In the wake of Amazon’s return-to-office edict, CEOs are lining up to blame remote work for everything from productivity problems to culture woes. But they’re wrong. Research proves, beyond a doubt, that hybrid work is not only productive, it improves job satisfaction and slashes quit rates. Slack’s Future Forum reports that workers with flexible jobs are 57% more bullish on their company’s culture than their fully in-person colleagues, and more connected to each other and their managers.
If hybrid work makes sense, on paper, for your company but, in reality, it’s just not working, chances are hybrid work is not the problem, you are. So, instead of demonizing remote work, take a look in the corporate mirror. If we want hybrid teams to be effective we need to build them. This isn’t a Frankenstein moment where we bolt a bunch of spare parts together and create a monster. If we want hybrid work to succeed, we need to take the time to design it from the ground up.
This is an opportunity to craft a new social contract for your team: an intentional collaboration strategy that drives your sense of purpose and direction, governs your interactions, and shapes your learning. One that’s grounded in a palpable understanding among teammates that your collective success is powered by your individual commitments–to the team and to each other.
We’ve known for decades that team effectiveness takes work and commitment. For a hybrid team, it means stepping back and reflecting on what you need from each other. What kind of work requires you to be in-person? How will you share your knowledge and solve thorny problems? There’s no one-size-fits-all solution, but there are four critical steps to make your hybrid team more effective.
Write Your Story And Articulate Your Principles
In a culture besotted with productivity, it’s a rare team that steps back together to think through its strategic direction and reflect on the principles that drive its work. For a hybrid team, this is exactly the right place to start building the social contract that undergirds everything the team does. It’s your origin story: the shared beliefs, mental models, foundations and objectives of your work together. Make your story compelling–why does it matter to the world, the organization, the team and every one of its members? What will it take to get there? What do you need from each other to do your best individual work and realize your collective goals?
Using the story as your compass, articulate your principles: the non-negotiable values and behaviors that will shape the way you work. These are shared assumptions and mindsets that govern your actions and relationships not only with the team but with colleagues, customers and stakeholders. Say them out loud, wrestle with them, write them down. Revisit them frequently if only to reassert them. The New Zealand All Blacks rugby team does this really well. In an unorthodox and colorful set of principles, they define their social contract, in practical and metaphorical terms, to guide their actions individually and collectively. They spell out the importance of passing the ball, developing leaders and investing in tomorrow by acting as stewards for future teams. What are your non-negotiables? How can you make them a personal commitment for every person on your team?
Design The Systems That Will Make You Successful
With your story and principles in place, next define the structures and systems required to realize your collective vision. This starts with your schedule as a team–when will you all be together in person and for what kind of work? How will you support each other when you are out of sight? The best hybrid teams make careful choices about communication tools, data storage, access and security, mentoring and troubleshooting. Decide when and how you will be available to each other and respect the boundaries you set as a team. And above all, ensure that every team member has the necessary tools to work collaboratively, even on remote days.
Consider GitLab, an all-remote tech company with over 2000 employees. To share broadly needed information, the company maintains a 2700 page web-based handbook (accessible to the public) that documents their processes. It’s like having someone to tap on the shoulder when you aren’t sure what to do. Employees are encouraged from day one to initiate virtual “coffee chats” with colleagues, to build confidence in informal communication and to champion a knowledge sharing culture. When they do come together in person, they are very intentional–instead of “death by Powerpoint,” they design excursions, shared meals or “un-conferences” to discuss topics of interest in small groups. CEO Sid Sijbrandij explains, “We use our valuable time together to build connections through the kind of face-to-face interactions that can take place only outside of our screens.”
Build The Skills You Need To Thrive
In a monograph about the Cambridge crew team, ethnographer Mark de Rond reveals that choosing crew members is not about picking the eight best rowers, but finding the best eight for that particular team. The best combination of individuals who can balance their individual skills with the team’s needs to deliver the best results. Your team is no different. The most effective teams are successful not because they’re a collection of smart individuals, but because they learn how to work together as a group. They are socially sensitive to each other, making space for all voices and diverse perspectives. They have stronger camaraderie and better knowledge sharing because they have each other’s backs.
This doesn’t happen by accident. In fact, it never did. Half a century ago, MIT researcher Thomas J. Allen debunked the idea that serendipitous “watercooler collisions” in a workplace would generate new ideas. He found that any physical distance greater than 50 meters prevented colleagues from interacting–less than half the length of a football field. So, basically, if you’re just a couple floors away, you might as well be across town in your living room.
If we want a team to collaborate and innovate they need to build and practice the skills of collective intelligence: listening with humility, asking curious questions, challenging assumptions, disagreeing with respect and being empathetic to each other. Hybrid teams need to carve out the space and commitment to practice these skills, to communicate, deepen their relationships and boost their psychological safety. It can’t be all about work all the time. The teams that take the time to build trust, respect and mutual regard will have the skills they need to work better together no matter what lies ahead, or where they happen to work.
Walk The Walk, Don’t Just Talk The Talk
The most important element of a healthy social contract is that it benefits everyone, team and individuals aIike. And everyone is also responsible and accountable for team success. Leaders have the added responsibility of setting the tone and role modeling the expected actions and behaviors. Team members, in turn, must also commit to the behaviors, norms and practices the team has agreed on.
The sustainability of these agreements depends wholly on the commitment of the team: there are no byes. Of course, things come up and team members need to pinch hit for each other. But no one should be too big or too important to put in the work required to make a hybrid team really work. Especially not the leader. When leaders and senior team members make extra time to be available to everyone, it bolsters learning and supports effective mentoring. Even in onboarding, research shows that participating in a virtual watercooler with a senior manager improves organizational commitment and job performance. It’s not enough to write a social contract and declare victory. The real payoff comes from living the values and honoring the principles–at every level of the team.
Great teams don’t happen by accident. Teamwork is hard work. It’s not enough to cooperate or co-exist; effective teams must make a commitment to each other and the greater good. Whether hybrid, remote or in-person, how you work is more important than where. Hybrid work is not a compromise, it’s an opportunity to redesign how you work. Crafting your team’s social contract is like stacking hands on the things that really matter. If you get this right, where you work becomes largely irrelevant.