Should everyone on your team be in the office all the time? Can the work be done from home or somewhere else? Is hybrid work the right answer for your team or just a messy compromise? We get asked these questions all the time. It’s not always easy to get the right answer. But whatever you decide, it should be based on three key factors.
In The Long-Distance Team—Designing Your Team for Everyone’s Success, Kevin Eikenberry and I introduce the “3C Model.” It is our concept for creating the team and culture you believe will work best. These are the three factors that will help you decide where, when, with whom, and how to work best together.
The 3Cs are:
Communication
How and when do you need to communicate with each other? As a team, what work requires information sharing? Should that sharing happen synchronously, asynchronously, or does it even matter?
Consider the workflow—what needs to be communicated? Then settle on the best methods and tools to accomplish those goals. Are meetings critical to the way you work? Are webcams a sticking point? More importantly, does the work require quick communication or do people work on their own most of the time?
Collaboration
How does work get done? What are the necessary inputs and outputs that create excellent work and happy customers? Does your team regularly rely on each other or are you primarily independent contributors answering to a common manager?
When we think about collaboration, it’s tempting to think only about the “nuclear team” (your boss and immediate teammates.) But who are the other stakeholders involved? Do you need to build relationships with other departments or rely on others in other parts of the organization?
Cohesion
Determining how your team forms relationships, builds trust with each other, and thinks proactively is more art than science. Personal preferences, workstyles, and social needs play very important roles in picturing the ideal work environment.
Will you be happy in a siloed organization? Do you envision people actually having fun when they work? How can you quickly on-board people and help them quickly become productive members of the team? How important is work-life balance to you and your team?
Put Them All Together
Think about the practical demands of the work. Understand how to communicate with each other in ways that support those goals AND help create the cohesion you want. Then lead in a manner that helps you create the ideal emotional and psychological environment. Issues like where the work takes place become less important, but also clear.
Some work requires instant access to each other, or quick, smooth handoffs between departments. Other work is best done when people are at their best and can concentrate, in which case remote work might make more sense (at least part of the time.)
Before you decide on whether your people need to be remote, in the office full-time, or some perfect blend of the two, start with these first principles. However your team best communicates, collaborates, and combines to satisfy customers with great work is the best answer for you.
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