Organisation Culture, Teams and Purpose in a post pandemic hybrid world 

In 2020 McKinsey & Co wrote about re-imagining organisations in a post pandemic world. It was suggested that organisations would need to focus on three dimensions – who we are; how we operate; how we grow.

Moreover, organisational culture may seem invisible during prosperous times, but in moments of crisis, its presence can be seen clearly in the collective behaviours that “either help a company pull together and get things done or lead to inertia, confusion, and even mistrust”.

The pandemic has challenged assumptions about team leadership through the growth of remote working and the ability to manage people within this new paradigm. As McKinsey noted, one particularly important management practice right now is striking the appropriate balance between supportive and challenging leadership, as this encourages people to step up and “lead in new ways”.

To achieve this, leaders now need to demonstrate ambidexterity, exploiting what is required today – processes, competencies, organisation structure and products, while exploring the post pandemic future – continuous learning, adaptability, vision and entrepreneurship. Running an organisation that has both rigour and vigour at the same time means adapting and evolving to optimise future opportunities whilst simultaneously leveraging the here and now. Inherently paradoxical, complex and challenging. Above all, team leaders need to be resilient, recover fast and adapt to uncertainty.

A new hybrid world is emerging with more choices about where, when, and how they will work. Recent Gartner analysis shows that 46% of the workforce is projected to be working hybrid in future. The reality of Hybrid working also brings with it the risk of inequality via a two-tier system.

The normalisation of remote working in more than 70% of manager – employee relationships will mean that these will become increasingly asynchronous with managers more focused on outputs and less on process. Acceleration in the use of new technology brings with it opportunities to automate many everyday tasks. And employees’ changing expectations around mental health and well-being mean a shift in the manager –employee relationship to be more emotional and supportive.