Unlocking Potentials through Distributed Teams – Part 1

The current global realities have made the distributed team an initiative worth exploring. A distributed workforce is composed of employees that are dispersed geographically – locally or internationally – rather than in a centralised space.

Guide to Distributed Team

An effective distributed team has the same characteristics as an effective team. An organisation needs to evaluate its distributed teams the same way it will if all staff were working from the same infrastructure (building). Key questions that need answers include:

1. Are you accomplishing your goals and moving forward?
2. Do team members understand your plan?
3. Do you dedicate most of your working time to your team goals?
4. Are team discussions (and disagreements) constructive?
5. Does everyone feel safe giving and receiving mindful feedbacks?

Maximising the Potentials of Distributed Teams

For a distributed team to be successful, the organisation needs to adopt a good strategy that maximises the embedded potentials of the workforce.  Other benefits/advantages attributed to the distributed teams are:

1. Cross Geographic Boundaries: It allows an organisation to have a cross-geographic boundaries talent pool. The organisation can look for talents from anywhere in the world.
2. Increases Coverage: A distributed team that spreads across different time zones allow for better coverage in an increasingly global environment. Instead of having shifts to provide sufficient coverage, a distributed team placed in strategic location resolves such a problem.
3. Scale Headcount Affordably: Having a distributed team would help an organisation in an expensive location cover wages and can get the same amount of work done for less.
4. Improves Work-Life Balance: A well-managed distributed team typically has higher morale because employees no longer have to make compromises in their personal life to achieve professionally.

Challenges of Distributed Teams

As good as a distributed team may sound; some challenges may make it difficult for an organisation to derive any benefit from it.

Absence of in-Person Interaction. 

It will be difficult for the manager to know its team member’s traits and behaviour since the physical one-on-one interface will not be possible.  It is difficult to ascertain emotions or feel the energy inside the pool or office, which makes the development of a real relationship with people extremely difficult.

The following guidelines would help overcome the aforementioned challenge:

1. Common Vision. Having a common vision would help develop unity among members of a distributed team. This will guide against segmentation (Office vs Offsite members) mentality earlier mentioned.
2. An Alliance between Teams. Hostility between members of a team usually results from a lack of understanding. It is important to forge alliances between different distributed teams to learn how to respect and support each other.
3. Creative Connection. Members achieve significant results when they meet outside the usual video conference calls or the official platform. The culture barrier is overcome with little resistance.

Conclusion

No empirically proven researches that suggest that co-located organisations or teams outperform their distributed counterpart. With intentional leadership and an articulated plan, high performing distributed team is achievable.