Making Hybrid Working Work

We had a brilliant Pop Up with Gary Cookson as part of the launch of his new book Making Hybrid Working Work, you can find it via the publisher here or on Amazon here.

Gary surprised us! There were many things about hybrid working we simply hadn’t realised, despite having been hybrid workers for the best part of ten years now.  Employees love it, employers generally don’t, and often it doesn’t work well.

Gary’s presentation talked us through how to know whether hybrid is really working (you need to assess it using what he described as a “jigsaw of measures” to see the bigger picture), and what good hybrid working looks like.  Unlike how it’s often reported in the press hybrid working is not something that’s “one size fits all”, and we shouldn’t be surprised at this because – as Gary pointed out – nobody ever described face to face working like that.

Hybrid also means different things to different people, even if they do the same job.  Gary’s view is that, to do hybrid well, jobs need to be redesigned so that tasks are matched to when (synchronously or asynchronously) and where (onsite, offsite) they get done, rather than a focus on in or out of the office on a role-by-role basis.  He also described the investment of time and effort that needs to go into creating the emotional proximity of hybrid teams, whilst also paying close attention to physical workspace for when people come into the office.

It’s clear that Gary is passionate about “hybrid working” working well, and his presentation had lots of actionable material at its heart.  We came away from this session wanting to introduce Gary to several of our clients, and happy to recommend him and his book to you all.

Our next pop-up is on 19th March 2025 and features Steve Hearsum and his excellent work, including the book No Silver Bullet. More info here: it’s going to be great. Can’t wait!