There’s a lot of talk about helping form relationships on virtual and hybrid teams. We want to build trust, help people get to know each other and get to know and like each other. Here are some questions for you: What movies do your teammates watch? What are their favorite TV shows? Video Games? What do they read? Why do you care what your teammates read? When we meet … [Read more...]
Learning in Cohorts for Hybrid Teams
How can you help new hires to a virtual or hybrid team connect and learn about the company culture faster? That’s a question we get a lot, and there’s no one simple answer. That said, one solution is to resurrect the idea of cohorts. How cohorts used to work By definition a cohort is a group of people banded together or treated as a group. It can also mean a supporter or … [Read more...]
Displaying Empathy While Maintaining Standards
A few weeks back, I was leading a class on How Leaders Create and Manage Remote and Hybrid Teams. Two of the participants got into a heated exchange that was very instructive. It raised a good question: When does empathy towards your team members get in the way of managing performance? One of the participants said how much he liked seeing people when they worked from home … [Read more...]
Two Sides to the Work Flexibility Coin
by Kevin Eikenberry Recently LinkedIn was abuzz about a post from Carly Martinetti, the co-founder of PR firm Notably, as she announced the organization would not be instituting a Return to Office policy. There is plenty to cheer about and agree with in this post. And as a remote leader of a largely remote team who has written, coached, trained, and spoken widely on … [Read more...]
Why Onboarding New Employees on a Hybrid Team is Tricky
When joining or bringing people onto a hybrid team, you encounter all the challenges associated with an office-based team, as well as many of the challenges that come with a fully remote team. There are also nuances because the new team structure will be neither of those things, but something new and often unprecedented. Specifically, our clients say that among their most … [Read more...]