Leading from a Distance

What Research Tells Us About Leading and Managing Distributed Teams Effectively

Over half of the US population is currently working remotely. Leaders are quickly finding ways to adapt their business initiatives while simultaneously working to maintain and strengthen the culture of their organization. There are more than 10,000 books in the English language on Amazon about how to lead remote teams. You probably understand why if you’ve been working at it for the past few months. It is very difficult, and requires active and intentional work to do it well.

When teams are not physically present with each other, the usual ways of building culture and relationship among colleagues over meetings, lunches, water cooler and desk-to-desk chats don’t happen. What may have seemed like small, inconsequential interactions are actually a significant driver of productivity and satisfaction. This relational void paired with the uncertainty of the future is a particularly difficult challenge leaders are facing when it comes to team dynamics.

To help with these new challenges, the Link2Lift team pulled together recent research from some of our most trusted sources addressing practical tips and helpful data for leading distributed teams.

Trust, Trust, Trust

Trust is the key ingredient for a successful distributed team. There are different kinds of trust that need to be developed between team members and leaders. During a pandemic, trust becomes paramount as we need to be able to trust one another to act in our best interests and for the common good. Whether this is maintaining social distance, being transparent about the financial stability of the organization, or simply being a reliable colleague that completes quality work on time.

Does Your Team Trust You?

The good news is, during this crisis, people who are fortunate to have a job are more likely to trust their employer over traditional institutions like the government or the media. However, working from home can create a lot of uncertainty and team members’ minds can go wild without proper communication that addresses their concerns. The economic climate also increases anxiety about job stability, and organizations risk breaking trust with their team if they lack transparency.

Deloitte Insights created this helpful visual to illustrate the dimensions of trust that must be addressed by every team.

Source: Deloitte Insights

The following questions highlight common concerns team members have about their organization.

Physical: Can I feel safe at my workplace?

Emotional: Can I trust that I will be empowered to do my job? Can I feel safe that I can speak up and ask openly about my job without fear of reprisal, and will receive an honest answer?

Financial Trust: Will I lose my job? Can I trust my company will do all it can to support me, and be honest about its intentions and economic health?

Digital Trust: Can I trust that my work-related data is secure and private, that networks will function, and that cybersecurity measures are in place?

With less face-time to address these issues, intentional transparent communication is necessary for team members to build trust.

Do You Trust Your Team?

“The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.” -Ernest Hemingway

Leaders cannot monitor and see the process during the day like they used to, so trust is essential. A lack of trust in your team can hinder their professional growth if those who you struggle to trust are not given opportunities. Trusting your team ultimately sets them up for success.

Trust-Building Tips:

Building Your Team’s Trust in the Organization:

1. Be transparent, and stay positive. Address all of the things that the organization is doing to care for employees during this time. Be open and honest, but it’s OK to not have all of the answers. It’s better to share the information you do know, information is empowering during challenging times. It’s OK to not have all the answers, be up front about what you know and don’t know.
2. Listen to your team. Hold virtual townhalls, polls and surveys to get feedback from team members about how they are doing and what questions they have. Make sure to listen well and address concerns.

Building Your Trust in the Team:

1. Equip your team in the ways you always do with tasks and scheduled check-ins. Communicate consistently through chat, email and phone/video conversations. It’s important to stay updated on your team’s progress without micromanaging.
2. Look for coaching and mentorship opportunities. If you see potential in someone, set them up for success by connecting them with an opportunity to take on a new responsibility with assistance from a colleague.
3. Hire doers. If you are hiring new employees for remote positions, hire people who get stuff done. These are people you could trust even if they are working from a secluded island.
4. In reviews, focus on outcomes over process. When it comes time for a review, they should primarily be outcome-based with consistent, fair standards applied across the team.

Communicate Consistent Messages

“Leaders need to communicate and establish a narrative and dialogue with their employees. While stories may change, the same important messages need to be consistent.” -Gallup, Maintain and Strengthen Your Culture in Times of Disruption

Gallup’s global research has revealed four universal needs of followers:

Hope: excitement about a better future

Trust: belief that words will connect with actions

Compassion: an understanding of others (of how they feel, what is on their mind, knowing you are listening)

Stability: employees want to know some things will be consistent, even in times of immense change.

Tips for Communicating Consistent Messages

1. Have the communications team look over all-team messages and emails before they are sent so that they can highlight examples of hope, trust, compassion and stability. If these themes are missing, work them into the “message within the message.”
2. Make sure that team members constantly feel like they know what’s going on. At home, people’s imaginations can go wild. It’s important to be accessible, transparent and consistent in sending updates and touching base with each individual.

Challenges are Opportunities to Build Resilience

Neuroscience shows that fear and anxiety often limit our ability to think creatively or find new solutions for our problems. However, if we face challenges head on, talk about them openly, discuss solutions and successes, there is immense opportunity to build a stronger and more adaptable organization for the current crisis and those in the future.

Tips for Intentional Resilience-Building Conversations

1. Assign pairs or cohorts among your team to have weekly video chats about challenges and successful experiences. Encourage them to talk openly about problems and how they’re tackling them. Some of these unique solutions can still apply when things get back to normal and build resilience in the organization.
2. Check in with your reports regularly and ask thoughtful, direct questions about how telecommuting is working for them and how you can accommodate their family or life commitments. Showing employees that you care about them as a person, and not only as a producer of work, is critical during this time. Some team members may be struggling silently, and you need to approach them to check in.
3. Share successes with the entire team. When someone has taken a challenge and turned it into an opportunity that others could benefit from, share it and celebrate it!

Photo by Dayne Topkin on Unsplash

Kindness and Compassion Is What We All Need Right Now

Every single person is dealing with unique challenges, sacrifices and anxieties this year. We all need a bigger dose of compassion with one another as we cope with this change and experience the world differently. Our humanity is on full display as we make video calls with children, pets and partners walking through the screen or even sabotaging meetings. Accept that our home lives are now intertwined with our work lives and see it as an opportunity to connect and be kind to one another when we need it most. The best we can do is to be generous with one another, believe the best, and avoid comparing our suffering.

As a leader, here are some ways to foster a culture of kindness, gratitude and generosity:

1. Create a culture of appreciation by consistently calling people out for successes. In a remote work environment, many people feel that their work is not recognized.
2. Have a sense of humor and be vulnerable.
3. Take care of yourself. You can’t lead if you aren’t taking care of your own physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. You owe it to your employees, customers, investors and yourself!
4. Fill the water cooler and coffee break void. New communication methods will not happen organically in most cases, they must be taught. While some may prefer Slack or other chat messaging, others prefer phone and video conversations. Keep communication channels open and active so that your team stays connected.