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Benefits and Challenges of being in a Hybrid Team

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Benefits and Challenges of being in a Hybrid Team

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Here’s a rundown of the top tools to help your remote and hybrid teams. Collaborate from anywhere and work smarter with these 16 great pieces of software.

A New Way of Working

Remote working was the biggest change for companies in 2020. And 2 years later, companies are still figuring out how to balance in-office teams with those who are still working from home.

For many offices, hybrid workplaces are filling this void. More and more, hybrid and semi-remote employees are now replacing 100% onsite teams. This structure helps to balance the flexibility of remote work, with the camaraderie and support that comes from being in an office.

And now with more companies than ever rolling out initiatives for this practice, other organizations are beginning to follow suit.

This is a huge shift for many workplaces. So with their rise in popularity, the question naturally becomes, what are the best tools for remote and semi-remote hybrid teams?

To help with that, we’ve compiled a list of some of the best and most useful tools for your hybrid and remote teams. These will cover all the important aspects of this new way of working. And help you to mitigate the inevitable challenges along the way.

Here’s our picks for some of the top tools for your hybrid teams and remote work, broken down by different categories.

For some more tips on remote and hybrid working check out a few of our other articles:

Our comprehensive guide to remote and semi-remote virtual teams

Best practices for virtual project management

The benefits of remote work for the employer and employee

And our list of the top virtual management software of 2022

The Best Tools for Remote Teams and Hybrid Work

We broke our recommendations down into 5 categories.

1. Collaboration

2. Management

3. Communication

4. File Sharing

5. Virtual Offices

Remote Team Collaboration Tools

As opposed to your office’s bulky whiteboard, this software helps you collaborate from anywhere in the world. Get creative with the interactive features and encourage your team to participate in more engaging meetings. This software makes the daily brainstorming and planning process more visual and more fun!

Explain Everything

This Polish based start-up offers cloud-based software to help teams collaborate visually in real-time. Use the whiteboard for meetings, as there’s high-quality voice chat, and you can take notes in Explain Everything‘s web-based interface. Record meetings or video presentations, add images, or draw your own in the tool. From there you can share it with your team, your stakeholders, and even send it to non-users. Connect and sync across all devices with their IOS and Android apps.

Explain Everything is cloud-based collaborative software that lets you visually express your ideas. You can use it in a meeting or record a presentation and send it to anyone.

Conceptboard

Conceptboard is an online, infinite canvas which acts as a centralized hub for your team’s content and ideas. The shared workspace lets you manage all your visual projects seamlessly, across teams and timezones. You can follow actions on-board, screen share, or video chat, so even if you’re remote you can collaborate together.

Miro

Described as an “online collaborative whiteboarding platform” Miro helps you build and develop ideas across remote teams. Visually map out your team’s strategy on an infinitely zoomable canvas, in real-time or asynchronously. Integrate with your workplace’s favorite apps to seamlessly coordinate all your projects and see why they say it’s where “distributed teams get work done.”

Read on: Find out how to enhance collaboration and teamwork for your dispersed and hybrid teams. Read a few ways that hybrid workplace models can actually improve your team's productivity and keep teams agile.

Weekdone

Weekdone is an easy tool for planning projects and tasks. As well as sharing updates and giving your co-workers praise for work well done. Whether you’re part of a development, design, or marketing team, Weekdone is a go-to tool for remote teams in 2022. By leveraging asynchronous communication, Weekdone’s newsfeed lets you get crucial updates when YOU need them. Pair that with a seamless weekly planning feature and gamified reward system for jobs well done and you have an ideal tool for teams spread out around the world.

Remote Employee Management Tools

Keep everyone up to date with their tasks and changes to projects. This software ensures everyone knows what they need to do and by when. And helps your PM more effectively tackle their project planning, resource scheduling, and task management.

Ganttic

Online resource management software that visualizes your resources, tasks, and projects through Gantt charts. Ganttic’s simple drag and drop capabilities means you can make schedules in no time. Then share it with everyone on your team. The cloud-based tool comes with an advanced timeline, that’s as flexible as Excel, but without any of the hassle or security issues.

Plus, dedicated project management features such as capacity planning, reports, charts, Kanban boards, and more ensures you’re creating the most efficient use of your resources with each plan. Use the app’s integrations with Outlook or Google to notify your team or build it yourself with Ganttic API or through Zapier. Keep everyone up to date and no longer stress about what your team is up to.

Lumeer

Lumeer is an absolutely flexible collaborative team and project management tool. It enables easy digitalization and automation of workflows, transparency, ad-hoc reporting and insights into what to do next, how to do it and why it matters. Tasks, clients, projects, features, bugs, invoices, inventory, budgets, expenses… connect everything within a single space. And use the right visual view that fits your needs. Lumeer introduces agile collaboration in teams, anywhere, anytime.

TeamHood

This project and teamwork management platform has taken a leap to make digital Kanban boards more visual. Teamhood‘s “advanced Kanban board” not only features horizontal swimlanes for categorizing items into stages or areas, but also sub-swimlanes for sub-processes. The detailed visibility allows high level project management and operational teams to collaborate smoothly on the same board. That way you can control the process with Kanban, the timing on the Timeline, and the resource capabilities and availability with the Workload view.

ProofHub

Online project planning software with loads of features. ProofHub offers Kanban boards, Gantt charts, proofing and collaborative abilities, project notes, calendars, and more. All organized in one central location. Assign different roles within the software so your project manager can keep track of your projects’ progress with overviews and timesheets. Plus, the mobile app means you can use it on the go.

Orangescrum

Project and task management software to organize projects, team, and tasks in one place. Orangescrum keeps your team or customers on the same page. And it has tons of features to simplify your collaboration and workflow. Scrum board, Kanban, sprint help to keep you agile a maximize productivity. Plus, OrangeScrum offers project planning capabilities such as milestone/task groups tracking, task status tracking, priority settings, document sharing, and invoice management.

Tip: Have some questions about the features of remote team management software? Take a tour of Ganttic to learn more. You can also sign up for a personal webinar and demo, and we can walk you through set up and answer all your burning questions.

Remote Team Communication Tools

An integral aspect of remote work is keeping in contact with your team. Here we present some ways to help you meet up for daily chats or hash out your big plans in online meetings. Bonus: these remote tools are all free!

Zoom

The ubiquitous tool of 2020 isn’t going away anytime soon. Enterprise cloud video conferencing, online meetings, and group messaging in one easy-to-use platform. Zoom lets you join a meeting without downloading any additional software, and host one with only a simple sign-up. The free version lets you host up to 100 people for up to 40 minutes, with stable connections and useful screen sharing. Plus, scalable paid packages let you choose the features you need.

Discord

Open-source software that was originally developed for gamers. But its rich features, easy setup, and smooth UI give Slack a run for its money. Discord describes itself as an “All-in-one voice and text chat for gamers that’s free, secure, and works on both your desktop and phone.”  If you can get past the gamer feel, you’ll see why many are considering this their office and remote team tool.

Skype

Video calls and chat software from a fellow Estonian company. Skype lets you create group chats (with up to 600 participants!) and group calls (up to 50) from your phone or desktop. For free and from anywhere you have wifi. Plus, its end to end encryption means all your messages are secure. The fact that you probably already have it downloaded is another reason to integrate it with your remote team.

Read on: Watch out when scheduling meetings for your remote and hybrid team. There's actually a lot of ways to communicate that won't require 3+ hour long conference calls. See what we mean with our 10 tips on managing your virtual project team.

File Sharing and Syncing

Remote working can’t happen without your team having the correct files or docs. Here is some software for sharing and making sure everyone is in sync.

Samepage

Samepage is an “all-in-one tool” which combines “chat, video conferencing, screen sharing, task management, file sharing, and real-time document collaboration in a single cloud-based collaborative workspace.” With the software you can drag and drop files onto a page, edit them, and share the changes with your team. Or edit them from Dropbox and even your desktop and share them when you’re done.

Read on: You can't effectively manage a remote team with Excel. Don't believe us? Here's 5 reasons why Excel is so ineffective when you're a virtual PM.

