The Challenge
Following the COVID-19 pandemic, a global financial corporation wanted to transition from an enforced remote-working model to a hybrid approach. To help ease this transition, they needed to upskill their leaders to create inclusive hybrid work environments that prioritized collaboration and cohesion across distributed teams. The program needed to:
- Establish accountability among people leaders across the UK and reinforce their roles in modeling and enabling hybrid work.
- Provide guidance and tools that help leaders manage hybrid teams to enable efficient working patterns.
- Empower managers with the ability to hold conversations about hybrid practices.
- Enable leaders to employ an outcome-based approach to adopting hybrid working.
The GP Strategies Solution
GP Strategies developed a series of in-person workshops designed to teach managers how to help their people work through the emotions of transitioning to a hybrid work environment. To maximize immersion, engagement, and create memorable experiences, GP Strategies used actors to help bring work-environment scenarios to life through interactive theater and roleplaying.
The workshops introduced several unusual twists to help reinforce key messages. For instance, in an emotional intelligence exercise, facilitators told participants they’d be staying an hour later than planned. Experiencing the anxiety and resistance that followed taught participants how to apply the Pause, Notice, and Listen technique of self-regulation.
In another session, participants took part in a scavenger hunt that tasked them with solving puzzles and searching out clues found throughout the building. Facilitators took aside one person from each group and asked them to undermine their group’s efforts to illustrate the negative impact of self-orientation and unconscious bias.
External feedback from partner organizations has labeled the program as “innovative,” noting how it has helped create hybrid environments that satisfy the needs of both customers and employees.
The Results
The program succeeded in changing perceptions surrounding a return to the office and transforming managers into dedicated change agents. The program performed well against all of its objectives, resulting in several significant changes:
