Hybrid Work Is a Proven Leadership Problem - Never a Venue Problem
Over the past few months, I’ve noticed something interesting happening in organisations across the board - even the most innovative. Leaders are doubling down on the return-to-office (RTO) debate, often with an intensity that suggests the office itself is going to fix performance, culture, and connection.
But I see something different:
Hybrid isn’t failing.
Leadership is.
For years, the conversation has centred on where people work - home, office, or somewhere in between. But the research is refreshingly clear:
Hybrid work is not a policy challenge. It’s a leadership capability challenge.
Why the ‘venue fix’ doesn’t work
When hybrid feels hard, it’s almost never because people aren’t in the building. Mandates don’t create connection, culture, or performance - they simply expose gaps in leadership capability.
Because the real issue isn’t attendance. It’s this:
Leaders don’t fully trust their teams
Goals and expectations aren’t clear
Teams aren’t equipped to collaborate intentionally
Managers haven’t been trained to lead distributed teams
Organisations are still measuring presence, not performance
Leadership behaviours, systems, and skills simply haven’t caught up with how work now happens. And forcing people back into the office doesn’t solve it - it just hides it for a little longer.
What high-performing hybrid organisations do differently
They know where 'flexibility' sits in their talent brand. Not as a perk, but a strategic lever. Flexibility attracts, empowers, and retains top talent - it’s part of their competitive edge, not a policing tool.
They measure results - and how results are achieved. These organisations don’t mistake presence for performance. Leaders are clear on outcomes and the behaviours that drive them.
Co-design sits at the heart of how they work. Teams agree on the patterns, rhythms, and behaviours that help them collaborate at their best. Because they’ve designed the rules together, accountability becomes natural - even self-policing.
They commit to investing in leadership capability. Not in more policies. In people. Leaders learn to lead through context, not control - building trust, clarity, psychological safety, and shared accountability across distributed teams.
They focus on building cultures that enable human performance. Connection - to the bigger picture and to each other - trust, belonging, clarity, and autonomy aren’t side projects. They’re treated as core drivers of success.
If hybrid isn’t working for your business, start here:
Flexibility: Do you know what role flexibility actually plays in helping your people do their best work - not in your opinion, but in theirs?
Performance Drivers: Do you truly understand what contributes to people doing their best work - and what gets in the way?
Connection & Clarity: Do people feel connected to the bigger picture, clear on priorities, and confident in how their work contributes?
Leadership Capability: Do leaders set outcome-based goals (not activity-based ones) - and measure what is achieved and how it’s achieved? Do they know how to build psychological safety without relying on sitting next to their team?
Team Collaboration: Have teams defined how they collaborate - not just where and when? And have managers been trained to lead distributed teams confidently and effectively?
If any answer is “not really”, the challenge isn’t hybrid at all - it’s the culture and leadership capability sitting underneath it.
The good news is that both can be developed with intention, and when they are, hybrid becomes far easier - and far more effective.
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P.S. Hybrid isn’t a temporary phase - it’s the operating system of modern work. The businesses winning right now are the ones building leaders equipped for the future, not dragging teams back into the past.
P.P.S. Of course, some roles and stages - like new starters or early-career talent - benefit hugely from in-office time. But blanket RTO mandates won’t fix what is, at its heart, a leadership challenge.