Designing Hybrid Work

Conor Sheehan

November 23, 2023

By forcing knowledge work organizations into fully remote collaboration overnight, COVID-19 changed work forever. As the world was grappling with the shock and devastation of a pandemic, flexible work arrangements revealed numerous benefits for employers and employees alike. Data from around the globe indicate improvements in work-life balance, productivity, and business outcomes—truly a win-win. [i]

It’s not surprising that many workers don’t want to go back to the office full-time. A recent Forbes study found that 65% of workers want to work remotely full-time, and a staggering 98% of workers want to work remotely at least part of the time. [ii] Alongside these trends, as pandemic-related health concerns fade, many organizations are trying to reclaim some of the benefits of in-person work. Enter the hybrid work schedule. Hybrid work is aimed at seizing the best of both worlds – remote collaboration and in-office time – yet there is little consensus about what works best. Indeed, the optimal solutions will vary by organization, by team, and by the individual humans involved.

Complicated problem spaces like this, with human needs at the core, necessitate a human-centered approach to resolve.

One size doesn’t fit all.

“True, sustainable flexibility is about more than just work location and hours. It encompasses which tasks people do and how they get them done. It’s about making work ‘fit’ people, not the other way around. When organizations center the design of work on humans, values, and long-term success in this way, they become productive, resilient, inclusive, and equitable.” [i]

—Ludmila Praslova, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, Vanguard University of Southern California

Overly rigid, blanket hybrid work policies are unlikely to be successful, because different hybrid workers have different needs. Organizations should embrace a more flexible approach that is adaptable to individuals, encompassing not only work location and hours, but also the allocation of specific tasks to align with people’s strengths. [i] There is no one-size-fits-all solution, thus individual managers should be empowered to do what’s right for each member of their team. [ii]

A model that gives managers discretion to tailor hybrid work arrangements to individuals is a radical departure from traditional top-down corporate policy mandates. This could be a difficult pill for many organizations to swallow, but the pandemic forced everybody to question long-standing beliefs and assumptions about where, when, and how we work. [iv] There is a dramatic transformation underway, and leaders must confront the challenges head on and think differently about the solutions.

It’s a design challenge.

Organizations that embrace flexible hybrid work policies are wisely placing employee needs at the center of their approach, but this is an unprecedented shift, and there is limited data to guide leaders as they navigate it. [iv] How can leaders make the right decisions with all the uncertainty?

Over the last few decades, businesses of all shapes and sizes have adopted approaches to innovation that attempt to understand users, frame product and service concepts around their needs, and rapidly iterate and refine solutions. Often broadly referred to as design thinking [v], these practices have helped organizations across industries navigate the unique complexities of their markets to deliver meaningful value to their customers. Just as it creates value in the design of products and services, design thinking can also be applied to craft hybrid work experiences that lead to positive outcomes for employees and businesses alike. To these ends, hybrid team leaders can follow a process modeled after classic design thinking phases and concepts: begin by building empathy then ideate and iterate, and finally implement and refine.

1. BUILD EMPATHY

Empathy for users is the foundation of design thinking. To build empathy, project teams (consisting of Designers, User Researchers, and often their cross-functional partners) begin by immersing in user environments and studying their unique behaviors. This process uncovers user problems, needs, and opportunities that were often not apparent before.

In a similar way, hybrid team leaders must build empathy for their team members. While immersion in an employee environment may not be feasible or appropriate, the rise of video conferencing has broken down traditional barriers between professional and personal lives by providing glimpses into people’s homes, with family members and pets often making cameos. This shift has brought empathetic leadership to the forefront. Leaders should get to know their employees personally to gain an understanding of their “circumstances for flourishing”. [iii] They should ask questions, listen, communicate their genuine concern, and follow up regularly. This might have been perceived as intrusive in the past, but in the post-pandemic world it’s likely to be welcomed—and it’s essential to building the empathy that will allow leaders to design hybrid work that fits people.

