What allows us to thrive and perform in happy, well-functioning and high-achieving teams?

Much has been said about hybrid working. A recent experience profoundly changed my way of looking at virtual and hybrid teams.

In 2019, I alone had 83 work-related flights. There seemed no other way of doing my job. When Covid forced me to stay put I was grateful, not for the pandemic but for the paradigm shift in multilingual simultaneous interpreting, despite all its technical challenges. Our first international online meeting with 6 languages was held on 26^th March 2020. Hundreds of similar events followed.  Two years later we introduced combined meetings with an online and an onsite element. Participants were able to have chats at the coffee dock and over dinner while keynote speakers from the US logged in remotely for their half-hour input. Once the technical hurdles had been scaled, the benefits of reducing travel to the necessary and meeting in-person for clearly defined purposes became apparent and were met with approval and relief.

Our ‘in-house’ team doubled in size during this period and was geographically as dispersed as our thousands of freelancers and their respective meeting participants.

Over the next two years, we embraced a hybrid work format with small groups coming together in the same physical space some of the time for training and team activities, for project and strategy meetings. On those office days, animated conversations between peers and pairs permeated the building, creating an atmosphere of quiet excitement. Work-related road blocks tended to be removed in minutes; small challenges that may have been put on the back burner were addressed, and a sense of inspiration and contentment was palpable.

Two years on, we pushed out the boat and held a full onsite team event, bringing together all operational and support people from 4 countries and 7 counties. Some of us had been working together closely, yet never met in person. This large facilitated event took place at a beautiful countryside location with a variety of indoor and outdoor facilities, in lovingly furnished buildings surrounded by flowers and vegetable gardens. Working on an intense agenda and committing to a range of actions felt like child’s play in this environment. Meeting the 3D version of our Zoom colleagues released creative energies, courage to tackle bold projects, a sense of a shared purpose. We all came away smiling.  The depth of personal and professional engagement experienced on that day made us realise what we had been missing.  It showed us that we need to build regular, meaningful in-person events into our working lives.

Yes, it has its advantages to work from home some of the time. However, realising what we need and miss in our hybrid world might sharpen our awareness of the values that underpin our culture, commitments and success. A great starting point is to look someone in the eye – rather than into a Zoom or Teams camera.

There is no simple way of making this magic happen for dispersed teams. It requires organisational effort to provide for those personal and professional interactions, that depth of dialogue, the heated or measured exchanges, a meeting of minds and bouncing of ideas. It’s an effort well worth it.

Spending time together in the same physical space, sometimes away from traditional work environments, allows us to thrive and to perform as a happy, well-functioning and high-achieving team, in the interest of our personal wellbeing and to the benefit of our clients and suppliers.

How much direct personal interaction is desirable for the New Work and New Culture of 2024? What can we learn from Frithjof Bergmann 50 years on?