The Mindset of Hybrid Working with Gary Cookson

Hybrid-working expert Gary Cookson on the mindsets, habits and leadership behaviours that make flexible work actually work—for people, performance and culture.

In this episode, Paul Corke talks with Gary Cookson—hybrid working, leadership and HR expert; author of HR for Hybrid Working (Kogan Page); keynote speaker; and designer of high-impact virtual learning. A father of four and long-time HR/OD/L&D leader across sectors, Gary helps individuals, teams and organisations get better at what matters—by pairing smart policy with human-centred practice.
We dig into the mindset of hybrid work: trust over surveillance, outcomes over optics, and clarity over chaos. Gary shares practical playbooks for leaders and HR—communication cadences, meetings that respect time zones and energy, inclusion for remote voices, and ways to develop people when some are in-room and others aren’t.

You’ll hear:
The mindset shifts behind effective hybrid: trust, autonomy, clarity, inclusion
How to design communication & collaboration rhythms that reduce overload
Meetings that work: agendas, roles, async-first, and remote-first facilitation
Performance in hybrid: outcomes, coaching, feedback and psychological safety
Learning & development online: engaging virtual training that sticks
How this links to Paul’s Mindset Equation (Aspiration, Belief, Drive/Motivation, EQ, Resilience, Learning Agility)

Try this (Hybrid Reset in 7 days):
Team charter: agree 5 norms (response times, core hours, channels, meetings, availability).
Async-first: move one recurring meeting to a shared doc/loom + clear deadline.
Inclusion pass: nominate a “remote advocate” in each meeting to bring in voices.
Focus blocks: two 90-minute protected windows/week per person.
Weekly retro (15 min): what helped, what hindered, one tweak for next week.

A practical, people-first guide to hybrid working that boosts performance without burning people out.