2. IDEATE AND ITERATE

After building empathy, design thinking emphasizes ideation and iteration. Designers develop different concepts aimed at addressing the key user needs uncovered previously, rapidly prototype them, solicit feedback, and iterate. Often this process involves assessing concepts along the dimensions of user desirability, technical feasibility, and business potential. [v]

In hybrid work design, leaders should seek flexibility alignment (when, where, and how work is performed) and strengths-based alignment (catering to people’s unique capabilities) as they develop policy ideas. [i] In addition to individual employee needs, leaders should also be cognizant of relationships and team dynamics, taking care to design a holistic system that is fair and balanced, and ultimately facilitates innovation. [v] From here, ongoing employee feedback will be crucial. [iii] Discuss the solutions with employees, make adjustments, and run a trial period with clearly defined timelines and goals, and repeat.

3. IMPLEMENT AND REFINE

In this last design thinking phase, Designers and project teams transition their focus to implementation and go-to-market activities. [v] They also develop plans to obtain user feedback and measure results on an ongoing basis, which will – in the software world – inform a roadmap of incremental improvements over time.

Similarly, once the hybrid team leader has tested work arrangements with employees, solicited feedback, and made the necessary adjustments, they can settle into a steadier state—while making sure to keep the dialog open, identify any issues as they arise, and make any tweaks needed. Leaders should track the timing of policy changes vis-à-vis measures of productivity, innovation, and overall business results. Ideally, this will reveal positive correlations. If not, it may be time to adjust, but that’s to be expected—this is uncharted territory, and human needs evolve over time.

BY WAY OF EXAMPLE

To illustrate these concepts, imagine the following fictional scenario with Maria (the manager) and Emily (the employee).

Emily is caring for a sick parent at home. She needs flexibility, but full remote work is not the best option because she lost access to her home office when the parent moved in. Given her caregiving responsibilities, office time during normal work hours would be prohibitive. Together, Maria and Emily identify a workable solution: mid-day hours in the office a few times per week and shifting some hours to the weekends when Emily’s spouse is available to provide care. Maria finds “flexibility alignment” in accommodating these place and schedule needs.

Maria also explores “strengths-based alignment” opportunities. Emily is detail-oriented and a good writer. The business has a need for more product documentation, which most of the team avoids. It plays to Emily’s strengths, though, and her weekend hours would give her plenty of uninterrupted writing time. The team could then review her work during the week.

Maria and Emily agree to try arrangements that meet these needs for one month. After this trial period, Emily feels less stressed, and colleagues and clients are pleased with improved documentation. They standardize the work arrangements henceforth, understanding that needs could evolve as the parent’s health situation changes.

This scenario depicts how hybrid work designed to fit people can produce benefits for all. Though contrived for the example, it’s not uncommon for managers to discover complementary needs across their teams. [i] The solutions in this case (more time in the office—not less, shifting some time to the weekend, and new task assignments), weren’t necessarily obvious, but they were discovered by building empathy and through a willingness to entertain and try out new ideas.

In it for the long haul.

Hybrid work represents a dramatic shift, and it will require significant ongoing commitment and focus to get it right. [iv] Design thinking provides leaders with a process framework to inspire and guide them on the journey. As a bonus, embracing it builds muscles that can help them rise to the leadership challenges they are facing, hybrid work-related and otherwise. As leaders practice design thinking, “creative confidence” – the courage to try out novel ideas – emerges, and a mindset for iteration grows. [vi] These will be critical leadership traits in the post-pandemic world.

Learn more

For more guidance on managing hybrid teams, download our report “Bridging the Distance: Four Imperatives for Leaders of Hybrid Teams“.

Perspectives

Bridging the Distance: Four Imperatives for Leaders of Hybrid Teams

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[i] Praslova, Ludmila N., “The Radical Promise of Truly Flexible Work,” Harvard Business Review, August 15, 2023. https://hbr.org/2023/08/the-radical-promise-of-truly-flexible-work

[ii] Haan, Kathy. “Remote Work Statistics and Trends,” Forbes, https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/remote-work-statistics

[iii] Bingham, Sue, “To Make Hybrid Work, Solicit Employees’ Input,” Harvard Business Review, July 29, 2021. https://hbr.org/2021/07/to-make-hybrid-work-solicit-employees-input

[iv] Gratton, Linda, “Redesigning How We Work,” Harvard Business Review, March 1, 2023. https://hbr.org/2023/03/redesigning-how-we-work

[v] Brown, Tim, “Design Thinking,” Harvard Business Review, June 1, 2008. https://hbr.org/2008/06/design-thinking

[vi] Kelley, Tom and Kelley, David, “Reclaim Your Creative Confidence,” Harvard Business Review, December 1, 2012. https://hbr.org/2012/12/reclaim-your-creative-confidence

The post Designing Hybrid Work appeared first on Harvard Business Impact.

