Have you completed the first three modules? Follow these links to complete Module 1, Module 2, and Module 3.
In our previous modules, we’ve explored some important considerations regarding self-leadership; we’ve looked at self-management; and we’ve explored some leadership theories that help us to understand different approaches to leading people in a variety of contexts. In this module, we’ll start to put some of these ideas together in a practical way as we explore the complexities of leading remote teams. To best do this, we will begin with an exploration of teams in general, effective leadership of teams, and then looking at leadership of dispersed teams.
In these past few months, many team leaders have been plunged into a work-from-home situation and have had to quickly figure out some different ways of operating. Our previous face-to-face interactions have now become screen-based. Some leaders have relished the idea of working from home, and others have found it a significant challenge. Added to this is the reality that many organisations and businesses experience large-scale, transformational change, often meaning that more groups of people are interacting, collaborating and working across geographic areas, or nationally, and even globally. The issue of leading dispersed teams has been dealt with by leaders in varying degrees and ways for a long time – many workplaces where people work shift work, or flexible hours means that leaders and teams don’t always have the opportunity to catch up face to face, leaders have had to navigate dispersed leadership and find ways to engage with their teams even though they might not have regular in-person contact.
Leading remote teams encompasses a variety of work situations – from team members situated in office spaces across a wide geographic span, to flexible working arrangements where people are opting for a blended workplace/home schedule, to what many are currently experiencing in 2020, where people are required to work from home, and lead from home, who have not ever done that before.
How do we do this well? How do we, as leaders, ensure that the teams we lead are being given the best opportunity to thrive – especially in challenging times?
As an introduction to this topic, have a look at the following video clip. We’ll be exploring many of the ideas in this clip in our module.
Team Effectiveness
To think this through, it will be helpful to consider what makes teams effective in settings that we are used to. How do we know when teams are working well? What principles underpin an effective team in any context?
This Academy Award winning animation from Pixar is a fun look at what an ineffective team looks like. As you watch, see if you can identify some of the areas in which this flock of birds fails in their teamwork.
Many definitions of a team have been postulated in both academic and business literature. Katzenbach and Smith (1993) in their Harvard Business Review article The Discipline of Teams (March-April, 1993), provide a helpful definition:
This definition, though one sentence, reflects a rich understanding of what a team (both face-to-face and remote) is:
1. People are rich in their uniqueness and diversity.
People are individuals who bring all kinds of variety and interest to a team. Teams are not made up of individuals who are all the same, who think the same, who never disagree. Teams are made up of people who bring their uniqueness to the task.
2. There are complementary skills needed in a team.
Notice that team members don’t all do the same thing. Along with their unique personalities and preferences, team members each bring their unique skills and experiences to a team, combining a wide variety of diverse skills into a meaningful whole. In their research and work relating to team management, Margerison and McCann, the creators of the well-known and highly respected Team Management Profile, demonstrate how team members bring their individual preferences and roles to ensure that the work of the team is the most effective. This very helpful assessment tool is all about the richness and necessity of diversity in a team, and can help build your team – whether you work remotely or not.
(If you want to know more about this, please contact your Learning Partner in The Salvation Army, Australia – or make contact with Team Management Systems if you work outside TSA)
3. Team members are committed to a common purpose.
There are a few layers of purpose here. There’s the functional, operational purpose for which the team exists – it might be data processing, or feeding homeless people, or human resources activities. These functional purposes are important, of course, but they need to be clearly and regularly connected to the bigger picture organizational purpose. Does your data processing team punch numbers into a computer, or do they provide the necessary recording of information so that the wider purpose of the organization is achieved? We will look at this in greater detail in our next module – Leading with Mission and Purpose.
4. Team members also work toward a set of performance goals.
Team members know what is required of them to achieve and succeed. There is clarity in performance indicators, expectations, processes and changes. And the goals that are set are of a developmental nature, continuing to stretch effective teams, so that they are always learning, growing, developing and responding relevantly to changing circumstances or priorities.
5. Team members hold themselves mutually accountable.
When a team is functioning well, team members hold responsibility together for the work they do. Firstly, each person holds themselves accountable for their work. They know to whom they are responsible, and they ensure that they bring their best to their work. They also encourage one another and hold each other accountable – and this is done in a way that respects other people, rather than criticizing them. The leader is the role model and sets the tone for this. If the leader is unwilling to be accountable to the team members, they cannot expect that the team members will be accountable to them, or each other.
Patrick Lencioni has offered some insights into what underpins a healthy team by looking at what doesn’t work well:
Applying Lencioni’s Model to Leading Remote Teams:
1. Building Trust
How does a leader build trust in a dispersed team? It’s important and necessary for leaders to make more of an effort to connect with their team – both as a team and individually. Team meetings will be more frequent, and more focused. It’s interesting to note that anecdotally, many people report that their team has been much more connected and focused during COVID-19. It’s more than just connection that’s important, though. For leaders to build trust, they must first and foremost themselves be trustworthy. This is where we think back to the earlier modules in our program. Our first module highlighted the importance for leaders to be emotionally aware in order to build trust, as well as being resilient. Leadership is not an easy gig, and to build trust, leaders will need to grapple with some hurdles and challenges. Our second module highlighted how important it is for a leader to manage themselves well – this will also build trust in the team. Building trust with teams and with individuals in teams means that the leader will have a very good knowledge of who their team is, and what their needs are. You will remember back in module three, the model of Situational Leadership. In this model of leadership, leaders tailor their leadership style to the needs of their people. This is most certainly trust-building, rather than using a one-size-fits-all or one-style-suits-me approach to leading our teams.
