How to Improve Team Coordination in Hybrid Work

Let's be honest: extensive cross-team coordination is often a symptom of a larger problem, not an inevitable challenge that needs solving. When teams spend more time in alignment than on building, it's time to reconsider your organizational design. Conway's Law tells us that our systems inevitably mirror our communication structures. When I see teams drowning in coordination overhead, I look at these structural factors: - Team boundaries that cut across frequent workflows: If a single user journey requires six different teams to coordinate, your org structure might be optimized for technical specialization at the expense of delivery flow. - Mismatched team autonomy and system architecture: Microservices architecture with monolithic teams (or vice versa) creates natural friction points that no amount of coordination rituals can fully resolve. - Implicit dependencies that become visible too late: Teams discover they're blocking each other only during integration, indicating boundaries were drawn without understanding the full system dynamics. Rather than adding more coordination mechanisms, consider these structural approaches: - Domain-oriented teams over technology-oriented teams: Align team boundaries with business domains rather than technical layers to reduce cross-team handoffs. - Team topologies that acknowledge different types of teams: Platform teams, enabling teams, stream-aligned teams, and complicated subsystem teams each have different alignment needs. - Deliberate discovery of dependencies: Map the invisible structures in your organization before drawing team boundaries, not after. Dependencies are inevitable and systems are increasingly interconnected, so some cross-team alignment will always be necessary. When structural changes aren't immediately possible, here's what I've learned works to keep things on the right track: 1️⃣ Shared mental models matter more than shared documentation. When teams understand not just what other teams are building, but why and how it fits into the bigger picture, collaboration becomes fluid rather than forced. 2️⃣ Interface-first development creates clear contracts between systems, allowing teams to work autonomously while maintaining confidence in integration. 3️⃣ Regular alignment rituals prevent drift. Monthly tech radar sessions, quarterly architecture reviews, and cross-team demonstrations create the rhythm of alignment. 4️⃣ Technical decisions need business context. When engineers understand user and business outcomes, they make better architectural choices that transcend team boundaries. 5️⃣ Optimize for psychological safety across teams. The ability to raise concerns outside your immediate team hierarchy is what prevents organizational blind spots. The best engineering leaders recognize that excessive coordination is a tax on productivity. You can work to improve coordination, or you can work to reduce the need for coordination in the first place.

We recently overhauled how we collaborate at Stytch. Everyone canceled all their meetings and rebuilt their calendars. As a hybrid team, it's easy to default to death by a thousand 1-1s. While 1-1s certainly have their place, we found that people's days were overwhelmed with meetings and many of those were siloed conversations resulting in inefficient use of time. We wanted to create more time in everyone’s day for heads down time, impromptu meetings or huddles to get alignment in order to improve the efficiency and speed with which we’re making decisions. While we’ve always had a really strong culture of docs, we’ve been much weaker on async quick collaboration, namely our usage of Slack. For context, “Slack [the company] sends 70% [of messages] in public channels, 28% in private channels and just 2% in direct messages.” At Stytch our stats before this were: 17% in public channels, 6% in private channels, and a whopping 76% in direct messages!! Here's the tldr of what we're doing: • Default monthly for manager/direct report 1-1s, adjustable as needed • Managers should have 2-4 hours of unscheduled time per day for ad hoc conversations and async collaboration • If a meeting doesn’t have an agenda the night before, cancel it • Prefer group meetings over 1-1s to prevent having to play telephone or have the same conversation repeatedly • Move to more frequent, shorter meetings, like a biweekly stand up instead of a weekly hour long meeting to allow for more timely decision making • Move more conversations to Slack, especially public channels • Slack isn’t always the right tool, if your thread looks like a CVS receipt, either move to a 1 pager or ad hoc sync Instead of 8+ hours of back to back meetings everyday, now I have down time to post more on linkedin!!! JK I timed this and it took me 10 mins. But it is remarkable how much my days have changed, I can give much more timely feedback and dig into things more in depth. We’re just two weeks but excited to see how this experiment goes over the next couple months!

I watched someone type a 22-line Slack message yesterday about something that needed a 3-minute call. And honestly, I felt that. Because nobody is teaching us the one soft skill that's now make-or-break in hybrid work: Knowing which medium matches your message. We have 7 different ways to say the same thing, and we're picking the wrong one every single time. I see it everywhere: ↳⁠The manager who schedules a Zoom for what could've been a voice note. ↳⁠The teammate who emails a "quick question" that turns into a 12-reply thread. ↳The office colleague who walks over repeatedly for things that could've been a Slack. Then everyone's frustrated, asking: "Why is communication so hard now?" Here’s how to upgrade your soft skills: 🔰ASYNC (Type it) Use when you need receipts, not responses. 1.⁠ ⁠Status updates 2.⁠ ⁠Documentation 3.⁠ ⁠FYI info 4.⁠ ⁠Non-urgent requests 🔰SYNC (Call it) Use when you need clarity, not confusion. 1. Nuanced discussions 2. Conflict resolution 3. Complex explanations 4. ⁠Anything that's ping-ponged 3+ times in text 🔰IN-PERSON (Walk it) Use when you need a connection, not just content. 1. Sensitive conversations 2. Brainstorming sessions 3. Relationship building 4. Quick desk-side clarifications (if they're actually quick) 📍Bonus tip: If you're in the office and it's under 2 mins + they're available, sure, walk over. Otherwise, respect their flow and ping first. This isn't rocket science. But it is a skill most teams are missing. P.S. What's your rule of thumb for picking the right communication channel? #hybrid #communication #async #sync #inperson #softskills #workculture #signalvnoise

