Caring to ensure committed results: “CARE” for hybrid work

Hybrid work has come to stay with its prospects and problems. Hybrid work typically associates flexibility. It is an approach that allows employees to split their time between working in the office and working from home. It can even be a “workspace” such as a coffee shop for some disciplines. As we discussed some time ago, the leadership approach has to be changed from classical MBWA (management by walking around) to what I prefer to call MBCA (management by connecting across). In doing so, leaders have to demonstrate “CARE”. Today’s column is an elaboration of it with specific emphasis on Sri Lankan organisations.

Overview

I came across an interesting article by Sharon Hill, an associate professor of management at the George Washington University School of Business, in a recent issue of Sloan Management Review. She highlights the leadership strategies required for the hybrid workforce. In proposing a “CAARE” framework (two As included), she discusses how to manage complexity and maintain effectiveness of a hybrid workforce. According to her, the CAARE framework combines four interconnected elements, namely, configuration, autonomy-alignment, relationships, and equity. I thought there is no harm in referring to it as CARE instead of CAARE. 

Based on research, she provides integrated and interdependent strategies for leading hybrid work. “On the one hand, combining onsite and remote work provides employees with flexibility while allowing them to spend some of their time in the office with coworkers. On the other hand, though, these arrangements may result in significant variability between team members’ work schedules, given that employee work arrangements are often driven by personal demands and preferences and may change over time. The shifting work environment this creates may harm team dynamics and hinder organisational alignment and agility”. It is worthwhile taking a deep dive into the CARE elements. 

Configuration

“The leader must keep the bigger picture in mind when working with each employee to agree on a hybrid work configuration that balances individuals’ personal and job demands with those of their team”, advocates Sharon. While an over emphasis on satisfying individual needs may result in inefficiencies that harm overall team effectiveness, a more rigid structure may undermine the benefits of hybrid work that give organisations a competitive advantage in recruiting and retaining employees. An effective configuration, therefore, requires careful consideration of which tasks the employee can perform remotely, such as independent work and routine information sharing, versus those that call for in-person interaction, such as collaborative tasks or the navigation of complicated interpersonal or task-related differences. Such an approach is much in line with MBCA. 

Sharon provides an example where the team members in one organisation were reluctant to come into the office because they mainly worked on independent tasks, but their manager recognised the need to come together periodically to maintain team cohesion. Fortunately, the organisation’s thoughtful hybrid work policy allowed managers to require employees to come into the office, with sufficient notice, for activities deemed critical to the organisation’s overall mission. The leader mandated periodic all-hands meetings for team-building activities, team training, and strategic planning, valuable tasks better done in person than remotely.

Such an approach is very relevant to the increasingly famous 3-2-2 work week. It simply means working three days of the week in a physical office space, two at home, and having two off on the weekend. It was last year that the Google CEO Sundar Pichai described how the company would move to what is essentially a 3-2-2 model, resulting in “a workforce where around 60% of Googlers are coming together in the office a few days a week, another 20% are working in new office locations, and 20% are working from home.”  Many ICT firms in Sri Lanka have resorted to a similar work pattern offering greater flexibility to employees.

Autonomy and Alignment

“Managers might feel a lack of control when employees alternate working in and out of the office, particularly when a team member’s onsite time doesn’t overlap with the manager’s own schedule”, observes Sharon. A typical response is to tighten the reins by closely monitoring and controlling employees’ work, but this can undermine a primary benefit of hybrid work for employees: flexibility. A better approach is to empower employees by granting them more autonomy over when, where, and how they do their jobs.

With regard to the alignment, Sharon advocates sharing information about team members’ work activities and accomplishments. Many organisations use shared calendars and work status tracking tools for much-needed transparency. These technology tools are most effective when coupled with a team-level agreement that specifies collaboratively set norms for productive team functioning, for example, core hours of availability, expected time to respond to communications from coworkers, and status reporting requirements. Alignment activities cultivate a sense of solidarity, which is essential for building a solid relational foundation to support hybrid work. This enables leaders to focus on main results rather than micromanaging how employees get their work done.

Relationships

As Sharon highlights, “relationships characterised by high levels of trust are the bedrock of successful hybrid work”. Leaders are more likely to grant autonomy when they trust employees who are out of their sight to act in the team’s best interest, but developing and maintaining trust can be more challenging with limited in-person interaction. Building a culture of trust should start in the configuration component of the framework by creating a hybrid work structure that includes opportunities for relationship-building, such as periodic onsite activities that include all team members.

