October 2025

Building high-performing teams in a hybrid world.

Hybrid work is here to stay. It brings plenty of positives, flexibility, reach, and new ways of working, but it also makes building team cohesion harder. Without the daily interactions of the office, it’s more difficult to see how engaged and aligned people really are.

And that means one thing: leading a high performing team in this context takes extra effort.

It won’t happen by accident. Yes, we all have five billion emails waiting for us and 48 hours of meetings every day, but if leaders don’t make a deliberate effort to focus on team performance, the cost is high. You lose good people, wellbeing takes a hit, and productivity suffers.

Front Foot’s David Curtain hosted a webinar about building high performing teams in a hybrid world, featuring Kirsty Harvison (Cultural Change & Leadership Development, Bendelta) and Cathy Pappas (Chapter Type Lead, Legal & Regulatory, Telstra).

The big takeaway? High performance won’t happen by accident.

So, what can leaders do to build and maintain high performing teams in a hybrid world?

Here are some of the practical steps discussed:

1. Articulate the vision – Be clear about what you’re aiming to achieve as a team, and why it matters. People need to know where they’re headed and why their work counts.
2. Prioritise one-on-one conversations – Make time to check in regularly. Face-to-face works best when possible.
3. Ask open-ended questions – Go beyond tick-box chats. Show people their views are valued by creating space for real dialogue.
4. Listen carefully – Pay attention not just to what’s said, but to what isn’t. Concerns often sit below the surface.
5. Observe team behaviours – Are people acting like a team? Are they helping one another out and taking initiative? If not, dig into why.
6. Have the challenging conversations – You might not always like the answers, but it’s better to know. That way you can assess and move forward.

These are simple steps, but they require intention. Leadership in this environment is about making space for connection, listening deeply, and being willing to address the hard stuff.

The question for every leader is this: are you being deliberate about building performance in your team, or are you hoping it will just happen? Hope isn’t a strategy, and deliberate leadership can make all the difference.