Want to simplify leadership of hybrid teams?
When the pandemic hit in early 2020, organizations had to scramble to work remotely. But as leaders adjust to a new era of hybrid working – a mix of office, remote, and frontline employees – it’s vital to ensure we’re leading these teams effectively by keeping them motivated and engaged.
Running a profitable business in a post-COVID-19 world means that leaders need to evolve from a working model of putting customers first to treating employees as an equal part of the equation. Research over the years shows that focusing on employee engagement can lead to 23% more profitability, and significantly higher levels of wellbeing as well.
So while the hybrid working environment may present many opportunities, putting employees at the heart of your business has never been more important.
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Use the right platform
The best way to communicate with hybrid teams is to use a secure, central platform that works efficiently across locations and mobile devices. Your solution should make it easy to create content, and help you reach distributed audiences while also keeping them engaged.
As well as using a variety of formats to keep your hybrid teams engaged (think video and images as well as text), you will need to give them the tools to ask questions or provide feedback. This means giving them a platform that is easy to use no matter where they are. That way you can be sure you’re not excluding remote or frontline workers from important company conversations.
Choosing a simple platform should contribute to higher adoption rates, which will mean you can reach and engage more employees.
Bringing global teams together at AstraZeneca
AstraZeneca has brought 64,000 employees together via Workplace. The global biopharmaceutical company was attracted by Workplace’s familiar features and ease of adoption, the ability to meet security and compliance standards in regulated industries, and the general potential to use the tool for communications and collaboration. The result was a complete rollout of the tool a few months after initial deployment to 200 global senior leaders.
Build hybrid communities
At the heart of any successful Employee Experience (EX) strategy is the ability to build community. So how do leaders foster a sense of belonging across hybrid teams?
Bringing people together into a single solution that everyone can adapt will be the most important decision you make. You can then use it to promote leadership visibility over a variety of formats.
Use Live Q&A sessions where your leadership team talks about the company vision and values and encourages employees to engage and leave feedback. Everyone from the CEO to frontline leaders should write regular posts around important decisions, again encouraging feedback (and interacting with it).
Whatever format you use, the ability to enable two-way communications across locations and devices will be key to making sure everyone is aligned around common goals and shared values. The result will be a sense of belonging and community at work.
Creating a new sense of purpose at Telefonica
At Telefónica, global leaders use Live videos on Workplace to broadcast key company updates and engage in two-way conversations with employees. Chairman and CEO, José María Álvarez-Pallete López, used Workplace Live to ask a big question of all his employees at the Annual Global Results meeting: ‘What one measure would you take to improve the company?’ He received over 1,000 responses, which were used to create a new global strategy for the company.
Take care of your teams
Our final tip is to take care of your hybrid teams. This includes everything from giving everyone access to training so they feel secure in their jobs, to creating specific content around wellbeing over a range of channels. Work out what’s best for you and then establish a regular cadence.
You could start by holding a Live video wellbeing session where you provide resources for teams to navigate anxieties around the shift to office-based working. Or get your leadership to host a session where they discuss challenging moments they’ve managed to overcome in their professional lives.
Remember to keep things interactive. For instance, you could hold polls around what’s top of mind for your teams when it comes to wellbeing, and give them a chance to ask questions at these sessions.
A platform that allows you to engage everyone easily should sit at the heart of your wellbeing program.
Getting the Mind Right At Mercado Libre
During the pandemic in Argentina, MercadoLibre used Live video to host regular meditation and yoga sessions. These sessions were the perfect way to bring people together while helping them cope with the pressures of lockdown and economic uncertainty.