Successful Hybrid LeadershipIf the last couple of years have taught us anything about leadership, it’s that the way we once led isn’t so fit for purpose in a hybrid or completely remote team environment. Yes, we need to be flexible, adaptable and keeping up with change at rates like never before. And then there are the fundamental things that, if we aren’t doing, will make it harder to adapt, lead through change and truly engage with our people. The things that if we aren’t doing them at a basic level, will erode trust. The trust you have in your team and the trust that you have in yourself to be able to lead effectively.
Below I hit the high points for what you can be doing to get the basics right in a hybrid or remote team environment. 1. Ensure alignment with clear directional objectives Ensure your team are pulling in the same direction, no matter where they are located, and that everyone in the team is on the same page regarding the:
When we are clear and transparent about these three directional levels, your people will know where and how they need to be investing their energy. Importantly, our experience shows that it also creates a collaborative and connective team dynamic that is so essential for success in teams that are virtual or hybrid in nature. Be brave enough to ask your team how they feel about sharing their individual objectives; introducing this level of transparency can help reduce the psychological distance and increase collaboration when we realise that our actions, no matter where we are located, may be able to contribute to the success of a colleague and therefore the team. Track and discuss all team objectives openly and regularly – they are the binding factor of your team – so use them to your advantage. 2. Set Your Team Up for Success When we don’t trust our people to get on with things in a remote or hybrid environment, this can often say more about us than our people. We’ll talk more about us a bit further on, but when it comes to our team, we can remove doubt by applying a couple of simple strategies:
3. Set Yourself Up for Success
The final word…Reflect Carve out time each week to reflect on the team and yourself. This is a practice that is fast becoming a non-negotiable for leaders in a hybrid world that helps us stay in touch with reality, ourselves and our team. Reflect on yourself and your team through the lens of the points in this article. What’s working well? What could be better? Then build this discipline into your week, because leading to get things done through others is the big part of your job…and how we do this is changing faster than ever.
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For the first time in recent history, thanks to the pandemic, leaders of the world over are sharing the same impacts on the way they lead. Dealing with the volatility of change, feeling largely the same way (exhausted), and being forced to embrace different ways of leading to drive engagement and at the same time remain relevant. The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) was probably the last time we came close to this, but even then, we could still maintain social and business norms, and know that (if you still had a job) you could still head into the office. But not every country was impacted by the GFC in the same way that all countries have been impacted by Covid. This is what makes this such a unique time in the world of leadership development right now. When I think of the soft skills that will be necessary for leaders to be effective this year as we transition to living and working alongside Covid, there are three that stand out for me. Depending on where you are reading this article you may need to make some nuanced changes to what I’m sharing, but by and large, I do think these leadership skills should be making their way into the playbook of any corporate leadership development programs around the globe this year. Have the Courage (and discipline) to Exercise Self-EmpathyWe need to be in touch with what’s going on inside of us and understand how our mindset and emotions may be impacting our decision-making and behaviours. Why is this important? The last two years have not been easy, and right now we are heading into 2022 leading the fatigued, when we ourselves can be counted amongst the fatigued and battle-weary. It’s common knowledge that we don’t make the best decisions when we are tired, stressed or just not in the right headspace. It’s up to us as leaders to firstly acknowledge that it’s ok to be feeling a bit tired (even the most self-aware leaders would be coming into 2022 with some residual fatigue!). By making this acknowledgment internally, we are also making room for the same acknowledgment to be made amongst our team. This is a conversation that probably needs to be had sooner rather than later…is your team doing ok? Being in touch with our mental and physical well-being also means we can do something about it so we can be setting ourselves up for success. There’s nothing selfish about this. How can we be fully present for our people if we are running low on fuel and barely making it to the end of the day or week? We can get in our own way on this front and inhibit our efforts to look after ourselves. Sometimes it’s pride, other times we can be unnecessarily self-sacrificing or just poor at delegating. Perhaps we just put ourselves second, whether that’s due to lower self-esteem, self-confidence, or other factors. Whatever the reason, own it and be brave; do something about it. Otherwise, the other factors below won’t be so easy to address. Accept that Rituals are a Necessary Leadership PracticeThe last two years could be considered practice for this capability; and this year