Flexibility or community: the hybrid way of working put leaders to the task

We work away from the workplace. We expect flexibility. We collaborate virtually. With the arrival of Corona, numerous new practices and routines evolved, and there is no denying that the most significant change was working from home. A new survey from the Confederation of Danish Industry shows that nine out of ten companies offer their employees the opportunity to work from home. The numbers speak to the several benefits for employee, employer and society. However, this hybrid way of working also comes with challenges – in particular for leaders, who suddenly have to provide a framework for a new way of working. Because how do you balance a sense of community with employees’ desire for flexibility? And how do you work on motivation and well-being when you cannot look your employees in the eye? These and many more questions were highlighted during a conference for public leaders hosted by Copenhagen Business School in October, focusing on the role of the leader in relation to the hybrid working life.

“Today, most companies and organisations have come to terms with and are open to employees working more from home. Which is why we have to figure out how to best handle the challenges this brings. Because hybrid ways of working don’t just happen, it’s something we shape, which is why the hybrid way of working poses a huge task for leaders,” said Associate Professor at Copenhagen Business School, Susanne Boch Waldorff. She is Director of Studies of the Master of Public Governance (MPG,) and she welcomed the approximately 80 leaders who attended the conference. 

Employees are expecting a flexible framework

The word hybrid derives from the natural sciences and means something that comes from the crossing of two species which then makes up or concerns a new hybrid form as explained by Anna Thomasson, the conference’s first keynote speaker. Anna Thomasson is Dean of Education at Copenhagen Business School and previously, she was a researcher, who studied phenomena such as governance, control and accountability following NPM reforms and in hybrid organisations.

According to Anna Thomasson, the hybrid way of working is not new, but something leaders in the public sector have struggled with for years.

“With Covid-19, the trend increased, but leaders have had to deal with the ambiguity of hybrid ways of working for a long time. It can be a hard task and far more difficult than many leaders had expected. It’s important to note that creating something new always requires will power,” was one of the messages put forth by Anna Thomasson.

At the conference, the attending leaders were afforded the opportunity to share their perspectives and that was when it became clear that many employees expect more flexible frameworks.

“In my experience, potential new employees will ask about the possibility of working from home during a job interview – in fact, it is often required,” recounted one leader, and it was a statement that led to many confirming nods from the other leaders in the audience.

The trend is confirmed by a study carried out by The Danish Association of Lawyers and Economists (Djøf) from May, 2021, which shows that every other employee would like to work from home 1-2 days a week. This pattern is not only applicable in Denmark. The international accounting and consultancy firm, EY, carried out a huge, global survey with 16,000 respondents across industries, sectors and countries. Nine out of ten would like more flexibility, both in terms of where and when they work, according to the responses. In fact, the survey showed that flexibility weighs more heavily than wages for most of the employees.

“It is a question of surviving one’s work”

That flexibility is no longer merely a question of “nice to have” but rather “need to have” is confirmed by Camilla Sløk. She studied theology and today, she is Associate Professor at the Department of Management, Politics and Philosophy at Copenhagen Business School where she conducts research on management and ethics. 

Under the heading: “How do you take responsibility without control”, she taught a mini masterclass at the conference. For the masterclass, she had invited Consultant Doctor and Head of Specialists Thomas Dyhr to present his perspective on the dilemma of how to lead with trust and how to dare let go of the daily control.

“For many, the opportunity to work from home is a gift. Especially during periods when life is particularly chaotic. It’s a question of surviving one’s work, and in this case, it may be advantageous to not look at it as black and white in terms of whether to work from the office or not, but that there is room for one’s life in one’s work,” said the researcher, who has studied the relationship between power and care, including trust and control.

“Trust is very useful in motivating one’s employees. If you trust that your employees are able to solve a task, chances are, they will live up to your expectations. Reversely, there are situations where trust is lacking. Which is something we see, by way of example, in the highly spectacular cases in nursing homes, where they have had to raise inspection and control measures considerably to set things right.”

So, how do you find the right balance between trust and control, and how do leaders handle situations when employees break that trust? Those were some of the questions that the attending leaders contemplated and answered themselves. Whether trust or control proves to be the best tool depends on the context, and as opposed to the general understanding of trust and control as opposites, they often supplement and complement each other.

Be aware of the context and set a direction

If you, as a leader, opt for hybrid ways of working, you have to be prepared for a process that requires openness, involvement and trust. The leader must be able to communicate clearly and establish frameworks that all employees can see themselves within.

This was the message delivered in the closing debate with Karima Isert, Chief of Staff at Citizens’ Centre Disability, the Department of Social Services at the Municipality of Copenhagen, and Christian Alvang Jespersen, Area Manager for Disability and Social Operations at the Municipality of Gentofte, and Pernille Steen Pedersen, Associate Professor at Copenhagen Business School.

They also discussed how it affects leaders’ experience of leadership when managerial tasks and the consequential responsibility and authority are spread out throughout the organisation and shared by many.

“Indeed, it may be difficult to assert oneself as a leader in a conversation about absence due to illness or in a situation where an employee is not solving their tasks satisfactorily, when the employee is working from a distance and to a much higher degree manages their own timeframe for solving tasks. What do you do in situations like that?” asked Journalist, Jacob Rosenkrands, who moderated the debate.

“The common thread for the companies and organisations that have adapted well to the hybrid ways of working is that they are used to reflect on their work procedures,” explained Pernille Steen Pedersen, who studies the connection between stress and shame.

She emphasises that it is essential that the workplace culture allows for conversations about things that are difficult.

“It’s important that workplaces allow employees to speak about mistakes and insecurities and trying things out without anyone telling them off afterwards, if they fail,” was one of the points she made.

Another perspective pointed to the fact that companies should focus on mid-level managers’ working environment. Working from home brings new challenges for leaders, which may increase the pressure on mid-level managers, which is why it is essential that they feel that there is backing and that they have somewhere to go when in doubt. Leadership networks and conversations with top-management is one way of handling this.

A third perspective mentioned the awareness of the new challenges ahead. Pernille Steen Pedersen mentioned a challenge that concerned the fact that not all employees are suited to working a great deal from home, either because they are less self-propelling or because they push themselves even harder when the line between work and leisure time becomes more fluid.

A final perspective included being aware of the difficulties involved in asking others for help and the fact that it becomes even harder when working from home. Therefore, there was a call for leaders to talk about the importance of continuous sparring and checking in with one another, also when working from home; that it is in fact a requirement.

Contact

Martine Mengers (mm.slk@cbs.dk) journalist, CBS