Have a look at this video clip from Harvard Business Review, reflecting on the importance of trust in virtual teams, and how you as a leader can continue to foster trust:
2. Inviting conflict
Wait a minute - invite conflict? Don’t we want to minimize conflict? Well no, we don’t. We want to make sure that we allow the opinions, ideas and perspectives of all our team members. We want to make sure that our team is a safe place for people to be honest, to explore ideas, to have different opinions that can be debated and explored. As leaders, we need to know how to facilitate that, and how to allow difference without anyone putting others down for their opinions. This can be harder in remote settings, as it might be easier for some people to stay silent on issues. Healthy leadership in this space means that you will invite and welcome the opinions and ideas of all in a respectful environment. We will explore conflict and communication in more detail in module 6.
Reflect on your response to conflict in a team. Do you invite it, and foster the conversation in a respectful and collaborative way? Or are you more likely to want to minimise conflict, shying away from the difficult discussions?
Inviting conflict and dealing with it well, along with the importance of trust, builds psychological safety in a team – whether remote or not. The following clip further explores psychological safety in a team, highlighting the importance of healthy, equal communication and awareness of the experience of other people (empathy):
3. Fostering commitment
Fostering commitment in remote teams can have its challenges – especially when you are unsure how people are spending their time during work hours, and how productive they are being. Fostering commitment builds on the previous two points: without trust, a leader cannot begin to inspire commitment in their team; and without healthy communication that fosters debate and invites new ideas, there will be a lack of commitment.
In her blog, Krista Brubaker highlights 5 leadership behaviours that inspire employee commitment – and each of these are possible for leaders of remote teams as well as face to face teams:
- Provide praise and feedback
- Be transparent about upcoming changes
- Advocate for your team
- Treat every employee consistently
- Encourage employee development
What of the 5 behaviours outlined above can you incorporate more into your leadership?
4. Mutual accountability
Keeping remote teams accountable can be a challenge, especially when some of your team members might need a little extra supervision or direction, as for new team members, or team members who are on a performance-management plan. However, we don’t want to micromanage people who don’t need such level of oversight. Again – leaders need to be aware of what their team members need and lead accordingly.
Aytekin Tank offers some suggestions for leaders of remote teams in his article How to Step Back and Still Keep Your Team Accountable
5. Focus on outcomes
Our outcomes are related to our goals and purpose, which will be explored in our next module. It’s important to ensure that the outcomes that you need from your team continue to be relevant to the purpose, and applicable to the team’s current resources. If your team is newly remote, ensure that you have had a conversation with your team members that will address expectations, rethinking what is possible in the new environment.
Do the conversations you have with your team incorporate the changes that are happening in your work environment - in a positive and hopeful way?
It's not possible to manage every aspect of the work done by a remote team. For what it's worth, you shouldn't be trying to manage every aspect of any team's work, but especially when your team is distributed across different locations. Instead of focusing on activity or hours worked, focus on the outcomes and measure your team accordingly.
There’s certainly a lot to think about when it comes to leading remote or dispersed teams. It’s important that we as leaders, look at ourselves first, and ask ourselves what we need to do differently, according to what the people in our team need, the resources we have, and the restrictions that are placed upon us.
The Apostle Paul may be one good example of someone needing to lead a remote team – leading by writing letters from his prison cell. Ok, it’s a little bit of a stretch, but you can see where I’m going! In Paul’s letter to the Philippians, written from a prison cell, Paul shows us what he focused on in leading people that he couldn’t be with face-to-face – and in his situation, people he couldn’t see at all. Here are some of the leadership capabilities that Paul demonstrates in his letter to the Philippians:
- Paul’s letter shows that he chooses joy – despite the circumstances. Our mindset, our attitude as leaders is key to how we lead, and how our teams experience our leadership. The notable Christian leadership writer John Maxwell says that everything rises and falls on leadership. This, of course, starts with the leader’s attitude.
- Paul’s letter is full of hope. He expects the best as he is traversing through a very difficult time. “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (1:6) Paul had hope, and he trusted the people.
- Paul shows resilience as a leader. “Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel.” (1:12)
- Paul has a firm grip on reality – he isn’t whitewashing anything to make it sound better. He knows what he is facing, and he deals with it. (1:15-18)
- Paul desires to foster a healthy culture (chapter 2)
- Paul knows that as a leader, he is a role model, and as such, his behavior is important (chapter 3)
- Paul encourages unity and alignment in the people he leads (Chapter 4)
All of this from a remote leadership space! Whether we are people for whom the bible is important or not, each of these demonstrations of leadership are helpful to us – whether we lead remote teams or face-to-face teams.
Our next module will explore how leaders can ensure that the mission and purpose continues to be front and centre, and how dispersed leadership can still encourage connection and alignment to the mission, vision and values of the organization.
Additional Resources
If you look at nothing else in this list of further resources, look at this:
Other resources include:
Lencioni, Patrick (2002) The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco
Hamilton, Craig (2015) Wisdom in Leadership. Matthias Media, Sydney
Cordeiro, Wayne (2001) Doing Church as a Team. Bethany House, Minneapolis
Making Virtual Teams Work: Ten Basic Principles – Michael D. Watkins
How Managers Can Support Remote Employees – Sabina Nawaz
The Salvation Army Australia Learning & Development Stream of Eva Burrows College has developed a workshop on Leading Remote Teams. Please contact your Learning Partner for more information on this workshop.