could be considered ‘game day’! Before we transitioned to virtual and then hybrid ways of working it was taken for granted that we could more easily connect with our peers and team members and build relationships spontaneously and organically. That doesn’t mean we were consistently good at it, but that was our norm. Now, we need to think about how we build relationships in a virtual world, where it is still normal not to have met your own manager, peers, or direct reports in person after many months. It would be nice to think that building relationships virtually has become easier, maybe even natural for some, but we can’t assume that we have nailed it. Because I can guarantee you that we haven’t. This year we need to get good at creating rituals with each of our individual team members that allow them to feel recognised despite the physical distance. (Have you checked out our Lead2Remotely Engage program?) Rituals tailored to your individual team members creates the opportunity for trust to be built, and the space for genuine conversations and sharing. Equally important are rituals for the whole team; moments when you come together to connect and share. Rituals have always been important for building engaging relationships however it was seen as a ‘nice to have’…getting the job done always tended to be more important, especially in Anglo or Germanic cultures. We can’t afford to keep this mindset; not if we want a genuinely engaged workforce in a virtual or hybrid world. Creating rituals allows your people to feel connected with and to feel acknowledged. And when it becomes a ‘business as usual’ practice, it creates a natural momentum in your relationship that leads to trust and a reduction in the psychological distance that we are always aiming for. Get Comfortable with VUCA LeadershipIt’s going to be some time before we can settle into a normal rhythm without disruption driven by the pandemic. There are still factors we can’t be sure about, and even though we try to keep pace with and anticipate how things will be, the reality is (as we’ve all experienced) that we will get curveballs. Our ability to remain balanced, resilient and adapt to shifting norms is now a critical skill and mindset for leaders. In large complex organisations, this has always been the case and experienced leaders in global and matrix style organisations may already be well-versed in dealing with ambiguity. Now it’s time for leaders to make their peace with the V, U and C of VUCA, and not just the Ambiguity where the focus in leadership development has been for many years: Volatility: The Volatility and rate of change we’ve experienced these last two years isn’t something we should be looking back on and thinking ‘thank goodness that’s over with’. This year effective leaders will be reflecting on that volatility and what they learned about themselves, and who they were as a leader, throughout that time. The questions to ask include:
Uncertainty: Over the last couple of years, to what extent did we as leaders offer a version of certainty in the daily lives of our team when not a whole lot else seemed certain? If we weren’t exercising much self-empathy, and were leading inconsistently, then we mightn’t have offered a whole lot of structure or certainty. When we put ourselves in the shoes of our team, the one thing that isn’t changing daily are the people in my team and my manager. And at a fundamental level, that is a form of structure and certainty that we often underestimate as leaders. So; to what extent did you offer certainty in the lives of your team – and what can you be doing to improve it for 2022 (and beyond)? Complexity: An essential skill always, and a little more necessary today than previously, is the ability to extract yourself from the day to day so you can see your whole landscape. Sometimes referred to as taking the helicopter view, it’s also an opportunity to take a more rational view of your world. It’s one of the simplest ways to make sense of the complexity that can sometimes seem overwhelming. When our senses are being battered from all angles, our ability to rise above it and see things for how they really are is a life saver. Whilst ever the pace and volatility of change remains moderate to high, this capability is often your best counter-measures. What missed the cut?Of course, there are many other capabilities that will support you as a leader in the context of this year and some that fall just outside my top three include being able to have meaningful conversations, creating a healthy virtual/hybrid team culture, leading collaboratively and leading change. However, even these capabilities rely on my top three to be effective. As the globe begins the transition to an endemic view of Covid, there will be a higher frequency uncertainty in our lives at home and at work. No, they may not be as high impacting as the experiences of 2020 and 2021. But they will require that leaders maintain forward momentum so that their teams can see how they need to be investing their energy each day, week, and month. The three capabilities shared here offer leaders the best opportunity to do this in 2022 and beyond. Author: David MorleyDavid is a developer of global-minded leaders, teams and organisations. We’ve been supporting the development of geographically spread teams for years; global project teams, functional teams spread throughout a region, and teams located in one office whilst the manager is in a different city. And now we have the enforced remote working team; the team that signed up for jobs in an office, with plenty of human interaction and opportunities for spontaneous connections, and who now find themselves working remotely. And not through choice.
