Anupama Jha
I work on a communications team that's part of an organization with an open culture, one where associates have the freedom to choose how, where, and when they work best. Working in this role has been my dream for a long time, and it's my pleasure to work with such a keen and passionate group of people. And it's the first time I'm working on a fully distributed team, one spread across continents.
I've been doing it for a year now, and I can see why distributed teams (and distributed teamwork) are becoming increasingly popular: they often lead to more productive contributors and organizations, especially when people are primarily working by themselves. I also understand firsthand the challenges these teams present: ensuring important details don't get overlooked because of communication nuances, sustaining motivation, keeping up-to-date on work priorities and in sync with teammates, etc.
But the biggest challenges lie in communication and collaboration. Luckily, open organizations excel at addressing these issues.
So in this chapter, I'd like to share my experiences after one year on a distributed team—in the hope that I might help others who have found themselves working in a similar way. In particular, I'll discuss what individuals can do to make a difference in and have an impact on their teams and organizations, regardless of geography. Sometimes, I think we're so focused on making changes on a broad, organizational level that we may forget how these changes happen at an individual level first.
Fortunately, open organizations have for some time experimented with methods for building rapport and fostering collaboration across distributed teams. I'll discuss several here.
Starting out on a distributed team might feel strange. It might even feel isolating, as you won't always have an easy way to get to know everyone on your team quickly. I know I felt it initially. In fact, I'd even reached a point where I began questioning whether or not I was a good fit for the team.
I was in one of those deep pits of self-doubt (you know, the ones where you question everything you say and do). But to me, doubting yourself is a good thing. Every new challenge brings a new level of self-doubt. So self-doubt isn't a sign of weakness; it's a sign that you're being challenged. Once you notice it, you can even draw strength from it. It's natural.
Even so, my team exhibited a certain quality that helped me face my self-doubt directly, learn, and evolve as a team member and an individual. Always remember: Get noticed for the right reasons, and settling in will be easy. That seems especially true in the initial stages of joining a distributed team, when you are experimenting and setting your direction.
So many lessons during my first year of distributed work have shaped the way I think about becoming a better team contributor. One of the most important lessons is also one that helped dispel my self-doubt: Leadership is recognizing that we are all one, that every person you lead is as brilliant as you and has the same capacity for growth and accomplishment (despite their doubts). Rather than guarding your insecurities, share your doubts and seek suggestions. The sooner you can let go, the sooner you can start thinking about the new problems you must solve.
Distributed teams won't work without the proper resources, technologies, and support. Thanks to the growing popularity of open source applications and instant messaging tools that streamline communication, collaborating online is easier. These technologies help bridge distances and create a workplace that supports associates working remotely. Every bit of work, information, and relevant conversation is recorded and stored together.
So one of the most important aspects of working on a distributed team, I've learned, is communication management. Communication management is like gardening, and with poor communication management, the weeds (the messages, the threads, the reminders, and more) can easily overtake a distributed team. Hence it's always important to establish good communication habits when working across different time zones and daily schedules.
Sometimes, more isn't better. Having too many communication methods becomes chaotic for a team, and every additional channel threatens to drain our focus. To keep all those communications from overrunning you like weeds, it's important for distributed teams to identify the team's "essential" modes of communication.
That is, it's important that the team work to establish clear expectations of use of each communication channel in use. For instance, we've designated Google Hangouts for synchronous chatting or urgent conversations. We've also designated WhatsApp for synchronous messages that aren't pressing (like informal conversations).
We certainly haven't solved all potential communication issues or addressed all potential communication scenarios, but we have developed a communication culture that values investing time in writing and documenting as much as possible (see the next section for more on this). We use project tracking tools (like Trello) to manage our projects and maintain ongoing communication on a regular basis.
In order to manage the volume of communication and to tease out nuances, we have individual, one-on-one meetings, and we also get together once each week for a touch-base meeting. Collectively covering all of a project's details is helpful for all of us. These meetings also enable us to set collective goals so that we're effective with our actions and not overwhelmed.
