What is a hybrid meeting? Since the COVID pandemic hit in 2020, businesses everywhere have been struggling to adopt a new way of working. When it was no longer safe to bring people together in bustling offices, we needed to adapt to something new. Remote working took the world by storm.
During the “learning period” of 2020, imposed by restrictions and isolation, we discovered remote working practices could be extremely beneficial – when used correctly. Rather than working away from the office “full-time”, most employees and employers began advocating for something new: hybrid work.
According to McKinsey surveys, around 90% of companies are looking to adopt a combination of remote and on-site work for their post-pandemic operations. This new method of hybrid work will present new opportunities, but also new challenges in ensuring teams remain aligned, productive, and engaged by the modern company.
Going Hybrid: What is the Hybrid Meeting?
Hybrid work refers to the art of allowing employees to operate both in the office and outside of it, depending on the nature of the tasks which need to be completed. Hybrid meetings, therefore, involve connecting team members through video, content sharing, and audio devices, regardless of their location. This is a critical concept in the age of hybrid work.
When teams are distributed between the office and remote environments, companies unlock more creative, flexible, and productive employees. Unfortunately, there are risks too. People left out of meetings because they weren’t present “in house” when those conversations happen risk feeling left out of the loop and disengaged. This could mean teams lose their remote staff.
As Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella has said, good hybrid meetings involve ensuring everyone joining a meeting can be a “first class participant”. Hybrid meetings need to not just give everyone in the meeting a voice but engage every individual participant so they can feel as important to the conversation as anyone else.
Hybrid meetings are more complicated than your standard in-person meeting, or even the basic remote meeting. There’s always a risk one group will feel less empowered than the other, which disrupts the flow of knowledge in the workplace, and leads to poor company culture.
Why do We Need Good Hybrid Meetings?
Estimates suggest around 29% of all meetings in the future will be hybrid, and this number is likely to grow as more people embrace the hybrid landscape. While hybrid meetings are more complex than other conversations in the workplace, they’re essential to unlocking the full potential of a team, when not everyone can be remote, or present in the office.
Hybrid meetings aren’t just about enabling remote team members but ensuring everyone in the business has the same consistent experience when sharing knowledge and ideas. If meetings can maintain the same levels of productivity and intuitiveness regardless of where staff members are, you can have the ultimate flexible workplace.
While most innovators, including Microsoft, note it’s impossible to completely replicate the creative experience of an in-person meeting, that’s exactly what you aim for with an effective hybrid meeting. If you can get it right, you benefit from:
- True innovation and collaboration: People should be able to share ideas and innovate anywhere, not just when they’re in the same physical space. Hybrid meetings bring at least part of the workforce together physically but also aim to make remote employees feel like they’re there too, through things like co-hosted presentations in Microsoft Teams
- Fully flexible workforces: Some people do their best work in the office, others work more effectively when they’re remote. There are even certain employees who need to be on the move, and in the field at all times. Businesses thrive when all of these people can come together more effectively. Tools like Microsoft Teams with its mobile and desktop apps welcome everyone to the same conversation, so people can connect anywhere
- Improved company culture: Even as the workplace evolves and teams become increasingly distributed, culture continues to be essential to team engagement and performance. Companies still need everyone in their workforce to feel like a valuable member of the team to reduce the risk of turnover
How do Companies Create Hybrid Meetings?
Effective hybrid meetings require access to the right technology, tools, and policies. The first step for most companies will be to determine what kind of hybrid workforce they’re going to run. If employees are going to be working remotely, in the office, and on-the-move, you need a comprehensive solution for bringing all of those staff members together.
Once you know who you need to connect, you can consider how you’re going to align your employees. This often requires an investment in a comprehensive software capable of acting as the fundamental heart of your workplace. In the modern landscape, Microsoft Teams is quickly becoming the go-to choice for the new “digital workplace”, where employees anywhere can share ideas and innovate over chat, video, audio, and more.
With your software in place, consider:
- Hardware: What kind of technology do in-person employees need to interact with teams anywhere. A one-touch meeting room solution like the offerings from Microsoft Teams Rooms will allow for the creation of intelligent and convenient meeting experiences. The easier these tools are to use; the more common hybrid conversations will become. At the same time, consider the tools your remote staff have access to, and whether they need additional solutions for HD video and audio
- Meeting strategies: Meetings need to be designed to enable and empower all attendees. This means accessing tools for collaboration and communication on an end-to-end scale. Allow remote and in-office staff to present demonstrations together. Get everyone involved with a virtual whiteboard to share drawn ideas, and make sure everyone is visible through video. Remote participants and employees should have the same presence in the virtual meeting room. You could even enable this by using solutions like Together mode
- Feedback: Create a feedback loop to ensure everyone in the workforce can share how they feel about the current ecosystem, and how it’s working. Insights from your employees will make it easier to invest in the tools and technology that lead to bigger benefits in the long-term
There’s no denying the hybrid meeting is taking over. If your business isn’t ready yet, now is the time to jump into action.
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