Take Hybrid from Good to Great
Hybrid work has become a staple for many organisations, offering the best of both worlds with flexibility and connection. But while it’s a great way to work, many teams find themselves asking: “how do we take hybrid work from good to great?”
I’ve worked with hundreds of teams navigating this very question. In a recent engagement with a New Zealand-based team, we saw firsthand how investing in leadership and team development totally upgraded their hybrid work model.
We demonstrated that great hybrid work doesn’t just happen, it’s designed.
The Reality of Hybrid Work
When hybrid work took off post-covid, many teams thrived. Productivity was at least as good as before and employees appreciated the flexibility, among many of the benefits. But over time, cracks started to show.
For the team I worked with recently, the challenges were becoming clear:
A team member working remotely from another city was incredibly productive but admitted she missed the connection of being in the office.
Another team member working overseas temporarily felt supported but without a clear plan, colleagues were unsure about how to collaborate with her effectively.
These stories reflect a common theme with hybrid work: while it can work well, it’s easy for communication issues, reduced connection, and disjointed collaboration to creep in.
Professor Nick Bloom’s research backs this up. He highlights that hybrid work needs structure, otherwise social networks and the innovation they create start to erode. Bloom stresses the importance of deliberate planning, particularly around balancing remote and in-person time.
What Sets Great Hybrid Work Apart
When I partnered with this team, they were already working in a hybrid model but the leader sensed that it wasn’t reaching its full potential. There was a real appetite to make flexible work not just functional but exceptional.
Using the Flexperts toolkit, workshops and support we defined more clearly what hybrid success looked like. They implemented changes at a rate they could sustain, gradually and thoughtfully.
The changes weren’t just about creating agreements; they were also about building trust. Teams learned to have more open conversations about workloads, challenges, and how to balance flexibility with collaboration. It worked!
The Results: Better Cohesion, Stronger Engagement
Once the changes were in place, the impact was tangible. In just six months, engagement scores jumped from 4.34 to 4.46 on Gallup’s scale.
Qualitative feedback was just as encouraging:
Stronger Team Cohesion: People felt reconnected through intentional in-office time that was meaningful, not wasted.
Clear Expectations: Flexible working agreements provided everyone with clarity and reduced misunderstandings.
Honest Conversations: Teams started talking openly about workloads, progress, and challenges.
Perhaps the most surprising benefit was the shift in mindset. Teams stopped treating hybrid work as “remote work by default” and instead saw it as an opportunity to make purposeful decisions about how they collaborated.
Leadership Matters
These changes didn’t happen by accident. They were driven by leaders who stepped up to keep developing new ways of working. Hybrid models challenge traditional management styles, and good leadership is essential for success.
Managers learned to think differently. They reframed their role to focus on connection and collaboration. They created systems that ensured remote team members felt equally valued and included, while hybrid team members learned how to use their time wisely.
Professor Nick Bloom highlights that the most effective hybrid setups generally involve two to three days in-office each week. He’s quick to add that these days need to focus on meaningful collaboration, creativity, and innovatio, not just clocking in at a desk. Leaders who support their teams to plan these moments, make them matter.
Moving Forward
If there’s one lesson from this client’s experience, it’s this: hybrid work isn’t about “figuring it out as you go.” It’s about designing systems that balance flexibility with connection and require a deliberate approach to leadership.
Here are three key takeaways that might help your team:
Invest in Leadership Training: Hybrid work calls for a new way of leading. Equip your managers with the skills to build trust, foster connection, and navigate flexible work models.
Create Agreements: Get everyone on the same page with shared agreements about how you’ll work together and review them often. This brings clarity and cohesion to hybrid teams.
Make In-Person Moments Count: Don’t treat in-office days as “just another day.” Use them to connect, innovate, and collaborate in ways you can’t remotely.
Final Thoughts
The hybrid work revolution isn’t slowing down, but if we want it to be more than “good enough,” we have to invest in the people who make it tick. As we saw in this example, intentional changes, like training leaders, creating agreements and embedding new habits, can upgrade how hybrid work feels and functions, giving you tangible results.
Hybrid work is an opportunity to create workplaces that are more flexible, connected, and innovative than ever before. The question is, are you ready to invest in what it takes to make hybrid work truly exceptional?