The Hybrid Leadership Dilemma: Why Your Old Management Style Isn't Working

BREAKING: New 2025 research reveals 51% of workers would quit rather than return to traditional management styles. Is your hybrid leadership approach driving away top talent?

If your best performer just quit with an exit interview citing "micromanagement" and "lack of trust," you're experiencing the hybrid leadership dilemma that's costing organizations their most valuable people. The hybrid workplace has exposed a critical flaw in how most leaders manage remote teams, virtual employees, and distributed workforces.

Host Colby Morris shares eye-opening coaching stories from his leadership experience, including the director whose team engagement scores jumped 30% in six months after making one crucial shift: leading individuals instead of managing activities. You'll discover why video call anxiety is sabotaging your team meetings, how proximity bias is destroying trust, and the exact framework successful leaders use to thrive in hybrid environments.

In this episode:

• Real client transformation: from 45% turnover to zero in 12 months
• The ADAPT framework that's changing how leaders manage virtual teams
• Why your introvert employees dread those "quick video calls"
• A simple weekly audit to catch yourself micromanaging
• The difference between empowering and monitoring remote workers

Perfect for managers, directors, and executives leading distributed teams who want to build trust, improve retention, and boost productivity without constant oversight.

Ready to transform your leadership approach? Listen now and discover why focusing on outcomes instead of activities is the key to hybrid team success.

This Episode Answers:

How do I know my remote employees are actually working?
 Why do my hybrid team members seem disengaged during virtual meetings?
 What's the best way to give recognition to remote workers?
 Should I require cameras on for all video calls?
 How can I build trust with team members I rarely see in person?
 What communication style works best for managing virtual teams?
 How do I stop micromanaging without losing control?

Featured: The ADAPT Framework for Hybrid Leadership

A proven system for leading distributed teams that gets results without micromanagement.

Subscribe to Things Leaders Do wherever you listen to podcasts and leave a 5-star review to help other leaders discover people-first strategies that actually work.

Work with Colby Morris

Struggling with hybrid team leadership? Colby delivers keynote presentations, executive coaching, and team training that transform workplace culture and drive measurable results.

Book a consultation: nxtstepadvisors.com
Connect on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/colbymorris
Email: [e-mail]

About the Show

Things Leaders Do delivers practical, people-first leadership strategies for managers who want real results without corporate fluff. Host Colby Morris, founder of NXT Step Advisors, shares insights from his executive coaching practice to help you build stronger teams, improve retention, and create workplace cultures where people actually want to work.

New episodes every Monday. Subscribe now and never miss the latest in leadership development and team management strategies.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
People First.
Leadership, actionablestrategies, real results this is
Things Leaders Do with ColbyMorris.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
All right.
So picture this scenario for me.
You've got your best performer.
Let's call her Sarah.
She's been with the companythree years, consistently
crushes her targets.
Kn knows the business insideand out.
She's working hybrid two daysin the office, three at home but
here's what happens.
You keep finding yourselfsaying things like hey, I need

(00:35):
to see you in the office more.
Or hey, can you hop on a quickvideo call?
And, honestly, you're nottotally sure she's really
working when you can't actuallysee her.
Last month, sarah gave her twoweeks notice and in her exit
interview, she said I felt likeI was being micromanaged, I

(00:57):
didn't feel trusted to do my job, and you're sitting there
thinking but I thought I wasbeing a good manager.
Well, here's the thing youprobably were being a good
manager in 2019, but it's 2025and the game has completely

(01:17):
changed and if you don't changewith it, you're going to keep
losing your best people.
Hey, leaders, this is ColbyMorris and this is Things
Leaders Do.
We're talking about why yourold management style is probably
driving away your best peopleand what you need to do instead.
And, trust me, this one's goingto hit different.

(01:41):
Let me tell you about a coachingconversation I had a few years
back that has completely changedhow I think about hybrid
leadership.
I was working with a directorand let's call him Mike.
Mike was so flustered and lostbecause his team seemed
disengaged during his Zoommeetings with him.
He'd ask questions andliterally just get crickets in

(02:06):
response.
He'd try to celebrate wins withthe team and people would just
awkwardly nod and that was itNothing.
No emotion, no celebrations,just nothing.
Mike, as a leader, was doingwhat he'd always done managing

(02:33):
the room, trying to read bodylanguage, and he made sure to do
shout-outs by name forrecognition, classic extrovert
leadership moves that had servedhim well for 15 years.
But what Mike didn't realize ishe had a team of introverts who
were absolutely mortified whenhe called them out with
something like hey, jennifer,great job on the Smith account,

(02:53):
and he made sure he did it infront of everyone.
On the video call, jenniferwould smile and sort of say
thanks, but inside she was dyingof embarrassment.
She just wanted to curl up inthe fetal position in the dark
for a while to decompress.
And then there was David whohad what we now call severe

(03:14):
video call anxiety.
And listen, we didn't even havea name for this stuff in 2019,
right, david was stressed forliterally hours before each
video meeting.
He'd worry about his lighting,his background, whether his kids
would come barging in.
So when Mike insisted on videofor better connection, david was

