While the lockdown is ending in many countries, including the UK, it is unlikely that people will return to working in an office full time. More likely, businesses will move towards a hybrid model, with some in the office, some employees working remotely part-time, and some completely remote. This paradigm brings many benefits to work-life balance and increases equal access to work. However, it also challenges businesses to develop new ways of working. So moving forward, the question will be how do you prepare for your team working remotely, how do you ensure their productivity, and how do you get your remote workers to still feel like a vital part of our workforce team through team-building?
How do you prepare your managers for hybrid teams?
Preparation for your teams working remotely starts at the top. Organizations will need to be flexible, fluid, and dynamic while operating virtually. They will need their leaders and teams to develop new skills to help lead them through this time. Teams will require to be networked like never before, led by new emerging talent, not by “time served” supervisors, managers, or team leaders.
Leaders will emerge organically based on how well they can pivot with the new working order rather than their experience under the old system. Meeting this challenge requires new skills and knowledge, but human psychology glues us to the old. We stick to what is familiar. Future leaders will need to manage teams in a new way, to advise more than domineering. Many managers will struggle to bring about behavioural change through instruction. Rather, individuals need to reflect on themselves to work out which habits they need to “Unlearn.”
As humans, you naturally want to stick to the patterns and routines you’ve become accustomed to even when they no longer serve you. Sometimes you barely notice these routines, but often routines can get disrupted, and you are called on to learn new processes. This change occurs especially in a work culture where the need to pivot is paramount.
Before you learn anything new, however, you have to “unlearn” your old patterns. You naturally have found a rhythm and pattern of doing things, and before you can accept the new way of doing things, you need to let go of your old patterns. This unlearning process can be difficult and will be one of the great challenges of dealing with a new hybrid workforce.
How do you get your teams working well remotely?
Teams will be more accountable to themselves to reflect this changing system. Organizational hierarchies are already flattening to reflect the new order of work. Accountability and responsibility will be devolved like never before. This is part of the wider trend to a more people-centric workforce. Indeed, the future stock of Gen Y and Z talent is seeking more flexibility in working patterns ever.
Teams will be more responsible than ever to members of their own group rather than management and will need to learn new procedures to reflect this new world. It can be difficult to learn new ways of doing tasks, as our brains are “sticky” and prefer relying on past successes. Having all team members working together and feeling responsible for one another is necessary for this workplace shift. Team-building activities are an excellent way to foster this new dynamic.
What are some remote team-building activities that I can do with my team?
One of the challenges you will face is making your remote workers feel like they were part of the team. There is a work culture that establishes itself organically with certain patterns and practices that are picked up from being at the office. The great challenge will be to make remote workers feel like they are part of the same team as those workers in the office. Here is where Teamvine’s team-building exercises can make all the difference.
Teamvine has virtual team-building activities that will make your teams feel more cohesive and make them more accountable to each other. We’ve worked with 2000 organizations worldwide and e mirror real-life situations, so your team can get practice through interactive activities, thus causing real change. By reflecting on how they performed, they will grow as individuals and perform better as part of a team. Let Teamvine help you and your teams unlearn old habits and fail-fast to change entrenched views about work. Teamvine will help your teams develop new, more innovative behaviours. If you are interested in creating dynamic teams ready to take on this new world, click here for to contact us.