She refers to a recent Microsoft survey of over 20,000 people in 11 countries that confirmed the importance of building social capital in a hybrid workforce. The surveyed employees reported that a critical motivation for going into the office is the opportunity for social connection. The thoughts of David Coplin, Chief Envisioning Officer of Microsoft UK make sense here. “We need to take a more flexible approach to both the workplace and the work we do; one that provides us both the physical and cognitive space to harness the incredible power, insight and experience we offer, but focused not on the individual processes but instead on the overall outcomes our organisations are seeking to achieve.”

I was inspired by Prof. Dave Ulrich when he wrote in introducing the term “Management by Checking In” (MBCI). It is the way a manager connects across to ensure proper checks and balances are in place. He observes that ““the best managers have always instinctively checked in and stayed connected with their employees,” no matter the obstacles.” Ulrich proposes six ways of ensuring “management by checking in” or “management by connecting across.” (MBCA)

1. “Schedule short, 10–12 minute, weekly videos or phone calls with employees that prohibit any discussion about work and simply explore how employees are doing.” If an employee is feeling burned out, managers can identify the problems and discuss what to do before the employee resigns.

2. “Be transparent in virtual settings by sharing personal stories or experiences, both good and bad, to model connection.” Ulrich highly recommends creating safe spaces for managers and employees to honestly share difficulties and celebrate successes.

3. “Ensure that positive or upbeat comments are part of technology-enabled connections, such as posts and calls.” Setting a positive tone via digital channels is as important for managers in hybrid work settings as it is for in-office settings.

4. “Express gratitude in every communication.” Ulrich believes managers need to share what employees are doing well, not just criticise. 

5. “Start meetings with a ‘good news’ moment by sharing personal positive experiences.” Again, setting a positive tone from the outset of a meeting can improve two-way communication and strengthen relationships with employees.

6. “Pay attention to the setting where employees work. Ask how their kids or parents are doing,” says Ulrich, “because caring, showing compassion, and being curious foster collaboration and connection.” Managers need to see employees as having multiple dimensions that go beyond work. Employee experience is enhanced when managers recognise that workers are, in fact, human beings.

Equity

Depending on the hybrid structure, individual employees’ in-person interactions with their leaders may vary significantly. Sharon identifies one potential issue as proximity bias, whereby leaders value and give more attention to physically present employees than remote ones. All team members must receive fair treatment, no matter what their work arrangement, to avoid feelings of isolation and fear of missing out. This is quite evident in Sri Lanka. 

According to Forbes magazine, Hybrid working is bringing proximity bias into focus. This is the phenomenon of favouring in person workers for career development, stretch assignments, and mentoring at the expense of those who work remotely or in a hybrid work model. The Executive Networks in partnership with MeQuilibrium conducted research among nearly 1,000 HR leaders, business leaders, and full-time workers uncovering the fear remote and hybrid workers have of proximity bias. While 32% of employees prefer a hybrid work environment, 43% view in-person work as the best for career advancement. Perhaps most telling, when we asked business leaders their views on the connection of hybrid working and career advancement, 61% of business leaders say their organisation places more value on in-person work than remote or hybrid work, and 56% of employees agree with this.

Adopting a results-oriented approach to evaluating employees that promotes autonomy should help ensure that leaders focus on clear objectives and standards for success rather than mere presence in the office. Fostering strong relationships between team members based on trust also helps mitigate proximity bias. Leaders must be alert to and guard against the subtle ways proximity bias can appear. For example, in meetings with both onsite and remote participants, those in person tend to receive more airtime. Leaders should consider having hybrid meetings where those onsite use their laptops for video (muting the audio), so everyone has a similar experience. Other ways to make hybrid meetings more inclusive for remote participants include having them lead a discussion, calling on them by name to solicit their ideas, and using electronic tools such as polling to gather everyone’s input.

Way forward

The establishment of appropriate configuration, enabling the team with proper authority-alignment, encouraging value-adding relationships, and ensuring equity is the sure fire way of CARE in action. Sri Lankan organisations battered by multiple issues, should strengthen hybrid work arrangements with better work-family harmony on one side and required quality and productivity on the other side. Being creative and innovative towards continuous improvement is the starting point.

(The writer, a Senior Professor in Management, and an Independent Non-executive Director, can be reached at [email protected], [email protected] or   www.ajanthadharmasiri.info.)