Written by Jesper Ridel, Director, LEAPFORWARD

Hybrid work offers unique opportunities to rethink how we collaborate and organize ourselves. Yet study after study shows that employee well-being and workplace engagement are on the decline. Has the hybrid model failed? No, but it is time to place extra emphasis on building a strong culture in the hybrid era. 

Things went really well at the start of the lockdown. Numerous international and national studies pointed to high productivity figures and a high level of satisfaction with the new flexible way of working. For many leaders and companies, it was a wake-up call to a new reality, where they had to acknowledge that employees demonstrated greater responsibility than anticipated and were actually able to manage their time from home. Over time, we began to see signs of organizational corrosion. It was difficult to truly bring new people on board; we missed the social connections, and many struggled with physical and mental well-being. Now we’re back in a workplace with greater flexibility, but where employees complain that office hours are barely worth the commute. It all gets lost in virtual meetings, and many still choose to work from home. And when we work from home, we’re good at immersing ourselves in our own specific tasks, but rarely focused on collaboration and relationship-building. 

Has the hybrid model failed?

It’s tempting to wish we could go back to the past, when everything was great and we were all just together in the office. But was it really all that wonderful back then? Were the meetings just super-efficient, with no issues regarding engagement or a sense of community? 

The truth is probably that the hybrid work model acts as an organizational magnifying glass, highlighting the issues that were already problematic before. Unprepared, unstructured meetings without an agenda fail miserably in a virtual or hybrid setup, but they failed before, too. Colleagues who didn’t invest in the community before may simply find it easier to hide away from home. And leaders who lack empathy and have a penchant for micromanagement will find things even harder under the hybrid work model. 

It’s time to embrace the hybrid culture and renegotiate the team contract 

Culture is something we create together; it needs to be nurtured and cultivated. In many places, it may have developed somewhat organically in the past due to relationships between people in the workplace, but now there is a need for a more targeted effort to lay the foundation for a strong professional community—both in the office and remotely. 

This is not a task that can be handled by the communications department. A strong culture and sense of community must be nurtured and built in close collaboration with employees, at the team level. It is time to take action and rebuild a strong sense of community and a strong culture—in a hybrid format. 

How do you work with culture?

In Daniel Coyle’s book, *The Culture Code*, he identifies three characteristics that underpin a strong culture in leading international companies. These companies have fostered organizational safety, eliminated the fear of sharing vulnerability, and placed extra emphasis on building a strong and clear purpose. Employees feel comfortable sharing mistakes, disagreements, or frustrations. Leaders are willing to show their own vulnerability, thereby making it easier for employees to feel comfortable sharing as well. And everyone can rally around a clear identity and a shared set of values. But how do you practically go about defining that hybrid culture at the team level?

In my work to equip leaders for the hybrid workday, we have often used a framework based on the following themes:

Purpose and Values. We need to start or restart the conversation about why we’re actually here, who we’re here for, and what values define us as a team. Since we don’t see each other as often in the office, it becomes even more essential that everyone has a clear understanding of these values and that we revisit them regularly during team meetings. 

The Collaboration Agreement. We need to define which tasks can be handled effectively from home, and which ones we’ll focus on more when we’re together in the office. And then we need to agree on how we’ll meet, communicate, and collaborate in this hybrid setup. 

Team goals and a social contract. We need to establish a shared understanding of the behavior we expect from one another and how we can build strong social bonds both remotely and in person. We need to work on self-management and develop a shared understanding of how expectations for each individual are changing. Finally, we need to define clear team goals that help shift the focus from the individual alone to the collective, in this hybrid environment.

Culture must be fostered in the local community 

It’s time to take action and build a hybrid culture. But this is a task that must be addressed at the department level. There can be significant nuances depending on professional groups and job functions, and of course also in relation to managers’ own abilities. But with a little goodwill, clear guidelines, effective facilitation, and an open mindset, you can go a long way and create the shared hybrid contract that lays the foundation for an even stronger hybrid workplace.

Jesper Riedel, Director, LEAPFORWARD Jesper has 10 years of international management experience, including 7 years of hands-on experience as a hybrid manager at Microsoft. Today, he is a speaker and consultant specializing in hybrid management through hybridledelse.dk