(03:35):
spending more energy managinghis anxiety than actually
contributing anything meaningful.
Mike wasn't a bad leader.
Okay, he was using a managementstyle that worked perfectly
when everyone was crammed intothe same conference room, but in
a hybrid world, he wasaccidentally creating the exact

(03:58):
opposite of what he wanted.
Here's a pretty harsh truth.
Most of us learn to managethrough what I would call
proximity.
In other words, we manage bywalking around, by reading the
room, by stopping by someone'sdesk or in the hallway, and we
had actual conversations.
We equated presence withproductivity and FaceTime with

(04:22):
engagement.
Here's a study that will flooryou, though.
This study in 2025 shows ussomething you probably may not
expect.
It showed us that 51% ofworkers would quit if faced with
a non-negotiable return tooffice mandate.
Did you hear that?

(04:43):
Don't miss this.
More than half of yourworkforce, half of your team,
would rather find a new job thango back to being managed the
old way, and it's not just aboutwhere they want to work.
It's about trust.
The old management style wasbuilt on this assumption that if
you can see someone workingwell, they're working.

(05:06):
If you can't see them, wellthey may not be.
They might be, I don't know,watching Netflix or doing
laundry or whatever, but here'swhat we now know the most
productive hybrid teams.
They're led by managers whofocus on what people accomplish,

(05:26):
not on how many hours are gluedto their desk or how often
their little green dot isshowing as active in Slack.
And here's where thegenerational piece gets really
interesting your Gen Z employees.
They've never worked in a worldwhere their worth was measured
by how often their manager couldphysically eyeball them.

(05:49):
To them, managing by proximityfeels ancient, like insisting
everyone use a fax machine wheneveryone else has moved on to
email.
Insisting everyone use a faxmachine when everyone else has
moved on to email.
But listen to me on this thisisn't really about generational
preferences.
This is about individual humanpreferences that got completely

(06:10):
masked when we forced everyoneinto the same physical space for
eight hours a day, five days aweek.
So remember that story aboutMike.
Here's what changed everythingfor him, and I mean everything.
Instead of trying to manage histeam like they were all the

(06:30):
same person, he started managingthem as actual individuals
Revolutionary concept right.
He had one-on-one conversations, real conversations with each
team member about how theypreferred to communicate, how
they like to receive recognition, what their ideal work
environment actually looked like.

(06:50):
It turns out Jennifer the onewho hated public praise.
She absolutely loved detailedwritten feedback and preferred
Slack messages over video callsany day of the week.
David with video anxiety.
He was most creative andproductive during those quiet,
asynchronous work sessions andhe contributed his absolute best

(07:13):
ideas through shared documentswhere he could think and process
without being put on the spot.
So Mike stopped assuming thatwhat worked for him all that
extroverted, high energy groupinteraction stuff worked for
everyone.
He started asking instead ofassuming.

(07:34):
And you know what happened Teamengagement scores went up 30%
in six months.
Retention went to almost 100%and Mike told me and I'll never
forget this he said it wasactually easier to manage this
way because he wasn't constantlyfighting against people's
natural working styles anymore.

(07:56):
All right, let me give you aframework that I call ADAPT for
hybrid leadership.
The A in ADAPT stands forassess individual needs.
Stop managing everyone likethey're little versions of you.
Have actual conversations abouthow each person works best.
Ask them the D ditch proximitybias.

(08:22):
You find yourself questioningwhether someone's really working
because you can't physicallysee them.
You need to check yourself.
Are they hitting their goals?
Are they contributing?
That's what actually matters.
Then, the A adjust yourcommunication style.
Some people absolutely thriveon video calls they do.

(08:43):
Others would rather have aphone call or use Slack or just
send an email.
Meet people where they are, notwhere you think they should be.
The P prioritize outcomes overactivities.
Stop tracking when someone logsin and start tracking what they
actually accomplish.

(09:04):
Who cares if they started at 8am or 10 am, if they're crushing
their deliverables?
And then T trust first.
This is a big one people.
Your default assumption shouldbe that people want to do good
work, not that they're trying topull a fast one on you.

(09:26):
Let me tell you about twoleaders I worked with recently.
Same company, same level,managing similar size teams, but
man, their approaches were verydifferent.
Leader A let's call her Jessicainsisted on daily video
check-ins.
She required cameras on forevery single meeting and she

(09:49):
expected people to respond toSlack messages within 15 minutes
during business hours.
She measured success by howquickly people responded and how
often they were showing asonline.
Leader B we'll call him Marcus.
He set clear expectations forwhen it needed to get done and

(10:11):
when.
He held weekly one-on-ones justto check in on progress and
figure out what barriers hecould remove.
And he let people choose howthey wanted to communicate with
him.
He measured success by whetherprojects got finished, the
quality of the work and whetherhis team was actually happy.
After one year, just one yearJessica's team had 45% turnover.

(10:36):
45%.
Three of her best performersleft for competitors who were
offering more flexible workarrangements.
Her remaining team members theytold HR they felt micromanaged
and didn't trust their boss.
Trusted them.
Marks' team zero turnover.