Between our experiences pre-Covid 19 and what we've been through in these past 6 months, we are seeing that there are teams who are really struggling with the shift to remote working, some who are hit and miss, and around a third who are really getting it right and thriving. Below are the five things the thriving remote teams have in common, and do really well that we can all be learning from. 1. Get aligned on your new operating principles The successful remote teams we've worked with understand that how your team will be working together remotely is going to be different to face to face. So how we collaborate, communicate and resolve conflict will all need to be done differently. The risk is that we each have our own ways of perceiving how those elements should happen, so the role of the charter is to do the one single thing that can set your team up for success the most. Make sure the team is aligned in a very clear and explicit way on how they think they should be working together in this ‘new normal’. All teams should go through this process – from the C-suite down. And the good news is that we have continued to work with teams and functions across many industries who understand this, and have been proactive with resetting the ways of working. The ones who are thriving have completed this step, and are doing a combination of the following steps. 2. Optimise how you work between teams Work still needs to get done between teams – and for companies who have struggled, this is one of the forgotten aspects of converting a face to face business to a virtual business as the focus has tended to be more on how ‘a’ team works. So there is a piece of work that successful virtual teams have been doing that simply mirrors the principles of the first point, and provides a means for the leaders of teams to connect, share and be clear on expectations regarding priorities, eg; what business objectives are more important or how shared resources should be deployed. It also allows the team leaders to create some rules of engagement for how collaboration, communication and conflict resolution happens between teams. This is underpinned by the team charter, and the common feedback we get is that it allows guesswork to be replaced by real work! 3. Train and be coached for working in a virtual team One team we have worked with in particular identified early on that working and leading in a virtual team would require a different set of skills and mindset. Their ability to understand and work with uncertainty and ambiguity, manage stakeholders remotely, build and maintain relationships and collaborate all require different development to that in face to face structures. There's no point training to ride a bicycle when you will be riding a motorbike! And this applies to everyone. Good remote working training combines behavioural skills with a focus on connection at a values and relational level. But we also know that on a deeper level, there are other factors that enhance or reduce our ability to be effective in a remote team; our confidence, need for recognition, cultural background and personality (eg; rigid vs flexible). Our rate of coaching has remained steady as there are leaders who have self-identified (or the company has identified for them!) that working and/or leading remotely doesn't fit who they are (yet!). But teams who have leveraged the capability development provided by their organisations, or those who have taken it upon themselves to get development for their teams, are doing well. And it is usually combined with the next point. 4. Things Change - so talk, review and make change if needed This point comes into its own in these times of rapid change. The really good virtual teams look for opportunities to reinforce a culture of collaboration by using this as an opportunity to come together and to work on the team, and continually update their preferred ways of working. And when things are changing so quickly, you can’t afford not to be reviewing the way you work together. We are working with a handful of leadership teams, who are using this step as a an opportunity to pull out of the day to day management stuff, to take a helicopter view of their teams and functions and to make smarter and more strategic decisions. If you don't have an Agile mindset in you company, this is a nice step to implement that will help you move in that direction. The best thing about this step? It enables proactive conversations, that enable a more controlled response to change in a highly volatile and uncertain business environment. We are working with one leadership team who is working in an extremely volatile environment - on top of Covid-19 factors - and it is the ritual of regular team catch ups, in person, that is allowing them to extract themselves on a fortnightly basis to focus on themselves, the business and their people, in a more objective manner. 5. Culture Matters. Successful remote teams are recalibrating their team culture to reflect the remote working environment. The really effective remote teams that I’ve seen acknowledge that the culture that got them here, may not get them there. A simple example of this is the shared thinking around how open and approachable we should be. In a face to face environment it may be ok that a new team member needs to work a little harder show how they fit in and being slightly more closed between teams may be acceptable. But in a remote setting that unspoken way of thinking won’t fly. One function we have worked with recently has decided to make their culture more explicit, and part of that was through the creation of a new team charter. But this function, also understood that culture is needed to drive the execution of strategy which is a critical point when we consider that plenty of strategies and plans have been revised and in some cases completely re-written. So, it makes sense that even at the level of the virtual team, a conversation be had around how the culture may need to be shifted to help them execute a little differently on their team objectives. Leading and managing in complex organisations, such a matrix or a large global organisation, can be frustrating at the best of times. And now we throw in a new dimension, Covid-19. As if working in a matrix didn’t have its challenges before, the addition of forced isolation and remote working does not make things easier. We know that in a matrix teams are typically spread out in any case; managers leading teams in different countries or sites, single teams dispersed over multiple sites or countries and teams that need to be collaborating despite distance. So there is already a measure of tolerance that exists for life in a remote working environment. But here’s the thing. Life pre-Covid-19 meant that we could still come together when we needed to discuss, explore and expedite decisions. Much of what we achieve in a matrix is done through personal interactions, influencing and optimising our connections and network. But in our new reality, we can’t do that as easily. Nor in the foreseeable future. So, what can you do to be an effective contributor or leader in