There’s a lot of talk about Hybrid Work and Hybrid Teams. Usually that means the team is some combination of people in the office or central location, and some people working elsewhere, either full time or occasionally. We often use the term as a catch-all: the team is neither fully remote or fully co-located so it’s a hybrid. That may not be the right way to think about it.

In biological terms, a hybrid is a mix of two beings that creates something with traits of both parents but is a unique being. It has replicable traits that nothing else has, and is bred to make the best (hopefully) of the factors in its genetic makeup.

It looks familiar, but it’s really new

The important point is that it is something new.  It may look a bit like what came before it, but there are desirable traits that don’t exist anywhere else. A Gala apple, for example, is relatively sweet (as long as you eat it quickly) and lasts a long time so that it will travel well and look good when it gets to your local grocer. There are apples that taste better, but you have to live close to where they’re grown or they’ll start to turn. The Gala is designed to stay fresh-looking longer than most others. You give up something (overall taste) for something else (no spots and less waste.)

Okay, what does that have to do with your team?

Many people treat dispersed teams as making the best of a bad situation. They know that there are some advantages (people get together occasionally and work more or less on the same schedule), and so they try to replicate the office experience as best they can. This can work, but does this hybrid work better than all remote or all co-located teams?

The most successful and innovative hybrid teams aren’t just duplicating what already exists, they are focused on working in new ways that actually take advantage of new ways of working and thinking about collaboration.

Why hybrid is actually something new

Here are a few things that hybrid teams do differently than simply traditional dispersed teams:

• They think about time differently. Most importantly they are less focused on everyone being on the same schedule. Too often you hear “you can work from anywhere, on your own schedule, but our office runs 8-5 Eastern time and you’d better be available.” How much flexibility then, do people really have?
• They optimize time spent together and time spent apart from each other. There is a reason to assemble the team (online or in person) and times when it’s best to let them work on their own schedule.
• They realize that asynchronous work is valuable and can often augment (not just replace) synchronous work. When people use their time to prepare for, and think about, ways to improve after a meeting they often get better overall results and less group-think. That’s an advantage of hybrid teams if they’re well-led.
• Hybrid teams may be more diverse. By allowing people to work where they are, teams can be more inclusive of those with physical disabilities, as well as people from different regions, countries or time zones. Your talent pool is exponentially bigger.

This doesn’t mean going hybrid is the right answer for every team. Remember that a Gala apple looks good longer (if that’s what you’re going for) but isn’t as sweet as a MacIntosh, or as good for cooking as a Granny Smith.

Before making sweeping decisions about how your team should look, you need to start with knowing what work needs to be done, and what’s most important to your people and your organization to make that happen. Then figure out the tasks, behaviors, ideal communication, and other traits critical to success.

You can then experiment until you find the right combination and create a better, if not perfect, hybrid team.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Wayne Turmel
Co-Founder and Product Line Manager

Wayne Turmel is the co-founder and Product Line Manager for the Remote Leadership Institute. For twenty years he’s been obsessed with helping managers communicate more effectively with their teams, bosses and customers. Wayne is the author of several books that demystify communicating through technology including Meet Like You Mean It – a Leader’s Guide to Painless & Productive Virtual Meetings, 10 Steps to Successful Virtual Presentations and 6 Weeks to a Great Webinar. His work appears frequently in Management-Issues.com.

Wayne, along with Kevin Eikenberry, has co-authored the definitive book on leading remotely, The Long-Distance Leader: Rules for Remarkable Remote Leadership. Wayne and Kevin’s follow-up book, The Long-Distance Teammate, offers a roadmap for success not just for leaders, but for everyone making the transition to working remotely.

The latest book from Wayne and Kevin shows leaders how to design a team culture that has a one-team mindset and gets great results under hybrid-work conditions. You can pre-order The Long-Distance Team: Designing Your Team for Everyone’s Success now.