For many companies and their employees, a hybrid work model is here to stay. Over the last several months, TFCG has spoken with a half dozen companies that are unloading office space as fast as their leases expire and transitioning to a permanent hybrid work model. Boston Consulting Group (here), Harvard Business Review (here), Wired (here), and Forbes (here) have all written recently about different businesses and their approaches to hybrid work. I recently discovered that there is even a website (Build Remote — here. Thanks James!) dedicated to tracking businesses transitioning to remote or hybrid work.

The pandemic proved to many companies that you don’t need everyone in the same building to achieve results. However, a deliberate approach to maximize the value of in-person engagements with the team can take your accomplishments to the next level. As we move forward into the new normal of hybrid work, there are new aspects that leaders need to make decisions about. First, leaders and their teams need to revisit their organizational purpose. The organizational purpose, or why for the group, is and will be the sinew that holds the hybrid workforce together. Second, leaders need to revisit their cadence of meetings and determine which ones need to be in-person and which can be done virtually. Maximizing the effectiveness and impact of the in-person meetings can enhance the company’s culture, build team bonds that will continue to resonate virtually, and increase morale in the group.

Organizational Purpose

The organization’s purpose statement needs to be revisited regularly, even more so as the work environment evolves. The purpose statement is, of course, the why for your company or your organization. As you develop your group’s purpose, it is helpful to consider the five sources of meaning for people at work: the impact of the work on society, the customer, the company, the team, and self. Studies have shown that in large work forces, approximately 20 percent of the work force is motivated by each one of the impacts of the work. Having a purpose statement that provides, for example, a why for several ways your company makes an impact — for example on society, on the customer, and on the team — can get more of your employees behind the purpose.

Starbucks’s purpose statement is “to inspire and nurture the human spirit — one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time.” Starbucks’ purpose statement addresses several of the ways their work makes an impact. If your company’s purpose statement isn’t as good as Starbucks, use the exercise provided in the Organizational Purpose blog post — #104 to make it better.

Cadence or Operating Rhythm

The new hybrid work environment makes it worthwhile for companies to spend time evaluating their cadence of reports, meetings, and off-sites to make sure that they are effective and are driving the organization to its objectives. Have too many meetings and individual members of the team will struggle to do the work. Have too few meetings and you risk losing momentum and alignment. Just the right amount will enable your company to operate at a more rapid rate than your competition and gain or keep your competitive advantage. More importantly, leaders must also balance the cadence of in-person and virtual meetings. In-person meetings need to be high payoff events.

We have seen many of the companies transitioning to the hybrid work environment do a wholesale revaluation of their cadence — keeping the meetings that help drive the organization forward, discarding those that don’t, and adding new ones, if necessary. Also, those companies have kept only the most critical meetings as in-person events. Here are seven types of meetings to consider, their outcome, and their optimal time requirements:

• Annual meetings: Set targets and strategy (1-2 days)

• Quarterly meetings: Review results and adjust the strategy (.5 - 1 day)

• Quarterly team building meetings: Build the team (2-3 hours)

• Monthly meetings: Check and correct deviations (2–3 hours)

• Weekly meetings: Track and monitor execution (1 hour)

• One-on-one meetings: Communicate from supervisor to employee and from employee to supervisor (30 minutes)

• Daily meetings: Inform and align the team (15 minutes)

Each company’s purpose, people, teams, and culture are unique, but each should carefully select what meetings are done in-person to energize the hybrid team, build bonds, and enhance the culture.

Team Building

Many companies are using one of their quarterly meetings as a vehicle to build the bonds within the team face-to-face. For instance, where it once may have worked, gathering the hybrid work team at the local bar for drinks once a quarter may not build the bonds that you want and enable the team to overcome adversity while they are working remotely. I feel that the purpose of the team building activities is to learn about each other in a different setting, communicate, listen, create trust, and build bonds through a shared experience or hardship.

Research has shown that team building activities can positively enhance team performance, increase communications, and build trust. The top five team building activities that produce the best results are physical activities, field trips, professional development activities, shared meals, and volunteering. Let’s take a deeper look at each of the activities and discuss ideas on how you can use them to build your team.

• Physical Activities — Sports are great ways to bring the team together, get exercise, and see people in a different setting. From personal experience, if your team is bigger than four people, I would not recommend a golf outing — the foursomes limit the amount of team building that can happen. Ultimate frisbee, ultimate football, flag football, soccer, softball, paintball, ziplining, hiking, whitewater rafting, and even a group bike ride can all help bring groups together

• Field Trips — A trip to a museum, a sporting event, or a park can bring new ideas to the team and help build the bonds within the team

• Professional development activities — Workshops, guest speakers, trade shows, and webinars can get your team thinking about new ideas or revisiting the fundamentals of something you do regularly

• Shared Meals — Rather than everyone eating at their desks, a gathering over lunch is a great way to encourage casual conversation, get to know one another’s interests outside of work, and build the bonds within the team

• Volunteering — An activity the entire team can feel proud about doing can bring it together. A construction project for a good cause or volunteering at a shelter or food bank can help people get to know one another outside of work and build the bonds within the team

I recently hosted an “Olympic Pentathlon” team building event for a corporate group. The event divided the group into two teams and gave each team a series of five events to do within a 90 minute period. While most of the events were physically oriented (a relay race, take a group photo, etc), one event had the group sit in a circle and tell a story about how they became the leader they are today. The overall experience, and in particular the story event, resonated with all the executives and built bonds that are going to power them through the year. Conscious, deliberate decisions about team building activities, as well as thorough planning for the events themselves, are imperative to build bonds in the hybrid work force.

Conclusion

Go on the offensive with your hybrid team in 2021, revisit your organization’s purpose, and conduct in-person team building events to grow the bonds in the group.