This article will focus on guiding you on how to run projects in a hybrid environment. Mixed teams can be difficult to manage, but if you provide them with the right tools, they will flourish.
Planning, running and delivering a project is not an easy task. Not only do you need to find the right people, but to also ensure they stay on track at all times. There is a whole new level of difficulty coming into play when we add remote and/or hybrid workers into the mix. Teams that are not centralised are, naturally, even more difficult to manage. However, in our modern age, we are blessed with a wide variety of digital tools that make it possible. In fact, the right setup might make mixed teams even more efficient than fully in-person ones.
But the vast selection of options poses a challenge of its own. What exact tools do you need and how to pick the right ones? The secret is to focus on the key obstacles working with mixed teams brings. And in this article, we will be not only highlighting them but also guiding you towards the best solutions.
How Do You Manage Remote and Hybrid Teams?
To manage mixed teams, you need to have a plan in place. It includes the following:
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Defined means of communication;
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Clarity regarding roles and responsibilities;
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Wellbeing monitoring;
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Conflict management measures;
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Cyber security;
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Performance management strategy;
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Collaboration-supporting outlets;
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Support system;
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Defined team structure;
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Clear and transparent workflows;
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Regular team and one-on-one meetings.
Ensuring all these points are included in your strategy is non-negotiable if you want to succeed. While we won’t be exploring each of them individually, we will next be touching on some of the most important clauses.
Bridge the Gap
The main obstacle when working with mixed teams is connecting them. Working on the same project and achieving good results is practically impossible if the involved parties don’t work together. And so your key priority is to ensure that, no matter where they are based, your workers have the outlets to communicate and collaborate.
Ensure Easy Communication
The biggest challenge when running a project with a mixed team is making sure they have a sufficient communication channel. Or, for the best results, several options. For example, email might be great for getting others to participate in external conversations. For quick internal inquiries, however, an instant messenger would be a better solution. And for file sharing, consider centralised document storage.
Given your team is not seeing each other face-to-face at all times, the quality of their communication is on a steep decline. It’s easy to misread written messages and video calls don’t accurately decipher one’s body language and facial expressions. It’s impossible to replace in-person communication entirely, but by offering different outlets for how and where your workers interact you can at least claim back a big chunk of efficiency. That said, if possible, try gathering your team together for an in-person meeting once in a while too.
Provide Environment for Real-Time Collaborations
Following up on the ideas expressed above, communication isn’t the only process that will require multiple platforms to drive it. Collaboration is just as important. While some may lump them together, the concepts are similar but are ultimately very different. Communication is about how to get about doing things, whereas collaboration is getting them done. They go hand-in-hand but are also separate entities.
When it comes to choosing the right platforms, your goals should be the guide. A clear understanding of what you’re trying to achieve and within what time frame is crucial when building your tech setup. The secondary criteria are your team’s overall working style and existing dynamics. Do they trust each other entirely or tend to spot for one another? Are they more hands-free type of workers or tend to communicate every step of the process? There is a wide variety of digital solutions available on the market, so no matter your answer, there is certainly something out there to cater for you.
Aim for Efficiency
A unique setup makes it easy to miss out on efficiency. But if done correctly, it can become the key driver of it. A little bit of strategy and tinkering with digital looks will help you build processes capable of elevating your entire business.
Onboarding Sets the Tone
You must have heard the expression that first impressions matter the most. This is true when it comes to project management teams too. When dealing with mixed teams, the efficiency of onboarding can truly set the tone and expectations about how will the project run. If it takes time, things get lost in email threads or the process is generally inconvenient, the workers may not be giving their 100% moving forward as they could see this as incompetency.
You want to save as much time as possible and pour it back into project delivery. These are but a few reasons why you shouldn’t skip on designing a quick, intuitive and effortless onboarding process. We highly recommend using a digital platform for that. If connected to your other tools, it can give you control over blocking workers from using the company’s software until their paperwork is approved. Not to mention, their documents will be saved straight to your server.
Automate for Smoothness
With every second article on the internet talking about automation and its benefits, we don’t need to reassure you this is a great thing. However, we would like to emphasise it being incredibly beneficial in projects run by mixed teams, where a task handover process can get a little trickier due to a lack of in-person communication. Automation is precisely what solves this hurdle, with close to no effort on your side.
The degree to which you wish to automate or the parts you’d like to leave out for humans to run all depend on you. There are no right or wrong answers when choosing the steps of processes you’d entrust to automation. Or if it’s the entire process. As long as it helps your team work more efficiently, saves time and reduces the risk of human error - the approach is right. Plus, not only you can but absolutely should revisit it now and then for additional optimisation. After all, there is no limit to improving.
Care for the People
Your most valuable tool is your workers. No software will replace their contribution. And you need to make sure they know how much you value them. Make them your priority. Invest in them. Create the best environment for them to thrive in.
Don’t Disregard Relationship Building
It is easy to get sucked into the technological setup of a project relying on mixed teams and forget you are still dealing with the people. No matter how intricate your collaboration and communication workflows are, a lack of internal synergy won’t let you reach the best results. That’s why you, before anything, need to think about how to build a connection between team members on a personal level.
Consider some ice-breaker activities like virtual pop quizzes or activity classes if it’s impossible to gather all your workers in real life. Otherwise, a getaway with some problem-solving team challenges can do wonders. However, instead of driving interactions, focus on only triggering them and pushing them in the right direction if needed. Relationships cannot be forced and only the ones formed organically will matter in the long run. It’s okay for you to stir the conversation, but don’t dictate the course of it.
Summary
Running projects with mixed teams presents a new set of challenges. But the right tools make them easy to overcome. The key is to address the elephant in the room from the get-go, namely the options for communication and collaboration. Regardless of the business, the main obstacle when combining in-person and remote teams is ensuring they are connected at all times. And the secondary concern is ensuring their work cycles are efficient. Automation is perfect for that from day one - starting with onboarding.
However, as important as tools are to ensure the project runs smoothly even when your team is scattered in different locations, they are not enough. Don’t forget that your employees are human and therefore for them to perform best, a level of synergy will be needed. Try and drive as many non-work related interactions as possible. But don’t force them - let the relationships build organically, with just a bit of gentle guidance.
Looking for the right tools for your mixed teams? Check out what we’ve got to offer.
