The Hybrid Organisation

But do we have hybrid brains?

The hybrid organisation is becoming the reality for many multinationals. This was born out of necessity during the pandemic but having experienced the fact that virtual working can be effective and work very well for large organisations. Many of these organisations have now decided to operationalise hybrid working – but is this just a mish mash of what has come previously. I argue for giving more thought and direction to this. Hybrid organisation are not just mixes of previous models. They are something new altogether.

The hybrid organisation seems to be here – the technology has been with us for decades and virtual working has been predicted for many years (and was present to a limited extent in many areas) but now has become a reality for the majority of knowledge workers.

There are many positive benefits to this. As I have noted in all articles on hybrid working our data so far suggests that professionals in most multinationals are coping very well with remote working, with some loving the flexibility. There is no doubt many people will enjoy the personal contact again – but having tasted the freedom of remote working there are also many who are not keen to get back to the old days of the office.

However, within this there are also dangers and under-appreciated factors. In the sister article to this Virtual Leadership From the Top I mention how trust can erode over time. Going from a fully office environment within which individuals have already built relationships with co-workers, built trust and bonding to the organisation, and then moving to remote work for a period, can be managed well. It is different though, if this occurs over many years and people are onboarded virtually – there will be a slow degradation of spirit, communication, collaboration, trust, bonding, and loyalty.

Get the basics right?