What are we doing to develop leaders for the hybrid model? It's one thing to implement policies and processes to enable the hybrid model. But what about the all-important tone from the top – what are companies doing to shift their leadership search and succession planning to develop a more hybrid-savvy leadership? By Mint Kang
STORY
term, the benefit to employees is noticeably greater than the benefit to businesses and leaders. Employees are happier and more productive, but that productivity does not reflect in broader business performance – which is what leaders pay most attention to – for at least a quarter or longer. Meanwhile, HR teams pour time and resources into policies and processes to support hybrid work, while managers worry about the impact on collab-
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ven as companies around the world invest in the infrastructure, processes, and training to enable a distributed workforce, a curious gap remains. Surveys over the last two and a half years have consistently found that employees and organisational leaders have widely differing views as far as hybrid work – or remote, or flexible, depending on a company's approach – goes. Part of the challenge is simply that in the short
oration. Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon might have called remote work an aberration last year, but the second part of his remark got a lot less attention – the fact that he had 3,000 new hires, most of them fresh graduates, incoming, and was worried about whether they could be remotely integrated into existing teams. The easy way out is, of course, to put a stop to hybrid work. A considerable number of leaders have already tried that, with some even threatening to fire staff who work remotely, or demote them to contractor status. That harsh response clearly indicates that such leaders still struggle with the idea that hybrid work can be anything more than a drag on productivity and an obstacle to collaboration, even when faced with opposing research and real-life examples from their peers. Is there a better way to close this gap? The best long-term solution might be to invest in helping leaders work through this cognitive dissonance – matching hybrid strategies with leadership development strategies that enable leaders to lead and manage effectively July 2022 |
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