(10:58):
Yes, you heard me, zeroturnover.
They exceeded their annualgoals by 15% and their employee
satisfaction scores were amongthe highest in the entire
company.
Same company, same resources,same talent pool.
The only difference theleadership approach.
Now I promised you sometactical stuff, so here's what

(11:21):
this actually looks like day today.
For recognition ask people howthey like to be recognized.
Some people want the publicshout outs, others would rather
get private feedback.
Some love the Slackcelebrations, others they just
want a face-to-face conversation.
But ask them For meetings.

(11:42):
Start by asking this questionDoes this actually need to be a
video call If you're justsharing information, maybe just
send an email.
If you're brainstorming, maybevideo helps people bounce ideas
off each other.
If it's a difficultconversation, ideas off each

(12:04):
other.
If it's a difficultconversation, maybe a phone call
feels less confrontational.
For check-ins, instead of howwas your day, try something like
what's one thing I can helpremove as a barrier for you this
week.
Focus on enabling your people,not monitoring them.
And then for deadlines, insteadof I need this by 5 pm, try.

(12:24):
This needs to be done byThursday.
What time works best for you todeliver it?
You're still getting what youneed, but you're working with
their natural rhythm instead ofagainst it.
See the difference.
You're not being a pushoverhere.
You're still getting results.
You're just working with peopleinstead of trying to control

(12:45):
them.
Here's what I need you tounderstand.
The biggest barrier tosuccessful hybrid leadership
isn't technology, it's notpolicy, it's not even training.
It's your own discomfort withnot being in control of exactly
how work gets done.
Man, my toes hurt, somebodyelse's toes hurt.

(13:08):
I stepped on some toes.
I know I stepped on some toes.
I'm going to say that one again.
It's your own discomfort withnot being in control of exactly
how the work gets done.
Listen, I get it.
I really do.
For those of us who came up inthe butt in the seat era, it
feels weird to not know exactlywhat someone's doing at 2.30 pm

(13:30):
on a Tuesday, but thatdiscomfort is costing you talent
, real talent.
The leaders who are absolutelycrushing it in this hybrid world
have learned to be comfortablewith not controlling the how, as
long as they're crystal clearabout the what and the when.

(13:51):
All right, here's yourassignment for this week.
Now I want you to actually dothis.
Okay, audit yourself forproximity bias.
I want you to write down everysingle time you feel the urge to
check on someone because youcan't see them working.
Every time you think I wonderwhat Sarah is doing right now.
Or I should call Jim, make surehe's staying focused.

(14:14):
Then ask yourself this questionIf Sarah or Jim were sitting 20
feet away from me in thisoffice right now, would I be
having this thought?
If the answer is no,congratulations.
You just caught yourself inproximity bias Instead of acting
on that urge to check up onthem.

(14:35):
Check their recent work output.
Are they hitting deadlines?
Is their work quality good?
Are they responsive when youactually need them?
If yes, then trust them.
If no, then have a realconversation about expectations
and support, not aboutmonitoring and micromanaging.

(14:59):
Look, I know this is hard.
We're literally rewiringdecades of management
conditioning here.
But here's the reality.
Your people are telling youexactly what they need to do
their best work, and if 51% ofthem are willing to quit their
jobs rather than go back to theold way of doing things, that
should probably tell yousomething you can dig in your

(15:22):
heels.
Okay, you can insist that yourmanagement style shouldn't have
to change, but if you do that,you're going to lose your best
people to leaders who figuredout how to adapt.
The future of leadership isn'tabout managing where people work
or how they work.
It's about helping them dotheir absolute best work period.

(15:43):
It's about treating them likethe individuals they actually
are, not like interchangeableparts in some productivity
machine.
And when you do that, when youfocus on empowering instead of
monitoring, when you lead withtrust instead of control, when
you adapt your style to fittheir needs instead of demanding

(16:03):
they adapt to yours, that'swhen you create the kind of
workplace culture that attractsand keeps the best talent
Leaders.
If your organization isstruggling with this hybrid
leadership transition, I'd loveto help.
I work with leaders and teamsthrough keynote speaking,
executive coaching, leadershiptraining to build people first

(16:27):
cultures that actually getresults.
And you know you can reach meat nextstepadvisorscom there's
no e in next, just nxtnextstepadvisorscom.
And please reach out to me onLinkedIn.
Okay, those are in the shownotes, both links, but I meet

(16:51):
most of you on LinkedIn and wehave great conversations where I
can help you.
So, leaders, remember, keepleading individuals.
We don't manage people, we leadthem.
And instead of managing crowds,focus on outcomes, instead of
activities, trusting your peopleto do great work.
And you know why?
Because those are the thingsthat leaders do.

Speaker 1 (17:16):
Thank you for listening to Things Leaders Do.
If you're looking for more tipson how to be a better leader,
be sure to subscribe to thepodcast and listen to next
week's episode.
Until next time, keep workingon being a better leader by
doing the things that leaders do.