Distributed Teams Can be a Dream

As technology shrinks the world, it’s highly likely that some (if not many) of your employees will be scattered around the globe rather than working from the same location. Such distributed teams enable you to hire from anywhere the talent is, rather than just within commuting distance of your workplace. They represent an opportunity to assemble remarkably diverse and effective teams, so long as those teams are prudently managed.

Technology holds up its end of the bargain by bringing workers together in virtual settings with user-friendly and feature-rich interfaces. It’s important that employers take action to make the human side of the team experience as seamless and effective. Let’s discuss what you as an employer can do to optimize your distributed team success and ease for all concerned.

Factors such as the following figure into a positive distributed team’s experience:

Clear, shared, articulated goals - Why are these people working together? What are their shared goals? Who benefits from their collaboration? The answers to these questions are the foundation of a strong, effective team that feels bonded by a common purpose. Make certain those reasons are clear to you and the employees alike. Though the individuals are not in close proximity, everyone’s working on the same mission and should be on the same page when it comes to team goals. It’s particularly important to spell out roles, responsibilities and processes so that individuals comprehend their part of the whole and how to best perform their duties.

Communication - As in virtually every situation, clear communication is crucial to a team’s success. Because of the physical distance and lack of in-person interaction in distributed teams, it’s even more vital to communicate effectively. To facilitate that communication, put in place a collaboration system that makes it easy to share, store, request and retrieve information as well as to assign tasks and track progress on goals. This will ensure that procedures are followed, details are attended to and deadlines are met. Encourage free and open exchange among the team by providing a means for more casual, less urgent conversation that fuels relationships and builds a sense of team unity.

Team-building - A group of people simply tasked with working on a project or toward a goal is not automatically a team. For an effective team to exist, there must be a shared sense of purpose and direction - and that takes some work to achieve. Although it may seem a frivolous "waste of time" to engage in some lighthearted, fun activities - like games and quizzes - with team members, they’re actually part of a very effective strategy to build connections among people and tighten the bonds between them. Team building exercises help break down barriers, increase familiarity and establish a sense of trust and camaraderie among members. Due to the distributed nature, these teams especially need to work together as a cohesive, mission-driven entity.

Be conscious of the unique qualities of the individuals in your distributed team - Each person on a distributed team is dealing with unique variables such as time zone, weather conditions, physical location, worksite, and equipment. These factors can affect their ability to perform their duties due to no fault of their own. When scheduling meetings or sending correspondence, try to consider what part of the day it is and what might be going on where each of the team members are working from. You may not always be able to accommodate everyone but taking these factors under consideration demonstrates your respect for each individual’s situation.

Distributed teams can be a dream when they’re carefully managed. Their diversity gives them the potential to bring together highly qualified members from anywhere and everywhere. That, coupled with some extra consideration to overcome the fact that, by nature, they’re physically separated, gives them the potential for highly effective collaborations.

How could a well-managed distributed team benefit your business?