Excellent question. I’m curious if responses may have changed as well as we’ve moved towards work-from-home that has less of an end in site.

Thanks Dave – some really good insights. There could be several ways to respond to this question, I went a bit more tactical. However, I agree a culture of dialogue and accountability is paramount. We’ve learned to speak up quickly and often when or if we have concerns with our colleagues, and not in a punitive or untrusting way, more of a “hey, wanted to check-in on something,” approach. It’s proved useful for us. Best of luck.

Eva – I’m so glad it was helpful. We are all learning by trial and error – but we have put some of these ideas into practice with success. I hope they can help you and your team as well. Best of luck.

Thanks for sharing some insights on new hybrid work place that has evolved. I appreciate the focus of the article and research seems to me to be more tilted towards social/mental aspects of the team, a balanced part of the peace pertains to crucial conversations accountability. While no-one could have prepared for the duration of the events du jour for health and wellness, etc., likewise many are perhaps not street-wise or aware of how to be accountable and visible in a distributed, virtual environment I would suggest. For managers/leaders, they have no way of monitoring productivity or presence and often resort to arguably draconian defaults such as onerous time tracking/reporting. This of course completely communicates, no matter whether corporate values state “people are their biggest asset”, that the organization does not trust it’s people!

So people need to know how to communicate amongst team members in a different, visible and regular way that provides a sense that all members pulling their weight; getting things done; being productive self-starters. Not everyone is a self-starter with a guiding compass of “ownership”. And yet we know no-one wants to be under the thumb of someone. So they also need some training, guidance, mentoring in being a self-starter because if we don’t learn how to manage ourselves, someone else will. Which one do we want?

Ultimately this highlights that many crucial conversations could be avoided by team members learning how to be accountable and self-starters in this new world. Learning these will improve happiness and morale at very least. Managers and Leaders would expect to be far more supportive and pleased with this hybrid and resultant productivity.

Eat the meat and spit out the bones.