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On December 5th, Coco Downtown Minneapolis hosted an executive panel discussion focused on building team cohesion in a hybrid work environment. The event brought together accomplished leaders to share their experiences and insights on maintaining team unity and efficiency in today’s evolving workplace.
The panel included (from left to right in image above):
- JJ Parker, CEO of Tightrope Media Systems
- Jaime Taets, Chief Vision Officer and Founder of Keystone Group International
- Colleen Moselle, CEO of Coco (I served as moderator)
- Jill Felska, Founder of WantToWorkThere.com
The Truth About Hybrid Work: It’s All About Intentionality
“If your culture sucked before you went remote, your culture still sucks. And if your culture was great before you went remote, your culture can withstand this. It just takes intentionality,” stated Jaime Taets, setting the tone for a frank discussion about hybrid work realities. She emphasized that we have to hold leaders accountable to that intentionality: “It’s not the water cooler or the pass in the hallway. You have to make time for it.”
Jill highlighted that if organizations are hybrid, they are actually remote-first: “You need to be communicating, you need to be documenting, you need to be setting up your systems so that everybody could connect virtually if need be because that’s what’s really happening.”
Watch the entire panel.
Remote-First Principles: The Key to Hybrid Success
JJ Parker shared a crucial principle his company follows: “One remote, all remote—which means if one person is remote, everyone should just be on their laptop and be remote.” He explained that this creates fairness and prevents side conversations that can happen in person from excluding remote team members.
On the topic of office space utilization, Parker noted, “When people do come here to our space, we mostly show up to be more social. The in-person time is usually much more social for us.”
Leadership Challenges and Development
Parker shared a practical perspective on the investment in bringing teams together: “My budget guidance is whatever we were going to spend on housing for 65 people, we are now spending on travel. It’s not a cost-saving thing… I have to fly the people in. You have to invest it back into the business.”
Felska emphasized the importance of clear documentation and communication channels: “There needs to be a source of truth, a center of documentation for the entire company that is accessible in all those places.”
The Gen Z Perspective: Debunking Myths
“92% of Gen Z admit they will not accept a role that is fully remote,” Taets revealed, challenging common assumptions about younger workers. She explained, “They want flexibility and autonomy… but we’re seeing them say, ‘I also want to create human connection. I want to be somewhere where I am interacting with people in some capacity.’”
Looking Ahead: Key Recommendations
For organizations navigating the future of work, the panel recommended:
- Define Your Why: Be clear about the purpose behind your hybrid work strategy
- Invest in Connection: Taets emphasized that companies need to “actually budget in an investment to bring people together at some cadence that makes sense for your business.”
- Focus on Documentation: Create clear systems and processes for hybrid work
- Develop Leaders: Provide training and support for managing hybrid teams
- Enable Technology: Invest in tools that support efficient remote collaboration
- Build Trust: Move away from presence-based management to outcome-based evaluation
The conversation made it clear that while there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to hybrid work, success comes down to intentionality, clear communication, and a willingness to adapt and evolve as we learn what works best for different organizations and teams.
As we continue to navigate this new world of work, the most successful organizations will be those that focus on building strong cultures, developing effective leaders, and creating meaningful connections—regardless of where their employees are physically located.
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