Magazine

Since the health crisis, many employees have been returning to the office in person. However, many companies have implemented hybrid systems and are now alternating between remote and face-to-face collaboration. Employees in hybrid work mode, a headache? When remote collaboration is mastered, it is entirely possible and even beneficial for the company!

Generally, in face-to-face situations, the detractors of collaboration in the company can be numerous and easily act as obstacles to productivity. So, how can we achieve collaboration when working methods are turned upside down?

Discover in this article 6 keys to optimizing the hybrid work mode.

Management: agile method and collective intelligence

Inspired by the startup spirit, the agile strategy is developing in many organizations.

Choosing agile management means opting for an essential adaptability in order to improve processes quickly, create new opportunities and quickly counter a competing initiative.

You offer autonomy to your employees with horizontal management by favoring the collective “intrapreneurial” spirit. You encourage everyone to take initiatives and it is by innovating that we can be different on a market.

To achieve this, you must therefore be able to maintain a certain flexibility and be able to adapt to all situations.

Adaptability is also a key value in risk management: by mobilizing the energy and skills of his teams, the agile manager can deal with any unforeseen event in a very short time. The more the teams can adapt, the faster the return on investment will be.

It is a management style that can profoundly transform working methods for more meaning, productivity and efficiency.

On this subject, do you know holacracy? We have adopted it at Qwerio and we are talking about it in this article .

An agile collaborative approach that must take into account the difference in employee profiles

Beyond technical skills, soft skills are your drivers of performance.

You have certainly experienced it: remote work sometimes tends to shake up and mistreat our interpretations. Accustomed to face-to-face work, when we find ourselves working alone at home, the weight of words and our feelings are often stronger. We can quickly feel far from our collaboration and the group effect to which we can more easily adhere in our workplace. With distance, it is your ability to anticipate and take into account the interpretation of each of your employees that will make the difference.

Soft skills allow teams to be nurtured through close-knit, supportive and efficient work with complementary skills and are essential if you want to see your organization progress. Each of us has, between innate and acquired, a multitude of soft skills: critical thinking, creativity, team management, humility, curiosity, self-confidence, empathy, autonomy, boldness, stress management… However, the cognitive needs of your employees are so diverse!

We define 8 forms of intelligence. And yes, and not everyone has the same degree of emotional, verbal, intra/interpersonal, kinesthetic, linguistic, musical, logical-mathematical intelligence… This is also what forms the richness of collaboration and teamwork.

In your collaboration, including your digital collaboration, do not neglect the diverse profiles of your employees. Offer them tools and the environment that allow them to communicate and use their skills as easily as possible.

Think collective intelligence!

Managing in agile mode remotely

Collaboration requires the manager to be flexible and to admit that he cannot control everything.

However, it is also his role to put the right cards in the hands of his collaborators. How to do it?

Rule 1: Standardize and dematerialize processes where possible.

Think about your businesses. The digitalization of your processes will allow you to harmonize and structure your company. They allow you to gain in productivity, in time and to reduce your time-to-market. In the context of industry, they allow for example to deal with quality problems of existing products by reducing safety risks while protecting costs.

However, to do this, processes must be clearly formalized. Standardize and automate your processes where possible.

For example, automate your processes through a business application. It will allow you to easily identify danger zones (e.g.: faulty machine, problem on the production line, etc.) and thus prevent financial loss or a drop/defect in product quality.

The processes you choose to “standardize” depend on your organizational wishes and your company’s values.

Rule 2: Clearly define expectations through individual/shared goals

There are employees who will communicate a lot about the progress of their work while others will not at all. The manager must clearly state what he expects. When transmitting your objectives, there is the message that you want to convey but also the sender, the receiver and the interferences that do not mix well.

Set clear objectives, in the short/medium/long term. The SMART method is very effective when it comes to formalizing objectives, because it allows you to establish concrete objectives and give them meaning. That is to say, they must be specific, measurable (KPIS), achievable and therefore realistic and time-defined.

What is the point? This allows you to have a clear map and scope for all the stakeholders in a project and to unite around defined common objectives. It is necessarily more challenging to know clearly what is expected of us and above all, it avoids misunderstandings:

• First, when the objective is achieved, it is easier to congratulate and reward the collaborator and based on key performance indicators.
• Second, it constitutes a real roadmap that the parties have respected and to which they can refer = collaboration is facilitated.

Rule 3: Communicate and accept.

You have to know how to remain flexible: by definition, a collaborative work organization is based on the acceptance of uncertainty in the procedures, but also in the results that cannot be standardized.

That is to say, you have to work in good intelligence, always in agile mode and sometimes accept that the temporarily defined for example can adapt to the needs and the situation (for example: an intranet site deliverable that is late for x reasons, take stock of the strengths and weaknesses of the project to better move forward and it will certainly be necessary to review the priorities.)

Thus, it is necessary to accept the results without fully mastering the method individually and to favor collaborative work. To do this, there are perfectly studied and tested tools in the Microsoft365 suite such as Teams and Sharepoint which allow you to manage and structure teams remotely.

On this subject, do you know where your company stands in its digital collaboration? We allow you to place yourself on the right path to digitalization here .

The place of digital tools for remote collaboration

Within an enterprise, the term “Shadow IT” refers to the use of computer systems, devices, software, applications, and services without the explicit approval of the IT department.

According to Gartner, “one-third of successful cyberattacks against businesses target their Shadow IT resources.”

While this practice can help boost innovation and employee productivity, it also introduces security risks such as data leakage. However, over the past few years, Shadow IT has become widespread in many companies across all industries, fueled by the health crisis…

The main problem with Shadow IT is that it represents a security risk for the company: while software and hardware approved by the IT department are subject to significant security measures, this is not the case for unapproved hardware and software.

For the limiter, it is necessary to put the right business applications and the right tools in the hands of your employees. Be careful not to lose it with too many tools and give meaning to their use: you must deploy a real digital strategy.

For example, the tools in the Microsoft365 suite allow your users to collaborate, store and share securely. With real support for the uses related to these applications, you ensure good governance and unified and agile collaboration.

Collaborative corporate culture, train, train and train!

Digital tools are just bricks. There is no point in having the right toolbox if no one knows how to really use it. Training on good practices and a corporate culture that is already strong on digital are an extension of the solutions deployed.

Promote acculturation to digital tools in your organization, particularly for new recruits. Think about new arrivals: digital onboarding is necessary for new recruits on the solutions and uses used in your remote collaboration. To do this, do not hesitate to get support in this change management through training.

With clear processes, updated regularly, traced, adapted solutions and training from the start on good habits to adopt, you already gain a lot of productivity points and precious time to adapt! Be innovative, together.

On this subject: I advise you to take a look at this Microsoft video on the subject of “onboarding” in a hybrid working mode, played by the talented comedian Lucile Carbone.

Fail Fast So You Can Fix Early: Continuous Improvement

Discovering mistakes and your ability to bounce back from conflicts will be your strength. A failure only remains a failure if you do not learn from it. Capitalize on your sticking points and create a virtuous circle towards continuous improvement.

Take the time to reflect and look back on your projects: what were the objectives? What were the key success factors? What worked less well? What did you and your colleagues learn from it?