CEO MONTHLY / APRIL 2025 16 The Future of Work: Embracing Hybrid and Remote Leadership he way we work has changed. How you adapt to that change is crucial in building and scaling your business while retaining and attracting top talent. Employees want different things now and will prioritise what matters most to them. Some will still want to work from the office five days a week, some will want to be fully remote and others will be happy with a hybrid approach. The answer isn’t to fight it, but to work out a solution that works for everyone. Many employers who are pushing their teams to get back into the office may not realize that the logistics of having everyone in the same place is more complex: they may have reconfigured their offices during the pandemic, or have too few desks for the sudden influx of employees. To boot, their work teams are often geographically spread out, meaning everyone isn’t in the same place yet they find themselves in just as many virtual meetings. Keep Communication Channels Clear Communication is at the heart of everything, even though it’s often more awkward than ever before. If you’re caught up in the seemingly ever present challenges of hybrid-remotework in the office conundrum, you’re not alone. I’ve worked with leadership teams to help them recognize that what they’re not sharing with their teams is just as detrimental as what they do share. Transparent, genuine communication is critical in today’s office environment, no matter where that office actually is. Here’s the good news: You don’t need magic to solve this. I worked with a client who abandoned all of her T one-on-one meetings during the pandemic, and she never reinstated them. When I asked why, she said she figured they had enough meetings and were getting all of the information they needed. What was missing? She had unintentionally overlooked the fact that meetings and conversations within her team and coworkers had become almost completely transactional. People on virtual meetings tended to skip over the usual pleasantries, get right to the point and leave quickly when the meeting was done. The result was that interaction came across as vague, uncaring and impersonal. From Transactional to Transformational When communication is impersonal it can be demotivating and create friction within the workplace. It’s why quiet quitting became such a hot topic last year - employees who had always gone above and beyond didn’t feel like their efforts were rewarded, so simply chose to perform the tasks they were being paid for, leaving behind everything else they’d been doing in good faith.Today, it’s even more imperative to focus on critical areas to engage, involve and motivate all of your employees, especially those who are working remotely. Sometimes, we forget about including our people in the “why” and giving them context. Simply telling people what to do doesn’t work. Think instead about painting a picture that everyone can visualize and want to create together. In certain situations, such as when a crisis arises or when a tight deadline is looming, teams may not want to bother their manager or leader to ask questions or seek clarity, especially if the employees in question work remotely and haven’t got a physical presence with their leadership team. This means that their leaders are usually brought into the conversation too late and aren’t given the full context of the situation, making it impossible to make an informed decision to move forward. Lead with Intent I recently worked with a leader who mentioned that she had abandoned her one-on-one meetings during the pandemic. When I asked why, she said “They’ll figure it out.” Here’s the rub: they don’t. People may not always want to read a manual or play a YouTube video to ‘figure it out.’ What they really want is you. This is your game-changer. Yes, it requires more input from you as working with a remote team means there are more considerations beyond making sure the tech works. But, if you want to propel your organization forward, inviting clear and transparent communication, genuineness, empathy, patience and practice are the steps you can implement now. Managing Multigenerational Teams The hybrid and remote business models can also create a cross-generational divide that throws additional challenges into the mix. Communication styles naturally change from generation to generation, so you need to learn to understand this and accommodate those who communicate differently to you and others. It’s also important to show that you’re interested in your team. A boomer may be used to having limited access to you, but Gen Z wants you to play an active role in their learning and development. Remember, the younger employees of today are the leaders of the future - you play a role in shaping and defining the skills they collect along the way. Have an ‘open office’ policy where your team can drop in to see you, ask questions or ask for feedback on a project or their work. This works well for remote and in-office teams, especially when it’s harder for people to have direct access to you when they’re working remotely. Being visible is a two-way street. You can’t expect your team to keep showing up for you if you’re not showing up for them. If you can sense that something’s off with an employee, don’t wait for them to approach you or their manager, take the time to schedule a 121 call with them to check in on them. If necessary, put a plan in place to help them, whether this is delegating some of their workload or allowing them to take time off. As a leader, how you communicate with your team plays an influential part in the culture that you create, this is where the ‘show, don’t tell’ mantra really comes into play. The Future is in Your Hands The hybrid workplace is here to stay. Even if your own workplace is in-person, you may be working with clients, customers or other colleagues who are working remotely. This means that leaders need to adapt their management styles to suit different situations. This is where coaching can help you prepare. Leaders can coach for peak performance by encouraging the value of connection and being present. They can help managers learn to make solid recommendations, understand how to connect (or reconnect) in a sometimes-virtual world and develop much needed confidence and executive presence which will carry them through any conversation, meeting or presentation.
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