Q&A: Hybrid Leadership
Q: I was recently promoted to a manager role at my company. It isn’t my first time in a leadership position, but it is my first time in a “hybrid leader” role. My team is all around the country, and my company’s current policy is that any in office work is optional. This is new territory for me, how do I lead when I’m not around my team?
A: First and foremost, congratulations on your promotion. It is great that you are returning to leadership so you have past experience to lean on.
Which brings us to our second point: do you still go to the video store and rent VHS tapes?
Do you have DVD’s delivered to your house?
Or do you stream any and all content you want from a variety of services?
In this situation, we are of course talking about watching movies or TV shows. Once upon a time, we used to trek to the video store (be it a chain or locally owned) and scour the aisles looking for whatever title grabbed our attention. Then, we found out we can have the titles delivered to our house and we return them at our leisure. And then we didn’t even need to do that. We could just have the programming directly streamed to us. Through this entire process, the what didn’t change. We still select and watch movies or tv. How we did it changed.
It’s the exact same thing for being a leader in a remote or hybrid role. The what is still the same. Being a leader means building relationships with your team members, giving them coaching and feedback, helping them accomplish goals and developing them for the future. The how is just different. We can’t run into them on a Monday morning in the halls to see how their weekend trip was, or wander over to their desk to have a coaching check in while we head back from the break room. Leaders need to be intentional about these actions now, setting up time regularly to have those conversations, or even reminders on their calendar to send a quick message asking “how was your trip?”. Good leadership looks the same whether it is in person or from two time zones away.
Remote work offers a lot of opportunity to work with people we normally wouldn’t, and gives leaders the ability to build incredible teams. Companies don’t need to restrict themselves to geographical location anymore, with the idea if you want to work for an organization you don’t need to live within driving distance to their office. It also is pretty clear that remote work isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. You can embrace this for exactly what it is; an opportunity. Not just for you, but for your team as well. Because if you demonstrate that good leadership is the same remote as it is in person, you become an example for others to look to when they are in a similar position.
Start off by just setting expectations with your team. Including both what you expect from them and what they expect from you. Ranging from how they prefer communication for different tasks (meetings vs emails vs IM’s) to when’s the ideal time for a team meeting (mornings? Afternoons?) this way everyone is on the same page for how the team will operate, which lets you dive into the actual “leading” aspect of the role. Think back to what made you successful as a leader before, and how you can implement those same actions in this remote world. Better yet, what can you improve on? How is being in a remote leadership role actually going to help you be a better leader?
This provides opportunity for the flexibility we all want (and need) in our lives. Not just for the normal aspects like doctor appointments or picking kids up from school, also for the work we actually do. You can create time for your team to actually get away from their desk and go for a walk to generate ideas or creativity. Encourage them to take more control of their day, so they do their best work on their schedule. If their tasks are getting done on time, and they’re meeting (if not exceeding) the expectations you set, then does the amount of time they sit strapped to their desk truly matter?
Also view this as a chance to do more. View your team members as whole people, not just defined by their job description. With the increased flexibility, how can you help your team become better people instead of just better employees? You can enable them to use this new gift of time to work on personal goals as well. Providing guidance, flexibility and maybe even recourses they need to accomplish something in their personal lives that will bring them a sense of fulfillment. You’re able to coach and lead the whole person more effectively now, and create a team of well-rounded people, not just professionals who hit their numbers.
Don’t focus on all the things you can’t do, like walk over to their desk to see if they’re working. Rather, focus on all the things you can do. Utilize this new landscape to enable your team to do the things that get them out of bed, whether or not they fall in the realm of their professional lives. Help them excel in everything they do to become a better person, not just a better employee.
Because at the end of the day, isn’t that what being a leader is really about?