Wimi

Wimi provides file sharing and online file storage that’s accessible from any computer. With this tool, your information is synchronized and available whenever you need it and from whichever device you have on hand. Create secure and customized file-sharing workspaces that allows you to preview or edit most file formats. Manage the access rights and collaborate with your team, clients, and external partners. Plus, with files too big for email, you can send a link to download.

Virtual Office Tools

If remote working has your team missing the office, here’s some great alternatives. All without the long commutes, fluorescent lights, and drab cubicles. Create your own virtual office for your so no one ever misses a beat.

My Digital Office

Built by a fully remote team, My Digital Office is the solution for those who feel disconnected from their coworkers and those who’ve “grown tired of green status circles.” This tool lets users build their own digital workspace: desks to store documents, an office phone for chats with coworkers, and meeting rooms with an online whiteboard for team meetings. The chat recreates those inspiring water cooler moments and your avatar communicates your current status.

Pesto

Pesto is a free open-beta virtual office software. Put a face to your voice by customizing your avatar to showcase your personality. Instantly start chatting with colleagues, similar to a walkie-talkie, to get status updates, quickly check-in, or clarify a confusing task. Or set up a meeting with video and screen sharing options. There are also cool features like the lofi rooms where you can silently listen to music with your teammates, the spatial rooms where you can walk around a map and hop in and out of conversations, and the trivia rooms for team social events.

Qube

Qube’s virtual office transforms how you work remotely, by providing an online office context – who’s talking to who, who’s out of the office and who just stepped out to lunch. It connects with Slack and Zoom and you can chat with coworkers in the common rooms or in private meeting rooms. The “people watching” feature sends you a notification whenever the person you need to talk to is available. And it works the other way by sending you a list of people who want to get in touch with you.

Don’t Let Distance Determine How You Work

When it comes to remote and hybrid work, flexibility is key. Flexibility for how you and your team work. And flexibility for where you work. But flexibility doesn’t mean disorder.

Quite the opposite! With these tools, your remote teams will be able to stay connected, and be more productive than ever before. And you’ll be able to ensure an uninterrupted workflow, whether you’re in the office or working from home.

Wherever you’re working, if you’re a PM you need to be able to plan out the next year with ease and efficiency. With Ganttic, you can plan future and ongoing projects, manage portfolios and bookings, as well as schedule your staff, tools, events, or machinery. Gain a clear overview of your day-to-day and create transparent plans to keep everyone on task.

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The Best Tools for Remote Teams & Hybrid Work in 2022

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Some of the best tools for remote teams and hybrid work. Manage workflows, plan projects, and communicate better at home and the office.

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Read and discuss:
1. What is/are the causes of unhappiness in the team?
2. What is/are the barriers to communication?
3. What actions would you recommend to the team members/leader?

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Click on the '+' icon in the column for each question.Type your responses in the corresponding columns.

Click PUBLISH on the top right corner to save your post.

To edit your post, click the "EDIT" on the top right corner of your post. (You will see it when you move the cursor over the three dots)

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In Singapore's volatile business climate, it is more important than ever for companies to constantly evolve to remain competitive. To embark on real change and enhance organisational capabilities, companies need to start from the very foundation - its people. That is where corporate training in leadership, organisational alignment, and more play a vital role.

Capelle Consulting is dedicated to equipping corporate clients in Singapore with the essential skills to fuel company growth. We are a fully integrated consultancy specialising in organisational development, HR, and executive coaching. With decades of experience helping companies optimise capabilities and achieve excellence, we strive to empower you for success with our comprehensive bespoke solutions and leadership training program.

Why Choose Capelle Consulting?

Here at Capelle Consulting, our expert team of consultants, learning specialists, and executive coaches are committed to the highest standards of professionalism. Not only are our corporate and leadership training solutions designed holistically using international best practices, but they are tailored to your company's needs.

We are with you at every step of the learning journey, from understanding your challenges and developing contextualised strategies to implementing solutions that accomplish company goals. We have a proven track record of satisfied clients in Singapore, and we take pride in delivering practical solutions that transform organisations and touch lives.

Kickstart Your Change Journey With Us Today

Ready to embark on your journey of organisational transformation? Capelle Consulting is here to help you get started. Our extensive suite of services in Singapore range from HR consulting and executive coaching to training courses on leadership development, service excellence, and business competencies. Keen to know more about our services, or have a question in mind? Connect with us and begin taking your organisation to new heights today.

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Corporate & Leadership Training in Singapore | Capelle Consulting

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Explore the list of 16 golden rules complemented with real business advice & tips to facilitate remote meetings and make them engaging.

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Below are the points that were mentioned in the article. As you read through the points again, think about which ones you find most useful.

1. Sync Work and Home Schedules

2. Reset Expectations With Manager

3. Reset Expectations At Home

4. Block Out Do-Not-Disturb Time

5. Build In Self-Care Habits and Routines

6. Set Communication Guidelines With Colleagues And Teams

7. Learn To Say ‘No’ But Remain Helpful

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Female professional working from home, on phone and taking notes, while young child plays in the ... [+]
Getty

One of the most frequent concerns I hear about working from home is the difficulty in setting boundaries between work and home lives. Sure, you save the commute time back and forth, but some people relished the commute time for quiet time - to read, listen to podcasts, play games or even daydream. Now that your office is inside your home, you default to checking email (and then doing just one more thing) well outside typical office hours. Days are longer, and one day bleeds into the next with little separation or respite.

The lack of physical boundaries between work and home means that you will have to set other boundaries, in order to preserve time for work and home (and yourself). These boundaries can include habits, such as not defaulting to checking email just because you can. Boundaries can also be in the agreements you make with others so that you manage your time the way you intend to and not on the whims of others.

Here are seven ways to set boundaries between work and home:
1 - Sync your work and home schedules - get real about what you need
When my youngest daughter's college went remote, our working space for two suddenly needed to accommodate three. In our case, this meant setting up an additional desk and increasing our Internet capacity since our work was almost entirely online. Depending on what you're juggling at home, you may need to accommodate for nap times, helping with classwork, additional meals to prep, etc. If you have a partner who works at home, you need to come up with productive ways to both work from home.

Make a list of exactly what you need on both fronts - i.e., specific days and times when family needs you, where work appointments and deadlines fall. See where there are actual calendar conflicts versus action items that need to be done but on their own time. Overlay ongoing tasks which don't have deadlines but still need to happen - e.g., checking email. Having a total picture of everything that needs to be done ensures that you can be proactive about finding time for everything.
2 - Reset expectations with your manager
When you combine your work and home needs in one ultimate checklist, you may see conflicts - for example, deadlines that overlap. Meet with your manager to reset expectations around what you can do. Come prepared with solutions to propose. If you have an ongoing conflict, you may need to switch up when you start or end your day, so you can have a longer midday break. Or, it can be a one-off accommodation, such as if you have a work meeting that needs to move.

Resetting expectations with your manager is good practice anyway, especially in times like today's market when conditions are fast-changing Your manager's priorities might change, and they would welcome flexibility from you on what to focus on. Focusing your work on company priorities is a critical way to maintain your job security.
3 - Reset expectations at home
While changes at work can help on the home front, changes at home may be necessary to help you get your work done. Call a household meeting so everyone can share what they are working on, and as a team, you can figure out the best way forward. Even if you are the most organized in the group, this doesn't mean you need to do everything. Distribute tasks, assign deadlines and post it clearly - we have those big Post-it papers you can stick on a wall, but others keep a family calendar online. However you divide and disseminate the tasks, just make sure that everything that is needed is assigned to someone and everyone knows what their assignment and timetable is.

If running the household falls on you (e.g., you have young children who can't help), consider getting help. "Videocare" might be an option - this is virtual babysitting from a formerly in-person babysitting company that pivoted during the pandemic. Research your options and run the numbers on what you can afford. Check with your company as there might be an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) with additional options.
4 - Block out do-not-disturb time
The lack of physical boundaries between work and home already increases the propensity for distraction, so you may have to build in ways to deter any more distractions. For at least one hour a day, create a do-not-disturb time for work. Block off this time on your calendar to meetings. Turn off email notifications, or even close your email platform entirely so you're not tempted to check. Reserve this time for your most critical work.

