After the Pandemic: Leading in a Hybrid Workplace

After the Pandemic
Leadership in a
Hybrid Workplace
© 2021 Clay & Associates Inc./NetSpeed Learning Solutions

netspeedlearning.com
After the Pandemic
• Describe the challenges impacting managers in
2021
• Recognize critical management practices that
new leaders must master now
• Build a stronger team of managers and
supervisors in your organization
• Make the case for training of virtual managers
via NetSpeed Leadership® or
NetSpeed Virtual Leader™
© 2021 Clay & Associates Inc./NetSpeed Learning Solutions 2

Introduction
• Cynthia Clay, President/CEO, NetSpeed Learning
• Author of Great Webinars: Interactive Learning
that is Captivating, Informative, and Fun
• Work with our clients to build thriving virtual
workplaces, better virtual leaders, and stellar
virtual learning

Trends
With the transition to virtual or remote work,
will we ever return to normal?
• Yes, as soon as we can
• No, we will never go back
• Neutral, I have no idea

Leadership Trends Post Pandemic
• Extended Remote Workplaces
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
• Resilience and Change
• Feedback and Coaching Virtually
• Use of Digital Management Tools
• Employees’ Mental Health and Well-being
• Honesty and Transparency (Trust)
• Workplace Safety and Security

Leadership Trends
What leadership trends
are directly impacting
your organization?

Who’s Working Remotely?
“According to a survey done by Gartner, 50% of organizations reported
that 81% of their employees have been working remotely during the
pandemic.”

Digital Transformation
• Remote building inspection
• Telemedicine
• Virtual ordering and
delivery services (restaurants)
“Redesigning the Post-Pandemic Workplace”
By Gerald C. Kane, Rich Nanda, Anh Phillips, and Jonathan Copulsky
MIT Sloan Review

Digital Normal
What other examples of
digital transformation
have you experienced
during the pandemic?

The New Normal
“Within six months of
experience with primary
remote work, more than a
third of organizations
expect remote work to
become the new normal
for many of their workers.”
“Adapting to the Reimagined Workplace: Human Capital Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic”
The Conference Board

Remote Work
“Remote work has been an overwhelming success for both employees
and employers. The shift in positive attitudes toward remote work is
evident.”
83%
“…of employers now say the shift to remote work has been successful
for their company.”
“It’s Time to Reimagine Where and How Work Will Get Done”
PwC’s US Remote Work Survey (January 2021)

WFH Satisfaction
71%
75%
54%
Their job responsibilities can mainly be done from
home
It has been easy to have the technology and
equipment they need to do their job and have an
adequate workspace
Would want to work from home after the
coronavirus outbreak ends
“How the Coronavirus Outbreak—Has and Hasn’t—Changed the Way Americans Work”
By Kim Parker, Juliana Menasce Horowitz and Rachel Minkin
Pew Research Center

Post-pandemic Transformation
“Managers should begin asking themselves how they can build on such
innovations to further transform their businesses instead of planning a
return to ways of working that were becoming outdated and obsolete
even before the pandemic.”
MIT Sloan Review

Productivity
“47% of HR leaders self-report that
workers’ productivity has increased
since the COVID-19 outbreak versus
just 13% reporting that productivity
has decreased.”
“Adapting to the Reimagined Workplace: Human Capital Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic”
The Conference Board

Benefits (Bright Spots)
• No commute time (saved 54 minutes/day)
• Saving money (food, travel costs)
• Improved work life balance
• Less stressful working environment
• More time with family
“Moving Beyond Remote: Workplace Transformation in the Wake of COVID-19”
Survey of 9,000 knowledge workers in the US, UK, France, Germany, Japan, and Australia
Slack

One Downside
Decreased sense
of belonging
Slack

One Downside
Decreased sense of belonging
What increases people’s sense of belonging
when working remotely?
Slack

Improving the Sense of Belonging
• Invest in strategies and technology that
deepen connections
• Give kudos in meetings
• Recognize contributions of others at least
once every two weeks
• Conduct regular team-building activities
(monthly)
Slack

Key Concerns
For folks working from home all or
most of the time:
• Feel less connected to their coworkers (40%)
• Fewer opportunities for advancement than they
did before (23%)
• Working more hours than before the outbreak
(33%)
Pew Research Center

Big Concern
“53% of those ages 18 to 29 say it’s been
difficult for them to feel motivated since the
pandemic began.”
Pew Research Center
Why?

Newer Workers
• Need regular coaching and mentoring
• Thrive with feedback to stay on track
• Benefit from close contact with peers onsite
• Expect work to be collaborative

Virtual Leadership

Dramatic Increase
10 million
300 million

Zoom Fatigue
Is it real or imagined?

Use of Video Conferencing
63% 37%
Are fine with the amount of time
they spend on video calls
Are worn out by it
65%
See video conferencing and IM
platforms as a good substitute for
in-person contact
Say they are not a good substitute
35%
Pew Research Center

Who’s Most Tired?
47% 33%
Supervisors are worn out by the
amount of time they spend on
video conferencing calls
Workers are worn out by it
Pew Research Center

Possible Explanations
• Excessive amounts of close-up gaze
• Cognitive load
• Increased self-evaluation from staring at video of oneself
• Constraints on physical mobility
Nonverbal Overload: A Theoretical Argument for the Causes of Zoom Fatigue
By Jeremy N. Bailenson
Technology, Mind, and Behavior

What can you do?
What steps should you take to reduce the incidence of “Zoom fatigue”?

