Hybrid (workplace)

Usually associated with cars the word hybrid is exploding onto the workplace stage. Hybrid workplace is something you are going to be hearing a lot about. But is this just another trend or is it a great opportunity? Is it time to jump on board and follow the crowd on be experimental and go your own way?

Hybrid working has actually been around for decades, many in the creative and tech industries have been used to highly agile and flexible ways of working as part of their culture, they have understood the power of a strong organisational brand. Working from home, satellite offices, coworking spaces, cafes, parks, hotels, client premises and a central HQ have been normal. Trust and technology have been part of the deal for the creative and tech industries for well over 20 years, employee engagement has always been central to encouraging people to stay with the organisation.

The masses never revolt of their own accord, and they never revolt merely because they are oppressed. Indeed, so long as they are not permitted to have standards of comparison, they never even become aware that they are oppressed.

George Orwell - 1984

Why has it taken a pandemic for major organisations to realise there’s a ‘hybrid’ way to work?

Some say command and control – 'unless I can see them how do we know they are working?'. Well that's all changed with the largest change management programme in the shortest time ever in the history of business. Getting on with your job from another place other than the office and having the technology to support you has been proven to work. It's time for leadership to stop fearing that their employees are skiving off and create great cultures that people want to work hard for. To really bring to life the values written on the boardroom or reception wall. The global workforce has now experienced other ways to work, that genie is now out of the bottle and it won't go back in!

The hybrid concept – a leader in challenging times...

We have all grown up accepting hybrid as part of folklore. Mermaids, as half woman and half fish, appear in stories from many cultures from the Near East, Europe, Asia, and Africa. They are often associated with perilous events such as floods, storms, shipwrecks, and drownings. They are a mysterious symbol of rescue from danger leading us through gateways into new opportunities.

Fauns are an ancient Roman nature spirit with the body of a man, but the legs and horns of a goat, often seen as shy, woodland creatures, adopted by C.S.Lewis in his epic tales from Narnia. Greek, Russian, Scottish and Germanic mythology are filled with hybrid entities. Often portrayed as leading us into new worlds and new concepts and ways of thinking.

Where could this hybrid journey take us?

Here at RAW Brothers we believe this is a time to embrace your own hybrid journey. Don't follow the crowd – find your way. It's time to experiment, be bold, work out what the workplace strategy is for your organisation, your teams, your properties, your ways of working. If you are able to influence and input into your organisations hybrid workplace strategy start by asking some direct questions.

Don't be afraid of relinquishing control

Hybrid isn't about lack of control it's about giving control. As we have already read, in times of need, challenges like global pandemics, we need something to help guide us through into a new world and new ways of thinking. Beware of trying to control hybrid, it won't work. We couldn't control the last 12 months and where did that get us? It showed as a nation we are innovative, faithful and dedicated to trying to do our best for our organisations. Yes it's been hard, and many are ready to go back to the office and desperate for some kind of normality – but this is a moment to seize in the history of the workplace.

This is a time to embrace creativity – where will it lead you to?

In 10 years time we will look back and question why we sat on tubes and trains everyday for hours, or sat in cars crawling to and from the workplace. How did it take such a restrictive period of pandemic life to show us such freedom? Freedom from having to conform to sitting at a desk from 9 to 5, from having to be in an office when it suited someone else, when it was more important to be seen than to see.

Trust your teams, challenge your leadership styles. Explore ways to get the job done that enable people to be people and to be the best they can be everyday.

RAW Brothers

In 2031 the world will be a different place and we will be better off because of what we have learnt in 2020. So now in 2021 we need to create, we need to be focused, we need to follow our intuition not the crowd, we need to harness the skills that got us here in the last 12 months. Embrace hybrid, different, alternative, flexible, agile, creative ways to work.

We build a bridge over the gaps in your organisation

We have a tried and tested methodology that helps organisations bridge the gap in the workplace culture. We unite 'Personality, People and Place' allowing your core values and brand purpose to come alive to the people who work for you and with you. This strategy is outworked through the place of work, whether that's at home, at a hub on your central office HQ. We understand the Hybrid workplace why talk to RAW Brothers to find out more.

Email us at [email protected]