Ideally, you can make your do-not-disturb time the time of day when you concentrate best. I am a morning person so I try not to schedule morning meetings or appointments, and instead reserve that time for analysis, writing or other creative work that needs my focus. If you have an upcoming deadline, you'll want to increase the amount of do-not-disturb time that you reserve for when you know the work requires it. Reserving time to do your best work ensures that you proactively promote your career and not just react to incoming work, like a game of Whack-A-Mole.
5 - Build in self-care habits and routines throughout the day
You may not have an actual commute to listen to your favorite podcast, but you can still do your commute routine and listen to your podcast. Get up from your desk throughout the day. Drink plenty of water. Take a lunch break.

Set alarms on your phone if your tendency is to forget these items. Set an alarm for every half hour to stand at your desk, even if it's to get up and sit back down. Set another alarm for every hour to drink a glass of water. Make a virtual lunch date with a key person in your network so you don't forget to eat and you nurture those critical professional relationships. Finally, set an alarm for when your work day ends - you can always change the time to accommodate a pressing deadline. Pack up your computer or other work supplies and put them away to signal the end of your work time. Set an out of office message to let your colleagues know when you'll return online.
6 - Set communication guidelines with your colleagues and team
Letting people know when you are reachable and how to reach you is critical to setting boundaries with others. In a physical work environment, you can see if a person looks busy and it's not a good time to interrupt. When everyone works from home, you don't know who is busy, and they don't know you are busy, so you will surely get interrupted. To minimize interruptions, tell your colleagues and team when and how to get a hold of you.

The "when" means that you let people know when you're available through managing your calendar or by sharing if there are specific times during the day that you'll be checking email - you can set an autoresponder email to say, "Thank you for your email. I'm working on something else right now, but I check emails at 11a, 2p, and 5p each day." The "how" means that you specify if you prefer email, phone, Slack or whatever mediums of communication your workplace uses. That autoresponder can include, "If your matter is urgent, please text or call or DM..." If people really need to get a hold of you, they will. But more likely, it's a non-urgent request and a few hours of delay will not be a problem.
7 - Learn to say No and still be helpful
Putting in a short delay when someone tries to reach you is one way of saying No (because you say No at that particular moment) but you are still helpful because you indicate when you will be reachable again. Learning to say No is a critical skill for setting boundaries so you can stay on your own schedule and focused on your own priorities and not get pulled into the multiple needs of others.

At the same time, you want to be perceived as a team player, so you want to still be helpful even when you say No. Delaying your Yes (i.e., saying No in the moment) and then helping later when it's a better time for you is one approach. Identifying others who can help is another approach and may be the better solution for everyone, if another person is better equipped to answer the question, attend the meeting or otherwise help with the request. Training the person to help themselves is yet another approach. For example, if a colleague asks you for information that can be accessed directly by the colleague, you can show them where to find it and walk through the process with them so they know for future requests. This may take more time in the short-term, but saves you time in the long-term, especially if it will likely be a repeat request.
There are multiple ways you can set boundaries between work and home but you have to be willing to set them
You will need to invest some time in figuring out what is needed at work and at home. You will need to have candid conversations with your manager, colleagues, team and household. You will need discipline to stick to the boundaries you set. However, setting boundaries is an investment that allows you to focus on the work that matters, fulfill your personal commitments and still have time to take care of yourself.

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How To Set Boundaries Between Work And Home

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The lack of physical boundaries between work and home means you have to set other boundaries. These can include habits, such as not defaulting to checking email just because you can. Here are seven ways to set boundaries between work and home.

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Capelle Consulting | 1,342 followers on LinkedIn. An integrated Organization Development (OD) and HR consulting firm specializing in leadership and service excellence. | Capelle Consulting is a trusted Organizational Development (OD), HR Consulting Firm and Training Provider specializing in Leaders…

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You found our list of hybrid team building activities.

Hybrid team building activities are games and exercises that consist of both physical and virtual elements. For instance, hybrid meetings involve some attendees gathering in the same room and others joining remotely via phone call or video conference. These activities might also include sending physical materials to online participants. The purpose of these activities is to support team building and community building.

These activities are similar to online classroom activities and free virtual team building activities, and make great virtual team engagement ideas and virtual bonding activities for teams.

This post contains:

hybrid team building activities

hybrid team events

games for hybrid classes

Let’s get to it!

From desktop s’mores roasting sessions to work away days, here is a list of engaging hybrid exercises for employees, students or faraway friend groups.

1. Traveling Ted

Traveling Ted is a fun game for long distance communities to enjoy together from afar. To play, participants send “Ted” in the mail to each other. Recipients pose Ted in a variety of settings, take pictures, and share the photos with the group. This activity helps group members learn about other players’ surroundings and culture.

We made a template for Ted.

Before starting the game, ask players to decorate Ted together on a digital whiteboard or a shared account on an online art program. Then, slip Ted into an envelope and send him on his way to a teammates’ house.

Flat paper cutouts are the easiest and cheapest Teds to mail, and feel free to use action figures or stuffed animals instead.

2. tiny campfire 🔥

tiny campfire brings the outdoors indoors and online. The week before the event, guests receive a s’mores kit in the mail, complete with a tealight candle for optimal desktop marshmallow roasting. Participants then join an energetic virtual camp counsellor in a secure Zoom room for an afternoon or evening full of historic ghost stories, camp games, and remote team bonding.

Check out this guide on how to run your own virtual campfire, or learn about our hosted tiny campfire,

3. Cocktail Shakeup

Cocktail Shakeup is one of the best hybrid activities for adults. Attendees receive packages full of dry ingredients to make sophisticated mixed drinks. During the event a virtual bartender demonstrates how to whip up classy cocktails while also leading teams through an online “toast-off,” prohibition themed digital scavenger hunt, and a tasteful, work-appropriate drinking game.

Learn more about Cocktail Shakeup.

4. Tea vs Coffee

Tea vs Coffee is a virtual tea and coffee ceremony ideal for remote team building, online college clubs, or even distanced high school language or culture classes. Groups receive a package in the mail containing a variety of coffees and teas in intriguing flavors, then gather on a secure Zoom line with a knowledgeable host. During the event, attendees share thoughtful icebreakers, meditate, brew and taste beverages together. The end result is zen, knowledge, and stronger bonds.

Learn more about Tea vs Coffee.

5. Online cooking classes

Remote team dinners are good for team bonding, yet online cooking classes elevate the experience by giving attendees a mission. While ordering takeout and munching during a team call is fun, cooking together via video call occupies a longer span of time and gives participants a sense of accomplishment. Learning a new skill together creates a sense of common ground amidst the group and encourages personal development.

For inspiration, check out our list of online cooking classes.

6. Virtual wine tasting classes

Similar to online cooking classes, virtual wine tasting classes combine tasting and learning in a participatory online environment. Recipients either order tasting kits, or source wines locally. Organizers should note that certain states and countries prohibit mailing alcohol, so bring-your-own-beverage might turn out to be a more practical format for the event. A sommelier joins attendees on a video call, and the group sips wines together and discusses their impressions.

For suggestions, check out our list of virtual wine tasting classes.

7. Online art classes

Online art classes occupy attendees’ hands, which is great news for can’t-sit-still teammates and guests with social jitters alike. Often, class organizers send packages of art supplies or a shopping list of materials to participants. Then, attendees join an artist on a video call, and the class leader demonstrates how to create a piece of art. Or, participants can follow a pre-recorded online tutorial step-by-step.

Projects can range from paintings, drawings, jewellery, crafts, or even more out-of-the box ideas like woodworking, found-art-sculptures, or mold making. To recreate a paint-and-sip art class online, combine your digital art class with a virtual wine tasting.

For recommendations, check out our list of online art classes.

8. Digital scavenger hunts

Scavenger hunts are exciting. The adrenaline rush from running around on the hunt for clues and the thrill of competition keeps groups engaged and entertained. Digital scavenger hunts work best when they incorporate movement, for instance, asking video call attendees to fetch items from around the house.

