The Long and The Short Of It

Episode 176 - Hybrid

Transcript:

Jen: Hello there, Peter.

Pete: Hey, Jen.

Jen: I need your brain today.

Pete: Oh.

Jen: I need a Shepherdian brain-storming, brain-picking session.

Pete: Okay.

Jen: Because I recently found myself in a circumstance I didn't expect. And it is something you have been noodling on for a number of months, maybe even a year at this point, and have a lot of expertise in. So, I want your take on creating a hybrid environment.

Pete: Yes. Okay, you're right. I've been noodling on this for about a year. Let's see if I can help. This is The Long and The Short Of It.

Jen: So in case you've been living under a rock, we are in the midst of a global pandemic, and-

Pete: Welcome, folks. Welcome to the pandemic, if you were unaware.

Jen: And I think we're on surge two thousand seven hundred and thirty one.

Pete: Oh my god.

Jen: So what happened is toward the end of 2021, I got a new studio, we opened, it was amazing. Our first month of classes went off without a hitch. It was awesome. It was safe. It was fun. Then we got to December, our second month of classes, and this Omicron situation started flaring up. And people were either close contact or tested positive, and they couldn't come to class in-person. In many cases, they felt totally fine, asymptomatic, and were just so frustrated to have to be at home. So I was like, "Well, I guess I'll bring the computer and bring an additional monitor, and I guess we're going hybrid." So my very final class of 2021, all but one of my in-person clients were Zooming in. I had one person in the studio with me in-person, and everyone else was Zooming in. So come January, I had to make the decision that we needed to offer the hybrid possibility out of the gate, instead of doing it as an emergency band-aid. And now suddenly, we're a hybrid studio. I had intended to have online classes and in-person classes, but now I've got a mash-up. And I would love to hear your take on creating a positive hybrid experience. And is that even...is that a thing? Is a positive hybrid experience a thing?

Pete: Let's hope so. I mean, I imagine you've already created them. So maybe I can ask first, what have you noticed in terms of what's gone well, and what maybe hasn't gone so well? Like, what have you missed versus when have you gone, "Oh, actually that worked quite well?"

Jen: Well, what I'm observing is for the person at home, it's not that big a deal because they just spent two years on Zoom.

Pete: Yeah.

Jen: But for the people who are in the studio expecting the in-personness of it all, and then, you know, Jen wheels out the monitor and people are at home...I think it's more of an adjustment for the people who are in-person than it is for the people who are Zooming in.

Pete: Yes, yes, yes. I think that's quite a profound realization. And something that I've definitely observed and noticed in many of the companies that I'm helping navigate said transition from all at home, all the time to like some version of a hybrid mash-up, whether that's two days in the week we want to come into an office or three or whatever it looks like (there's all sorts of different permutations, which we can get to), but I think you're touching on something really important, which is the adjustment is for those, in my experience and sounds like yours, the adjustment is usually for those that are in the room. Because you go to the studio or you go to the office expecting a certain thing, and you hope that that thing is different to what you get at home. So most people, most companies, most leaders I'm talking to are saying, "We want to use the office for collaboration, and whiteboarding, and in-person conversations that are a lot more natural and fluid and harder to orchestrate on Zoom or Teams," or whatever platform you happen to be using. And that's the ideal. The reality is, what ends up happening in some places and what is, I think, not a great experience is you go to the office and spend eight hours on Zoom.

Jen: Right.

Pete: And you're like, "Oh my gosh, I probably could have stayed home today. What was the point of that?" And that is not the experience you want to necessarily replicate. You actually want to, as much as possible, use the in-person time for something different that you can't replicate at home. So all of that to say, I totally hear that the adjustment often is for the person in-person.

Jen: Yes. So I've polled a couple of my other friends who do facilitation of keynotes, workshops, etc., to get their take on this. And a lot of people have said, "You've got to really be adamant and say like, 'I'm not doing hybrid.'" And I'm like, "Really?" Because I think the world we're living in dictates that we have to be open to hybrid. And hybrid is not just the future anymore, it is here. It is now. It is the present. And so how can we, first of all, just roll with those punches with a bit of flexibility, and adaptability, and creativity, and innovation? (Hello.) And, remember that it's not about...like, I'm thinking of myself as a teacher. It's not about whether or not it's easy for me to teach in the hybrid model.

Pete: Yeah.

Jen: It's about, how can I best serve the clients who are there for something very specific? How can they get what they need, whether they are online, or in-person, or in a group that is mixed?

Pete: Mm-hmm. Yes. So you're touching on, I think, the most important element of this transition, this fluidity that is the hybrid world. So firstly, I would say no one has any idea what they're doing, at this point, when it comes to hybrid, in terms of how to do it perfectly, what the best practice looks like.

Jen: Mm-hmm.

Pete: Because it's such a unique and short period of time that people have been trying this, that there's no real right answer at the moment. And so what that requires is a level of flexibility, obviously, and humility to try things. And I think you're right, this is what you're speaking to, which is, one needs to do that through the lens of, "How do I serve the people in the room," whether that's the virtual room, the in-person room. And what you'll probably find is, that looks different for everyone.

