The new normal for many organizations involves a hybrid of both in-office and remote teams. Balancing this new workflow, changing schedules and the COVID-19 safety precautions has been challenging for even veteran leaders. If you’re like most organizations, your teams have been working entirely remote for several months. Phasing back into the office is a great approach that will help to ease any tensions. Whichever situation you find yourself in, letting your employees know their health, safety and wellbeing is your priority is crucial to a successful hybrid team.
Show Them You Care
First, it’s important to understand every single team member and their circumstances are different. Whether they are homeschooling their children, caring for a sick relative or have a medical condition that compromises their immunity – it will take time to work through each person’s story. It’s important you make the effort, show compassion and compromise on a case by case basis. Showing your employees at the office you care is very tangible. For example, limit employee contact. Recent research from SERVPRO suggests that up to 92 percent of businesses are limiting group meetings. Continue remote work when possible and invest in cleaning and disinfecting the workspace. These steps and precautions will reinforce the message that you care.
Set Required Video Meetings
In an effort to unite all team members, it’s important to continue to see each other’s faces, even on a screen. This establishes a connection far more valuable than a quick phone call. Set these meetings for each of your teams and require video be turned on – even if there’s a guest appearance by a pet – the more the merrier! This will help your in-person team members feel connected to those at home and vice versa. Consider scheduling a team happy hour at the end of the day for people to join and catch up. Feel free to get creative.
Refine Your Communication Platforms
As people in the office are attempting to work with people who are remote, it’s a good idea to check your communication platforms. Is there anything you could be doing to make their lives easier? What about programs or apps such as Slack or Google Hangouts. These types of messaging platforms can be helpful for teams who are used to regular in-person communication throughout the day. Could you schedule a daily catch up meeting or email chain where your team members can get on the same page? Standing meetings are helpful to receive updates and ensure no emails are missed throughout the week. Especially for big projects, consider a project management tool or software that could enhance your communication structure and improve productivity and efficiency.
Establish Transparency
During this difficult and uncertain time, it’s critical to be transparent with the members of your organization. If you haven’t made the pledge to keep them in the loop, it’s not too late to start. Send out regular company updates about the decisions your organization is making. If you continually have meetings with the C-suite, keep your teams informed of the outcome of those meetings. The future is incredibly uncertain, and it will help instill trust and loyalty among your team if you remain transparent throughout every decision and action.
There are many ways to unite your teams and as a leader, it’s your responsibility to do so. These are challenging times no doubt, but you will rise above!