a matrix organisation during these time? Well, the truth is, you should be doing what you were doing all along! The elements that help us be successful in a matrix organisation are mostly the same for everyone who is now required to work remotely. A couple of years back we published the top five things that go into being a successful leader in a matrix. Today we've revisited these points and added a Covid-19 footnote, because whilst each element is still relevant, for all of them there is heightened sense of relevance and importance for making the matrix work in today's circumstances, and we believe, in the post-Covid-19 era. Adapt to the Structure What we said then: Traditional hierarchical structure thinking and behaviours (command and control) just don’t work in a matrix, and successful matrix leaders get this. They may not fully grasp the structure that surrounds them, especially if they are new to the business. However they still find a way of building an informal network that will support them and their team in achieving their goals until they get their head around the formal structure. C-19: Apply the same principles in how you transition to remote working. And do not underestimate the necessity and comfort that a network can bring in these times. Also know that your team will be leaning a little more on you to know how they should be adapting and working in a remote structure. So even if you are finding it a bit challenging possibly one of the best things you can do is create an open dialogue in the team about how you adapt together. Create a Support Network What we said then: Leading on from the previous point, those who achieve success don’t do it alone! They identify very early the value of an informal network of internal coaches, mentors and friends from different parts of the organisation. It’s not unusual for these people to be recognised when they walk through the shop floor or when they head to the finance department. Their relationships are reciprocal and based on more than just, ‘can you tell me’. You may think that it looks like a benign coffee that the ‘connected leader’ is taking with that guy who works in the accounts payable department; but you can be assured that she now knows more about what it takes to get one of her suppliers invoices paid quickly, as well as having a colleague who is more than just another stranger in the elevator each morning. C-19: Do the same…except it’s a virtual coffee/connection. You can’t physically walk to another department, but you can reach out virtually – touch base – and in these times bring a human touch to reducing the psychological distance, whilst building or maintaining a valuable connection. Ask Questions and Seek to Understand (Not to be understood) What we said then: Successful matrix leaders and employees remove as much ambiguity as they can by seeking to understand why things are the way they are, and aim to remove the shroud of mystery. They know that the first step towards success is not to try and force your way of thinking on to others, rather, they listen, and seek to create a shared solution. Chances are that if you listen well, you’ll be asked to share your thoughts in return. Role model the type of interaction you would like to receive. A great bi-product of this is that a strong rapport is built that reduces the impact or presence of silo’s. C-19: This is of equal importance in a forced remote working situation. In fact, your ability to listen, and listen well, is critical right now. You need to be honing your skills that help you read between the lines, and to hear the things that aren’t said to get the full message. Don’t Assume that Your Dual Reporting Lines are Aligned What we said then: If you have two or more upward reporting lines, don’t be afraid to organise a regular catch up on the topic of alignment. Successful matrix leaders make the issue of alignment explicit and get the objectives of each reporting line on the table. Every time I’ve facilitated this occurrence, either for myself or others, it is a real value creator. Importantly though, a 30 minute conversation on the topic of alignment can prevent the many hours of frustration that comes with trying to balance competing interests. Simply put; you are one person. Where and how you invest your energy is critical and if those above you aren’t aligned in what they want from you, then it makes sense that your performance will be diluted accordingly. C-19: If you weren’t doing the above point before then perhaps you should start now. The tyranny of distance can make it easy for mis-alignment to grow unnecessarily, and you can’t be relying on your two upline managers to be talking and ensuring your priorities are aligned (it would be nice to think this was happening – but it probably isn’t). Ensuring this alignment is in place is as important for you as it is for your direct reports – it’s hard for you to give a clear direction with confidence if you don’t possess either for yourself. They Don’t Become a Politician…But they are Aware of the Politics What we said then: By taking care of the above point, you can reduce the impact of politics; however the larger and more complex the organisation, the more prevalent the politics. Those who have genuine success in complex environments don’t necessarily buy into the politics. That’s not to say they will completely avoid getting stuck in a political game every now and then, the reality is that this is likely to occur from time to time. But they are able to see the politics for what it is, and ‘work the sideline’. This means that they are almost like the political journalist who can see what’s happening, try to make sense of why it’s happening and is able to report on it from the sideline. In an organisational context you can also work the sideline. Observe the politicking; remembering you don’t have to choose sides. If you observe closely what is being played out you can make a more informed decision around how you choose to connect with those stuck in the games rather than feel as though you are being helplessly sucked into the political vortex! C-19: There’s not too much to add here, except to remember that this continues whether you are in a face to face or remote environment. Don’t assume that because there is distance there are no politics. Groups will still split. People will still have agendas. They are just played out a little bit differently. This closing paragraph was written in the original article, and it is truer today, than it was when it was written: There’s one other thing about successful matrix leaders; and that’s their level of resilience. I’ve discussed this previously, and can’t highlight enough the importance of being flexible in your approach whilst at the same time being continually mindful of your situation and being prepared to adapt at short notice. David MorleyDavid is developer of global-minded leaders, teams and businesses. Over the past couple of weeks, despite the Covid-19 impact on our world, many organisations are still going ahead with plans to build engaged and winning teams using virtual means rather than face to face.
