Hybrid working, a detriment to inclusion?

There seems to be a dilemma ahead of us as we deal with two important trends in the workplace. The dilemma is this: “how do we ensure better and better inclusivity while at the same time giving people more and more choice about not being together as much physically in the office?

Home working is here to say, most surveys indicate a strong desire to work at home far more than say two years back. One of our clients conducted a survey and found that the average time desired to be in the office had changed from 5 to 1 day a week. Yet we all know that physical co-location has a massive effect. Those of us involved in large construction or infrastructure projects for example have often seen the massive advantages of co-location of project teams, and also seen how geographical separation can cause serious flaws in essential communication.

How can we deal with this? It seems to me that the requirement for the manager to be astute in the psychology of teams is becoming more and more critical. Teams do indeed have their own psychology, psychometrics help with building great relationships with individuals, but building great remote teams is another step requiring more sophisticated skill. Especially when it seems that the demands are now pulling in two opposite directions, i.e. the need for more autonomy and the simultaneous need for more inclusivity

The only way through this is to tackle the issue head on and begin talking to the team about what inclusivity and autonomy mean to them along with another critical element …… to bring the responsibility of great team delivery into the conversation with everyone. It is not simply for the team members to state their requirements in autonomy and inclusivity then sit back and expect the manager to sort out the tensions of these two opposing requirements. The question in collaboration with the team is not just about how we can engage with and respond to the team members in terms of hybrid working and inclusivity requirements in isolation from productivity challenges, rather the collaboration question is , “how can we give you more autonomy and inclusivity and at the same time ensure that we deliver what the organisation expects of us as a team?”

The most inclusive, the most autonomous teams, are drawn together by the magic ingredient of the celebration of fantastic delivery. The focus on the success of team productivity can be used to bring the best out of everyone, and give the best working conditions to everyone. Great teams have autonomous members with a choice about how they work as well as a sense of inclusivity … all this meshed together by the thrill of high quality delivery.

By Mark Miller.

Mark has a background in technical projects at a UK pharmaceutical company before he founded and ran a highly successful management consultancy business for 22 years. Mark has acted as a coach for executives within international construction, infrastructure and services business, and has delivered management and team development programmes for companies such as HSBC and Freshfields solicitors. Mark brings a commercial and productivity perspective to the topic of mindfulness. Other clients which Mark has been involved with include Societe General, Bank National de Paris (BNP), General Electric, British Airways, Goodyear Dunlop, Virgin Media, British Museum and YouGov.