ThemeThe hybrid setup
CardCard 35 of 65
Questions5 to explore
StepAgree the basics

Location Model

All in-person, remote or hybrid

The model your team runs on shapes every other norm, so it is worth naming it clearly before anything else.

Location models sit on a spectrum: fully co-located (everyone in the same place), fully remote (nobody in a shared office), or hybrid (a mix of both, with many variations on what that means in practice). Most teams land somewhere in hybrid, but the word covers a lot of ground: sometimes it means two days in, three out; sometimes it means some teammates are always remote and others are always in-person; sometimes it changes week by week.

Naming the model the team actually uses, rather than leaving it implicit, is more useful than it sounds. It clarifies which agreements are actually needed. A team that is hybrid because of geography needs different norms than one that is hybrid by choice. A team where everyone is sometimes remote has different dynamics than one with a stable remote cohort and a stable in-person cohort.

Make it explicitWrite one sentence describing your team's location model as it actually is now, including who is in which situation, and post it somewhere the whole team can see.

How strong hybrid teams handle it

The same building block, handled well. These are patterns from teams that work well across locations, offered as illustrations to react to, not rules to copy.

Name the actual model

Strong hybrid teams do not just say 'we are hybrid.' They name the specific arrangement: who is fully remote, who is mostly in-office, what flexibility exists, and whether that is expected to change. This avoids the confusion of a team where everyone has a different mental model of how it works.

Revisit when things change

When team membership changes, or when someone's location situation shifts, strong teams update the model description. The norm that worked when one person was remote and five were in-office may not work when four are remote.

Optimise for the actual distribution

If most of the team is remote, the team's norms should be built for remote-first, not for an office that hosts exceptions. Strong teams design their working model around the real distribution of people, not the ideal or historical one.

Distinguish model from preference

Some teams have a location model that is fixed by contract or policy; others have one that is flexible. Strong teams are clear about which is which, so that individuals are not guessing how much choice they actually have.

Questions for your team

Use these on your own or in a group. There are no right answers, only better conversations.

If someone new joined the team tomorrow, how would you describe the team's location model in one sentence?
Is the current model the one everyone chose, or did it evolve without a deliberate decision?
How does the model affect the day-to-day experience differently for different team members?
If the model changed, what would be the first norm that would need to change with it?
Who decides if the location model can change, and how would that conversation happen?

Watch for

Teams often say they are hybrid without specifying what that means, which leaves individuals guessing whether their particular arrangement is accepted or just tolerated.
The location model that exists on paper and the one people actually experience often diverge, especially when managers work from one location and most of the team works from another.
A model optimised for the majority can quietly disadvantage the minority. If three people are remote and seven are in-office, the norms often default to in-office, making remote the harder experience.