How to run the Hybrid Team Playbook
Follow this step-by-step guide
Time
2x 90 minutes - with a break in between
People
your full hybrid team + 1 facilitator
Technology
Video-call system of your choice
+ Mural with the Playbook
/ or the PDF and another collaborative documentation tool (e.g. google slides)
Facilitation instructions
Ask everyone to the first step: individual needs, prior to the workshop and bring their reflections to the workshop.
Get your team on a video call.
If some of you are working together in a room, everyone should log in to the Mural or have access to the Hybrid Team Playbook individually.
Start by explaining WHY you are creating the hybrid team playbook together:
to understand each other’s needs and foster team alignment
agree on common norms and build understanding
create the basis for your best collaboration as a hybrid team
When you are ready, go through each of the 11 segments one by one and ask the questions in the step-by-step guide below.
You don’t have to work through all the questions. Just focus on the ones that are most relevant to you.
Adapt the questions to your needs or add your own.
Limit the time quite strictly and park non-related topics that come up in a parking lot.
The goal is to create a first version of the Hybrid Team Playbook quite quickly and adjust after you’ve played by your book a while.
To enable equal participation and dismantle hierarchies, you might want to think about engaging a facilitator for this session.
In each step
Every team member writes down their input on sticky notes in silence for 2-5 minutes.
Share them with the team one after the other.
If necessary, find agreement and document your decision in every segment.
Everything clear? If not, get help!
1) Individual needs
Time: 15 min (done individually before the team workshop)
Great team work is all about the people and how well you set up your collaboration based on everyone’s needs and circumstances. Individually, before the workshop, think about the following questions or create your own based on your team’s specific needs. During the workshop, discuss the answers with each other.
how is each team member’s remote work situation? (e.g. small space, kids, internet connection, ergonomics, commute) and how does that affect your need for an office or to work from home?
where can you perform your most focused work?
what is your preferred time of the day to get work done?
what do you miss the most when you are working from home?
which tasks would you prefer to do in a shared space with your colleagues?
what are your biggest motivation boosters and killers?
when have you felt excluded from your team while working from home and why? how can you improve that?
Can you see any themes and shared needs for the team? Create your shared “how we work” rules and an action plan to change things if necessary.
2) Norms & rules
Time: 15 min
The norms you create here are the guiding statements you agree to as a team to drive expected behaviour and clarify expectations. Take this step to discuss how you want to work together, for example:
which mandatory rules apply to your office and home (e.g. privacy, data security, physical safety)?
what are your team’s availability hours for internal and external stakeholders and how do you ensure them?
how do you ensure equality and inclusivity in everything you do (participation, recognition, infrastructure)?
which tasks do you want to perform together in person and how do you make the best use of that time?
which tasks are better suited for working distributed as a team and individually?
Agree on your team norms and create a set of guidelines. You can add your rules from step 1, if suitable.
3) Meetings
Time: 15 min
Online, in-person and hybrid meetings all have their particularities. And all of them should be planned purposefully, never just out of commodity. Take this time to think about if you really need people to be present at the same time or if other forms of sharing are more effective. For the meetings that you need, ask questions like:
which regular meeting schedule do you want to set? Are there any you can skip for the sake of effectivity?
how do you make your meetings inclusive?
which technology do you use to best enable hybrid meetings?
how do you organise your hybrid work schedule (who is in the office when)?
From your answers, create a list of criteria for your meetings.
4) Communication
Time: 15 min
Communication is one of the most important enablers of successful hybrid collaboration - because it is the only thing you rely on for knowing what, when and how to do your work. Communicating virtually is a challenge, as body language and other interpersonal clues get lost. And finding the right amount of communication is crucial - you don’t want to create an overload of information that distracts team members, while still providing enough to enable effective coordination and achievement of results. Focus on clarity of your communication - no matter the medium.
Take this time to define how, where, when and what you want to communicate in order to keep everyone in the loop, avoid misunderstandings and set the right expectations. Ask questions such as:
which communication tools do you want to use?
which rules do you have for the use of these tools (response times, house keeping, etc.)?
in which situations do you want everyone to participate in real-time and when is an asynchronous communication better?
how do you document information and what are your expectations regarding sharing?
