The working environment has changed hugely over the last decade.  Accelerated by the pandemic, most of us now work in a much more flexible way and most of us are working for firms that operate in an environment that might be described as a ‘hybrid’.

What does that even mean?  What’s different?

A lot!  Physical location used to just be ‘the office’ – now it’s usually the office and … working from home, working from a remote location and often a combination of all three.  Norms and rules of how much time people need to be ‘in the office’ vary hugely between firms, and even departments, and can be confusing. 

Hours of work have changed too.  No longer the traditional 9 to 5 – if you can work from anywhere to suit you then why be restricted on when you work.  Sounds great but what is welcomed flexibility for some, can mean never switching off for others.  And there may be more team members working from overseas locations which means dealing with time differences.

And, of course, this has all be made possible because of improved technology … but there is so much of it and not everyone will be a fan or have the skills to effectively use new tools and communicate digitally.  Increased technology and the availability to use it on multiple devices adds to the ‘always on’ pressure.

I could go on.  Suffice to say the hybrid working environment is very different from ten years ago, let alone 20 years ago – when many partners and leaders in accounting firms did their training.  So much of their learning would have been in person – both formal training and most importantly informal learning from colleagues and in person teams. The current generation are different, their experiences are different, and so the way they need to be managed and led needs to be different.

In the pandemic, firms adapted very quickly to the new working environment – there was no choice.  The adaptation to the hybrid model has been much slower and clunkier.  But this is the new normal – and adaptation is key if firms are to thrive, and attract and retain the talent they need.

So, what are the leadership lessons?  Here are five top tips:

• Building trust is key

You can’t rely on seeing people at their desks to be able to judge their productivity.  There can be a temptation to micromanage – insist on constant updates – but this kills engagement.  You have to show trust – focus on outcomes and display confidence in your people.  This doesn’t mean not holding them to account – in fact, the opposite.

• Communicate Expectations

To be able to trust people to do what you want them to do, your expectations need to be crystal clear.  This is more than just telling someone what to do – it’s a conversation about what they need to do and by when, why they need to do it, what good looks like and so on.  Dare I mention SMART objectives? People also need to know they can ask questions – they won’t necessarily bump into you in the corridor or be able to ask a colleague – so the opportunity for clarification needs to be planned in.  Junior colleagues often get told ‘come back to me with any questions’ but they don’t always know that they had a question – so those check ins are vital. (Note ‘check in’ not ‘check up’!)

• Build Empathy and Engagement

Engagement is so important for motivation and ultimately keeping your good people.  A key way to build engagement is to display empathy – letting people know that you genuinely care about them and their development.  This doesn’t mean being their best friend – but it does mean checking in, asking them how they are and actually listening to the answer.  Knowing your people.  Again, it’s not about giving them an easy life or not holding them accountable, but if you know your people you’re much more likely to be able to spot signs of disengagement. 

• Holding people to account

If you have people working for you that you trust that you’ve communicated effectively with, and you know them well enough to know that they are engaged … then you are able to hold them to account for their work.  This is a key way of motivating people – the point is that their work matters.  It’s essential that if expectations or standards are not met then feedback is given and ideally people are given an opportunity to improve or fix what’s wrong.  We see so many senior people just ‘fixing’ what was incomplete or inadequate because they feel it’s easier than going back to the junior person to ask them to do so.  Ultimately this just sends a message that the junior person’s efforts don’t matter, as well as piling on the workload for the more senior person! 

• Cultivate Connection

All of this means you have to create opportunities to connect with people and in the hybrid world this needs to be deliberate.  However your firm has decided to do it – whether it’s a certain number of days in the office, virtual team meetings, catch up phone calls – you need to establish ‘ways of working’.  What is the workplace culture – how we do things around here – is it what you want it to be or is it just what’s been allowed to happen?  Set out how you want people to connect and collaborate and make it non-negotiable (whether that’s number of days in the office or cameras on in meetings etc).  Setting high expectations of people is motivating and that includes how they connect with each other in a hybrid environment.

There are many benefits to be reaped from hybrid working but it takes leadership and a deliberate shift.  If not, the benefits are lost, loyalty and engagement isn’t built and ultimately everyone loses out!

Nicky Clough, December 2025