PAPERmaking! FROM THE PUBLISHERS OF PAPER TECHNOLOGY Volume 7, Number 2, 2021
4. Pay close attention to direction, alignment, and commitment (DAC). At CCL, we know that leadership is a social process. When it’s working well, individuals collaborate to achieve results they never could’ve achieved working alone. The DAC framework for leadership can help you gauge the success of your new hybrid workforce, too: x When you look around, do you see strong direction? In other words, are team members in agreement on the group’s overall goals? x Ask yourself whether your group is aligned — whether members with different tasks and roles are coordinating their work. x Finally, is there commitment, or mutual responsibility for the group? When teams have strong commitment, they feel responsible for the success and well- being of the group. There’s a high level of trust and psychological safety. Compare current levels of DAC among your hybrid workforce to pre-pandemic times. Organizations that switch into hybrid mode and see DAC levels hold steady or improve should take it as a sign that things are going well. On the other hand, if DAC has decreased, recognize that your group’s shared interactions aren’t what they should be. Remember that DAC is ever-evolving, similar to your hybrid model. As you discover what works best for your organization, expect to encounter bumps along the way. The most important thing leaders can do is maintain perspective by embracing change and seeing challenges as learning opportunities. 5. Focus on boundary spanning — within your hybrid team and across the organization. On a typical day at work, leaders must collaborate across boundaries throughout their organizations. They collaborate with peers in different departments and hierarchical levels; they work with external stakeholders; they unite diverse groups. They also traverse geographic boundaries by managing remote employees — one of the most important focus areas when some team members are working on-site and others are working remotely. In establishing what a hybrid workforce will look like for your organization, think consciously about your individual team’s network within the organization. Ask yourself: x How is my team connected with other teams? x How do my team members and I best interact with those teams? x How is my team currently spanning boundaries? x How can we foster interaction, better conversations, and effective collaboration between departments in a hybrid workforce environment? While a more hybrid team may present new challenges to collaborate and navigate across boundaries, the solutions to today’s most pressing business challenges are often found at the intersection of multiple boundaries. When members of your hybrid workforce see leaders recalibrate, adapt, and embrace the future with an agile and collaborative mindset, they’ll likely do the same. https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/how-leaders-should-approach-todays-new-hybrid-workforce/
Article 11 – Leadership
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