And that is great news! What this means is that there is still a mindset in organisations and amongst leaders that getting your team on the same page, connected and engaged is still a priority. In fact, I’d go one step further and suggest that these activities are more important today for the most obvious reason that we are forced to be physically distant. But just because you can’t be physically in the same space doesn’t mean you can’t go a good way down the track to building an engaged team. The quality of online sharing technology is such that there is almost no excuse for not being able to check-in on each other or share and create rituals that are good for you and the team. However if you are looking for something that operates at a deeper level, that you would normally get from an in-person event where there is the ability to be in the same place to workshop your rules of engagement and shared values over a couple of days, you may come up a little short. The reality is that part of our decision making when it comes to building trust and closeness is driven by our ability to see, hear and experience each other in a group context. We only get part of that picture when we are seeking to do this virtually; we get it in snapshots from the waist up and in individual contexts without being able to see and experience the interplay and dynamic between people. As we know it’s the dynamic that we are working with to create the foundation for resilient and sustainable relationships. So, what can we do to build engaging teams in this era of remote working? The good news is that we can still build fantastic rapport in the team. We can still lay the groundwork for resilient relationships and an engaged team. And if your team has been together for a while before having to work remotely, then there’s a pretty good chance with the right guidance that you can maintain the momentum and levels of engagement that exist in your team. Below are three principles to apply when thinking about your next virtual teaming event. They are principles I apply and that I’ve seen others apply to good effect: Accept that it’s just going to look and feel different. -This may be more targeted towards facilitators and those who lean towards being perfectionists, who love an event that looks and feels a certain way and delivers a known outcome. Accepting that it will be virtual and still yield good outcomes is a perceptual hurdle to get over, but once you do you will be glad you continued down this path. Put time into your planning and communications for the event. -You will need to plan more than you do for a face to face event. Contrary to popular belief, virtual does not mean less effort. Put the time aside to thoroughly plan your event and to rethink your event through a virtual lens. Once you have your agenda and the activities, a great idea is to visualise how you see the event playing out. Run through the agenda and activities with a colleague – test them out – do they work in a virtual sense? Do they deliver what they are designed to achieve? -You will also need to communicate more than usual. For many people, teaming events can be uncomfortable under normal circumstances, coupled with the fact that you are doing this in a different way which represents change. Think through how you communicate this event, how you engage your participants before, during and after the event. You may even need to apply some of the principles of change communication given that we are not only asking people to do something they may not be comfortable with, but they may also be resistant towards as well. Apply the Formula: 2 Days F2F = 2 Months PTT -As mentioned above, we don’t expect that a virtual activity will deliver the depth of connection that a day or two in person will. But it can if you reframe it and apply the following formula: 1 day F2F = 1 months PTT (Planned Teaming Touchpoints). For every day you would spend in a face to face teaming event, plan one month of team touch points beyond your virtual teaming activity. Design them so they link back to the initial teaming event, and so they build on from each other. I hope this has been a useful piece of guidance for those who are designing or facilitating virtual teaming events for the first time. I will also leave you with a personal mantra of my own that I find very useful in these circumstances:
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