Brian Elliott has seen inside hundreds of hybrid organizations. As a former Slack SVP and Executive Leader of Future Forum, he’s helped shape what great hybrid work looks like. In a recent conversation, Brian shared what separates thriving hybrid teams from the rest — and it’s not policies or tech. It’s leadership.
Kadence Connect is our live conversation series where hybrid work leaders share hard-won insights, frameworks, and future-facing ideas to help organizations thrive. Brian joined us to share the key lessons from his playbook that today’s leaders can’t afford to ignore. Watch the full webinar below.
Hybrid Isn’t Hard — Leadership Is
One of the boldest things Brian says early on is this:
“Hybrid isn’t hard. Leadership is.”
Brian Elliott
Many companies struggle with hybrid not because the model is flawed, but because it exposes weak leadership habits. For decades, managers relied on proximity as a proxy for performance. In hybrid environments, that falls apart.
The fallback to “management by eye contact” — seeing who’s in the office and when — is comforting, but meaningless. Great leaders, Brian says, lead through clarity and trust, not surveillance.
High-Performing Teams Create Clarity
Through his work at Slack and Future Forum, Brian identified a consistent pattern across the highest-performing hybrid teams. They excel in three areas:
Create clarity
Build trust
Unlock potential
The first — clarity — is foundational. It means:
Defining prioritized goals (not 12 objectives, but 3 that matter)
Clarifying roles so no one is guessing who owns what
Setting team norms to shape how decisions get made
Hybrid doesn’t work if people are uncertain about expectations. But it excels when leaders get intentional about alignment.
“Hybrid forces you to focus on outcomes. That’s the benefit.”
Brian Elliott
Leaders Don’t Need All the Answers
Command-and-control doesn’t scale in hybrid teams. The best leaders don’t play the hero — they set a clear destination and invite others into the problem-solving process.
“If you have all the answers, you’re telling others to shut down their thinking.”
Brian Elliott
Instead of top-down directives, modern leadership is about asking better questions and letting the team shape the path. This unlocks creativity, autonomy, and deeper engagement — things you need when teams aren’t all in the same room.
Reward Outcomes, Not Attendance
Brian puts it plainly: stop rewarding people for showing up.
Companies that anchor performance to attendance — who came in, when, and how often — miss the point. It’s not about visibility. It’s about impact.
“You get yourself out of the fear that ‘I need to see people to know they’re working.’”
Brian Elliott
Hybrid success demands a shift to output-based performance. That’s not just good for employees — it’s essential for business outcomes.
The Bottom Line
Hybrid work isn’t a logistical challenge — it’s a leadership opportunity. The managers and execs who embrace new mindsets will unlock flexibility, autonomy, and performance in ways traditional workplaces never could.
Brian’s advice is clear: unlearn what doesn’t serve you, invest in clarity and trust, and stop managing by presence. Because in the future of work, outcomes speak louder than attendance.
Want help putting this leadership model into practice?
Book a demo with our hybrid experts and see how Kadence empowers high-performing teams — wherever they work.
Helen Attia
Helen heads up Kadence’s People and Partnerships teams. She looks after Kadence’s employees, as well as our customers and partners. She cares deeply about how distributed work can drive better business outcomes and a happier, healthier workforce. Based in Amsterdam, she enjoys exploring the city and the other parts of Europe on her doorstep with her young family.
