Hybride werken? Hoezo?
Ik blijf hier graag herhalen dat we niet met z’n allen een thuiswerkexperiment aan het doen zijn, maar dat we een pandemie bestrijden. Dus dat het thuiswerken kraakt en piept en echt niet alleen maar voordelen heeft, lijkt me zeer evident. Want de meeste organisaties zijn van vrijwel helemaal niet thuiswerken teruggegaan naar volledig thuiswerken. Een enorme stap. We hebben allemaal ondertussen ervaren wat de voor- en nadelen zijn van het thuiswerken. En we hebben geleerd dat het ook nog eens voor iedereen persoonlijk is. De een vindt het heerlijk, de ander springt tegen de muur op. Maar voordat we nu allemaal massaal hybride gaan werken en de discussie gaan voeren over 2 of 3 dagen vanuit huiswerken, wil ik iedereen adviseren om vooral eerst jezelf de vraag te stellen of en waarom je hybride zou willen werken. Ik adviseer daarom de transitie naar hybride werken goed voor te bereiden en na te denken over de volgende 4 stappen.
- Determine why you would want to work hybrid as an organization. What is your goal with it? Is it about retaining employees or do you want it to be about productivity or customer satisfaction as well? And maybe hybrid working does not fit your culture or business goals at all? Then I wouldn’t do it. Hybrid work should fit your company, your customers and your own culture. And you certainly shouldn’t do it because everyone else is doing it! So make it part of the goals.
- If you want to go hybrid, decide together what hybrid working looks like. This goes beyond the level of “we’re going to work from home 2 days a week” but is more about what that working looks like for you. For example, when starting a new project, do we do that in the office or also (partly) at home? What helps me the most in looking at hybrid working is determining what tasks and goals I have and what place fits that best. Just doing some tasks? Then put me at home. But if I want to think about something, I always need someone around me to help think about it. So place follows work and not the other way around.
- What behaviors go with hybrid working. It’s not just about the design of work and tasks, locations and technology. It is also about our own behavior and how we connect that to hybrid working. What does it require of ourselves? How do we want to interact with each other as colleagues? And what kind of leadership goes with our form of hybrid working? It is not enough to say ‘we are going to work in a hybrid way’ but consider together with your employees what that means for our own behavior.
- Finally, hybrid working does not happen by itself. So determine what you need for your form of hybrid working. Do your employees need certain help. Does it demand something of the layout of your office building or home locations? And what technology do you deploy to be able to work (together) anywhere, anytime? Or will you handle data and information differently so that everyone in the organization has enough information to make decisions at any time and from any location?
In short, hybrid working requires a lot from an organization. So before you start, determine what hybrid working can do for you. Maybe you shouldn’t want it at all because it doesn’t fit the work or customer demand? Or is it actually the solution for your company’s future? In any case, start with the question: why should we want hybrid working and why does it suit us? Before going into the how and what! If you need help or want to learn more about this? Then contact me!
Foto door Ivan Samkov
