The Proven Science Behind Managing High-Performing Hybrid Teams
Founder & Managing Director
5 Tips for Hybrid and Virtual Team Leaders
- Establish persistent peer-to-peer and top-down communication cadences.
- Proactively build rapport and psychological safety through virtual social events.
- Provide clear goal alignment and facilitate Q&A opportunities.
- Exemplify supportive leadership by being present and removing roadblocks.
- Facilitate the flow of ideas and feedback through cross-functional meetings and guest speakers.
Managing High-Performing Hybrid Teams
More people are working from home. Businesses are questioning if they can succeed with remote or hybrid teams in the long term. In our previous article exploring this topic, we concluded that the answer is yes—but only if hybrid or virtual team management is done correctly.
Working productively from home goes far beyond just supplying people with the right technologies like laptops and collaboration tools. Managers need to fundamentally rethink how they inspire teams, create momentum, foster connections, and unlock creativity across distributed groups.
The Home Office Paradox
In the traditional office environment, we were constantly surrounded by a wealth of social information about our colleagues. Spontaneous conversations, ambient awareness of who was around, and innate behavioural cues provided insights into things like moods, priorities, and team dynamics.
In the hybrid or virtual world, teams are limited to scheduled video calls and making assumptions based on limited evidence like email tones, facial expressions, or second-hand information. It’s far easier for misunderstandings, tension, and bottlenecks to arise.
Clearly, intentional practises are required to successfully bridge the social capital gaps that virtual settings create. But what specific factors allow remote teams to truly thrive?
The 6 Pillars of Hybrid Team Performance
To find the proven drivers of high-performing virtual teams, we turned to research. Back in 2015, we partnered with the Center for Evidence-Based Management (CEBMa) to undertake a comprehensive review of over 750 global studies on virtual team performance.
The findings were recently re-validated in 2020 to account for insights from widespread pandemic remote work. Across the studies, six key factors consistently emerged as pillars for creating psychologically safe virtual environments where teams can excel:
- Social cohesion
- Perceived supervisory support
- Information sharing
- Vision and goal clarity
- External communication
- Trust
Among these pillars, the researchers found that trust, social cohesion, and information sharing face the biggest challenges in virtual settings compared to co-located teams.
The Power of Trust and Social Bonds in Hybrid Teams
It’s no surprise that trust is pivotal for cultivating positive hybrid and virtual team dynamics. When trust is high among teammates, they feel safe to openly share ideas, ask questions, and engage in productive conflict without fear of being judged.
Emotional trust that colleagues and managers have your back allows people to be vulnerable in sharing sensitive information or concerns. Trust in each other’s competence and reliability enhances collaboration and confidence within the team.
Similarly, social cohesion—the business friendliness and camaraderie that forms the “lubricant” of high-functioning teams—is tough to achieve in a virtual setting. When people don’t have enough casual social interactions, the relationship bonds that facilitate open communication and knowledge sharing can deteriorate.
In many office environments, these relational components are seen as nice-to-haves rather than mission-critical. So they are often deprioritized when teams go virtual unless there is a conscious effort to build rapport and collegial connections remotely.
Supervisory Support and Clarity Matter
Two other factors that become more challenging from a distance are perceived supervisory support and clear goal alignment. People look to their direct managers as proxies for their relationship with the broader organisation. If they don’t feel adequately supported, coached, or invested in by their supervisor virtually, it can trickle up to impact their engagement with the company’s mission.
Similarly, if people don’t understand how their work contributes to the organisation’s overall vision and priorities, it’s harder to stay focused and motivated without ambient reminders in the office environment.
The final two pillars—facilitating the cross-pollination of ideas from external sources and enabling open information sharing horizontally across teams—are also trickier for virtual groups but can be overcome through structure and discipline.
Leveraging the Science: 5 Tips for Hybrid and Virtual Team Leaders
While these six research-backed pillars may seem obvious, managing them intentionally is paramount for remote team success. Based on the findings, here are five key focus areas for hybrid and virtual team leaders:
- Establish Persistent Communication Cadences: Ensure transparency of priorities, responsibilities, and progress across the team through regular peer-to-peer and top-down communication.
- Proactively Build Rapport: Foster psychological safety through virtual social events, icebreakers, and personal check-ins to enhance social cohesion.
- Provide Clear Goal Alignment: Ensure each person’s work maps to broader objectives, and facilitate opportunities for Q&A to surface any ambiguity.
- Exemplify Supportive Leadership: Be present, remove roadblocks, provide growth feedback, and lead team-building activities to show your support.
- Facilitate Idea Flow: Encourage the sharing of ideas, feedback, and outside perspectives through cross-functional meetings, guest speakers, and open virtual “rooms.”
Fundamentally, the science shows that replicating those in-person human elements of trust, social bonds, clarity, and engagement is crucial for maximising the productivity and performance of hybrid and virtual teams. With the right practises and training in place, teams can absolutely operate at the highest levels from anywhere.
