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No one really knows how to lead hybrid work. Yet.

The transition to hybrid work is really hard! I’ve personally struggled to embrace this change. It’s difficult to accept the fact that hybrid is here to stay. I know I’m not alone. Our clients are facing the same challenges. Maybe you are, too.

Understandably, most organizations are focusing their hybrid conversations on the mechanics of returning to the office. (Who's working on site vs. from home? What days? Who has which desk, when? What’s the transition period? Will it be mandatory?) But in focusing so much on tactics, we miss an opportunity to address some of the most burning issues in the organization's development:

• How can we increase trust and accountability? 
• How can we improve collaboration, with the best of both on-site and virtual? 
• How can we improve equity and inclusion?

Together, we are the first generation of leaders in a new era of work.

This is uncharted territory for all of us. We need to interrogate our assumptions and learn new strategies in order to adapt and thrive.

This is why August is launching a course in Leading Hybrid Teams.

Through a mix of live and self-paced learning, the course covers a lot of our most significant lessons about the deeper challenges of hybrid work, including:

• Growth mindset: Embracing a mindset of learning, making mistakes, and building hybrid skills over time
• Unconscious bias: Identifying where bias can arise in hybrid work and selecting mitigation strategies
• Empowered decision-making: Clarifying who owns decisions in a way that empowers hybrid teams
• Meeting with purpose: Making every hybrid meeting purposeful and inclusive
• Effective team agreements: Developing a set of explicit agreements to support your hybrid team in doing their best work

It’s been hard for me to let go of the fact that my work life will look different from here on out. 

But when I embrace a growth mindset and start thinking of it as an opportunity to make something even better, I get genuinely excited for what’s in store.

This is a moment filled with possibility. Let’s seize it together.

In solidarity,

Erica Seldin

August Co-Founder

What We're Reading / Watching / Listening To

Great Expectations: Making Hybrid Work Work

New research from Microsoft reveals that employers need to get intentional about designing their hybrid workplace, or risk being left behind.

Hey, Employers: Job Hunters Really Want to See Your Diversity Data

Diversity is becoming a key attractor for prospective employees – for some, even more so than salary, according to a recent Stanford study.

Returning to the Office…While Black 🎧

In this New Yorker Radio Hour episode, four Black professionals share how the return to the office after two years of remote work has been defined by resurgent microaggressions and a renewed pressure to assimilate.

On the August Blog

Many companies are so focused on figuring out the technologies of hybrid work that they neglect to address the cultural adjustments that should accompany them. 

Alexis Gonzales-Black digs into the dangers of this approach, particularly around issues of inclusion and bias, and details the questions leaders should be asking in order to build an equitable hybrid workplace.

Hybrid work isn’t just a technical challenge – it’s a culture shift.

We're Hiring 

Our team at August has big plans for 2022, and our ambition depends on finding brilliant new consultants to join our team. We believe that often the best candidates are not found through traditional recruiting, but instead through the activation of a thoughtful community. That is where you come in!

We are currently hiring for a Senior Transformation Consultant.

If you or someone you know could be a fit for one of these positions, please encourage them to apply on our website. We especially encourage individuals from underrepresented communities to apply as we are in a continual pursuit to make our team stronger through diversity and inclusion.