Leadership Trend Barometer: Loss of team spirit feared

Many companies are currently confronted with the desire of a part of their employees to work in the home office even after the corona-related "lockdown" and are trying to comply with this. As a result, their managers are increasingly faced with the challenge of managing so-called hybrid teams - teams in which one part of the employees continues to work at the company while another part works in the home office or at another location of their choice. That's why the Institute for Executives in the Digital Age (IFIDZ), Frankfurt, decided to dedicate its latest Leadership Trend Barometer to the question: "From your perspective, what are the biggest challenges in leading hybrid teams?" 159 executives took part in the online survey. Already half a year ago, IFIDZ conducted an similar study published, which highlighted changes in leadership culture in the wake of the Corona Pandemei.

Only 16 percent of executives fear loss of control

The first striking aspect of the survey results is that the majority of executives apparently do not fear that team performance will suffer as a result of working in hybrid teams. For example, only 15 percent see a risk that employee motivation will decline as a result, and only 13 percent see a risk that goal orientation at work will suffer as a result. And only 9 percent fear or have experienced that this will have a negative impact on the quality of work. According to Barbara Liebermeister, head of the IFIDZ, most managers seem to be relaxed about the final decision on the extent to which their employees will work in the company or at home in the future - at least when it comes to the performance of their department. This assessment is supported, among other things, by the fact that only 16 percent of executives fear a loss of control when working in hybrid teams.

Leadership trend barometer highlights challenges of hybrid work

At the same time, however, it is striking that - presumably also due to the experiences of the past year - the majority of managers do not see working in hybrid teams through "rose-colored glasses" at all. Rather, according to Liebermeister, they see the two sides of the coin. Thus, only 9 percent agree with the statement "I see no dangers, only opportunities" in working in hybrid teams. For almost two-thirds of the executives surveyed, this form of collaboration poses the risk, for example, that individual employees will feel isolated. In addition, 54 percent see a risk that identification with the team will decline. One-third of those surveyed can also imagine that a certain front formation will develop in their team between the office and home office employees. In the opinion of the managers, these risks must be counteracted. Communication and mutual information obviously play a central role here, as around half of those surveyed are convinced that working in hybrid teams is definitely associated with the risk of "insufficient communication" (53 percent) and an "insufficient flow of information" (47 percent). This is where they see the greatest need for change.

For more information on the results of the latest IFIDZ Leadership Trendbarometer, please visit the IFIDZ website (www.ifidz.de) in the studies section.