Rather than relying on an HR policy to help you manage a team who are working flexibly, try asking yourself these questions to make sure you’re getting hybrid working right.
- Do I work flexibly – or am I always in the office? What subliminal messages am I giving about where it’s best to work?
- Am I being clear about the outputs I want and then giving flexibility about where and when the works gets done? Or am I still managing by overseeing tasks?
- Am I being inclusive enough, or are my meetings geared to people in the office/at home? Am I accommodating the different needs and personalities on our team?
- Am I having grown-up conversations with my team about hybrid working? Am I being flexible enough, or am I being too accommodating and not pushing back if it causes problems with customers or the rest of the team?
- Am I having enough quick check-ins and chats about career development with the people I don’t see very often?
- Am I clear on the ‘moments that matter’ for my team? When should we be together face to face? Have I asked them when they feel it’s important?
- Am I using a range of tools such as WhatsApp or Slack to keep conversations going outside of meetings?
- Do my team members have what they need to be able to work effectively from anywhere?
- Am I realising the potential benefits of hybrid to create a more diverse team?
- Am I being too inflexible about where my team work because I don’t trust some of them? Could I handle this in a different way, so I don’t punish the many to manage the few?
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