Maria Galvez
CMO Lead - Microsoft Denmark & Iceland
We wanted to host this particular event in person as we had live-tech to show and touch, but with the Prime Minister announcing new restrictions just before, we turned the meeting truly hybrid instead. Walking the talk so to speak.
The event thus became a meta-demonstration of the actual agenda of the meeting: How can technology and leadership help us adapt to The Hybrid Now? Here are some of the key takeaways:
In most organizations, hybrid is already or is becoming the new standard – pandemic or not. Most employees want to keep their flexible workstyle and the advantages it brings, while also asking for more in-person connections. It’s a big disruption and there are many individual needs to navigate while building a strong culture around it. At the network meeting, we discussed fueling more interaction and human aspects into virtual and hybrid meetings, and we looked at some of the solutions on the market today – and some we here at Microsoft have planned to launch soon.
Participate as an avatar: Sounds like science fiction? It is very likely that you and your colleagues will all soon have a personal avatar that you use to attend meetings. It may seem silly to attend a meeting as a cartoon character of oneself, but this helps to create interaction and strengthen the feeling of togetherness in a meeting. The solution builds on Microsoft Mesh, and takes in our experience with Together Mode in teams that help reduce meeting fatigue, and with Mesh we hope to further reduce the cognitive overload of being in (too) many meetings all day. We’ll see this come to life in 2022 already, so it’s something many employees might want to adopt really fast.
Sofie S. Lovett, Head of People Advisory for HQ & Europe at A.P.Moller Maersk
There are numerous challenges that leaders face as a consequence of the new reality with hybrid work. Nearly 60% of staffers say they feel less connected to their team after shifting to remote work. 79% of CEOs worldwide are concerned about the lack of essential skills – but employees answer they are not given sufficient time for learning. Moving forward into a hybrid standard, the need for organizational insights will increase – as will the need to upskill more easily.
What can you do to reinforce the leadership of your organization? We recommend that you as an HR executive give managers the opportunity to:
“New ways of working require new ways of leading. When our work becomes virtual, our leadership too becomes virtual. My approach when thinking of hybrid and virtual leadership is: How can I continue to do what I did before? COVID pushed us all to think faster and keep innovating. We should not stop doing this. And the new reality should not affect the quality of our leadership.”
– Sofie S. Lovett, Head of People Advisory for HQ & Europe at A.P.Moller Maersk
We are excited to discuss the future of work from an HR perspective in the coming network meetings, which in the hybrid spirit, of course, will be a combination of virtual meetings and meeting in person. Are you an HR executive – and maybe struggling with some of the same challenges in your organization? Reach out to CMO lead, Malene Amini on maamini@microsoft.com to get an invite for the next session.
Read about the takeaways from the first meeting here – the three challenges that HR executives face in The Hybrid Now here.
Camilla Hillerup: What we learned about hybrid work
Hybrid Talk is an article series hosted by Microsoft Denmark. We have invited thought leaders, companies, and organizations to share their views on the modern way of working and how technology supports the hybrid model. Is the new normal here to stay or does it even make sense to talk about normality in a world-changing […]
Camilla Hillerup
HR Director
