Many organisations, including Google, are now considering a hybrid working model post-pandemic, where employees work both on-premises and remotely. This will allow tech professionals increased flexibility and choice. If implemented correctly hybrid working environments enable organisations a greater access to tech talent and a potential increase in productivity.
Although many tech teams were able to transition to a fully remote environment during the pandemic, hybrid working is not without it’s challenges. We’ve listed three skills tech professionals need to succeed when working in a hybrid working environment.
Trust
Trust is vital when working in a hybrid environment.
As IT leaders, being unable to constantly monitor the members of your team and check that they are on track with work deadlines, can be a source of anxiety for some. However, working on the trust you have within the team will help to reduce this as you gain increased levels of confidence in your team members abilities.
Setting more in-depth goals between the team will help to achieve this as every member knows exactly what they need to do and how as a team you are preparing to reach your goals.
Communication
Perhaps the most obvious, yet most important skill is communication.
Working both remotely and partly in the office, has the potential to create confusing conversation channels, even more so than working fully remote, as it becomes harder to keep track of what has been said. Some members of your tech team may be in the office one day and discuss something verbally that is not communicated through universal communication channels with the rest of the team, meaning the topic could be forgotten or misunderstood.
To counteract this as a team it is essential to clarify your main channels of communication when working in a hybrid environment, this will ensure that everything important is recorded and available to the people who need it. Individually tech professionals should be aware when working in a hybrid model that they must over-communicate to guarantee that every member of the team is up-to-date. As an organisation it may be worth reducing the number of tech professionals within each team to reduce the amount of back-and-forth that is required.
Being able to effectively communicate when working in a hybrid model, will help to maintain the company culture that your organisation is striving for. Being able to over-communicate when working remotely will reduce the feelings of isolation within the team and help to foster the sense of camaraderie between the team when on-premises.
Awareness
Whilst the ability to be aware of others is also a key skill when working in a tech team, it is perhaps even more prominent given the circumstances we are currently in surrounding the global pandemic.
The Hybrid working model is the best of both worlds, it combines working remotely and working onsite meaning that at least for part of the time you are working in your preferred environment. Being aware that some of your colleagues may be struggling to work in a particular environment will allow you to work to each team members strengths and weaknesses when setting team goals, potentially leading to an increase in productivity. Alongside this, being aware of how members in your tech team are feeling, perhaps that are uncertain about the current situation, will reinforce the feeling of togetherness within your tech team, growing that desired culture and allowing for open communication.
With these three skills any tech team working in a hybrid model will succeed!