Learning Experiences That Get Results

Conor Sheehan

June 8, 2022

When considering a learning solution, L&D leaders have to factor in the needs of both their individual learners and their overall organization. For learners, learning experiences must be easy to use, engaging, and actionable. For the organization, they must deliver results.

When considering ROI, L&D leaders often ask themselves questions like:

• Will this solution help executives move our organization to a new strategic direction?
• Can it replenish our management pipeline?
• How will it upskill our workforce to meet tomorrow’s challenges?

We spend a lot of time listening to our clients describe their learning goals, and the challenges they face along the way. Our teams work closely with L&D leaders to provide learning experiences that get results. Through our work, we’ve found that our clients — no matter their organization, industry, or business challenge — are most successful when their learning experiences offer three key attributes: flexibility, scalability, and anytime/anywhere availability.

Flexibility

The pressure is on to provide learning opportunities for employees at all levels, with different career goals, learning styles, and skill gaps. Learning organizations today gravitate towards solutions that offer a high degree of flexibility. These solutions can support formal, collaborative, and informal learning.

Flexible solutions also address a wide range of needs that are both organizationally- and learner-driven:

• L&D leaders might promote an organizationally-driven initiative, such as aligning the organization behind a strategic goal related to inclusion, by raising awareness and providing knowledge across the organization. An organizationally-driven initiative can also support specific levels of leaders. For example, L&D leaders might identify and support high-potential performers who are on track to assuming more senior positions.
• As individuals increasingly take ownership of their career paths, organizations must also respond by providing experiences that are learner-driven. A learner-driven initiative could take the form of a self-directed assessment in which an employee identifies their strengths and growth areas.

With a flexible learning solution, L&D has the resources they need to deliver on their organization’s leadership development strategy.

Scalability

The rapid pace of change is presenting a major challenge to leaders and their organizations. In 2021, Degreed reported “nearly half (46%) of workers, managers, and business leaders believe their core job skills will be obsolete within five years. More than 36% expect their core job skills to decay within three years.” Another 2021 study, this time from World Economic Forum, found that approximately 40 percent of the global workforce will require substantial upskilling by 2024.

The case is strong for more pervasive learning. Not only do organizations need more sophisticated skillsets, employees themselves are looking for learning opportunities—and staying at their current companies when they get them. According to a recent survey we conducted, 40% of global managers and executives cite opportunities to learn and grow as the primary factor in their decision to remain at their current companies.

In the age of “The Great Resignation”, L&D is more important than ever. Organizations must provide learning at scale, with a consistent approach that can be delivered to a globally dispersed, hybrid workforce. This doesn’t mean that everyone goes through the same learning experience. Learners at different levels, with different roles, learning styles, and goals, are best served by learning that is geared towards their specific needs. Today, these types of flexible yet scalable experiences are increasingly online and on-demand.

Anytime/anywhere availability

Today’s learners are both eager to learn and pressed for time. Online, on-demand learning offers an ideal path to support learners’ ambition and busy schedules. Learners can “grab and go” when they find themselves with free time. For example, learners might:

• Listen to a podcast on growth mindsets while driving home
• Check their progress on an app after putting the kids to sleep
• Watch a video on wellbeing while running on the treadmill

Given these sorts of behaviors, even highly structured, formal learning programs can be augmented by incorporating on-demand content. When we make learning resources available anytime and anywhere, we meet learners where they are, and we make new knowledge and skills that much easier to acquire.

Actionable learning: driving impact across the organization

Flexibility, scalability, and anytime/anywhere availability underpin the learning solutions that today’s organizations need.

But when it comes to ROI, wide-scale business results matter. How can we ensure our investments in learning drive impact? By prioritizing learning that’s actionable.

Learning that’s designed to put new skills into action includes:

• An opportunity in every lesson to practice and reflect on what’s being learned
• Workplace assignments that can be built into lessons and on-the-job action plans
• Assessments that measure a learner’s understanding of a topic and their ability to apply new concepts

What do you see as the fundamental requirements for today’s learning solutions?

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