Building High-Trust Teams in a Hybrid Work Environment
The COVID-19 pandemic may be a distant memory, but one benefit of this difficult time in history is the standardization of hybrid work environments. A recent Gallup poll indicated that 52% of workers in the United States are now hybrid. Compared to the 22% who are on-site and 26% who are exclusively remote, the hybrid work environment has now become the “new normal.”
Since more than half of U.S. workers are now “hybrid,” many business leaders have come to us asking how they can build high-trust teams in a hybrid work environment. At Critical Connexion, we have worked with executive leaders across the globe on this issue and have helped them move from monitoring attendance and hours to measuring results and outcomes.
Building your high-trust teams in your hybrid work environment starts at the top, and we will discuss four tips here to help you get started:
- Establish a “Communication Culture”
- Provide Clear Expectations
- Foster Career Growth
- Redefine accountability for results
These four tips do not have to be completed in a straight, serial manner, but instead they all work together to build high-trust teams in your hybrid work environment.
Tip #1 – Establish a “Communication Culture”
How can you keep your hybrid workers connected and build high-trust teams when they are not in the same office together? Communicating frequently and openly with your hybrid team is one of the most important ways to build trust in your hybrid workplace. And since communication starts at the top, it is up to you to communicate as frequently as possible with your hybrid team. That way, everyone is on the same page, hybrid employees feel valued through high-fives and jobs well done, and creativity is fostered by keeping everyone connected and informed.
We recommend having at least one meaningful conversation a week with your hybrid team that discusses anything from how your team is progressing towards goals, to any support or barriers needed to be overcome, and even your workers’ well-being and impact on the company. This can be done in three ways:
- Maintaining a comfortable atmosphere where hybrid employees can ask questions, take creative chances, and express their ideas.
- Encouraging collaboration through dedicated connection-building times like brainstorming sessions and team-building activities that keep your hybrid team engaged and unified.
- Gathering feedback on what works well and not so well in the hybrid environment. Then communicate solutions to show you are supporting the needs of your hybrid workers.
If you do have in person time with your hybrid workers, this time should be meaningful because team-building activities can help everyone work together more efficiently. You can plan those days around activities that benefit from face-to-face interaction versus a Zoom meeting. What can be done in person that would not be adequate online? If these in-person meetings are not possible, create “micro-connections” so that your hybrid team has fast (10- to 15 minutes), but meaningful, check-ins with you.
When working with your hybrid teams do not worry about “over” communicating. In fact, over-communication is essential because hybrid work is ripe for miscommunication, frustrations, and loneliness. Clear communication, on the other hand, will promote trust, transparency, and engagement. Not only that, but hybrid employees who receive frequent feedback from their supervisors are significantly more engaged and will feel like they work in a trusting environment.
Tip #2 – Provide Clear Expectations
A recent Gallup poll of hybrid workers found some disturbing insights – nearly half of the hybrid workers interviewed, 48%, said their team did not even discuss a formal or informal plan on how to collaborate effectively in their hybrid environment. This is a problem because if your hybrid workers do not have a plan how will they know if they are succeeding in their job?
This is why our second tip for building high-trust teams in a hybrid work environment relates directly to tip number one: when you foster clear and effective communication this needs to include clear expectations of your team. This means sharing your team’s responsibilities and objectives while also connecting them to your expectations.
Your hybrid teams will increase their trust when everyone is on the same page and knows what success looks like for your business. At Critical Connexion, we have helped our clients provide clear expectations in three ways:
- Connect your company’s goals clearly to expectations – first and foremost, what are your teams’ goals and how do they connect to your customers’ needs and organization’s mission.
- Ensure your hybrid employees have a clear understanding of how their priorities tie to these goals and expectations – this means connecting their daily work and activities to the overall goals of the company.
- Define how their accountability connects to results – we will discuss this in more detail in another tip, but you should start here by monitoring and measuring how the results equate to success at regular checkpoints throughout the year. That way, your hybrid employees know what is expected of them and how their work contributes to the success of the company.
You can also provide clear expectations by managing your hybrid team’s performance through mid-year performance reviews. That way, you are building trust with your hybrid employees and assessing their performance, satisfaction, and engagement. This feedback is ideal to not only help the hybrid employees with their performance, but also ensuring your hybrid team is in-line with your company’s expectations and goals.