5) Goals
Time: 15 min
You need to have a very clear shared understanding of where you are heading as a hybrid team in order to hit your targets. Goal clarity creates motivation and helps to prioritise work. Talk about your individual and team goals and make sure they align - so that you can support each other in achieving them. Ask questions such as:
what are your team and individual goals?
what are your professional and personal goals?
how and where do you track the progress?
how do your goals translate into clear priorities for your work?
can you use a tool to set and align on priorities and track goals?
do your goals and priorities change when you are working in a hybrid setting?
6) Purpose
Time: 15 min
A shared purpose is the best guide and motivation to for hybrid work. Because when you’re not in the same location, guidance and a strong connection to WHY you do what you do is essential. Do you know your purpose and can you identify your role in strengthening it? In order to clarify, ask questions like:
why do you do what you do as a team?
what is the impact you want to create in the world and your organisation?
who do you serve with your product or service?
7) Psychological safety
Time: 15 min
High-performing teams need psychological safety. It’s a shared belief that you won’t be punished when you make a mistake. When you feel respected, you can bring your best self to work. A safe space enables every team member to speak up, experiment and bring forward new ideas. Psychological safety is the precondition for innovation - and it does not equal a cozy environment. It means to embrace discomfort, address conflict and solve tricky problems together. How do you foster psychological safety in your team? Discuss the following:
how do you empower everyone to speak up and bring in new ideas - independent of their location?
how do you encourage experimentation and daring to take risks across all locations?
how do you manage conflicts?
8) Social connection
Time: 15 min
As human beings, we need interaction with other people to thrive, be motivated and excel at what we do. A strong sense of belonging and trust in each other are foundations of productivity, efficacy and innovation in remote and hybrid team work. Social connections have to be consciously fostered and actively managed, because interactions don’t happen naturally when you don’t share a physical space. Have you thought about the following?
how do you maintain a strong human connection and team cohesion?
which rituals are you living with the team? (e.g. for the start and end projects)
how do you celebrate wins in the team?
how do you onboard new members?
how do you keep your team spirit up and have fun together?
9) Innovation
Time: 15 min
In a hybrid team, innovation and joint problem solving are among the most fun and motivational activities. And in times of uncertainty and change, adopting new ways of thinking is necessary for every team. Strong ideas are built on diversity of thought. For your hybrid team, that means appreciating and inviting different viewpoints, experiences, skills and knowledge. A culture where it is easy to share ideas, take risks and where people feel empowered to take decisions and work in their own ways. And again, a strong sense of belonging and trust are needed. Ideas are also created in informal interactions. How do you plan to sustain innovation in your hybrid team? Take these questions as inspiration for your conversation:
how do you make it easy for everyone to share ideas?
how do you allow for informal and coincidental interactions?
do you have dedicated time for focused work alone as well as collaborative sessions?
which tools do you use for ideation and co-creation?
how do the tools work in a hybrid setup?
how do you inspire each other and give each other feedback while working distributed?
10) Development
Time: 15 min
Don’t forget about learning, development and personal growth. They keep your team motivated and your skills up to date. Make sure you empower everyone equally to grow and develop at their own speed. In order to become better at your core business, but also to enable joyful learning, discuss the following questions:
what are each team member’s learning needs?
how do you build your hybrid team collaboration skills? **)
what are your feedback & appreciation routines when you’re not in the same space?
are there any tools you use for learning & development?
how do you share your learnings?
**) tough question? Get help!
11) Leadership
Time: 15 min
Effective leadership for a hybrid team requires a strong focus on fairness and inclusivity. As the tasks are more distributed and autonomy is higher than in co-located teams, there is more potential for everyone in the team to embrace leadership. This includes empowering and supporting one another, driving initiatives forward, reflecting and learning, as well as decision-making. In order to clarify how you want leadership in your team to work, discuss these questions:
what do you expect from your leadership?
what does your leader see as their responsibility and what not?
how does your leadership change in different constellations?
how do you take decisions?
how does every team member assume responsibility?
how do you self-organise?
Get help to build your best Hybrid Team
You can access the Hybrid Team Playbook and go through the step-by-step guide completely self-dependant. Or you can get support. Focus on what you do best and let an expert facilitate your workshop.