Online scavenger hunts can also function as hybrid activities where one teammate relays instructions from “mission control,” or the main meeting base, while another teammate explores his or her surrounding environment to find clues or complete tasks.

To perform a digital scavenger hunt, curate a list of clues, split the group into teams, then set a time limit and watch teams scramble. At the end of each round or game, assign points accordingly and award the ultimate winners with prizes or recognition.

For tips and tricks, check out our guide to online scavenger hunts and this one with scavenger hunt clues and riddles.

Also, here is a list of scavenger hunt apps to try, and one with ideas for photo scavenger hunts.

9. Escape rooms

One of the best parts of escape rooms is that players can solve puzzles online, in-person, or a mix of both approaches. By tapping into free resources, you can easily create your own escape room experiences in your house or classroom or online. Dressing up and hiding clues within view of the webcam is one way to create an engaging online environment when solving puzzles via video call. You can also require participants to play games or solve puzzles through websites and video calls, or source objects from their own homes.

For ideas, check out our articles on digital escape rooms and free DIY escape room puzzle ideas.

10. Virtual field trips

Virtual field trips enable participants to explore potentially far-off destinations from the comfort of home or the classroom. When leading a group of students on an in-person field trip, you can use video conferencing platforms to take at-home students along for the tour. One nice touch on hybrid field trips is to give remote attendees the option of picking activities or mapping out the route so that they feel more involved.

Or, the entire group may visit a museum, zoo, or national park virtually. The best of these programs offer live chats with a guide, park ranger, or zookeeper so that students can ask questions and interact throughout the experience, an approach that holds attention much better than a lecture format.

For inspiration, check out our list of virtual field trip examples.

11. Twins & opposites

Twins & opposites is a remote learning activity that helps groups spot similarities and differences. To play, ask participants to find objects within their homes or immediate vicinity.

Samples of prompts may be as follows:

Pet

Snack

Treasure

Heirloom

Ball

Family

Players grab a physical object to show off onscreen. Participants then compare and contrast the items. The meeting host can assign attendees into breakout rooms in pairs or small groups to discuss the objects, bond over similarities, and learn through differences.

Twins & opposites is an engaging game for students or geographically diverse teams, enabling participants to learn more about each other, expand horizons, and make meaningful connections.

12. Spirit days

Spirit days brighten up an ordinary remote school week or workweek. Either host a week-long stretch of spirit days, or pick one day every week or month to celebrate. Simply assign a theme to particular days, and ask participants to show up to video meetings or classes in costume or with props.

Spirit day themes might include:

Sports

Beach day

Pajama Day

Movies

Books

Music

Superheroes

Time travelers

History

Decades Day

Holidays

International

Villains

Carnival

Feel free to choose any theme that sparks attendees creativity and imagination, but try to cater to materials that folks might already have in house or can obtain easily.

Participants can also customize the virtual meeting background to suit the theme, too.

Here is a list of ideas for in-person spirit weeks, and a list of ideas for virtual spirit days.

13. Hometown tours

Hometown tours enable remote colleagues or students to show off their immediate neighborhood. First, task participants with an assignment to record videos, take pictures, or collect websites that represent their hometown or current city. Then, instruct attendees to compile the materials into a slideshow presentation to share while on a video conference call.

To make the event more interactive, ask participants to lead a tutorial teaching an activity that relates to their hometown. Examples of activities might include a cooking tutorial on a regional dish, a demonstration on how to play the town’s favorite sport, or a local language lesson explaining a unique dialect.

Participants can show off their current city, birthplace, ancestral background, or even a destination they one day hope to visit. Allowing for flexibility gives participants the option to speak about the places they are most passionate about.

Once every member presents, compile a collage with snippets from each group member’s special tour.

14. Pen Pals

Receiving physical mail tends to be more personal than receiving email. Pen pal programs are one of the simplest hybrid activities for team building, classrooms, or groups of friends alike.

To launch a pen pal program:

1. Collect names and addresses of willing participants.

2. Pair participants and exchange information.

3. Instruct writers to send letters and small packages.

You should set a minimum frequency, for instance, once a month or every other week. Either assign themes for the letters and packages, such as favorite snacks, animals, or travel, or leave the subject up to the writers.

There are many existing pen pal programs to choose from, or you can launch your own.

Access to unique perspectives and insider information about distant locations makes pen pal programs great hybrid teaching activities, with the added advantage of encouraging relationships along with learning.

15. Work away days

Working from home does not have to mean working at home. Sometimes, a change of environment can help students or workers refocus or consider new perspectives. Declaring work away days motivates home-schooled students or telecommuters to explore a brand new workspace such as a coffee shop, bakery, library, co-working space, or relative’s house.

Of course, bad weather, a lack of transportation, or other unforeseen circumstances might prevent participants from actually travelling. A change of scenery does not necessarily have to mean a change of location. If students or employees cannot leave their typical building, then encourage them to work from a new room like the kitchen or garden.

When starting work away days for home-school students, incorporate elements of the new surroundings into the lesson. Planning exercises relating to or corresponding to the environment, for example, a science experiment in the garden or a Dewey Decimal scavenger hunt in the library, makes for more immersive, purposeful hybrid class activities.

Conclusion

One of the common complaints towards distance learning or telecommuting is that too much screen time makes it hard to concentrate and connect with peers. However, the hybrid model of work and teaching enables virtual attendees to participate in tactile activities together from afar, engaging the audience and often cementing a new skill or resulting in a memento that makes the activity more memorable, inclusive, and high impact.

For more ideas on how to make online learning or remote working more fun, check out our article on online games for virtual teams, this one with team building ideas over Zoom, this one with quick virtual team building activities.

We also have a list of ideas for team building outdoors, one with indoor team building ideas for work, one with socially distant team building ideas, and this guide to make returning to the office fun.

FAQ: Hybrid team building activities

Here are answers to some of the most common questions about hybrid team building activities.

What are hybrid activities?

Hybrid activities are events, games, and exercises that consist of both online and offline elements. These activities might involve some participants gathering physically and others joining online or via phone,  or may send materials to remote attendees to make for a more tactile experience.

What are some good hybrid team building activities?

Some good hybrid activities include virtual campfires, online tea tastings, Traveling Ted, and Hometown Tours.

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Team building content expert. Angela has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and worked as a community manager with Yelp to plan events for businesses.

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15 Hybrid Team Building Activities & Games in 2022

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A list of hybrid team building activities for students, coworkers, and online friends. Includes work exercises and distance learning ideas.

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Hybrid Team Agreement Template (Pls download the doc)

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Hybrid Team Agreement Template (Pls download the doc)

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As a leader, you want the people in your organization to trust you. And with good reason. In our coaching with leaders, we often see that trust is a leading indicator of whether others evaluate them positively or negatively. But how to create that trust, or perhaps more importantly, how reestablish…

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When you hear the term "get some rest," what's the first thing that comes to mind? Chances are, it has something to do with sleep.

But if you've ever had the experience of waking up after a full eight hours feeling just as exhausted as you were when your head hit the pillow, you know that sleep doesn't always make you feel fully rested.

While sleep is a great way to get physical rest, it isn't the only type of rest you need. And if you're in need of a different type, you can get all the sleep in the world-and you still won't feel refreshed and recharged.

"We have, for the most part, lumped rest over to this one category, [which is physical rest]," says Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith , TedX speaker and author of Sacred Rest: Recover Your Life, Renew Your Energy, Restore Your Sanity . "We don't really understand that there are multiple types of rest."

"You're attempting to get something-[better rest]-that doesn't fully look at the different aspects of it and the different ways that you can accomplish it," continues Dalton-Smith. "And so what happens is, people tend to excel at getting certain types of rest-and then are completely omitting other types of rest, simply because they don't know they exist."

According to Dalton, there are actually seven (!!) types of rest every person needs . The question is: what are the seven different types of rest? How can you determine what type of rest you need? And, most importantly, how can you prioritize that rest so that you can be your happiest, most productive self?

What Are The 7 Types Of Rest?

As mentioned, there are different types of rest you need to feel your best-seven, in fact. The different types of rest include:

Physical: Physical rest is about resting your body. In addition to sleep, physical rest can include anything that restores your body, like getting a massage or attending a yoga class.

