How do you effectively lead and manage a hybrid workforce? Just as the remote and hybrid working model forced people to re-evaluate what performance really is, leaders have also had to review the nature of leadership. What is necessary, what is nice to have, and what could really be done without? Just as importantly, what needs to change with a distributed workforce?
Just a couple of years ago, leaders and managers' response to the 'great work-from-home experiment' was wildly varied. Those who were more far-sighted and progressive quickly adapted and brought their organisations along with them. Some attempted to go about business as usual, while others tried to find a balance between embracing change and maintaining parts of the status quo. And a few, finding it exceptionally difficult to adapt, ended up falling back on micromanagement. Today, that same spectrum of responses continues to play out in the post-pandemic period, as organisations either settle into the new hybrid world or resist change.
It's clear by now that certain aspects of leadership need to change in the hybrid working model. Leadership styles, for example, have to be more trust-based and more people-centric - a step back from the highly empathetic approach that emerged during the crisis, but still a narrowing of the power gap that tends to exist in the majority of organisations. Leaders need to be more attuned to issues such as employee wellbeing, employer branding, and even employee experience - a concept that might have originated in the realm of HR, but which is in practice profoundly affected by the attitudes of top leadership.
Organisations are also reviewing their succession planning: the leaders of tomorrow might need to be selected and trained quite differently from those of today. And members of the leadership team may even have to change the way they collaborate, as the leadership team itself becomes as distributed as the workforce.
This story is from the July 2022 edition of People Matters.
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This story is from the July 2022 edition of People Matters.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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