5 Insights for Success in a Hybrid Business Model

As businesses adapt to the changes of the digital age, hybrid business models are becoming more common. A hybrid business model can mean a number of things, but most commonly, it's used to refer to a business with a workforce that uses a combination of remote and in-office work. That means that your team works remotely some or most of the time, or that some team members work remotely while others work in-office.

To avoid feeling intimidated by remote workforces, the key to success is knowledge and planning. The good news is that the same leadership principles you'd use with a traditional, in-person workforce apply to a remote or hybrid workforce as well.

I've owned a successful remote digital marketing agency for nearly a decade, and here are some of the most important lessons I've learned:

1. Remote work is a powerful business tool when done well.

I started my company with a remote workforce because it enabled me to hire top-level talent without the limits of location. I was able to hire the most talented people anywhere in the world. The key to making this possible is to spend the time and effort setting up systems and structures for communication, data sharing, and scalable growth.

2. Most employees want remote or hybrid work.

We survey our employees twice a year and ask them for a 0-10 score of how likely they are to recommend working for our company to a friend, then ask for feedback on what we can improve or what we're doing well. The consistent feedback from employees is that they are grateful to work for a remote company.

Remote work allows employees to control their working environment for focus, stress reduction, and happiness. It shows employees that you care about them. Would you rather work in a cramped, gray cubicle without any sunlight, or in your home office where you can choose the thermostat temperature, put on some background music, or even work with your dog lying at your feet? In addition, they tell us that it gives them more flexibility to be home when their children arrive home from school, as well as the ability to work from other places around the world.

3. Communication is key.

The biggest challenge that comes with a hybrid workforce is ensuring nearly flawless communication. It's important to set up strong communication channels and connect regularly. We use Asana to manage our projects and have sprint meetings to review the status of current and upcoming projects.

Each department has regularly scheduled Zoom meetings and each manager has 1:1 meetings with each person on their team; twice a month we meet as a leadership team, and twice a month we have a company-wide meeting. We have Slack channels set up for each project, group, and client, and have a Canvas for each initiative and goal for that channel. We communicate annual goal progress through Paycor for monitoring our OKRs and accounting through QuickBooks.

I suspect your company uses similar tools, which work perfectly for remote or in-person companies. My biggest piece of advice is to avoid long email or Slack messages, and instead jump onto a quick call to clarify. It's a similar principle to dropping by someone's cubicle to work through the issue more quickly.

4. Remote training is essential.

It's important to have a training plan whenever you bring someone new onto the team, and this especially goes for remote workers. Training doesn't stop with new hires, either. Employees want professional growth.

To make sure we're meeting their expectations, we have a Learning and Development department that focuses on creating formal training lessons on Seismic Learning. We create SOPs and checklists for new processes and have training sessions on Zoom for the team members. Our People Success department hosts monthly training sessions on relevant topics that employees can join.

Continued development is essential for building a strong workforce. The more you develop your employees, the more they can bring to your team and the better results they can produce. And employees are much more likely to stay in a job where they feel like they're growing than one where they feel stagnant.

5. Make time to connect on a personal level.

One of the things that's lost with a hybrid workforce is the personal relationships formed by proximity, the chance to make friends over lunch breaks, or to pop into a coworker's office when you have a question and get to know them a little better in the process. This can be particularly challenging in a hybrid work environment where some employees do report to an office and others don't, which may cause even more of a disconnect between the remote and in-person workers. It's important to ensure employees don't feel left out, isolated, or disconnected.

At my company, we schedule 15-minute coffee breaks where people get randomly connected with each other and talk about anything but work to get to know each other on a personal level. It's been a great success so far, and that personal connection helps build camaraderie and a strong team dynamic. We host Zoom game times for teams to laugh and have fun together at work. Get creative and be intentional!

Put in the effort to make it work for your company.

Since hybrid business models are increasingly prevalent, it's important to objectively evaluate the ways to make it work better. There are so many benefits from having a hybrid or remote workforce, and business leaders can cultivate thriving, cohesive teams capable of achieving successful results. By leveraging the strengths of both remote and in-office setups, businesses can maximize their fullest potential by satisfying employees' preferences and driving business growth.