Hybrid Meetings ≠ Inclusive Meetings. I’ve lived it - and here’s 5 practical tips to ensure everyone has a voice, regardless of location. I spent more than 10,000 hours in hybrid meetings while as a remote leader for The Clorox Company. I was often the 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 remote attendee - while the rest of the group sat together in a conference room at HQ. Here’s what I learned the hard way: 𝗠𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱, 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲... ...by showing who gets heard, who feels seen, and who gets left out. If you're leading a distributed or hybrid team, how you structure your meetings sends a loud message about what (and who) matters. 𝟱 𝘁𝗶𝗽𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗵𝘆𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗱 𝗺𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀: 1️⃣ 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗮 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿 – who will actively combat distance bias and invite input from all meeting members 2️⃣ 𝗔𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗮 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲𝗿 – to monitor the chat and the raised hands, to launch polls and to free up the facilitator to focus on the flow 3️⃣ 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝗴 𝗶𝗻 - so that there is equal access to the chat, polls, and reactions 4️⃣ 𝗕𝘂𝗱𝗱𝘆 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺 – pair remote team members with in-room allies to help make space in the conversation and ensure they can see and hear everything 5️⃣ 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗽 𝗮 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘂𝗽 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻 – be ready with a Plan B for audio, video, or connectivity issues in the room 𝘞𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳? 𝗧𝗿𝘆 𝗮 𝗗𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹-𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴. If even one person is remote, have everyone log in from their own device from their own workspace to create a level playing field. 🔗 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗽𝘀 for creating location-inclusive distributed teams in this Nano Tool I wrote for Wharton Executive Education: https://lnkd.in/eUKdrDVn #LIPostingDayApril

Hybrid working models don't fail. Unintentional hybrid ones do. Over the past few years at Abacum, I've learned hybrid work isn’t about splitting time between home and the office—it’s about being intentional with how and why you use each environment. Some of my most meaningful coaching conversations with the team have happened because on days I go in, I intend to allow for spontaneity. And yes, some days I screw up. I show up with the intention of having more time, realize I have to spend the whole day in a phone booth on back to back meetings, and I emerge at the end of the day, high five the team, and leave. But more recently, I've set very clear intentions to allow for brainstorming and spontaneous, informal conversations. And it's made a world of difference. Here’s how we create intentionality at Abacum: ➝ Calendar management is everything. Allocate remote work time intentionally to meet targets and prioritize what really matters. ➝ Making in-office time meaningful. Whenever you’re in the office, prioritize creating spontaneous moments—those side conversations that spark new ideas or solve problems you didn’t know existed. ➝ Building culture in a hybrid environment isn’t automatic. We plan ahead, whether through regular in-person 1:1s, team events, or simply taking time to connect beyond work. Hybrid is powerful but it’s about creating a culture that takes the best from both worlds and being intentional.

The problem with hybrid teams isn’t remote work In the office, it’s simple to check in casually and see how people are doing But in a hybrid setup, you need a different style of leadership I learned this when my team struggled after moving to remote work Energy dropped, communication broke down, and we started losing alignment That’s when I realized good leaders don’t hold on to old ways They evolve. Here’s what made a difference for us: ✅ Focus on connection – Regular check-ins built trust. It wasn’t about monitoring, it was about making people feel supported. ✅ Give ownership, not micromanagement – When we set clear goals and allowed space, engagement went up by almost 40%. ✅ Listen and adjust – Some teammates liked video calls, others preferred updates in writing. Adapting to both made collaboration smoother. When I shifted from controlling to guiding, our results improved by 25% and the team felt more connected than ever. Hybrid work isn’t a problem to fix. It’s a chance to lead in a smarter and more human way. 👉 How are you adjusting your leadership style for hybrid teams? #Leadership #HybridWork #RemoteLeadership #FutureOfWork

As we continue to navigate the changing nature of remote and hybrid work, one thing has become clear: effective communication is more important than ever. Here are a few key tips that have kept my team and I connected throughout this period:  • Be more empathetic and less robotic in your approach; take time to ask personal questions before diving into work - sometimes checking in on how someone's day is going has made a huge difference.  • Have regular check-ins, they matter. I schedule intentional one-on-ones and roundtable meetings. Keeping the camera on during these sessions helps humanize the conversation, and it’s proven essential in maintaining strong relationships with my team.  • Make the most of visual tools, as they help expedite problem-solving and decision-making. Being able to see something helps us all stay aligned and drive projects forward more efficiently.  • Let your team share how they adapt to remote work. It’s amazing how much we can learn from each other, from workspace setups to creative solutions for balancing work and family life.  • Reach out to colleagues. Sometimes a spontaneous message, even if it's just a casual chat, can spark a new connection and keep your team's morale high. Leading a remote or hybrid team requires intentionality, but when you focus on maintaining human connections, it can strengthen your team even more than before.