Jen: Yeah.

Pete: So, the skill sets...like, I try and strip this back when I've been working with leaders. Trying to strip it back to, "So all of these things are things that are going to happen, many of them outside of our control, i.e. someone might be in the office, someone might not be, someone might be Zooming in, someone might be next to you in the meeting room, so you can't necessarily control that, the dynamic. But what you can control is the skills that you choose to lead with, or facilitate with, or show up with." And I mean, I think there's a lot that are really important. But I've been thinking about and talking about the three most important skills being empathy, intentionality, and curiosity. So empathy, which is exactly what you described, is, "Can I get clear on what it might be like to be the person either in the room, or at home on Zoom, 'I've been on Zoom for ten hours,' like whatever that experience looks like for each individual." Get really empathetic and curious about what that looks like so that you can then intentionally create an experience that makes them feel seen and heard and like they belong, which is ultimately what we're all craving, especially when we're in a class or a meeting or in a work environment. And then I think the curiosity comes into it, which is around, sort of what we're talking about, around humility and experiments. Which is, "What's working? What's not? Can I get curious about what the people in the room need versus what the people at home need? And get curious, in my own practice, about what's working and what's not?" So, I think about this...I mean, the acronym "SIC" could do with some work. But S-I-C. Which is like "sonder", first...which is kind of just another word for empathy, which we can talk about if you want to. But "sonder" (and empathy), "intentionality", and then "curiosity" Does that make sense to you?

Jen: You can substitute the "S" for "E" for "empathy", and you can make it "EIC".

Pete: "EIC". Yeah, I agree with that. And I just think empathy comes close.

Jen: It's a little cold, though. It's a little cold.

Pete: It's a little cold. But "SIC" is not ideal...although relevant, given the pandemic.

Jen: Oh my gosh. Okay, I am having a little bit of an aha moment in real time here. Which is expectations and how expectations play into the experience. Our expectations create our reality. Our expectations create our experience. And I'm thinking about my own clients right now. And so far, when someone has said, "You know, I can't come in today. I'm close contact. Or, I tested positive." And I say, "Well, do you want to Zoom in?" I haven't had a single person say, "No. Not interested in that." So I think what I need to embrace is that they have the expectation that it's going to be great, that it's going to be something they're going to get something important out of, that they're going to be able to work from home. And I need to lean into their expectations there, that I don't need to fight against someone who's like, "There's no way you're going to create a great experience for me, Jen." I think that is my imposter syndrome rearing its head and being like, "You have no idea how to create a great hybrid experience. Who do you think you are?" Well, I'm who my clients think I am. They think that I'm going to be able to create this great experience for them. So, I'm going to lean into that. Which brings me to the second part of the aha moment, which is voluntary versus involuntary hybrid. In my circumstance, everyone is voluntarily hybrid, meaning they don't have to come virtually, they can absolutely get someone to sub for them in class or sit out. But they want to be there, so they're volunteering to go hybrid. When you're dealing with a work scenario and it's not voluntary, I'm wondering how that changes that expectation of what it's going to be like.

Pete: Yeah. It's a fascinating question as it relates to even just leadership development. Is like, you and I have run many, and been part of many leadership development programs where people opt in. And the reality is, when you're delivering a keynote or a workshop or a leadership development program for a corporate, there are people that are there because their manager told them to be there.

Jen: Yes. Oh, and you can tell.

Pete: Oh, you can tell. The room is...it's very obvious. I'm very aware of that. So, you know, I actually wonder...part of how I'm thinking about this is actually, do you just need to remove the idea of hybrid in your mind to think about this?

Jen: Yeah.

Pete: Which is, ultimately what we're talking about is, "How do I lead my team? How do I facilitate a great class? How do I deliver a compelling workshop?" Now, if that's in-person, you still need to think about, "How am I going to do that?" If that's remote, you still need to think about, "How do I deliver a compelling experience?" I actually think this wrapper, this layer of, "But now it's hybrid. I need to like completely, I don't know, rethink everything," I don't actually know if that's true. I think the same rules apply, which is (you know, what we've talked about many, many times), "What is this workshop for? What is this class for? Who is this workshop for? Who is this classroom for?" And in going through that process of intentionally thinking about the thing that you're about to deliver, part of that is, "Okay, so I'm going to have some people at home, and I'm going to have some people remote. I'm going to have some people that are engaged, and I'm probably going to have some people that aren't. So, how does that shape the experience that I deliver?" Like, I think that was just as important pre-pandemic as it is now. So, it's almost like hybrid is just another medium for the same process. I don't even know if I'm making sense. Am I making sense?

Jen: No, it makes perfect sense that the label has tainted the experience of it, or the idea of what is possible within it. And maybe we need to remove the label "hybrid".

Pete: Yeah.

Jen: I mean, it is the present version of life. This is life now.

