Hybrid Without Intent: Losing the Silent Superpower in Spontaneity
The loss of Spontaneous Opportunities - and Hybrid Solutions
This series began with the observation that, in contrast to the benefits to remote work for some people, innovative, creative teams and organizations may be exposing themselves to considerable risk by being fully remote, or not utilizing on-site days intentionally and strategically.
I’ve explored 3 of 4 Risk Categories: Productivity; Creativity to Resilience; and Culture and Talent Retention. This time I’m exploring the loss of Spontaneous Opportunities in Remote and Hybrid-without-Intent arrangements . . . and what that means.
micro-interactions contribute to culture and provide the leader with added opportunities to build a psychologically safe, and therefore innovative and creative environment
Risk 10: Reduced spontaneity.
For leaders, these are those 30 second hallway interactions or the remembered situation sparked as someone passes the office or desk causing you to ask “hey, how did […] go?” are missing. As are “did you have an opportunity to speak with. . . let’s go talk with them. . .” These small micro-interactions contribute to culture and provide the leader with added opportunities to build a psychologically safe, and therefore innovative and creative environment.
What are you missing by not having these spontaneous micro-interactions? What observations are not being shared? What concerns or challenges aren’t being mentioned?
For the team this includes those moments where one colleague overhears another, possibly expressing a thought or frustration, and the creative and innovative juices are unleashed.
My conclusions:
For those who work well on their own and don’t need work buddies, remote working can be a great opportunity to focus, concentrate and get a great deal done.
“Remote working arrangements contradict the principles and the point of Team Work”
Completely remote, or the haphazard situations as a result of blanket hybrid arrangements, I think, exposes the team and the organization to missed opportunities and increased risks. Risks that may:
reduce the observational power of the entire team, hampering team resilience and increasing the burden on the leader;
increase silence even when team members have concerns, ideas or challenges; and
decrease productivity, engagement, talent retention creativity and innovation.
Remote working arrangements contradict ‘Team’ Work which we captured in the first post, and even the ‘Organization’: (Oxford English Dictionary)
Team (noun): two or more people working together
Team (verb): work together to achieve a shared goal
Teamwork (noun): organized effort as a group
Organization (noun): an organized group of people: a systematic arrangement or approach
Hybrid arrangements can be beneficial, mitigating many of these risks, when done strategically and with clear intent.
“Hybrid arrangements, when done strategically and with clear intent, can be beneficial, mitigating many risks.”
How you leverage hybrid arrangements to reduce your risks, and leverage the power of the entire team will largely depend on the space and resources available, your culture and your team members. Here are some things to consider in designing On-site time:
What do you want this team-time to achieve that can’t be achieved remotely?
Meeting Time: What needs to be accomplished? How will working together, in-person magnify this? Be strategic: Create opportunistic objectives. Be cautions of “reporting” or update sessions that can easily be read or conducted on-line. (This may be a prime opportunity to create and update Team Charters and Frameworks.)
Brainstorming Time: As a powerful stress-buster, ensure you build some in on occasion! It also works to build the team cohesion and resilience as ideas are bounced about and built on by one another.
Together-Work Time: Concentrated working time in a common space provides opportunity for colleague-colleague spontaneity, building innovation and creativity.
Team Building and FUN time, and Relaxation time. These can be micro-moments injected into everything. Laughing together is a great tonic and helps build resilience. These are opportunities for everyone to learn more about the individuals that are their colleagues, and allows the leader to observe synergies and strengths that may inform how to tackle projects.
Cross-divisional (multi-team) Meetings: Whether in person, virtual or combined, when these sessions are informative, forward facing, and interactive they can be enormously beneficial on many levels. Again, be cautious of the “reporting” meetings. Have clear objectives, intentions and expectations to maximize the value of this time.
Frequency. Often enough - and not too often that the commute becomes an impediment. Consider ALL the members of the team.
I am a Leadership Coach. Much of this is covered in the Leadership Program: Explore, Expand, Excel Boldly. Become that Leader of Impact.