Email, chat, and video conferences, are essential for maintaining healthy relationships across the team—and for understanding whether work is going well or poorly. A lack of shared physical environment can restrict the information your team might otherwise share if it worked together in an office. Always keep in mind all the information you have—but your teammates don't—about how you feel and what you might need.
Being transparent about what you need can be difficult, but your peers need all the information you can give them if they're going to work with you in the best way they can. And not every interaction should be focused on "sharing information." Sometimes, you'll want to invest some spare time into informal talk about non-work topics. This can help your team develop its bond.
In short, having a good communication culture is key for a successful distributed team and an important factor in team productivity, whether your team is remote or not.
One of the biggest hurdles to overcome while working in a distributed way is team members' lack of immediate visibility into what others are working on. To combat this challenge, you'll need to ensure you have a clear view of everything your team (and individual teammates) are doing. And you'll need to understand what every team member does.
Collaboration is critical here, especially when you're just getting started as a new team member. Collaboration requires your team's entire system: technology, processes, organization, and the people.
So how can you ensure proper collaboration on a distributed team?
As I noted earlier, communicate frequently (both within your team and with individual members), and regularly explain your progress on goals and objectives, thus avoiding ambiguity. Creating visibility through transparency is vital for building trust, and trust is central to effective collaboration. When we talk about trust on a distributed team, we're not talking about trusting that people are working "9 to 5 hours," are making daily check-ins, or anything like that. In this case, trust is more about values—trusting that everyone on the team shares the same values and sense of direction. That helps empower all members to manage their time and their responsibilities in the ways that are best for them.
My team trusted me from the outset, and that helped me build my working relationship with them. With their support, I was able to quickly adopt the team's objectives and its overall strategy. I was able to embrace open culture and implement its principles in my geography. My advice here: Learn how your work fits into your team's charter, understand what you can do to improve the overall picture, and make sure you've recorded and shared this with your team.
Before working on a distributed team full time, I worked as an intern for an advertising agency in a "creative under pressure" environment. For me, the environment was stressful; I lived constantly being chased by deadlines. I was working a lot of hours, but I wasn't really enjoying what I was doing. Eventually, I burned out. But the source of that burnout was obvious. I'd squeeze in work whenever I had a free moment, and that led to some bad habits I'm still trying to break.
Being on a distributed team makes me focus on quality over quantity. I have to make sure I'm maximizing my seven or eight daily working hours, instead of just aimlessly working more than 12 or 14 every day. My team maintains a kanban board (visible to all members, of course), where we record our top priorities. Every Friday, we collectively return to that board and analyze the week. What are the things we're happy about? What are the things that could have gone better? Have we done the most important work we could do the whole week? Collaboratively setting our intentions and returning to them weekly keeps us focused—without burning out. Perhaps this specific method won't work for you or your team. Regardless, find some way to measure your input and output for the week in a form that motivates you.
One more note here: When you're working on a distributed team, there's no one sitting next to you to tell you to go home, no signals that the office is closing—so you must be the one who decides when to stop. Having a "hard stop" is important. Flexibility and work-life balance are benefits of working on a distributed team. But you'll need to be the one to enforce that balance.
Everyone on our distributed team has our own quirks, our own responsibilities, our own skill sets, our own roles—but in the end, we're a team, one that embraces open source culture and influences other associates across our entire organization. My teammates are based in different countries. Every week, we're able to share a problem, share success, share a laugh, and share a story as a team.
And I still haven't met them in person. Does that matter? Does that affect our work? Does that affect our customer relationships?
Absolutely not.
Irrespective of location, it's our virtual team who thinks, acts, and works exactly how we are supposed to—without being in the same room. What's relevant is that every single person on the team knows why they're there, has a clear direction of their role and responsibilities, has the tools required to steer them in the right direction, and has the full backing and support of everyone else.