Intentional Culture Design – Supporting Hybrid Working in The Media

Five years ago, the term ‘hybrid working’ would’ve been an unknown, now it’s a term we’re all familiar with. The benefits of more flexible working are well-documented, primarily that it affords a better work life balance. But what’s the impact of hybrid working on culture and productivity?

Many jobs that historically felt bound to a workplace, have now been set loose. After all, during the pandemic even newsreaders worked from home! The realisation that technology could enable effective remote working for many, has changed organisations forever. In the past, culture could be organically nurtured, in hybrid organisations we need intentional design – it cannot be left to chance.

Rearranging media organisations

With hybrid working models, media organisations have a great opportunity to re-evaluate work processes, realign staff with organisation purpose, and attract more diverse talent to better connect with target audiences.

Hybrid work evolution takes time

The pandemic accelerated the acceptance of remote work in media organisations and there is now a widespread embrace of hybrid and flexible work models. The challenges are the same as all sectors – balancing individual need versus organisation priorities.

Challenges in encouraging people ‘back in’

A key challenge is persuading staff of the value of physically being in their workplace. This is where a strong culture comes into play. Organisations need to engineer methods of establishing good social connections, shared purpose and collaborative process.

Creativity happens with collaboration

In creative industries, such as media corporations, creativity and collaboration are paramount to success. At the most basic level, building a working model where people who need to work together are in the same room at the same time is crucial.

Middle managers are the lynchpins

Middle managers, tasked with implementing hybrid models, face added pressure in balancing strategic business priorities with nurturing the social fabric of the organisation.

Talent acquisition and retention

Hybrid and flexible working are crucial to attract a diversity of talent, which will improve the variety of content available for customers. But equally retaining staff remotely poses challenges. Creating a strong culture will help attract and keep people.

We’ve plenty of experience building culture and connectivity across teams and even countries. Media organisations, like many others, face the challenge of disparate working groups, with the additional pressure of creative collaboration and production processes that often benefit from face-to-face human interaction. If you’d like to discuss how to get your media organisation working more collaboratively, then let’s chat.