After understanding the practicality of the hybrid work model, most businesses created hybrid teams that partially work outside the office. Since the COVID-19 pandemic forced most companies to adopt this work model, managing hybrid teams became a serious struggle for most team leaders. How to manage the hybrid teams in your company? What are the best practices? Let’s find out.
Set your expectations based on outcomes, not an activity
In a hybrid work model, team leaders are not always able to physically see their team members. While it is easy to assess whether someone is working or not in an office environment, the case for hybrid work is more complicated.
If you want to see better productivity from your team, you should set your expectations based on the outcomes, not the time they spend on their computers. There is no way of accurately judging the productivity of hybrid workers if the only thing in your rubric is the time they sit at their chairs. On the other hand, setting weekly or daily goals that fit your and the team member’s expectations ensures the work gets done as planned.
Show empathy to prevent burnouts
One of the potential downsides of the hybrid work model is the risk of burnout. When people don’t work in offices, it is easy for them to think that they are not doing enough. If you combine this feeling with the relaxed home environment, the odds are they will force themselves to work more and more, resulting in severe burnout.
In order to prevent burnout as a team leader, make sure you ask and listen to how your employees are feeling. Demonstrate empathy on the challenges of the hybrid work and don’t come down on them. It is also crucial to show gratitude for team members’ work and occasionally praise them.
Open up channels for water-cooler conversations
Hybrid work can cause significant social isolation because of the physical distance between the employees. As a team member, you should always keep in mind to encourage team culture, over-communicate, and increase the social interactions between your team members.
Luckily, the boosting popularity of the hybrid work model resulted in great communication apps that allow teams to have water-cooler conversations. Pick up the most suitable one for your team and encourage them to engage in casual conversations for 30 minute periods. Creating new channels for informal chat and socialization on your Slack or Google Chats will also contribute.
Use Corporate VPN for secure hybrid access
Cyber security concerns of the hybrid work model definitely give team leaders a headache. When all the computers that access your company resources are in your physical office, it is much easier to control and prevent cyber attacks.
But as the hybrid work model allows your team members to work from anywhere and perhaps any device available, the number of cyber threats to your corporate network is more than ever.
In order to ensure secure hybrid access to your employees, it is crucial to use a Corporate VPN solution. As the team leader, you will most likely be held responsible for any potential data breach caused by your team members, and these solutions eliminate this massive risk for a small price.
Underestimating the potential risks of cyber attacks can lead to irreversible losses, legal issues, or personal data leaks of your employees and customers. The ever-increasing business world of the web comes with greater threats caused by cybercriminals and data breaches, and it is first up to the team leaders and supervisors to protect corporate data, credentials, and resources.
Limit meetings to promote focused work
Team leaders might feel tempted to meet with the employees frequently to make up for the physical distance and the lack of communication. However, online meetings take a considerable amount of time for hybrid employees, and an excessive number of meetings on a given day may adversely affect your business operations. Not to mention the threat of “zoom fatigue,” which is a result of overwhelming online meetings.
As the team leader, you can increase productivity by not forcing meetings when emails or chat messages are adequate. If you limit online meetings to only the most necessary ones, your team members will have time to do some focused, individual work.
Follow Techdee for more!
