For those of you keen on clarity, and creating an environment of high performance in a hybrid work environment, it’s worth digging deeper into strategies to overcome miscommunication at the source.

Where miscommunication in a hybrid work environment comes from

Most of the time miscommunication arises in a hybrid environment through assumptions.

Assumptions about someone else sharing the key points from a meeting with those not present.

Assumptions about why someone has changed their hybrid schedule suddenly – perhaps to avoid someone in the team, or a particular project deadline… at least, that’s what the story in our head is telling us.

Miscommunication also shows up when team members avoid speaking up to ask questions or for clarification around project roles, deadlines, outstanding tasks, etc.

When hybrid team members are rotating through working from the office and working from home it requires a high level of accountability and autonomy, and for some the appeal to sit back and avoid asking questions or getting involved with the team can lead to mounting miscommunication and missed
opportunities, among other things.

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How to reduce miscommunication in a hybrid work environment

Share the story in your head

Dr Brene Brown is a world-renowned researcher, author and speaker, who has a fantastic phrase that you can use (and encourage your team to use) when coming up against assumptions and potential miscommunication.

Using the framing sentence starter, “The story in my head is…” when sharing something that has been on your mind about a particular situation, person or project can depersonalise the conversation and allow for a more authentic and honest conversation.

For example, say you said something like, “The story in my head is you are avoiding me after what I said in the meeting last week”. How different would that point sound if you removed the story in your head element? Quite simply, it’s much more confronting. However, with that phrase used, the conversation is much calmer and the opportunity is there for the other person (or people) to confirm or respond to that story.

For example, the response in this situation may be, “No, I’m sorry, but I had a full schedule of delivery and meeting some client expectations. I know we usually talk socially but I haven’t had the time, I’m sorry you thought that I was avoiding you”.

As you can see this statement can help get the story out of your head in a way that is constructive and can aid in clearing up any misunderstandings.

Outline clear actions

Hybrid teams have increased autonomy in how they work. This is one of the greatest drawcards for this method of working, but it comes with the added challenge of requiring crystal clarity in order to make sure you’re on the same page.

Miscommunication can arise when time frames and task assignment is skipped over or left for a day or two after the meeting has taken place. Hybrid teams also need to lock in time for regular check-ins to make sure that collaborative projects flow smoothly, and it’s worth incorporating this into your initial planning discussions.

Bonus points if you use a project management tool like Asana, Trello or Monday to keep track of projects your hybrid teams are working on collaboratively. This can aid in reducing miscommunication in a hybrid work environment by allowing everyone the opportunity to jump in, add comments and questions about specific project elements and share updates to keep the entire project team in the know.

Be consistent about your communication channels

For hybrid teams to operate at a high level consistently and avoid miscommunications and missed messages, they all need to be aware of the purpose of each communication channel.

With the addition of various new software and digital communication tools in a hybrid environment it is ever easier for digital overload to occur and for people in your team to either disengage completely (i.e. only using email to communicate) or share questions in channels where they may go unanswered.

We recommend using the SOCS framework to provide clarity to your team. SOCS stands for social, operational, conversational and speed. As you can probably guess, a social tool is something your team uses to communicate socially.

In many hybrid workplaces this is an instant-messaging type tool, like a dedicated Slack channel.

For operational, this is the project management or task management tool that your team uses. Conversational tools are used when your team need to converse about projects, tasks or anything else work-related. This could be dedicated project-based Slack channels or even a tool like Asana.

As for the final tool in the framework, speed, we’d recommend a good old-fashioned phone call. The speed option should be something that is used rarely but is the ultimate way to cut through the noise when you need something urgently.

Bringing clarity to your communication channels through the use of the SOCS framework and a discussion with your team about the purpose of each of your communication tools is well worth the effort.

Now that you’ve got a few different strategies to reduce miscommunication in your hybrid team, it’s time to take them for a spin. See what works and involve your team in the process, you never know what kind of ideas they may have to help improve clarity of communication across your hybrid team.

Alison Hill is the co-author of the new book Work From Anywhere. She is a registered psychologist and chief executive of three-time AFR Fast 100 company, Pragmatic Thinking.