A recent report by BCG highlighted that in the near future 65% of people will operate in hybrid mode, thus stimulating the reconfiguration of working methods beyond the Covid-19 emergency.

The pandemic has in fact forced organisations to rethink their processes in an emergency logic and required leaders to abandon their habits in terms of people management.

The data that emerged in recent months in various studies show that most companies are activating policies to support hybrid work and to reconfigure organisational processes in a more stable way.

If on the one hand this organisational intervention is fundamental, on the other it is necessary to combine these initiatives with a rethinking of the methods of action of leadership.

Specifically, leaders should be able to develop competences aimed at considering skills, motivation and emotions of people from a different perspective.

Building networks of skills

 From a skills point of view, hybrid ways of working require a greater boost to teaming. In other words, managers and organisations must adopt a more flexible and agile perspective in the creation of work groups.

It is therefore necessary to develop the ability to build networks of skills from which to draw on the basis of the need of the moment, regardless of the physical location of these skills.

A team-oriented approach accelerates adaptability, resilience and continuous learning processes that make groups and organisations able to react to shocks effectively and quickly.

An example could be those companies that have implemented "flexible marketplaces" aimed at finding the right person within the organisation, at the right time, with the right expertise, regardless of their physical location.

Need for purpose-driven approach

In terms of motivation, there are fewer opportunities to develop a sense of collective identity and a shared team spirit in hybrid working conditions as there are no situations of informal interaction and moments in which the whole team can meet.

To cope with this type of difficulty, it is possible to increase the drive towards one-to-one relationships aimed at finalising the sense of purpose of each individual with the aim of highlighting the purpose of each individual member in achieving the common result.

Having a purpose in fact means being aware of one's purpose within the organisation and having the sufficient determination to achieve it.

For example, during the pandemic, people in the factories of Tesla, Ford and other automakers worked to modify parts of their cars to create lung ventilators. Each of them has deployed their specific skills to achieve a collective goal.

Managing emotional pressure

Finally, it is essential to improve the management of emotions. In hybrid work contexts, it is possible that situations of isolation or split occur within the group.

If there is a situation of rupture within the group, it is very likely that different sub-groups with their own identity and their own ways of working will emerge, increasing the emotional pressure due to the conflict between them.

Situations of isolation, on the other hand, presuppose the emergence of cases in which one or more individuals struggle to actively participate in group processes, thus creating a sense of exclusion and detachment.

The leader must be able to see the signs of these changes in the configuration of the team in order to act promptly: on the one hand, trying to work towards the creation of a team spirit; on the other, by taking action in the role of coach.

For example, during the months of lockdown at Ericsson, virtual conversations were organised to maintain active contact with people and to involve them in discussions on crucial issues relating to the impacts of new forms of work.

More than 17,000 people from 132 countries participated in these conversations, generating more than 28,000 comments and suggestions to address the challenges posed by hybrid work, thus helping to avoid isolation and keep the discussion on corporate culture active through broad involvement of the entire corporate population.

Dr Massimo Magni is an Associate Professor—Leadership, Organization, and Human Resources at SDA Bocconi School of Management and SDA Bocconi Asia Center, Mumbai. Views are personal.

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