May Busch* interviews an author who has gained insights from thousands of leaders on how they managed hybrid working during the pandemic.
What does it take to lead and succeed in a world where hybrid working is here to stay, and where things will also keep changing?
Someone who has the answers is New York Times bestselling author, Keith Ferrazzi.
During the pandemic, Keith interviewed more than 2,000 leaders to discover how their organisations and teams adapted to new, often better, ways of operating.
During these interviews, he uncovered workplace innovations that unleashed exponential growth during the most volatile period in business.
We had a great conversation recently about what it takes to compete and win in the new world of work.
Instead of going back to work, Keith says it’s about going forward to work, and to do this well, we need to embrace radical adaptability.
Radical adaptability is the key to winning on an individual, team and organisational level and it encompasses three areas:
Foresight: Constantly assessing what’s coming around the corner, both risks and opportunities.
Agility: Using the information to adjust the business and adjust the team.
Collaboration and inclusion: Adapting to that information with the most inclusive conversations possible
I was especially struck by Keith’s insights about how to build collaboration and inclusion in a hybrid environment from wherever you sit in the organisation.
Here are my top three takeaways from Keith about adapting to the hybrid work context.
Replace serendipitous hallway and water-cooler conversations with purposeful questions.
If you ask the right questions and hold space for people to show up as their authentic, full selves, teams do not lack the connectedness and bonding in a hybrid work environment.
So, instead of diving right into the meeting agenda, start by asking: “What are you struggling with these days?” Or: “What’s your energy like these days?”
If you bring vulnerable conversations proactively into the room, you bond a group of individuals.
As we all know, vulnerability is the key for opening empathy in relationships.
What to do when you’re worried that team members aren’t working when you can’t see them.
The biggest challenge that leaders had at the beginning of the pandemic was “how do I know if my people are working?”
The problem with that is it’s not the problem of the employee.
It’s the problem of the manager.
Instead of managing to ‘face time’, manage to outcomes.
Adopt the agile teams’ approach of a weekly or bi-weekly negotiation with an employee or a team on what they’re going to achieve.
Then have them send you a written or voice message at the end of the week on what they have achieved; where they are struggling and what are they are planning to achieve next week.
Remember the reality is there are people who could be in the office at their desks, looking like they’re working and getting very little done face-to-face.
Let go of the ‘myths of collaboration’ that will hold you back from success in a hybrid work environment.
These myths stem from an outdated mindset that everybody’s collaborative input needs to be in physical meetings.
Thinking this way in today’s hybrid environment will hold you back.
Instead, successful leaders will use asynchronous work tools (like Google Docs, Slack) to effectively collaborate and progress ideas.
Only then does having a meeting become productive, whether that’s face-to-face or virtual.
The old way was about limiting the number of people in the room to prevent chaos and come to a consensus.
In a hybrid world, we’re better off using asynchronous collaboration to get more data and diverse input.
Then you can still have a small group of individuals make the final decision.
I highly recommend Keith’s book on how you and your organisation can embrace radical adaptability: Competing in the New World of Work: How Radical Adaptability Separates the Best from the Rest.
*May Busch works with smart entrepreneurs and top managements to build their businesses. She can be contacted at [email protected].
This article first appeared at maybusch.com.
