Hybrid work mode: How to prepare for the transition

The pandemic has caused a lot of upheaval in the workplace. But despite the more difficult times, these major transformations, in hindsight, have proven beneficial to both employees… and employers. One thing is for sure: the way people work has changed and many will move to a hybrid work mode.

How do we prepare for this transition and this new environment? How can we ensure that the progress made in recent months is not lost? And how do we continue to make progress without having to wait for another crisis?

Step 1: Adopt a growth mindset

What’s a growth mindset?

With the pandemic, there was no choice: we had to do things differently — together.

We had to start seeing things differently and adopt a new perspective. How could we work and progress without seeing each other in person? How could we be efficient and autonomous, while trusting each other and still feeling close despite the physical distance?

We learned a thousand different things — about ourselves, about our colleagues, and as work teams. And through it all, despite reluctance and uncertainty, we kept an open mind… perhaps without even realizing it!

This is what Carol S. Dweck, social psychology professor at Stanford University, has dubbed a growth mindset.

The growth mindset is a state of mind that predisposes us to learn. It is a mindset that can be adopted for any change we experience. Indeed, we can deliberately choose to learn something and thus be much more agile in transitions, as individuals, as a team, and as an organization.

How can we adopt a growth mindset?

The biggest obstacle to this developmental mindset is… ourselves. Basically, the beliefs or certainties that we hold can be a barrier to our ability to learn, which is so important in contexts of great change.

Are you familiar with PODC?

PODC (Plan, Organize, Direct, Control) is an early 20th-century management model that’s still quite prevalent in our organizations. As its name suggests, it’s a directive management model, based on the belief that teams need to be controlled in order to achieve results.

However, several studies have clearly demonstrated that autonomy and trust are the name of the game today.

Is there a way to create a new PODC model that’s better adapted to today’s work reality? We are not suggesting a new management model per se, but rather a learning mindset to get through periods of great change — in other words, a new path to blaze.

These are 4 key skills that everyone (managers and employees) must master to develop new reflexes and adopt a growth mindset.

Step 2: Activate 3 levers to ease the transition to hybrid mode

To ease the transition to a hybrid work mode, here are 3 levers to activate with your team to help you build the 4 muscles of proactivity, autonomy, distinguishing yourselves, and cultivating trust:

• Involve your team and give them a choice
• Get the tools you need to learn
• Set some challenges

Involve your team and give them a choice

To get people involved, the first step is to debrief together to identify what we have learned as a team.

Here are a few examples of questions you can ask yourselves as a team:

• What strengths have we been able to demonstrate in the last year?
• What insights have we learned?
• What can we reactivate in terms of strengths and best practices? What strengths can we count on to make our return to the office successful?
• What are we proud of?

By doing this debriefing exercise as a group, we use collective intelligence and collaborative learning and build on the strength of the group to more easily develop an action plan later on.

The strengths and insights of the past year will be allies and powerful drivers as you transition back to the office together in a smoother (or at least less rocky) way!

We also invite you to share your concerns about returning to the office. Make sure that everyone can express themselves and, above all, that everyone feels heard. Involving, consulting, and validating beliefs allows us to take action to address these concerns and sometimes even transform the rise of resistance into engagement.

Once the concerns and questions are addressed, it is through shared decision making as a team that you will be able to prepare for the transition. Research over the past year indicates that the pandemic has given way to more collaborative management and co-responsibility.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have all been plunged into a choice deficit. Not having a choice is a source of stress. By treating others as adults and giving them a choice rather than deciding for them, you will help them have a more pleasant and efficient transition.

The learning tools you need

Once collective decisions and choices have been made, there remains a gap between the current situation and the “dream” situation. Expectations have been created and it is a shared responsibility to meet them. This means that we continue to involve ALL employees, colleagues, and collaborators in the process.

The transition back to the office can be compared to climbing a mountain. We’ve decided on the destination together, and now we’re at the foot of the mountain, looking up at the summit and thinking, Wow, this is going to be so beautiful! But we have to get there, and it will take some work.

How do we get there? By using the right tools. To climb the mountain, you need good boots, a backpack with water and provisions, and perseverance in addition to your goodwill!

How can you get the tools you need to make a successful transition back to the office?

To get the right tools, you need to have access to relevant resources. A good learning resource strategy, to promote learning and not hinder it, is the “JUST” strategy:

• Just in time: You need to be able to quickly access resources that are relevant “here and now” for any hot topic.
• Just enough: When you have too many resources (e.g. the entire internet) it might be hard to find your way around! A good content strategy makes it easy to find what you’re looking for, and to access just the right content, carefully selected.
• Just for you: Your need is not the same as your colleague’s, so make sure to clarify what your learning need is. The best way to do that is to set an actionable challenge — more on that later.
• Just within reach: You shouldn’t need 3 different login steps to access the resources!!! This must be within easy reach.

Another key tool is cultivating trust — individually and as a team. It is fundamental to start climbing the mountain with faith in your ability to do so. When it comes to getting back to the office, it’s the same thing: you have to believe that you can do it.

The good news? If you’ve been able to adapt to working remotely 100% of the time, then you know that you can work together, no matter what your future reality is!

Set challenges and learn together

Finally, one of the levers to succeed in this transition to a hybrid work mode is learning.

Of course, there are many ways to learn. We at Boostalab believe in the power of learning by doing.

Whether through co-development sessions, mentoring discussions, interactive workshops, formal or informal peer support, our colleagues are valuable “tools” to help us move forward in our learning.

When we learn as a team:

• It’s easier to see our situation in a new light.
• We can access new ideas or new knowledge more quickly.
• Dialogue forces us to articulate our thoughts, ideas, and insights, and thus make them more tangible.
• By sharing our learning goals, we are more likely to hold ourselves accountable for making efforts.

In short, it is by adopting the right growth mindset and by putting forward the new PODC that you will manage to make a smooth transition.

To develop the new PODC skills — proactivity, autonomy, distinction, and cultivating trust — there are 3 essential ingredients:

• Giving well-defined choices to foster autonomy.
• Getting the tools to learn autonomously (at your own pace according to your needs, by trusting yourself and relying on your strengths).
• Relying also on collaborative learning: by challenging each other as a team and by sharing experiences.

So, do you feel ready to start the transition?