay just enough attention to get by? 

So who’s job is engagement? 

The crowd says, “it’s everyones job!”, yet we still kind of suck at it. Engagement levels continue to remain low in Organisations the world over. 

Paying attention is one thing; being interested and connected to a topic, project, people or idea over a period of time is something else.

It takes work, energy and ongoing attention. 

How do we engage with people more effectively? 

Some say 
- Tell more stories
- Show more empathy 
- Have more conversations
- Ask more questions
- Focus on what’s in it for them. 

And what else?

What’s your tip - how can we be more engaging in these times?