Hybrid work schedules are normalizing across industries and geographies. According to research from JLL, 87% of organizations have adopted hybrid policies and only ~ 3% of companies are fully remote. .
Still, fostering collaboration in a hybrid workplace has remained challenging. According to experts from JLL, a global real estate services company, cultivating that cultural output can be enhanced with some key strategies.
New Challenges Arise With Pivot to Hybrid Workplace
JLL’s SVP of Workplace Strategy, Courtney Fain notes that, among the challenges, JLL research shows that employees now spend up to 50% of their workday in meetings, which makes coordinating schedules difficult. Ensuring equal participation between remote and in-office attendees is also essential, as is addressing those inequities as they arise.
“As employees are distributed across geographies and time zones, organizations need to clearly articulate what activities are better suited for remote days, and what culture-building activities are more effective in-person,” says Fain.
Other challenges include maintaining consistent communication and collaboration across distributed teams, and managing technology issues for hybrid meetings – all of which need to be well-handled by employers.
Clear Communication and Intention
Despite communication and a flexible approach, employees still may be resistant to ongoing meetings for a variety of reasons. Lauren Hasson, SVP of Workplace Strategy, says there are several important outcomes that will occur if an organizer can clearly communicate a meeting’s intention.
“If there is clear intention, it will help ensure productive use of participants’ time and allow them to prepare effectively,” says Hasson. Additionally, if unnecessary meetings can be reduced, it can have a knock-on effect for the meetings that remain. Hasson says that meetings with an obvious goal can increase engagement and focus for participants and facilitate better decision-making and outcomes.
Encouraging Group Engagement
Both Fain and Hasson agree that lowering the barriers to engagement is key to productive hybrid meetings or gatherings, even using relatively simple tactics.
“We encourage using interactive tools and platforms to increase open dialogue between participants,” says Fain. She adds that assigning roles or responsibilities to different participants can shake-up a staid meeting, while also remembering to recognize individual contributions.
Hasson says non-traditional techniques can also help, including incorporating polls, quizzes or surveys; and even using name tags or place cards.
“Regardless of what tactics you use, always lead with creating clear goals or objectives to generate a successful meeting outcome. Not every meeting needs to take the full 30min just because that’s the calendar default.” says Hasson.
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