Leading from a distance: what we've learned about managing hybrid workers
At the second ACLOS+ Breakfast Session on October 1st 2026, Professor Janka Stoker addressed an important question: what have we learned about managing hybrid workers?
Research shows that working from home brings clear benefits for organizations and individuals, such as lower turnover, stable or even higher productivity, and greater autonomy. But it also has costs, including social isolation and less knowledge sharing. Those tensions put leaders in a key role.
Janka Stoker presented research showing that:
leaders who manage from a distance become less directive, but they do not start delegating more
employees rate their leaders and their own productivity higher when leaders delegate more
leaders often believe they have changed their behavior more than their employees experience
Why is the shift so hard? Some of the reasons are distrust of employees, the difficulty of sharing power, overly positive self-perceptions, and the simple fact that changing your own behavior is not fun.
Three key takeaways from the session:
Working from home doesn't change your behavior for you. You have to change it yourself.
The hardest part is delegating and sharing power, and that is exactly where the payoff is.
Changing behavior takes time, so organizations need to invest in developing their leaders.
Thank you to Janka Stoker for an engaging conversation about leading from a distance, and thank you to everyone who joined us. We hope to see you at future Breakfast Sessions!
Want to read more about research on leading and working from home, see: