We already know that the impact of the pandemic on the workplace will be long-lasting. Business leaders need to put a lot of thought and effort into shifting from remote work to a hybrid workplace model. Building hybrid work experiences by making meetings more engaging is key to building an effective and productive team. Here are some tips:
Use Technology
First and foremost, you need the right technology to effectively connect. That means getting rid of the conference room speakerphone from 1998 and investing in video conferencing tools like BlueJeans.
Whether in the office or working remotely, no one wants to sit in meeting after meeting listening to a presenter drone on. Or worse, participating in a video meeting where there are so many talking heads and content being shared that you just don’t know where to focus.
Choose video conferencing software and tools that will allow you to create hybrid events and/or meetings. This will involve connecting team members through video, content sharing, and audio devices, regardless of their location.
The hybrid workplace model is still a frontier for most professionals. Investments in meeting technology only go as far as the practices that back them. Arm your team with tips on how to run a more effective hybrid meeting. Run workshops on how to engage remote employees in meetings more strategically.
Be Flexible and Patient
Over the past two years, many employees and business leaders have become accustomed to working remotely. In order to implement a successful hybrid workplace model, you need to not only look at your office space design, but consider what your employees are coming into the office to do. While some team members want to work from an office regardless of their schedule, a big majority of others plan to come in for collaborative tasks and then leave for more focused work.
Make Data-Driven Decisions
Talking to your employees is critical to making good decisions towards building effective hybrid work experiences.
But data can help you see what people aren't telling you. Your teams might think they want to come in every Tuesday but in actuality they are all showing up on Mondays and Fridays. When you let the data do the talking you can make plans based on actual proof points.
For example, data can help you see which spaces in your office are being utilized the most and which employees are in the office at any given time.
This helps you create a space that’s actually reflective of who’s using it and how. Having this data on hand helps you plan around high-volume days and ensures you have the information you need to stock and prepare the office space accordingly.
You Can Never Have Too Much Communication
A successful hybrid workplace model relies heavily on effective, well-managed communication to reduce the risk of poor information flow and disorganization within each team, as well as team members who work remotely feeling excluded or isolated from the rest of the team. It isn’t just restricted to individual teams and departments – internal communication should involve everyone across the business and be guided by the leaders at the top.
Hybrid meetings, where some of the participants join from the office and others join remotely, have the potential to reinforce a team-centric work ethic and get people back to normalcy.
Conclusion
A hybrid workplace model is about doing the right work in the right place in the right way, and when employees have access to the resources they need to do the job and more control over their work schedules, many find they can work more productively at home when they have a greater ability to focus with fewer distractions.
You can easily shift your team from remote work to a hybrid workplace model. BlueJeans provides video conferencing for the digital workplace.
For more information about how our video conferencing platform works to connect and engage everyone and how it can benefit your business, contact us.
Check out our BlueJeans Meetings page or try BlueJeans Video Conferencing for Free.
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