When managers deliberately connect their hybrid workers daily responsibilities to the overall goals of the company, their customers needs, and the organization’s mission, trust strengthens within the hybrid environment.
Tip #3 – Foster Career Growth
A main issue with your hybrid team is that they are not in the office to learn by watching you, the manager. This can harm career growth, as we cannot mentor and develop our hybrid employees when they are not in the office. Or can we? Fostering your hybrid employees’ career growth remotely is the perfect way to show you support them and build a high-trust hybrid environment.
The numbers don’t lie, as a Harvard Business Review article stated that 61% of remote employees believe their environment hinders their career development opportunities. Luckily, there are ways to overcome this data with a few simple steps:
- Hold “career vision discussions” with your hybrid workers – When you sit down and outline your hybrid employees’ long-term career goals, you can help them reach those goals. However, don’t stop helping them when the discussion ends; instead, you need to take the ideas from this discussion and connect them to specific ways your hybrid employee can thrive and what path and next steps they need to take.
- Develop an official mentorship program for your hybrid workers – Just because your employees are not in the office seven days a week doesn’t mean they cannot be involved in flexible mentorship programs. We have seen our clients pair their hybrid workers with a mentor who can help them reach their career goals. For example, if an employee voices the interest in learning a new skill, their mentor can help them find a remote class to learn it immediately.
- Embrace AI leadership coaches – We talk quite a bit about the benefits of AI, and many organizations are using AI-driven leadership coaches to help their remote workers in their own career goals. You may not be able to afford a real-life leadership coach, yet AI leadership coaches like Rising Team AI and 360 Learning are affordable and flexible for your workers who spend their days in the hybrid setting.
By adopting these steps, you can ensure that your hybrid employees know that their growth and development are at the heart of your company no matter where they are working. This, in turn, helps build trust in your hybrid environment.
Tip #4 – Redefining Accountability for Results
A primary indicator that you have built a high-trust team in a hybrid work environment is managing performance and redefining accountability for results. How can you ensure your employees are getting their work done without seeing them in action? Since you cannot measure your hybrid workers’ performance based on their attendance, you must measure it based on their results.
For example, we have told our own clients that we highly suggest moving away from software that monitors your hybrid workers’ attendance and electronic monitoring because these metrics can actually hinder trust. Instead, we have helped them use outcome-based performance metrics:
- Measure deliverables – The metrics you focus on should measure the outcomes of the tasks, not the time to complete the tasks. For example, a customer support team may have a goal of how many calls they can complete, or a sales team may have sales quotas to meet. Focus on the outcomes of your hybrid teams and when they succeed make sure you let everyone know.
- Connect expectations to productivity – You have already set clear expectations for your hybrid workers, and now you can use these expectations to show them what success looks like in their hybrid setting. That way, your hybrid employees feel supported and will more than likely increase the likelihood of achieving their goals.
- Hold “contribution review” meetings – These meetings are different than the standard performance reviews, as they allow hybrid employees to check in with their managers and rate their own performance against the desired contributions. By having an agreed-upon set of goals and outcomes, employees feel they have a hand in their organization’s success.
By embracing results with your hybrid workers, you can ensure they are accountable, productive, and feel they work in a high-trust environment.
Building Trust Takes Time
You are not going to build high-trust teams in your hybrid work environment overnight, but these four tips will certainly help move you in the right direction. Building trust is key to an effective hybrid work environment. And remember…trust must flow both ways, with you trusting your hybrid team and the team trusting you as their leader.
Knowing how to build high-trust hybrid teams is an ongoing challenge, and you may find some of the tips we discussed here will take more time than others. Focus on what your hybrid team needs now; if communication is lacking then start there. If your hybrid team feels they are not moving up in the company, start working on those goals. Let the holes in your company dictate where you begin in the trust-building process. Hybrid employees need the right type of support and empowerment to ensure everyone is working in a high-trust environment.
About Critical Connexion:
Critical Connexion is a distinguished business management & consulting firm that focuses on leveraging a foundation of leading finance, HR management, strategic sourcing, risk & operations experts to accelerate brand success for clients.
We specialize in navigating the evolving landscape of corporate growth by adeptly addressing changing systems, processes, and people requirements. Recognizing the substantial nature of technology and changing business needs, we ensure that these resources are directed with foresight and expertise. We are your extended partners for business growth, scaling seamlessly and brand elevation.
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Ph: 213-798-6676
Email: info@criticalconnexion.com