Mental: Mental rest is about giving your brain a break. People need mental rest when they're overwhelmed and struggle to shut off their thoughts. Mental rest might include things like stepping away from a busy work day to take a walk or, as Dalton-Smith recommends, jotting down any nagging or racing thoughts that keep you awake in a journal before going to sleep.

Emotional: Emotional rest is about being authentic and honest with your feelings. People need emotional rest when they get stuck in people-pleasing (saying yes to a commitment, even though they want to say no) or feel like they have to project a certain image (responding with "I'm great!" when someone asks how they're doing-even though they're actually struggling).

Social: Social rest is about pursuing positive, energizing, and supportive social connections, or simply taking a break from socialization altogether. People often need social rest when their relationships leave them feeling drained and exhausted.

Sensory: Sensory rest is about giving your senses a break. People need sensory rest when they overwhelm their senses with constant stimuli-for example, spending the entire day glued to computer, phone, and TV screens.

Creative: Creative rest is about exposing yourself to artistic, nature-based, and innovative environments, without feeling the need to produce a creation-and feeling the sense of inspiration that comes along with them. People need creative rest when they feel stuck, uninspired, and unable to develop new ideas or solutions to problems.

Spiritual: Spiritual rest is about connecting with something larger than yourself. People need spiritual rest when they find themselves so caught up in their issues that they can't see or connect with the bigger picture.

Paying attention to rest deficits is a critical part of productivity. If you're exhausted, you can't do your best work-and if you're not getting the right type of rest, you're not going to be able to get past that exhaustion.

"Most of us are producing from a place of exhaustion," says Dalton-Smith. "So we're getting work done, but is it our best work? Is it our highest quality work? Is it our most beneficial work? Or is it just work that we are able to grind out of our depletion? Because that's what we're seeing... we have a lot of people who are producing but they're producing from a place of burnout."

Getting the right type of rest is a must if you want to be happy, healthy, and productive. But how can you figure out which deficit you're experiencing?

How To Determine What Type Of Rest You Need...

Determining what type of rest you need "starts with evaluating where you're using energy throughout your day," says Dalton-Smith.

The areas where you expend the most energy are likely going to be the areas where you need to prioritize rest. For example, if you're a graphic designer and spend most of your time creating new designs, you're using a lot of creative energy throughout the day-and, as such, will need to prioritize creative rest. If you're in the middle of training for a marathon and are running 15 miles every day, your body is going to be exhausted-and you'll need to get plenty of physical rest to recover.

"When you start looking at all of these different ways you use energy in the day, start thinking about 'where are you pouring out the most?,'" says Dalton-Smith. "Because the area that you're pouring out the most, if you're not actively doing something to restore and to recover what you've poured out, that's the place that can become [rest] deficient."

If you want to determine what type of rest you need, start by taking an inventory of how you're spending your time. What kind of tasks take up the majority of your day? Which resources are you using to accomplish those tasks? What are the things that require the most energy-and/or leave you the most exhausted?

Now, chances are, you're using all seven types of energy on a regular basis. But identifying which areas you use the most-and where you feel the most depleted-will give you a good idea of what type of rest you need to prioritize. If you're not sure what type of rest you need, Dalton-Smith and her team developed a quiz to help you identify the areas where you're in a rest deficit.

"We're all using all seven [types of energy] at some points throughout our day and in our life," says Dalton-Smith. "But there's usually one or two [areas] that are higher than the others and those areas of highest deficit, what are going to make you feel the most tired, the most exhausted."

...And How To Actually Get That Rest

Once you've determined which type of rest you need, it's time to actually get that rest-which, for many people, can be easier said than done.

Here are a few strategies to help you get the rest you need to be your happiest, healthiest, and most productive self:

Tackle Your Most Impactful Rest Deficit First

As mentioned, most people use all seven types of energy throughout their day-which means that you may have a rest deficit in more than one area.

In order for your rest routine to deliver the most bang for your buck, you need to prioritize the areas where the rest deficit has the most impact.

For example, let's say you're experiencing physical and emotional rest deficits. Your first instinct might be to focus on getting more physical rest. But if your racing thoughts are making it impossible to fall asleep at night, prioritizing emotional rest will enable you to slow down your thoughts and feel more peaceful and calm. In turn, this will make it easier to fall asleep and get the physical rest you need to feel your best.

If you're experiencing multiple rest deficits, try to identify which one is having the most impact. Tackling that type first will have a domino effect and make it easier to get all the types of rest you need to function at your highest level.

Schedule Restorative Activities

Resting might sound passive. But if you want to feel well rested, it actually takes active effort.

"Rest is not just about stopping-and I think that's the mindset shift that many have to make," says Dalton-Smith. "Rest is not about vegging out on the sofa on Saturday, watching TV for 12 hours, or doing something that's just kind of a mindless activity."

In order to replenish your energy, you need to schedule restorative activities into your day.

For example, if you're in need of physical rest, you might find time to squeeze in an afternoon nap or bust out your yoga mat for a restorative flow. If you're in need of creative rest, you might spend time hiking in nature or going on a walking tour of your city to check out different types of street art. If you're in need of sensory rest, you might schedule a "no screen Saturday" and spend the day away from screens, email, and other external stimuli.

The goal of rest is to restore your energy-so make sure that you're incorporating restorative activities within your needed rest areas into your schedule.

Schedule Rest Into Your Work Day

Scheduling restorative activities is a must if you want to feel rested. But don't just save those activities for the weekend-if you want to feel as rested as possible as often as possible, look for ways to schedule rest into your every day routine.

"The number one tip is to discover ways that you can incorporate these restorative activities in the middle of your busy day," says Dalton-Smith.

If you need creative rest, don't wait until the next time you can hit an art gallery to get the inspiration you need; instead, decorate your workspace with some of your favorite prints. If you're in need of mental rest, don't wait until you have 30 minutes to meditate to slow your thoughts; instead, set an alarm for every hour that will remind you to take a " mindfulness break," close your eyes, and take five deep breaths.

Think of it this way: when you're driving your car, you don't need to let the tank get all the way down to empty before you fill it up with gas. The same idea applies with rest. Finding ways to replenish your energy throughout the day will keep rest deficits from getting out of control-and will leave you feeling more rested (and productive!) in the process.

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How To Leverage The 7 Types Of Rest To Be Your Happiest, Most Productive Self

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Discover how to incorporate the seven types of restorative rest into your workday schedule.

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Study after study after study into remote work has clarified that remote workers are more productive than their office-bound counterparts.

What's not entirely clear is why.

Yes, people gain back time (and sanity) by avoiding rush hour commutes. They avoid the distractions of the office. They regain a sense of control over their workdays. They have more time to dedicate to family, friends, and hobbies.

But apart from the commute, all of those benefits aren't necessarily the result of location independence, but rather the byproduct of asynchronous communication - giving employees control over when they communicate with their teammates.

Teams who try to go remote without putting in place tools, workflows, and norms for asynchronous communication will fail.

Not only does async produce the best work results, but it also lets people do more meaningful work and live freer, more fulfilled lives. It's a game-changer even for co-located teams, but it's an absolute must for teams collaborating remotely. And as workers flex their current power in a tight labor market, it's the only way companies can give employees the flexible schedules they're demanding.

Drawing on the experience of my own fully remote, async-first company, Doist, I'll explain what asynchronous communication is, how it drives team productivity and employee well-being, and the concrete steps you can take to start building a more asynchronous workplace.

What is asynchronous communication?

Simply put, asynchronous communication is when you send a message without expecting an immediate response. For example, you send an email. I open and respond to the email several hours later.

In contrast, synchronous - or real-time - communication is when you send a message and the recipient processes the information and responds immediately. In-person communication, like meetings, are examples of purely synchronous communication. You say something, I receive the information as you say it, and respond to the information right away.

But digital forms of communication, like real-time chat messaging, can be synchronous too. You send a message, I get a notification and open up Slack to read the message and respond to what you said in near real-time.

