Building & Maintaining Relationships in a Hybrid World

Organizations and workers were thrust into a transformational change that left both work and home environments in a state of chaos. The need to understand the impact of the shift from the traditional workplace to a hybrid world provides you with the opportunity to realign and navigate how we work.Traditional work/life balance strategies will need to shift to a more integrated lifestyle to support the hybrid working model.

1. Priority Management South Africa Karen Hardman l Director [phone] [email protected] www.prioritymanagement.com

2. Founded in 1980 Offices in 55 Locations 2 Million Global Participants

3. Module 1 Fundamentals of Working in a Hybrid World

4. The Root Cause Remote work was a solution to ensure Safety of employees in response to the Pandemic. This brought about change that would have happened over a 10-year period. A slower introduction would have given workplace chance to adapt to new way of work. Priority Management has seen Hybrid working models tested prior to the Pandemic. This was a response to requests from 40-year-old and under workers.

5. What Should be in Place? Ability to Excel in the following Key Performance Areas is essential;

6. Best Practices Set clear, specific standards regarding collaboration and communication. Encourage your Team to plan. Leverage your Technology. Ensure Hybrid world is effective with policies and stands for both remote and office environments. Create a playbook with the team. Improve team members ability to self-manage with clear, collaborative performance measurement structure. Encourage team to build Working Relationships. Develop and communicate clear Human Resources policies and procedures to promote consistently in changing work environment.

7. Module 2 Self-Management in a Hybrid World

8. What is Self-Management? Ability to control your behaviors, thoughts, and emotions in a productive way that helps you achieve your goals . Self-management goes hand-in-hand with emotional intelligence . Those with excellent self-management skills collaborate well with others , communicate clearly when they need support, and have a positive mental attitude to keep their team’s spirits high.

9. Essential Self-Management Skills Consistent self-motivation Productive, Engaging, and Collaborative people know how to self-motivate for a challenge. Especially in a  remote-working world , feeding off the energy of others is difficult, so you need to be able to elevate both your own and your team’s motivation levels. Better time management Use your time effectively. This requires different discipline when working from home versus in the office, as distractions and interactions are different. Break up your day. When you work remotely, video calls can quickly drain your time. Try using  timeboxing  to break your day into different activity types to help you strike a balance between meetings and personal work.

10. Use your Technology Tools effectively to Manage Workload (MS Outlook or MS Teams)

11. An ability to adapt to change Self-managers who deal with change the best are the ones who can pivot to a new solution without their emotions taking over. Learning how to manage change helps you manage your own emotions too. When changing your plans, it’s important to keep control of the situation, align with everyone around you, and press on quickly. Resilience & stress management If you manage your stress level effectively, you’ll be better positioned to manage your time, build relationships, and perform at your maximum. Keep your space clean and organized.  S taying organized helps give you a clear head to tackle pressure and stress head-on.

12. Goal setting, alignment, and achievement Have the vision of what needs to be achieved and then the discipline and self-management to stay on track. Not all goals are equal.  Big goals are delivered through little steps. Break your goals down into smaller tasks to keep you moving forward in the right direction. With every task you do, ask yourself how it contributes to the purpose to ensure you are aligned. Getting role clarity Role Clarity important if you want to master self-management. To manage your productivity, you need to fully understand what you need to do? Speak to your manager to define what’s in and out of scope for your role.

13. Why Planning Helps Manage Stress Putting the future into a perpetual holding pattern tough on mental health. Studies have shown strong ties between an unclear future and anxiety . Scheduling helps limit stress through a cognitive process called proactive coping Planning alleviates anxiety by dealing with cognitive clutter . A model of mental processing called cognitive load theory indicates that the human brain processes a limited amount of information at any given time. This clutter is known as the ‘ Zeigarnik effect ’. Named for a Russian psychologist who first wrote about the effect in the late 1920s . Unfulfilled goals tend to persist in people’s minds. There’s a lot going on in the unconscious. All these unresolved thoughts and objectives – pile onto our cognitive load. That can quickly become overwhelming, which breeds anxiety and causes intrusive thoughts

14. Module 3 Working Well with Others in a Hybrid World

15. Best Practices Maximise the ability to collaborate. Create opportunities to support. Work well together. Build trust and psychological safety. Seek first to understand before being understood. Clarify expectations and establish what engagement looks like. Clarify expectations and establish what success looks like. Take time to celebrate the team and individuals.

