Adam Wile is Kettle’s Head of Hybrid. What is that position, you may ask? Well, it’s a position we crafted to specifically to help our customers work their way through transitioning into a hybrid work model.
We believe a successful hybrid model isn’t just about software. It also needs hand-holding, experimentation, and collaboration. And that’s Adam’s job as Head of Hybrid. And, a fun fact about Adam -- previously in his career, he was a classically trained chef at a bustling NYC restaurant. So with this post, we channel our inner chef and dive into what we think is the right “recipe” to cook up a Michelin Star hybrid work model.
The impact of COVID-19 has us all surfing this massive wave of change and we’ve been rolling with the tide and no playbook since March 2020. Return to office dates have been constantly kicked down the road. Employees have been hired who live nowhere near what was previously HQ. Some companies have given up the office altogether. Some companies have forced people back with a firm hand. Others have gone completely hands-off and embraced a Laissez-faire approach. It’s anything but black and white.
In our research and in working with our consulting partners, we’ve come up with a few things we think make up the right recipe we think can help prevent you from overcooking your hybrid work plan.
Recipe for a Successful Hybrid Work Model
Ingredients
- Strong Capitan(s) -- LinkedIn recently announced that 10,000 new jobs were created in one month alone that were essentially creating the position of who’s leading the charge in implementing hybrid work. The titles vary and include: Head of Employee Engagement, Head of Future of Work, Head of Hybrid Work, and Head of Employee Experience. We also work with some great consulting partners. Successful hybrid models are feasible but whether it’s internal and/or external resources, you need leaders who are fully committed to bringing it to life.
- Strong Technology Platform -- When you start to peel back the layers of the onion, you realize that hybrid work is more complex than simply a 3 and 2 approach. Specifically, questions around who’s working where, when, with whom, and for what purpose need to be carefully considered and coordinated. And, each team has different needs when it comes to time co-located vs. time remote. It’s too much to ask that one or two leaders in an organization figure this out for each team. Teams need a tool to help them self-organize so they can plan time together that suits their bespoke needs.
- Data to Drive Decisions -- Hybrid work v1 is just the starting line. This is going to be a crawl, walk, run, fly progression. Everyone will be trying things and learning what works and what doesn’t. The key to ensuring your hybrid work model gets smarter over time is to gather the right data (even before you know all the questions you may want to ask) to support optimization. Over the next decade, there will be some clear best practices around hybrid work and those that have useful data (quantitative and qualitative) will have advantages to make their organizations thrive in hybrid with happier people.
Preparation
We recommend taking an approach that embraces empathy, open communication, and a positive attitude. Getting hybrid right is going to take time and these attributes will help solicit feedback from your people and earn goodwill that you’re trying your best with this new problem set.
Our purpose is to make time together count, please reach out if we can be helpful to you. Bon appetit!