The corporate world is currently caught in a transition that feels less like an evolution and more like a tug-of-war. On one side, we have the "Return to Office" (RTO) mandates, often driven by a nostalgic desire for the visibility of the "bullpen" era. On the other hand, we have a workforce that has tasted personal autonomy and is refusing to give it back.
Between these two poles lies a dangerous phenomenon: Dark Work.
Dark work occurs when activity happens in the shadows—not because employees are slacking off, but because the systems designed to track and value that work haven't caught up to the reality of 2026. For decision-makers, the solution isn't demanding more "butts in seats." The solution is Radical Visibility.
For decades, leadership was synonymous with presence. If a manager could see a team member at their desk, they assumed work was happening. This "proximity bias" is a cognitive shortcut that equates physical visibility with productivity.
In a hybrid world, this bias is toxic. It creates a two-tier system where those in the office receive the best projects, more frequent feedback, and faster promotions, while those working from home—often the most focused and productive members of the team—become invisible.
The argument for hybrid work is no longer just about employee "perks." It is about business resilience.
To support this shift, leaders should look to the research and current thinking:
Radical Visibility is the antidote to the "Black Box" of remote work. However, it is frequently misunderstood as a call for more surveillance.
When work is radically visible, the need for "status update meetings" evaporates. If a project’s status is tracked on a shared digital Portfolio Wall, a leader doesn't need to ping a team member at 4:00 PM to ask how things are going. The system provides the answer. We can then shift our conversations to a more personal and empathetic engagement stance, rather than the public "whipping" of meeting updates. Digital walls allow everyone to see everything, all the time, as well as provide metrics and measures to track trends over time to generate objectivity and greater insights for future planning.
In an Australian business context, "accountability" is often used as a stick to beat people with when things go wrong. In a high-performing hybrid team, it must be used as a tool for empowerment.
Responsibility is task-oriented. It is the obligation to act. In a collaborative hybrid environment, responsibility is often shared. A team is responsible for the sprint; a group is responsible for the launch.
Accountability is outcome-oriented. It cannot be shared. For every initiative, there must be a "Directly Responsible Individual" (DRI). This person isn't necessarily doing all the work, but they are the ones who "own" the result.
The Hybrid Trap: Without Radical Visibility, accountability becomes a game of "pass the parcel." When work goes dark, it's easy to claim a lack of clarity as a reason for failure. By making the workflow visible, you give the accountable person the "safety net" they need to succeed.
The gap between executive strategy and team execution is often described as a "Grand Canyon-sized chasm". In hybrid teams, this chasm is widened by:
To fix this, organisations must move from "Ad Hoc" to "Consistent" maturity. This involves:
The most significant shift required for Radical Visibility is psychological. Leaders must move from "Command and Control" to "Support and Enable".
This requires empathy. It means understanding that a WFH team member isn't "missing" because they didn't answer a message in three minutes—they might be in a deep-work state that is actually driving the project forward. Modern leadership recognises the value in deep work and structures the working environment to foster it!
When you make work visible, you remove the anxiety of the unknown. Leaders feel in control because they can see the progress; employees feel empowered because their contributions are being recognised, even if they aren't in the room.
The ultimate test of a successful hybrid leadership strategy is whether the system can function without the leader constantly intervening.
The goal of implementing Radical Visibility is to get to a place where the organisation is self-correcting. When everyone knows what the goals are, who is accountable, and where the work stands, the "Mary Poppins" effect takes over: the leader has built a sustainable environment where they are eventually no longer required for the day-to-day "management" of presence.
In 2026, the competitive advantage doesn't belong to the company that forced everyone back to the CBD. It belongs to the company that made the work so clear that the CBD became irrelevant.
To move from "Ad Hoc" chaos to "Consistent" maturity, a Portfolio Wall acts as your single source of truth. It eliminates the "Dark Work" by making every initiative—and its health—visible to both the executive team and remote staff simultaneously.
Below is a template designed to be hosted on digital platforms (like Miro, Mural, or ADO) to support a hybrid cadence.
Here's how to put Radical Visibility in place.
Before looking at tasks, every person (on-site or WFH) must be able to see the objective of the work on the wall.
Organise work by its stage in the lifecycle, not by the department. This prevents functional silos.
| Lane | Description | Hybrid Benefit |
| Backlog | Ideas being vetted for strategic alignment. | Stops "shoulder-tapping" in the office from jumping the queue. |
| Discovery | High-level scoping and identifying the DRI (Accountable person). | Ensures remote experts are consulted early. |
| In Flight | Active work with clear dependencies mapped. | Shows exactly where a project is sitting without a status meeting. |
| Blocked | Items physically unable to move due to external factors. | High-visibility "Red Flags" for leadership to resolve. |
| Realised | Completed work where the value is being measured. | Celebrates wins for the whole team, regardless of location. |
Every item on the wall should be represented by a card. To ensure Radical Visibility, each card must contain:
A Portfolio Wall is useless if it’s static. To keep it "humanised," establish a Team of Teams rhythm:
The Cadence: A 15–30 minute "Stand-up" twice a week.