Create safe spaces to learn from mistakes and voice

Create ‘safe’ spaces to learn from mistakes and
voice requests
Psychological safety matters in the workplace,
obviously, and in a hybrid virtual model it requires
more attention. First, because a feeling of safety
can be harder to create with some people working
on-site and others working remotely. And, second,
because it’s often less obvious when safety erodes.
Safety arises as organizations purposefully create a
culture in which employees feel comfortable making
mistakes, speaking up, and generating innovative
ideas. Safety also requires helping employees feel
supported when they request flexible operating
approaches to accommodate personal needs.
Mind the time-zone gaps
The experience of a hybrid virtual team in the
same time zone varies significantly from a hybrid
virtual team with members in multiple time
zones. Among other ills, unmanaged time-zone
differences make sequencing workflows more
difficult. When people work in different time
zones, the default tends toward asynchronous
communications (email) and a loss of real-time
connectivity. Equally dysfunctional is asking or
49 Reimagining the postpandemic workforce

expecting team members to wake up early or stay
up late for team meetings. It can work for a short
period of time, but in the medium and longer run
it reduces the cohesion that develops through
real-time collaboration. (It also forces some team
members to work when they’re tired and not at
their best.) Moreover, if there is a smaller subgroup
on the team in, say, Asia, while the rest are in
North America, a two-culture problem can emerge,
with the virtual group feeling lesser than. Better
to simply build teams with at least four hours of
overlap during the traditional workday to ensure
time for collaboration.
Keep teams together, when possible, and hone
the art of team kickoffs
Established teams, those that have been working
together for longer periods of time, are more
productive than newer teams that are still forming
and storming. The productivity they enjoy arises
from clear norms and trust-based relationships—not
to mention familiarity with workflows and routines.
That said, new blood often energizes a team.
In an entirely on-premises model, chances are you
would swap people in and out of your small teams
more frequently. The pace at which you do so will
likely decline in a hybrid virtual model, in which
working norms and team cohesion are more at
risk. But don’t take it to an extreme. Teams need
members with the appropriate expertise and
backgrounds, and the right mix of those tends to
evolve over time.
Meanwhile, pay close attention to team kickoffs as
you add new people to teams or stand up new ones.
Kickoffs should include an opportunity to align the
overall goals of the team with those of team members
while clarifying personal working preferences.