Simple Fixes
• Take Zoom out of full screen
• Use the “hide self-view” button
• Turn your video off periodically
• Give an “audio only” break at times
• Get up, move around, and stretch
• Choose when to have people come
on web camera
• Schedule breaks between
virtual meetings
“Stanford researchers identify four causes for ‘Zoom fatigue’ and their
simple fixes”
Wu Tsai Neuroscience Institute
Stanford University (February 2021)

Choose the Right Tool
“Sometimes, video conferencing is
the best tool because it offers auto-
captioning, screen sharing, or a
social presence. But often, a phone
call, text, or email will suffice.”
“'Zoom fatigue' may be with us for years. Here's how we'll cope.”
By Theresa Machemer
National Geographic (April 2021)

Hybrid Strategy
“Rather than simply shifting operations ‘back to normal,’ we urge
leaders to think about how they can leverage recent remote-work
experiences to intentionally plan for a remote/hybrid workforce in the
future….And, whether you lead a company or a small team, now is the
time to start planning.”
“What is Your Organization’s Long-term Remote Work Strategy?”
By Erin E. Makarius, Barbara Z. Larson, and Susan R. Vroman
Harvard Business Review

Virtual Workplace Issues
• Innovation (fewer serendipitous connections)
• Initiating new projects
• Organizational culture
• Mentoring and coaching
MIT Sloan Review

Serendipitous Connections
“Employees who returned to the
office only one or two days per week
increased the number of
serendipitous connections by 25%.”
MIT Sloan Review

Companies Encouraging Hybrid
• Twitter
• Square
• Facebook
• Shopify
• Coinbase
• Google
• Microsoft
• Morgan Stanley
• Spotify
• JP Morgan
• Capital One
• Zillow
• Slack
• Amazon
• Pay Pal
• Salesforce
• Siemens
• American Express

Industries Not Adopting Hybrid?
• Healthcare
• Biotech
• Manufacturing
• Hospitality
• Senior Living
• Grocery/Retail

Strategies for Hybrid Work
• Everyone in the office on the same two days each week
• Flexible schedules with individual choice
• Onsite project kickoff meetings and
teambuilding sessions
• Three weeks out of the office
and one week with everyone onsite

Inclusion
“…the pandemic uncovered important deficiencies with how companies
previously used digital tools….long-term remote workers reported feeling
more included once everyone else on a team was also remote.”
MIT Sloan Review

Inclusion
“Managers who continue to run hybrid meetings should experiment
with new ways to promote inclusion of remote participants.”
MIT Sloan Review

Optimizing the Hybrid Workplace
“Optimizing the hybrid workplace
requires accelerating investments
to support virtual collaboration and
creativity…. Over 60% of executives
expect to raise spending on virtual
collaboration tools and manager
training.”
“It’s Time to Reimagine Where and How Work Will Get Done”
PwC’s US Remote Work Survey (January 2021)

Managing Virtually
“64% of executives plan
to invest in training
leaders to manage a
more virtual workforce.”

Social and Relational
“Companies are increasingly realizing
that training in the social and
relational aspects of remote work is
at least as important as training in
technology and company policies.”

Skills to Succeed
What social, relational, and engagement skills do virtual leaders need
to develop to succeed in the virtual workplace?

Social, Relational, and Engagement Skills
• Establishing working norms
• Building trust
• Creating effective virtual communication patterns
• Incorporating social connection into virtual work
• Managing hybrid teams
• Maintaining predictable communication cadence

Importance/Skill Gaps
1. Getting virtual team members’ poor performance back on
track
2. Holding virtual team members accountable for results
3. Coaching with virtual team members to develop skills
4. Building effective one-to-one
relationships with virtual team members
N = 600 leaders

5. Building strong teamwork with virtual team members
6. Ensuring work productivity is high with virtual team
members
7. Mediating conflict between virtual team members
8. Providing ongoing praise or
recognition to virtual team members

9. Celebrating virtual team members’ team and individual
success
10. Ensuring work quality is high with virtual team members

Remote Leader Gaps
Which of these top ten gaps are true
of your remote leaders?

Create Thriving Virtual Workplaces
Virtual Leader (netspeedlearning.com)

1
2
3
5
4
The Power of
Web Conferencing
Running Effective
Virtual Meetings
The Power of Connection
Building Virtual Relationships
The Power of Calibration
Building Accountability
on a Virtual Team
The Power of Collaboration
Harnessing Individual and
Team Strengths
The Power of Celebration
Recognizing Individual
and Team Results
The Roadmap

• Five, 90-minute web workshops
• Delivered by our virtual trainers or
your certified virtual trainers
• Combined with pre- and post-class
collaborative learning
• May be licensed and customized

NetSpeed Leadership 2®

NetSpeed Leadership 2®
1. Face-to-face training (24, 3-hour modules)
2. Web workshop modules (24, 90-minute sessions)
3. Online reinforcement tools
4. NetSpeed Administrator™
(to report the impact of training)
Newly updated in 2021 to reflect the realities of today’s workplace

New Hybrid Manager Training
Would your organization be interested in a public web workshop
program for new managers leading virtual or hybrid teams?
Objectives
• Managing change and disruption with resilience
• Building connection and belonging
• Planning and running effective virtual meetings
• Providing solid feedback and coaching using
digital tools
• Increasing collaboration and teamwork
• Creating a culture of celebration and meaning

Taking Action
What is one thing you intend to do now?

Take Our Survey
Download a complimentary ebook:
Great Web Engagement: Connecting,
Meeting, and Training Online
Receive a $350 discount on the June
Virtual Facilitator Trainer Certification
course

Thank you!
Cynthia Clay
NetSpeed Learning
206-517-5271
info@netspeedlearning.com

After the Pandemic: Leading in a Hybrid Workplace

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