Even email is treated as a synchronous form of communication. A 2015 study conducted by Yahoo Labs found that the most common email response time was just 2 minutes. Asynchronous communication isn't primarily about tools - though the right ones help - it's about team culture and habits.

Real-time communication

Asynchronous communication

Communication requires all team members to be present simultaneously, in meetings and video calls or respond quickly to work chats or emails.

Everyone is tied to more or less the same work schedule.

Prioritizes speed of collaboration.

Communication happens in writing or prerecorded video with team members catching up and responding on their own schedules.

Everyone can work when it works best for them.

Prioritizes focus and flexibility.

Before we dig into the benefits of a more async approach to teamwork, let's look at why we should question our current, real-time ways of working and communicating.

The problem with real-time, all-the-time communication

If employees are consistently more productive when working away from the office, there's something broken about the modern workplace.

According to the Harvard Business Review article " Collaborative Overload", the time employees spend on collaboration has increased by 50% over the past two decades. Researchers found it was not uncommon for workers to spend a full 80% of their workdays communicating with colleagues in the form of:

Email - on which workers' spend an average of six hours a day

Meetings - time spent in meetings since the pandemic forced companies to go remote has ballooned by 253%

Instant messaging apps - the average Slack user sends an average of 200 messages a day, though 1,000-message power users are "not the exception"

As one office worker told New York Magazine, "I used to wake up and turn off the alarm and check Tinder. Now I wake up and check Slack."

This trend toward near-constant communication means that the average knowledge worker must organize their workday around multiple meetings with the time in between spent doing their work half-distractedly with one eye on email and Slack.

To make matters worse, the rise of mobile technology means that workplace communication is no longer limited to the physical workplace or work hours. We can, and do, check email and respond to messages at any time, day or night. As a result, we're never fully off the clock. As one office worker told New York Magazine, "I used to wake up and turn off the alarm and check Tinder. Now I wake up and check Slack."

This highly synchronous way of working would at least be understandable if it produced results, but there is more and more evidence that all the real-time communication overhead makes it hard to focus, drains employees' mental resources, and generally makes it more challenging to make meaningful progress on work.

I've written before about why we're betting against real-time team messaging apps, but it's worth summarizing the core problems and generalizing it to most forms of synchronous communication:

It leads to constant interruptions.

Interruptions split people's attention and make it more difficult to make meaningful progress on work. High-value, cognitively-demanding activities - like coding, writing, designing, strategizing, and problem-solving - require long periods of deep, focused work. Synchronous communication requires constant context switching and makes creating large, uninterrupted chunks of time during the workday impossible.

It prioritizes being connected over being productive.

In real-time environments, you're incentivized to stay connected and available at all times. If you disconnect, discussions will move on before you even have a chance to respond to or even see them. To avoid missing out on crucial decisions and discussions, people always try to be online and in as many meetings as possible, hurting their well-being and productivity.

It creates unnecessary stress.

The expectation of being constantly available means that workers lack control over their schedules. They spend their workdays attending meetings and responding to requests rather than proactively setting their own agenda.

One study found that people compensate for the time lost to workplace interruptions by attempting to work faster, leading to "more stress, higher frustration, time pressure, and effort". A 2022 Microsoft study found that people often cope by working a "second shift" in the evening when they know they won't be interrupted. This type of synchronous culture quickly leads to burnout.

It leads to lower quality discussions and sub-optimal solutions.

When you have to respond immediately, people don't have time to think through key issues thoroughly and provide thoughtful responses. Your first response to any given situation is often not your best response.

"Writing is thinking. To write well is to think clearly. That's why it's so hard." - David McCullough

Give your team the tools to think well. pic.twitter.com/L2hJ5PDnSs
- Twist (@TwistWork) January 25, 2022

The benefits of asynchronous communication

Most people accept meetings and interruptions as just a part of doing business, but some companies - like GitLab, Zapier, Automattic, Buffer, and my own Doist - are embracing a more asynchronous approach to collaboration.

Here are some of the core benefits of giving employees more control over when they connect to communicate with their team:

Control over the workday leads to happier and more productive employees.

In an async environment, there are no set work hours. Employees have total control over how they structure their workdays to fit their lifestyles, biorhythms, and responsibilities, from childcare to simply running an errand. Some Doisters work during the night as it suits them the best. I spend an hour with my kids every morning and no one inside my async organization notices. One Wall Street Journal survey showed that workers want flexible hours even more than they want remote work.

Async incentivizes higher-quality communication over knee-jerk responses.

Async communication is admittedly slower (at least in the immediate sense), but it also tends to be of higher quality. People learn to communicate more clearly and thoroughly to avoid unnecessary back-and-forths. They have the time to think through a particular problem or idea and provide more thoughtful responses. Instead of knee-jerk responses, people can reply when they're ready. (As an added benefit, when people have the time to think through their responses, there tend to be fewer unthinking outbursts. Over the last decade, we haven't had a single serious HR issue.)

Better planning leads to less stress.

Advanced planning is a must when last-minute ASAP requests aren't an option. People learn to plan their workloads and collaborations more carefully to give enough time for coworkers to see and respond to their requests. This leads to less stressful collaborations and ultimately higher quality work.

Deep work becomes the default.

Because employees don't have to stay on top of each message as it comes in, they can block off large chunks of uninterrupted time to do the work that creates the most value for your organization. They can come back to process their messages in batches 1-3 times a day instead of bouncing back and forth between work and messages or meetings.

Documentation and greater transparency become automatic.

Because most communication happens in writing, key discussions and important information are documented automatically, particularly if you use a more public tool than email. It's easier to share and reference those conversations later. For example, at Doist instead of asking for or explaining why a certain decision was made or the status of a particular project, we can search for and/or link to the relevant Twist threads.

Collaboration across time zones is seamless.

Communication between time zones becomes smooth, and no one is at an informational disadvantage because of the time zone. That means you're not limiting your hiring pool to specific time zones. You can build a stellar and truly diverse team from anywhere in the world.

The biggest challenge that faces hybrid workplaces is preventing remote employees from becoming second-class citizens. When communication happens asynchronously, in-office and remote employees have access to the same information and conversations. They have an equal opportunity to contribute to discussions and decisions.

While employee retention is a bit of a vanity metric, we think the async culture is one of the core reasons most people hired at Doist over the past 10 years have stayed with us. Our employee retention is 90%+ - much higher than the overall tech industry. For example, even a company like Google - with its legendary campuses full of perks from free meals to free haircuts - has a median tenure of just 1.1 years. Freedom to work from anywhere at any time beats fun vanity perks any day, and it costs our company $0 to provide.

But! You still need synchronous communication too

As with most things in life, async culture has pros and cons. Doist has experienced them both.

At the beginning of our async journey, we got rid of most meetings as we thought they were a waste of time. Most things could be done via written communication. But not long into that experiment, Brenna, our CMO, started a candid thread about how we had lost the human element, how she felt disconnected and that she missed seeing other Doisters face-to-face.

We learned that we needed to mix in synchronous communication where it makes sense: for example, in 1-on-1s and weekly team meetings. It's hard to build rapport and personal relationships with only written communication. In the words of Daft Punk, "we are human after all".

Here are some of the things we do to build personal connections on the team:

Everyone has at least one monthly 1-on-1 with their direct report to touch base, discuss roadblocks, set professional development goals, etc.

We organize monthly casual team video hangouts where people from different teams can get together to chat about non-work things.

I had a blast catching up with @aboutboard, @odsamuels, and @jvalente about life and work.

We've got lots of casual hangouts happening this week at @doist! Little things like this help us feel connected to all the great people we work with! #remotework pic.twitter.com/lAhAL8LQSw
- Andrew Gobran (@andrewgobran) October 2, 2019

Most teams hold weekly meetings. While the format differs from team-to-team, these meetings tend to focus on building rapport rather than giving status updates. Several teams use red/yellow/green checkins as a way to connect on a more personal level.

We organize yearly company-wide and smaller team retreats where people can connect in real life.

70% async using Twist, Github, Google Docs, Figma, and Todoist

25% sync using something like Zoom, Around, or Google Meet

5% in-person meetups, e.g., annual company and smaller team retreats

We fly new team members out to spend a week working in-person with their team mentor. This helps new people feel more connected and comfortable asking questions right off the bat.

