August 14, 2023
The question in hybrid work is when should we bring people to the office instead of letting people stay at home?
The brilliant people at NOBL figured out a great model, based on what type of work actually needs to be accomplished (which is so refreshing compared to dialogue about how many days).
Novel:
The task or challenge is new; there may not be an established process. When it’s new, there can be a lot of fear and anxiety and it’s easiest to relieve emotional discordance in person. It’s also very hard to read tone over the text of email or Slack. This is where hybrid work switches to in person.
Experiential:
An immersive experience can possibly be more effective. This is especially helpful if you do anything tactile.
Collaborative:
When tasks require sustained synchronous participation among a group. So obvious and yet with hybrid work, everyone is still obsessed with staying at home. It’s truly hilarious that Zoom is having trouble getting people to come into the office. The problem is they haven’t created a great collaborative culture such that people actually want to come to the office. (There’s a lot of room for creativity here).
Hybrid work culture can include: team building, annual strategy meetings, and change initiatives. And remember, if it’s important, put it on the calendar!
Going into the office is supposed to be a great experience! Where are you falling short?
I’ll tell you one way is to upgrade the coffee. I need to do an article on this because the CEO of United Airlines recently said that what motivated him to start making serious changes was hearing the airplane stewards say they were tired of apologizing for the bad coffee.
As always, remember that culture is co-created. So don’t think you have to figure this out all on your own. You can crowdsource the ideas and then experiment.
