Solving this challenge could be more difficult for leaders to navigate, even compared with the rapid switch to remote working in early 2020. But while challenging, this new, blended approach to work may also be a major growth opportunity, as well as a chance to foster greater engagement and innovation.

The same old (age-old) ways to collaborate

This challenge is why Facebook's introduction of a virtual reality workspace, Horizon Workrooms, is so interesting. Maybe we don't all need Oculus headsets and VR avatars to restore a sense of teamwork. But Facebook is on the right track: it's looking for ways to help people connect and collaborate, not just communicate, in virtual workspaces.

To ensure this switch to the next normal has a positive impact, leaders and companies will need to adopt a whole new mindset when it comes to collaboration. Research commissioned by Lucid last year showed that while managers have concerns about how remote working impacts productivity, employees are more concerned about how it impacts their ability to collaborate.

This is unsurprising. Collaborative tools have been stale for a long time. While the advent of Slack, Zoom and Microsoft Teams have shifted businesses away from operating solely on email, they remain communication platforms at heart, not collaboration solutions.

The office suites we use today are broadly similar to those we used 30 years ago; we're still collaborating around virtual 8.5 x 11 documents, virtual spreadsheets, and virtual slideshows. Even within Facebook's Workrooms, the whiteboard is just a 4 foot by 6 foot rectangle floating in front of you. But the fact is, we no longer go to work to pass memos around. Why are we restricting our collaborative work to what fits on a virtual sheet of paper or inside an imaginary conference room?

Collaboration needs to be visual

We go to work to build things, whether it's a company, a product, or a market. And, as mentioned above, good communications tools are only part of what's needed to do this kind of creative work in a remote or hybrid setting. A 2021 paper from Microsoft suggests that employees might be "collaboratively isolated" during work-from-home stints, with mixed results for creative work. That's because building things requires focused work time, along with both effective communication tools and effective collaboration.

In order to empower employees to be more collaborative, leaders need to think differently. In short, hybrid environments need visual solutions that facilitate working side-by-side, not just face-to-face.

Creativity and collaboration are possible with a hybrid workforce, as long as managers are able to build a culture that supports and prioritises these values, not just productivity. Work practices and visual technologies can give people a voice and spark creativity, regardless of their location – remote or in the office.

For example, BambooHR entered a three-year strategy refresh process just after the pandemic hit in 2020. Normally, this is the kind of process that would take days or even weeks of intensive collaborative work in a conference room, with lots of scribbling on whiteboards and flipcharts, and pasting up sticky notes full of ideas. Instead, BambooHR conducted everything virtually using a virtual whiteboard.

Employees reported they found the ability to add sticky notes and ideas on a virtual whiteboard as they went along much more engaging than sitting through a PowerPoint presentation. The whiteboard's infinite canvas meant that when one section got full, people just swiped over to a new, blank area. There was no need to pause, take a picture, and start again. The virtual canvas also allowed everyone to see all ideas on their screens and discuss them in real time and afterward to quickly establish priorities and next steps.

It's time to reimagine working together

By putting everyone in a shared, virtual space, you can eliminate old barriers and constraints. By collaborating on an infinite canvas instead of a 4'x6' whiteboard, people's ideas can literally "stretch out" and go beyond the frameworks that normally constrain their thinking.

Besides brainstorming and planning, other areas where visual, collaborative technologies could use a more hybrid-friendly approach include process mapping, system diagramming, and product development.

As staff members become comfortable with these tools and processes, virtual workplaces will quickly become spaces where the most effective collaboration can happen. They will end up being the workspaces that best promote and enable innovation, creative thinking, and new ideas to push businesses forward.