Do remote and hybrid managers need different skills to those who work in-person? If so, what are those skills and how do we develop them?

In this first episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast for 2025, Ross Dickie and Ross Garner are joined by return guest Gary Cookson, author of Making Hybrid Working Work.

We discuss:

The ‘sensory loss’ that takes place when managers move to a hybrid environment

The digital signals that help managers understand their teams

Strategies for building hybrid management capability.

Gary’s book, Making Hybrid Working Work, is available now from Kogan Page.

During the discussion, we referenced a few other episodes of our podcast:

271 — Jobcraft Country

406 — Revisiting 70:20:10: Theory into practice

407 — Revisiting 70:20:10: From learning to performance

421 — Good managers balance care with results

Ross Garner also discussed ‘context-dependent memory effect’.

In ‘What I Learned This Week’, we each shared a paper:

Ross G: Vences, M., Köhler, J., Hutter, C. R., Preick, M., Petzold, A., Rakotoarison, A., ... & Scherz, M. D. (2024). Communicator whistles: A Trek through the taxonomy of the Boophis marojezensis complex reveals seven new, morphologically cryptic treefrogs from Madagascar (Amphibia: Anura: Mantellidae). Vertebrate Zoology, 74, 643-681.

Gary: Veronese, N., Stubbs, B., Noale, M., Solmi, M., Vaona, A., Demurtas, J., ... & Fontana, L. (2017). Fried potato consumption is associated with elevated mortality: an 8-y longitudinal cohort study. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 106(1), 162-167.

Goh, E., Gallo, R., Hom, J., Strong, E., Weng, Y., Kerman, H., ... & Chen, J. H. Large Language Model Influence on Diagnostic Reasoning. JAMA Network Open, 7(10).

For more from us, including details of our new Manager Skill Builder, visit mindtools.com.

There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work.  

For more from Gary, see EpicHR.co.uk

Connect with our speakers   

If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn:

Ross Garner

Ross Dickie

Gary Cookson

426 — Making hybrid work… work!

The Mindtools L&D Podcast