Despite increasing calls to return to the office, most organizations continue to embrace hybrid work. In the UK, 74% of companies are hybrid. In the US, the figure is even higher at 84%.
That means millions of people are logging in from home offices, coworking spaces and corporate offices worldwide. And whether they’re brand-new hires or seasoned leaders, they all need one thing to thrive: High-impact professional development that creates lasting change.
That’s good for business. When your people thrive, they’re more likely to be engaged and productive.
Development opportunities are also critical to building loyalty. In fact, LinkedIn’s latest workplace learning report found that offering learning opportunities is the top retention strategy for most leading organizations.
A mammoth task for L&D leaders!
Delivering development at scale is no small feat for L&D leaders. As we’ve all experienced, many remote or hybrid training efforts fall flat as they’re too long, too passive and too easy to forget.
So the question becomes: How do you design development and team-building programs that work across countries, cultures and technology? And how do you ensure it still feels engaging?
The secret lies in unifying people using a common language...
Why a common language matters in learning and development
This is about supporting your people in understanding themselves and others, with a focus on improving communication and helping learners build stronger relationships.
In hybrid environments especially, L&D pros face an uphill battle in keeping teams connected. Without the natural cues and informal conversations of a shared office, communication can become fragmented and misunderstandings more frequent.
A shared language around working styles and values helps bridge these gaps. It enables employees to discuss differences constructively, adapt their communication styles and find common ground, whether they’re on opposite sides of the office or the world.
The role of self-awareness and emotional intelligence
Training on emotional intelligence and self-awareness is key to effective people development.
By helping employees understand their own working preferences and the preferences of others, L&D leaders can deliver programs that build empathy and collaboration. When working from that shared pool of understanding, your programs will also reduce friction, change resistance and the host of interpersonal challenges teams face at any given time.
For example, Insights Discovery leverages four color energies (Cool Blue, Fiery Red, Sunshine Yellow and Earth Green) as a practical shorthand when talking about different personality and communication styles. People remember and appreciate this approach because it’s easy to connect colors to behaviors, and it creates a neutral way to discuss differences without labeling or judging.
In a corporate setting, the language of color energies helps bridge cultural and generational barriers (to say nothing of personality differences), and it works just as well in-person or online.
When employees have a clear, mutually understood way to discuss team dynamics, the benefits include:
- Reduced miscommunication, especially in remote channels
- Greater psychological safety, where people feel more comfortable speaking up
- Better collaboration, as teams can work through differences more effectively
- Improved leadership, where managers can adapt their style to better meet team needs
Scaling development through shared language and understanding
A common language, like the one provided by color energies, creates the psychological safety necessary for effective awareness training. Insights believes that self-awareness and awareness of others’ preferred styles (other-awareness) are crucial to learning and people development. It would be an uphill battle to improve leadership effectiveness or team dynamics in any organization without it.
We’ve all heard that famous Tasha Eurich stat that, while 95% of people think they’re self-aware, only 10% actually are. This is even more poignant in a hybrid or remote setting where certain nuances of interaction, like body language or facial expressions, can be lost.
Complicating this issue is the lack of ease that comes with face-to-face interaction, like popping by someone’s desk for a quick sense check. Without that informal contact, remote and hybrid employees can remain entrenched in negative or defensive perceptions of an interaction, which harms team dynamics.
Training on self-awareness and other-awareness must be deliberate; an honest reflection of each person’s perceptions and triggers, and a non-judgmental exploration of their colleagues’ perceptions and triggers.
For example, imagine you’re leading a hybrid project team with members from both the US and Japan. During a meeting, you notice a Japanese colleague stays quiet when decisions are being made, while your US team members jump in with opinions right away.
Self-awareness kicks in when you realize your own style is to speak quickly and fill the silence, something that could unintentionally shut others out. Other-awareness comes when you recognize that in some cultures, processing time and consensus-building are valued over immediate responses.
In action, you pause, invite the quieter colleague to share their perspective, and give space for them to follow up after the meeting if they prefer. That way, you ensure all voices are heard and respected.
In a hybrid or remote work environment, leaders must remember that virtual presence carries as much weight as in-person interactions.
Being intentional about tone, body language and practising other-awareness on every platform ensures your impact is as strong online as it is in the room. It also ensures training is delivered and embedded equally across the organization.
Scaling people programs starts with connection
Scaling people programs in a hybrid world is not just about content, it’s about connection
The most successful initiatives give employees at every level a shared way to talk about their work styles, build empathy and collaborate across boundaries. In effect, they create a common language.
With intentional design and a focus on self-awareness and other-awareness, organizations can ensure their training is a transformative experience that strengthens teams, no matter where in the world your learners are sitting.
About Insights Discovery and the language of color energies
Insights Discovery creates a timeless common language in your organization that unites generations, geography and culture. Trusted by 48% of Fortune 500 companies, this award-winning L&D program improves communication, collaboration and understanding using a four-color L&D model that’s simple to learn and easy to apply at work. Insights Discovery opens the door to an entire ecosystem of programs for personal, team and leadership performance.
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Data source: https://buildremote.co/companies/return-to-office/
