Hybrid Workplace: Building The Robust New Normal

Aided and triggered by the advent of Covid-19, the hybrid work model is becoming the new normal for organizations across the globe. The poise of hybrid working models carves out a perfect cohesive balance between and live working environments and online cloud meetings.  

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, maintaining a strong culture was seen as a top challenge of hybrid work. Still, it has been favored over all the other forms. Even when we had conducted a survey, positive responses were picked up. The meaning and essence of conducting meetings can also be changed with this hybrid working environment. 

Seeking a means to incorporate hybrid working modules in the company? Here is a list of tips and tricks for the number.  

Co-Creation With Employees

Work together with everyone in the company to keep the flame and a charm of newness alive. Let the new work model inculcate engagement, fairness, inspiration, and meaning.  

Be open to your employees as a boss and do perform your role of being useful by taking feedback and working on those comments in reality. Also, not every person feels comfortable sharing their thoughts out loud or in meetings while conducting surveys for feedback. Therefore, to get the word out of them, a digital collaboration should be announced.  

It is so because it has been witnessed that a digital collaboration environment enables you to create a transparent dialogue between a limitless amount of people. 

Imbue Psychological Safety and Security

By increasing feelings of  psychological safety, trust, and belonging strengthen the best parts of your company culture. Trust can only be yielded when openness and vulnerability have been introduced. Deploy anonymous options of sharing opinions to include reluctant employees.  

When they find their footing in a comfortable and non-judgmental space, soon a stream of unafraid and honest feedback shall follow. You may take the help of digital methods of polling and questions as well as provide survey forms with the ‘remain anonymous’ option available.  

Instead of the large groups that only let the outspoken and extrovert shine, opt for the means of creating small break-out groups where a triad can discuss topics effectively and efficiently.  

Also, be sure to nurture those feedbacks and produce positive responses on those.  

Trust: The Key To Openness

Hybrid work environments and culture often pose threats to the make-up of assumptions regarding each other. It means that when two employees work on the same projects, being in the same meetings, or otherwise working collaboratively but do not seeing each other regularly can cause a rise of presumed notions towards each other that later on leads to conflicts.   

Instead of remaining quiet and letting the doubts take root, speak up and ask the necessary questions. When certain decisions do not align with your understanding, ask with curiosity and without judgment to understand the thought process better. 

The transition from silent anguish to an open, interactive, and outspoken workspace is essential for a hybrid work environment.  

Reimagine the Hybrid Workplace Meetings

The daunting stress of hybrid culture is an undeniable and unavoidable circumstance. Zooms and virtual meetings weigh as a cumbersome load in terms of performing the hybrid meetings.  

Instead of the time-taking namesake meetings, a way of doing the work has to be formulated that neither causes mental stress nor lags in updating with the latest whereabouts. 

Shift the priorities of meetings by keeping them only on specific occasions or reasons for conducting them: an announcement, weekly update, seminars or webinars, feedback session, and doubts clearing session.   

A strong and organized hybrid work environment can only be managed and maintained when efforts come from all walks of life. The coordinated collaborations create a balance that nourishes the workspace for deploying better opportunities. 

Final Thoughts

Finding new ways of working can be done by adapting a facilitator’s mindset to understand how human relationships work and then moving ahead accordingly to create a hassle-free, non-stressful and peaceful environment. Be dynamic with regards to your online presence and have an active presence of mind in all circumstances.  

This will ensure that the employees are provided enough time to make progress on their assigned tasks as well as save resources. It also initiates a meaningful meeting with a fruitful outcome.  

Surprisingly, according to FlexJobs, 51% of employees still want to keep working in the hybrid environment, while 33% are ready to quit if not allowed to.  

Want to test how Howspace can help you build a hybrid workplace? Start your 30-day free trial here.