Leading Distributed Teams

Published in

Ontario Digital Service

5 min readApr 14, 2020

Editor’s Note: In the coming weeks, follow our new series, Working Remotely. As the series unfolds, if you have any questions or feedback to share, email us directly at digital.training@ontario.ca.

On Tuesday, March 24th, we hosted an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session to support leaders across the Ontario Public Service.

Daphnée Nostrome, Digital Training Lead at the Ontario Digital Service, moderated the session featuring individuals with expertise managing distributed teams inside government:

● Robert Coleman — Manager, Analytics Unit, Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development

● Shannah Segal — Senior Manager, Experience Design, Ontario Digital Service

● David Tallan — Senior Manager, Enterprise Web Development, Treasury Board Secretariat

Let’s dive right into what we heard.

Start with trust

Most managers of well-established distributed teams will tell you that trust matters most. And, that trust goes both ways.

Employees need to trust that their managers are looking out for their best interest.

Managers need to trust that their employees are engaged and motivated at work.

David Tallan emphasized: “This is about trust, not just our trust in them, but their trust in us — be vulnerable, ask if they need extra support.”

Building trust on a team happens over time, whether you are working remotely, or you are seeing each other in person, on a daily basis. Continuing to build that trust when you are not physically sharing the same space often requires a different approach. It means shifting the way that you think about productivity, and what it means to know someone is ‘getting work done’.

So, how do our experts know when their teams are being productive? Overwhelmingly, we heard that leaders look at the outcomes that teams achieve based on clear expectations, not by keeping tabs on each moment of a team member’s day.

Blurb checking in with their distributed team.

Set clear expectations

Working remotely compels us to be clearer than ever in our expectations.

Managers need to clearly communicate the job that needs to be done, while giving people the information and support they need to do it.

Employees can help by clarifying where they need support, or where they are running into challenges.

When working remotely, it’s even more critical to provide a clear structure for tackling work. Setting milestones for achieving project goals, making sure there are set avenues for feedback and asking for support will go a long way in understanding expectations, and ultimately, building trust.

Support can look different for every team, but according to Shannah Segal, it can be as simple as establishing regular check-ins and asking “how is it going today?” Her approach is to: “say hello and remind them that I trust them to carry on, establish[ing] this [as] a pattern.”

At the end of the day, this is about opening the door for clear communications.

Determine your rhythm

Creating space for communicating means making sure that everyone knows how to stay in touch.

Teams stay connected by establishing a rhythm for communicating with one another. The key is to be intentional about coming together. Every team’s rhythm will be different, but the idea is to design something that works for everyone, factoring the unique circumstances of individuals across the team.

For example, weekly or daily updates with the team provide mechanisms to highlight progress, give shout-outs, or provide reminders about upcoming deadlines. Enabling staff to structure their own day, and communicate together, helps ensure that everyone on the team is engaged.

If you are planning one-on-one meetings with staff, consider Robert Coleman’s advice. He says he frames his one-on-one conversations in 10-minute increments: “10 minutes for them, 10 minutes for me, 10 minutes for the future.”

Blurb have a one-on-one conversation with their teammate using the 10–10–10 rule.

Avoid making assumptions

Communicate as much as you can, as often as possible, to mitigate misunderstanding. Don’t leave room for assumptions or guessing about expectations, deadlines, availability…anything really.

Now is the time to over communicate, as mentioned in Episode 1- Getting Started. Put things in writing, and make yourself available for questions. If you aren’t clear about what you are asking people to do, chances are they won’t have a clear idea of what they need to deliver.

Be authentic

Start with the assumption that everyone is trying their best.

Whether you are a seasoned remote worker, or adjusting to this way of working, things won’t run perfectly, 100 per cent of the time. That’s okay.

In some cases, we’re dealing with new technology, shifting priorities and home pressures. As managers, the best thing that you can do is to be honest about your situation and express empathy for what others are going through.

As Robert Coleman expressed: “Assume positive intent and project honesty. There are going to be a lot of questions you don’t know — provide the amount of information you have at the time, bring your whole self to work and encourage others to [do the same].”