We instituted an annual meet-up perk that Doisters can spend on meals, activities, transportation, etc. when they get together with teammates outside of organized retreats.

We reimburse the cost of a coworking space so our people can get outside their homes and be in a more office/community setting.

You want to build rapport with people (e.g., a 1-on-1 or team meeting).

You need to provide critical feedback or discuss other sensitive topics.

You have a lot of unknowns and you want to brainstorm different ideas and solutions.

There are a lot of moving variables and you want to bring everyone on the same page quickly, e.g., via a project kickoff meeting.

A crisis happens that requires immediate attention, e.g., a server crashes. We use Telegram with the notifications turned on at all times for emergency communications only.

(If you're interested, I've written more on the very related topic of remote work and mental health.)

Today, we minimize the number of meetings, but we have meetings when they make sense. Our current communication stack looks something like this:

In general, use synchronous communication when the following is true:

Synchronous communication should be the exception, not the rule.

How to move your team toward asynchronous communication

Moving from sync to async isn't going to happen overnight. It takes a profound shift in tools, processes, habits, and culture. Here are some concrete steps you can take, both individually and as a team leader, to get started.

Things you can do individually:

Overcommunicate. When sending a message, include as much information as possible. Visualize things with screenshots or screen recordings with apps like CloudApp and Loom. Be clear about what you need from the other person and what the deadline is. A few extra minutes adding details and editing for clarity on the front-end can save days of back-and-forths in an async environment.

Under-communication

Over-communication

Can you please provide me with reporting on content once you get a chance?

Can you please provide me with a short report (a few paragraphs) on our blog metrics from Google Analytics for next Tuesday by 2pm EST? I'd like to know top posts, unique page views, bounce rate, and conversation rate. Thanks!

Plan ahead to give people time to consider your message. For example, "I want to finish this in 2 days and would love your input", instead of "I need your feedback in the next hour."

Say no to unnecessary meetings. It can be extremely uncomfortable to say no to a meeting, particularly in meeting-heavy work cultures. But there are tactful ways to nudge people towards async-first communication. Next time someone asks for a "quick call" try one of these incredibly useful scripts from Dropbox:

"Thanks for including me! I'm wondering if we could try to solve this in a Twist thread instead?"

"I've been in so many meetings lately, but I'm trying to be more disciplined about my schedule. Could we try to solve this without a meeting, first?"

"I'd be happy to give you feedback on that! Before we schedule a meeting, could I review it in Paper/a Google Doc/Figma/a GitLab issue?"

Before meetings, start a Twist thread or document. Share all relevant information and discuss key issues before the meeting so that everyone can come with a complete understanding of the topic at hand.

After meetings, document discussions and outcomes. Start or continue a Twist thread or document so that people who weren't there can find that information. We've even started experimenting with recording the video of our meetings so that others can "attend" asynchronously. An app like TL;DV makes it easy to time stamp, annotate, and tag teammates in meeting recordings so anyone who missed the meeting can skip straight to the parts that are relevant to them.

Turn off notifications - try removing work apps from your phone altogether. Instead, set aside specific time blocks to check and respond to emails and messages during the day.

Use waiting time productively. We've found that waiting for a reply isn't a massive problem as there's always something else to work on.

Always check your document sharing settings. This seems like a small thing, but if someone needs to request access, it can lead to hours or even a full day of delay in an async workplace.

Things you can do as a team leader:

Promote writing and communication as core skills to master. This will reduce back-and-forths and help people get to the core of things faster. Everyone needs to be a great writer in an async workplace.

Evaluate people based on their output and results, not how responsive they are or the number of hours they work. We've written more on how to measure employee productivity.

Abolish required work hours or the requirements to come into an office. This will allow you to hire from anywhere in the world and will naturally move your organization towards more asynchronous communication when taps on the shoulder are no longer an option.

Emphasize trust, organization, independence, and accountability. Without these values, asynchronous communication will never work. For example, one of Doist's core values states that others can trust that you'll deliver on time and your teammates don't need to worry about you keeping your word. Brenna Loury, our CMO, has written in more detail about how to build trust in a remote, async-first "workplace".

Adopt a Direct Responsible Individual (DRI) model for management and decision-making. Made popular by Apple, DRI means a single person is responsible for any given area or project inside the company. That person doesn't do everything themselves but instead organizes the team or project, makes key decisions, and generally owns the timeline and results. The more you can decrease the number of people involved in decisions, decentralize authority, and increase individual accountability, the more efficient your team will be. This is true in any company but is especially crucial for success in an async environment.

Set reasonable, team-wide expectations for acceptable response times. For example, at Doist, we expect people to answer within 24 hours.

Make transparency and documentation a priority. For example, everyone at Doist can read all of the core discussions regardless of which team it is. This includes leadership discussions. With transparency, people don't miss crucial conversations or decisions. They can work more efficiently and independently when they don't have to ask others for the information they need.

Use tools that promote transparency, deep work, and async communication. e.g., Github pull requests, Basecamp conversations, and Twist threads. Don't use email internally. While email can be used asynchronously, it also locks information inside people's inboxes where no one else can find it. Collaboration becomes much less efficient when people can't find the information they need. More on the pitfalls of relying on email for team communication.

For communication-heavy roles like tech support or client services, implement a rotating coverage system. Some roles are more conducive to asynchronous communication than others, but all can benefit from blocking off chunks of time for deep work. Anti-Agency Group founder Amanda Au describes how their team uses a rotating coverage system to balance client communications and creative work:

While we haven't fully adopted an async model because we are a client services team, we promote DND (do-not-disturb) time blocks or full days. During your DND time, you'll have a teammate cover for you on any incoming client comms so that you can truly have undisturbed time to finish a presentation, ideate on strategy, or dive deep into reporting.

Doist's own head of front-end development, Henning, wrote more about how we use a rotating "hero system" and "house-keeping days" at Doist to create space for deep work even in communication-heavy roles.

Have communication channels for emergencies. Doist has Telegram rooms and phone numbers that we use as an emergency mechanism. We use these a few times per year for truly urgent incidents. The vast majority of things aren't urgent and don't require an instant response.

Async is an uphill battle that challenges the status quo

We know that we are challenging the status quo and that calm, asynchronous communication isn't the current norm. It's going to take a paradigm shift to change things.

We're betting that the most successful companies and teams will be the ones who make this shift in the future. It will be the teams that don't require their employees to be always-on, prioritize asynchronous communication to create space for deep work, and allow employees to disconnect and recharge fully. We're excited to share our journey and invite you to explore this space.

What's Twist? Twist is an async messaging app for teams burned out by real-time chat, meetings, and email.

You don't need to use Twist to get a ton of value out of this newsletter and community. But if the topics we talk about resonate with you, there's a good chance the app will too. See what makes Twist different →

🌎 Built asynchronously by the fully remote team at Doist

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What is asynchronous communication? Plus, how to implement it

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Study after study after study into remote work has clarified that remote workers are more productive than their office-bound counterparts. What's not entirely clear is why. Yes, people gain back time (and sanity) by avoiding rush hour commutes. They avoid the distractions of the office. They regain a sense of control over their workdays.

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Resource 2: Streamlining communication for the hybrid workforce

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Resource 2: Streamlining communication for the hybrid workforce

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A recent PwC remote work survey confirms what many employees and business leaders already know: there's no going back to the pre-pandemic status quo. Most executives envision a future where employees spend some time at the office and work remotely other days in a hybrid workforce model. However, there's little consensus yet on the optimal ratio.

The move toward a hybrid workforce has many logistical and practical implications for businesses, including in the areas of commercial real estate and training and development. But one facet that isn't getting as much attention is the shift that's already taken place in internal employee communication, whether for collaboration purposes or support requests.

In their pre-pandemic office routines, employees grew accustomed to conversing with each other using platforms like Slack or Microsoft Teams. But when they needed support from HR or IT - to inquire about training opportunities or to ask for help with a technology problem, for example - they channelled their support requests through email. This continued when they moved to remote work.

