What Remote and Hybrid Teams Are
The main ways teams work apart, and the words used to describe them.
8 min
Activities: 0 of 2
Not long ago, most office teams sat in the same building from morning to evening. A manager could see who was at their desk, hear problems as they happened and solve small questions with a walk across the room. Today many teams work in a different way. Some people work from home on some days. Some team members live in another city or another country. Some teams have never all been in the same room.
Managing such a team is not a completely new job. Most of good management stays the same: clear goals, fair treatment, honest feedback and care for people. But distance changes how each of these is done. This course is for team leaders and managers who lead people they do not see every day. It covers trust, communication rhythm, tools, performance and wellbeing at a distance.
Four ways a team can be arranged
Everyone works in the same place, most of the time. Distance is not a daily issue, although even co-located teams may have people on site visits or travel.
Common hybrid patterns
Hybrid working is not one model. Organisations usually choose one of these, or a mix:
- Fixed days: the organisation sets which days each team is in the office.
- Anchor days: the team agrees one or two shared office days so that people meet, and the other days are flexible.
- Office-first: the office is the default and remote days are the exception.
- Remote-first: work is designed so that it can be done from anywhere, and the office is a place to meet, not the default.
The model matters because it sets the manager’s problems. In an office-first team, the risk is that remote people are forgotten. In a remote-first team, the risk is that people feel alone and connections between colleagues grow weak.
Match the arrangement to the description
Pair each term with the situation it describes.
- Hybrid
- Distributed
- Fully remote
- Anchor days
A team works in the office every day, but its members are in four different countries. Which term describes it best?