Pete: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I don't know. Like, it's like, instead of thinking about, "How do you do hybrid? How do you do hybrid? How do you hybrid,"...which is really interesting because I'm talking to companies about this, I'm not meaning to like shoot myself in the foot or say that it's not important. But it's actually like broader than that. "How do I deliver a compelling experience? How do I make my employees feel engaged? How do I make my students learn what they want to learn?" Those macro questions are still important. And then through that filter, you can consider also the fact that, yeah, some of them are at home, some of them are in-person, there is a hybrid. It's almost like that's the second layer, though, as opposed to the first one.

Jen: Yeah. I think that's a really, really important point. That when hybrid becomes the focus, the important things actually can lose the focus.

Pete: Yeah.

Jen: So that is a good reminder. Something else that I've found to be useful is to own the newness, or as Brene Brown would say, "The FFT: the fucking first time of it all."

Pete: Yeah.

Jen: And I think because I have been saying that upfront, like, "Wow, this is the first time we're doing this, and we're experimenting, and we're innovating. Look at us, we're artists. We're creative. Like, we're trying something new," everybody's on board and trying to make it as good as it can be. So I do think there's a lot of good that can be done for the environment, for the camaraderie by saying upfront, like, "I'm not an expert in this. Let's figure it out together. Let's make it what you want it to be. For the first time in our lives, there's no 'industry standard'. Isn't that exciting?"

Pete: Yeah. Oh, I think you're touching on something really important, which is enrolling others in the change, enrolling others in the awkward experiment that is the hybrid model. And so, I've had a few organizations I've been working with that do some version of what they'll call a team agreement. Which is basically, you sit down with your team and you say, "In this grand experiment that we don't really know what we're doing, what do you think it looks like for us to run a great meeting in-person? What do you think it looks like for us to run a great meeting at home? What do you think it looks like to blend the two? When do you want to do hybrid meetings? When do you want to do in-person? When do you want to be at home? When do you not?" So actually gaining enrollment and collaborating with your team to create that experience is a great way, I think, to navigate the awkward, navigate the FFT.

Jen: Mmm. Yep. And ding, ding, ding: That's leadership.

Pete: Well, this is the thing, right? Again, none of this is...I feel like none of this is new. And at times that triggers my imposter, because I have clients and executives saying to me, "Pete, how do we navigate hybrid?" And I kind of feel like an imposter, because I'm like, "You navigate, as a leader, change the same way that you used to navigate change, hopefully. Which is leading with empathy, leading with intentionality, leading with humility, experimenting, enrolling others in that change. It's just that this time, the changes, 'We're going to hybrid,' or, 'We're going all remote,' 'some companies are going all remote,' like that whatever the change is, the way that you lead, hopefully, is still some version of the same."

Jen: Yeah. You know, this is making me think that everything is just so exacerbated by the acute urgency of this moment, this like collective global emergency, that it's making this change somehow feel like it's unique. Obviously, the circumstance is unique. But what it takes to move through it as a collective is not unique. And that is just a really helpful reminder to me, so thank you for that.

Pete: Yeah. And I think that for most people, the most recent thing to rewind back to, to remember is when we went from all in-person all the time, to all remote all the time, i.e. when the pandemic started in March 2020ish. The same thing happened, everyone was like, "How do we do remote, Pete? How do I lead my team remotely," and the same conversation I would have, which is, "Well, it's still the same tenets, it's still the same principles. You want to be a leader, great. You want to be empathetic. You want to be intentional. You want to have humility. You want to be curious. You want to experiment. And you want to enroll others in the fact that you don't really know what you're doing, because you haven't done it yet." And in the same way that people got tripped up as they are with hybrid, they were starting to, "Let's just do exactly what we've done in-person, remotely." And then, they figured out, "Oh, that doesn't quite work. So we need to actually think with intention, 'What are we trying to deliver here? How might we do that with the technology we have?'" And so, it's just the same process again, "What are we trying to do here? How might we navigate that with the situation that we have?"

Jen: Okay, I think I have caught what you were throwing, so let me reflect it back to you and you tell me if I got it. Rather than freaking out, saying, "How am I going to do this in a hybrid world? How am I going to create a good hybrid experience? I don't know what I'm doing," instead, I'm going to take a breath and say, "What does leadership look like? What does good leadership look like? What are the real, human skills I need to put to work in order to lead and to enroll others in the change that we are all seeking to make together?"

Pete: Well caught. I feel like you caught exactly what I was saying. And if I was to remind folks of some of the real skills I think are most important, it would be leading with empathy, i.e. thinking about sonder (that is the realization that everyone else is having their own unique experience, remembering that), and then being intentionally curious. So intentionally creating the conditions for others to thrive, to feel seen, to feel heard, to feel like they belong, and then getting curious about, "What's working? What's not? What can we change? What have we learnt? What do my people think?" Just this never ending loop of empathy, intentionality and curiosity.

Jen: So "SIC", Pete. Thanks for that. And that is The Long and The Short Of It.