Minimise interruptions to the conversational flow by offering support where employees are

But a bifurcated approach is inefficient, and organisations that reject it by consolidating communication on a single platform can realise important productivity, automation, and accessibility gains. Here are some of the ways consolidating communication can improve hybrid workforce efficiency.

Minimise interruptions to the conversational flow by offering support where employees are: With an email-based ticketing system, employees must log in to their work email to create an HR or IT ticket, then follow up via email to track progress or receive a resolution. That interrupts the natural flow of communication, which is now taking place on business communication platforms like Slack and Teams.

There's no advantage to using email rather than a business communication platform for ticket resolution. Technology compatible with popular help desk and knowledge base systems and business communication platforms now make it more efficient to handle ticket resolution on one platform rather than toggling back and forth between email and Slack or Teams.

Automate with AI to deliver conversational support: As HR, IT, and training professionals know, many employee questions are routine. The questions are important to the employee and the company and must be answered promptly, but every minute staff spends responding to mundane queries is time they cannot spend on higher-level work.

AI can automate responses when a ticket is generated on Teams or Slack. It can automatically respond to frequently asked questions via a chatbot that offers answers from the company's internal knowledge base, responding via Teams or Slack to keep the conversation in context.

So, routine queries such as 'how do I sign up for a training programme?' can be deflected in this way, while questions that don't have a knowledge base answer (or employee requests for more help) are automatically escalated..

Prioritise convenience as much as content: HR and training professionals understandably focus on content quality, which is incredibly important. But it's also crucial to keep in mind that the best content in the industry won't help employees drive company success if they don't access it because doing so is inconvenient. Prioritising convenient access is therefore critical.

Consolidating communication on employees' preferred channel streamlines their access to the information. Technology that incorporates AI works within the preferred business communication platform and is compatible with the existing help desk system can also bolster compliance by creating audit trails to track responses to employee inquiries.

As HR, training, and IT professionals plan for a hybrid workforce, the evolution in how employees communicate with colleagues and support personnel must be top of mind. Those who find a way to consolidate communication channels, automate routine tasks, and provide easier access to information will be positioning their companies for success in the 'new normal'.
About the author
Shalin Jain is CEO of HappyFox

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Streamlining communication for the hybrid workforce

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A recent PwC remote work survey confirms what many employees and business leaders already know: there's no going back to the pre-pandemic status quo. Most executives envision a future where employees spend some time at the office and work remotely other days in a hybrid workforce model.

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Resource 3: Collaborating with Microsoft 365

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Resource 3: Collaborating with Microsoft 365

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Best practices for collaborating with Microsoft 365

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Training: Watch these best-practices videos for Office 365 to learn how to collaborate remotely and video conference with colleagues and peers at work, school, or other organizations.

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Music

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Tennis

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Spending time with my loved ones

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Pilates

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Hobby - Cooking

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reading

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Play with my stray cat

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Watch Drama & Reading Novels

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Gardening

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Gymming

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Singing

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Walking

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Playing with my kids !

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The transition of us when wfo (red background) and wfh (blue background)

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Group 3 (Priya, Lee Yi, Huiy Ling, Shu Ling)

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Group 3 (Priya, Lee Yi, Huiy Ling, Shu Ling)

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Benefits:
- Focused when working from home (wfh), individual is able to complete the task
- Flexibility when wfh

Challenges:
- Difficult to gather inputs/opinions when working from home, especially for urgent discussions
- Spending more $ and time on food and transport, having to squeeze with many people on transportation when working in office

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Benefits
1. Save travelling time
2. Increases productivity
3. More flexible
4. Stay focused
5. Spend more time with our family and loved ones
6. Minimize the spread of virus
7. Don't need to wear mask at home
8. More food options (can cook at home)

Challenges
1. Higher chances of miscommunication
2. Bad internet connection --> causes disruption
3. Not knowing how to manage boundaries (eg. working after office hours)
4. More distractions (eg. kids)
5. Risk of cybersecurity

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BENEFITS
- More personal time to finish own work tasks (less distractions around the office)
- Able to have a quick discussion on matters in the office, and settle matters.
- Save on commute time
- Able to have short times to attend to housework admin

CHALLENGES
- More distractions in office when people come by to chat or discuss randomly, hard to focus on own work.
- Days in office are more packed with f2f meetings.

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1. Unhappiness: meeting at midnight, concern are not addressed, no discussion
nobody listen, manager not checking on everyone
2. Barriers: can not please everyone at different time zone, 1 -way communication/ listening
3. Recommendations: best time for meeting, acknowledge of the problems, can share the workload/duties, give Time off

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Q1
1. Different working style
2. No committed/common timing for discussion.
3. Charles - lack of commitment
4. Lack of respect for each other time.

Q2.
1. No communication between the members
2. Lack of common tools to communicate
3. All are self centered, focus on themself.

Q3.
1. Communication - Scheduled meeting
2. Set a deadline/timeline
3. To appoint a leader to take the lead
4. Be considerate to each other

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Group 3 (Priya, Lee Yi, Huiy Ling, Shu Ling)

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Group 3 (Priya, Lee Yi, Huiy Ling, Shu Ling)

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What is/are the causes of unhappiness in the team?
- Multiple platforms and disagreement on what channels to use and for what purposes
- Different intention of Whatsapp usage
- Miscommunication due to Mike's initial usage of Whatsapp (colleagues might misunderstand and think that he wants to use that platform as communication)

What is/are the barriers to communication?
- Remote working (unable to express emotions and words in person)
- Urgency in requiring the materials

What actions would you recommend to the team members/leader?
- To have the set expectations of mode of communication to be used
- Team agreement on the purpose of each communication mode (e.g. Whatsapp for urgent cases)
- To have ready visible tool (e.g. Padlet) where Mike can have access despite being out of office, for him to access the materials and information without the need to trouble his colleagues

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Live in Japan 3 months a year (in 10 yrs time)

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Solo travel to anywhere

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Skydive/Bungee jump in Switzerland

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Family campervan trip @ Switzerland :)

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Stay in a country for a month (maybe Australia?) just to rest & relax!

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Travel to:

Maldives

South Africa

Iceland

Norway

Italy

Milan

Spain

California

Miami

Minnesota state fair

Bora bora

Costa Rica

Brazil

Rome

Baiguio

Poland

Holland

London

Finland

Switzerland

Greece

Turkey

Egypt

Vietnam

Mymmar

Cambodia

Canada

Tangalooma

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Overseas with Family, bring kiddos to Disneyland (currently too young to enjoy)

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Take a hot air balloon ride overseas

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Aerial yoga

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Travel to Iceland!

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Hop on a scenic train ride in Switzerland

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Northern lights to see it :)
Own a zoo!

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strike 4D $1mil,quit my job and travel the world with my daughters.

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1. Prepare a shared space for brainstorming, ideas-sharing.
2. Remind of the meeting goal so that all the participants are clear with it at all times during the meeting.

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1) Send a follow up
2) Check out action items are in progress

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1. Know your tools and have a plan B
2. Give people things to do

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1. Give people things to do
2. Be engaging

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Plan the agenda
Preparing a shared space

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1. Share the Agenda before the meeting.
2. Introduce who is attending the meeting at the start

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1. Share agenda before hand so participants can come prepared
2. Engage small talk before meeting to connect with colleagues

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Have a small talk before meeting
Send a follow up

# data[].attributes.body
Give people things to do
Remind meeting goal

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1. Have small talk before to start
2. Remind of the meeting goal

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1) Have small talk before the start of the meeting.
2) Ask participants to contribute during the meeting

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1 - Have small talk before to start
2 - Remind of the meeting goal

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1. Plan the agenda before meeting
2. Remind and share meeting goal before meeting

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Clarify expectation

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affirmation

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Focus on who then what

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inclusiveness

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Inclusivity

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Collaboration

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Intentional Communication :X

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Inclusivity.

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Practice makes permanent!

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More confident

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Engagement

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Geraldine, Jean, Priya, Zubee, Shu Ling

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Huiy Ling, Sham, Doreen & Shauna

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WSQ-Hybrid Team Agreement Template 20210708 - CS