For many leaders, a new way of thinking and acquiring the necessary skills to manage hybrid work triggers the need to acquire not only new capabilities, but also to change the perception of their employees.

Employees want flexible work organization, where they work in the office only for part of the time. And employers will have to come to terms with it. This makes sense, provided that productivity remains high, as everyone from CEOs to individual colleagues has been working partly remotely for the past year. However, sustained large-scale hybrid work is something completely different. It requires the right mindset and a change of skill set that many leaders and managers are still learning about and may not have.

Covid has put enormous pressure on staff and management. Conditions changed overnight, something that was the norm became a hard-to-achieve reward, no one was sure of the future, and every day brought new challenges. Managing themselves in the change ceased to apply only to managers, became the domain of serial employees, and yet they had never had to do it before, and most always valued peace and stability. No one-time training or workshop will immediately teach empathy, self-awareness, the organization of your time and employees, while managing the scale of profit and loss. You need something more to feel confident again

The most important thing has always been the realization of vision, strategy, but now the emotional intelligence and resilience demonstrated in the management of hybrid teams, which characterize different needs, goals, working styles, personal situation and more, has become a necessity. Creating an environment where they feel safe can prosper and trust each other, while unleashing greater efficiency and much needed by the whole company.

Communication has also always been important in managing remote teams, where it is essential that everyone understands how their work contributes to broader goals. Teams will be effective if each employee is optimistic about their individual role, what they can offer the team, and what the company can give it in return. Managers need to understand the overall value of each person compared to the hours they spend at their desks. This requires a new, deeper level of communication and understanding.

There are also tools to help managers gain deeper insight into their employees. Salesforce gives you the opportunity to see your employee from a completely different, deeper perspective, allows you to look at each person, their interactions, mood and work-life balance, as well as get feedback on it.

Level the playing field

People working remotely are often disadvantaged compared to their colleagues in the office. Only they call the meeting when everyone else is sitting at the conference table. Every person working in the office has a better and deeper relationship with each team member and deeper and faster access to information. This is not intentional, it is the result of closer interactions with colleagues. The office has formal and informal discussions on substantive or project topics, everyone is better versed than an employee performing their activities at home. This does not bode well for team cohesion and leads to resentment among remote workers, they feel they have been left out. One way to ensure an equal voice for all stakeholders is to create a meeting structure where everyone talks and listens equally. See and talk is one way to exclude problems that may arise with hybrid work. Give equal access to resources, educate, help.

Understanding and communicating a goal is more important in a hybrid workplace

No matter where they work, people want to know that their work is valued and that what they are doing is purposeful and contributes to larger organizational goals. In a hybrid environment, managers and leaders have to work much harder to consistently communicate greater goals to team members. They also need to work on understanding each person’s worth and how their work specifically drives these goals.

Motivate and inspire, appreciate the effort and show how important it is for the project or company.

Make sure your team gets the job done, pay some attention to managing problems that arise with remote workers, such as personal isolation and problems communicating with colleagues.

Salesforce tools facilitate hybrid work management

You can manage schedules, increase productivity, integrate workflows, and help employees do their best – no matter where and when they work.