On the surface of it, running an activities business using a hybrid working model may seem counterintuitive. Whilst pandemic restrictions relocated many offices homeward, operating a business that largely produces an in-person experience of sport and physical activity may not seem to fit those parameters.
The activities sector showcased a great deal of resilience relocating many of its services online in the last 18 months. The sector continued to offer fitness classes, outreach, and wellbeing support to their online communities.
Despite this flexibility, the sector had still risked collapse with ukactive warning that an estimated 90m in revenue and 7.25m in health benefits would be lost on a weekly basis with continued lockdowns.
How could hybrid work in the activities sector help?
A hybrid working model has the capacity for greater impact than that of simply working from home. It can, in fact, connect your business with a wealth of talent that prefers to work from their own space, or prefer to work on multiple projects.
At its core, the hybrid working model can empower your current team to work outside of the office, but it can also give your business the capacity to engage others with similar working situations.
The concept is not alien to the activities sector. For some time, coaches have operated as self-employed actors, supporting your business whilst running their own. Further hybridity can reduce your overheads, whilst bringing some much-needed services to your business.
Recruitment, HR, and marketing can all be managed this way, reducing how much your business might spend on keeping them in-house.
How do you maintain company culture?
A key area to maintaining your company culture must be in the formulation of a digital office. Many businesses may envision their workspaces becoming increasingly disconnected, but when managed and organised properly, hybridity can enhance your company culture.
It provides better flexibility and autonomy for your team so they can support your business in and around their other responsibilities.
Consider using technology to your benefit here, where hybridity is not simply an empty space in your office, but rather a negotiation for getting the best out of your team. Channel-based messaging or open sessions where employees can engage in team discussions on an ad hoc basis such as for digital book clubs and sharing parenting tips can help you maintain that culture.
Your digital space can help maintain that collaborative environment regardless of where people choose to work.
How do you prepare your new hybrid space?
To implement a hybrid model, consider what your digital space should look like and what your physical office landscape actually looks like. These are the main components in creating a hybrid model that fits the needs of your business.
- Discuss with your team, including management as to what facts would be pertinent to the discussion.
- Draft a Hybrid Workplace Policy that explains how it will work, who it will apply to, and when it will be needed. Get some feedback on the details at this point, so you can decide on the detail that needs to be added and what parameters you need to set.
- Make sure your business has the right tools for the job. Coordinate Sport is built to not only manage bookings, but to help you manage HR, finance, and internal communications. Contact our team for a demo.
- What about the structures in your business reserved for those working in the office? Collate some ideas that will help you make it far for staff wherever they are working.
Remember office hybridity should be built to mirror the needs of your activities business. To reclaim the office space as well as how you physically do business, embrace models that help your employees work effectively wherever they are.
