The shift to flexible and remote work over the past few years has created new communication challenges for many organisations. Team members are now often split between the office, home, and even the local coffee shops. This can result in miscommunication and critical information falling through the cracks.
Misunderstandings and delays increase when conversations happen predominantly over chat and email rather than in real time. Clear, seamless communication remains essential for productivity, cohesion and collaboration.
How can leaders improve how their hybrid and dispersed teams communicate? We have collated some useful tips that can help bridge the gaps to ensure high-performing, thriving teams, no matter where those team members are located.
1. Facilitate Regular Real-Time Check-Ins
When communication is primarily digital, cohesive working norms can suffer. Important conversations may get delayed or rushed when there is a lack of face time, visual cues, and empathetic listening. When communication is predominantly text-based, connections and clarity can become weaker over time. Digital-first communication can lead to a decrease in rapport, psychological safety and shared understanding.
Leaders need to be intentional in having real-time check-ins. Setting up recurring team calls, huddles, or video meetings provides an opportunity for face time between managers and their direct reports, as well as between cross-functional teams who work together.
The frequency and schedule of check-in meetings will vary based on team preferences and needs. Examples of check-ins to consider include:
- Daily standup huddles,
- Weekly meetings to review priorities and
- Monthly strategic reviews.
Whether these check-ins are daily, weekly, or monthly, sharing the agenda ahead of time encourages participation and accountability during each session. Using video where possible allows attendees to notice visual cues, like facial expressions, throughout the conversation.
Connecting in real-time, even if briefly, builds relationships and maintains transparency despite hybrid arrangements. It creates space for problems or questions to arise quickly rather than simmering under the surface.
2. Set Clear Expectations Around Response Times
Digital-first communication means delays can affect progress. Be clear about expectations and clarify what timeframes are reasonable for people to respond across common channels.
For example, establish that team members should acknowledge instant messages on platforms such as Slack and Teams within a reasonable time period during work hours. Define email response expectations over a 1–2 day timeframe during the working week.
It is also important be clear about the appropriate contact methods based on urgency levels. For example, outline when SMS texts, out-of-hours calls or urgent flags are acceptable for time-sensitive issues versus standard communication channels like email. The goal should be to set clear guidelines around employee accessibility and work-life boundaries rather than making leaders or other members of the organisation seem unreachable or always available.
3. Standardise Tools & Processes
To optimise workflows and collaboration, ensure that all team members use the same platforms for messaging, document sharing, calendars, and meetings. Using the same systems and tools reduces complications from overlap and disintegration.
Likewise create standardised working practices for important work processes like decision-making, status reporting, and project management. Documenting these procedures in guides, templates, or checklists makes it easy for hybrid teams to align and ensure efficient workflows.
Creating norms like these for platforms and working practices will allow team members to work smoothly, knowing how important information is shared, decisions get made, and deliverables get tracked. This consistency creates clarity even within distributed teams and aids in training new members of the team.
4. Capture Verbal Communication
Due to the way our brains are wired, details from valuable verbal conversations, especially those done remotely, can fade extremely fast from our working memories. To counteract this and prevent losing key context, decisions or agreements from real-time meetings, dedicate some intentional time to thoughtfully summarise these conversations.
Capture concise meeting minutes, notes, next steps and decisions in a written summary. Alternatively, recording the audio or video and summarising the actions can be useful. Some AI can now do this. Store the summaries in an accessible location where the team can access and review them regularly. This allows for real-time clarity even when parties are not available to ask.
Having summaries of meetings and actions helps team members to remember and stay accountable, and it drives performance.
5. Develop Manager Communication Skills
Leaders play a significant role in managing the flow of communication across hybrid teams. However, virtual environments pose different challenges from in-office norms.
That is why targeted supplemental training focused specifically on accelerating core leadership communication competencies can be so valuable. Support existing managers to lead their remote teams by further strengthening already solid skills like active listening, reading nonverbal cues, facilitating psychologically safe discussions and leading inclusive meetings where all voices are pulled into key conversations respectfully.
Look for programmes that translate traditional techniques into remote settings, with extra emphasis on bridging common cultural and geographic divides. At The Thrive Team, our Leadership Coaching incorporates personalised assessments to pinpoint current managers’ strengths and gaps in flexibility, transparency, and support to create a personalised and targeted development approach.
With relentless connectivity today, seamless, inclusive communication requires consideration and intention. When it is done with skill and care from the top down, hybrid teams can thrive.
Speak to us to learn more about enabling your hybrid and remote teams to communicate clearly while working flexibly.