16. Team Interactions Unconscious biases : social stereotypes about people that individuals form outside their own conscious awareness. Proximity biases : employees with proximity to their team and leaders will be perceived as better workers and ultimately find more success. Civility : Workers are respectful and considerate in their interactions with each other, as well as customers, clients and the public. Based on showing esteem, care and consideration for other and acknowledging their dignity. Influencing : Interactive process to build relationships with people that will lead to change of idea or behaviour without using force or authority. Psychological safety : being able to show oneself without fear of negative consequences. Psychologically safe team's feel accepted and respected.

17. Building Relationships Make the Most of Your Time In-Office Being in the office together is an opportunity for building relationships at work. Planning team activities and meetings on in office days helps colleagues connect . I mportant for collaboration, productivity, and company culture. Encourage Virtual Watercooler Chat Engaging in casual conversations similar to those that occur around the office water cooler build relationships. Consider setting up online chat groups on Microsoft Teams by creating a dedicated Watercooler channel for non-work-related topics . Make Virtual Meetups a Regular Habit Consider setting up specific days or times each week to meet online. Maintaining a set schedule lets everyone know when to expect the meetup, making them more likely to participate. Encourage team members to take turns hosting and choosing activities to keep things fresh and engaging.

18. Analysers Analytical, logical and Problem solving Try to be patient with people you think are fluffy. Recognise that other personalities need team building activities Players Curious impulsive and Playful Listen more & speak less Don’t take on too many projects Don’t interrupt people and finish their sentences for the. Safekeepers Practical, Careful & Organized Not everyone has the same ordered mind as you Consider that change may be beneficial Carers Sensitive, spiritual & emotional Willing to make decisions based on fact not emotion Recognize some “bottom line” decisions have to be made. Don’t take it personally if someone disagrees Team Communication: Learn what Makes your Team Click

19. Module 4 Managing Human Assets, Tasks & Activities

20. Building Resilience in a Hybrid World What is resilience? The ability to recover from a challenge and to use that challenge as a learning opportunity. In the workplace, resilience can mean solving problems, facing challenges and recovering from mistakes. How does resilience impact the workplace? Encourages a positive work environment and enables employees to feel more confident and mentally tough. Ways that resilience can make a positive impact on the workplace: Increases productivity Creates leaders Encourages adaptability

21. Tips for building resilience Develop positive habits.  Work-life balance and taking time to care for yourself could help you remain more positive at work. Try to get enough sleep and manage your stress. Reflect on challenges.  Reflect on the situation so that you're more knowledgeable next time. Reflect on what components of the situation made you emotional and what decisions were most effective. Embrace a positive attitude.  The more passionate and engaged you are at work, the better you may be able to navigate unexpected circumstances. Build trust with your manager and colleagues.  Strong relationship with the people you work with could help you feel more comfortable taking risks and developing solutions with them. Focus on what you can control.  Remember that you're only responsible for your response to the circumstances. Take breaks.  Controlling burnout is vital when building resilience. Take regular breaks in your workday and take advantage of any time off you may receive to rest and unplug from work.

22. Managing Tasks & Activities in a Hybrid World Create a single Screen for fixed time commitments using Outlook (Tasks & Calendar)

23. Displaying The To-Do Bar in the Calendar View In your Calendar, click the View tab.  Click the To-Do Bar button and check Tasks

24. Displaying Your Daily Task List On the View tab click the Daily Task List button, then check normal . (make sure you are not in month view)

25. Setting up Tasks

26. Opening in Calendar Click the File tab, then click Options in the panel on the left. Outlook Options dialog box appears. Click Advanced in the panel on the left, and under Outlook start and exit, click Browse, select Calendar. Click OK.

27. riority Management South Africa Essential Skills Curriculum