Keys to managing a successful distributed team ·CodingSerbia2015
1 like525 views
The document provides tips for managing successful distributed teams, noting that clear communication, developing a strong company culture, focusing on team engagement and motivation, and using the right tools are essential. It discusses challenges like loneliness and lack of communication that distributed teams face and offers solutions such as using video in calls, providing regular feedback, organizing social activities, and creating a team mascot to increase belonging. Recruiting self-motivated team members and setting expectations is also important according to the document.
Keys to managing a successful distributed team ·CodingSerbia2015
- 1. Keys to managing a successful distributed team
- 2. What challenges do distributed teams face? Poor communication Disconnection from the team No sense of belonging Loneliness Lack of trust Boredom Unmotivated team
- 4. Ricaris: 100% distributed team • 25 countries • Working around the clock
- 5. HR in numbers • 67% of current team members and team leaders have been in the company for 5 years. • We have meet in person only 7 out of 228 employees. • Team travel budget in 6 years: 480€ total. How do we do it?
- 6. 1-Recruiting • Not everybody can work remotely. – Be autonomous by nature – Have a certain degree of self-motivation – Be a good communicator, at least in writing – Share or relate to the company’s vision and values • Set clear expectations
- 8. IMPLEMENT Company Culture: New hire tunnel 1. “Good vibes” handbook: • Clear expectations • Ground rules • Break paradigms - multicultural team 2. We care. Speed courses. 3. Daily mentoring during the first 2 weeks. All procedures must be well documented and available. Company culture
- 9. KEEP Company Culture • Repetitionwith creativity • Team Leaders set example: – Value alignment – Close accompaniment – Assertive feedback Company culture
- 10. Keep Distributed Teams Healthy • Active listening • Knowledge of the team and their aspirations: – Personality tests – Team activities • Trust Company culture
- 11. Keep Distributed Teams Healthy • Weekly feedback: 43% of highly engaged employees receive weekly feedback* • Real empowerment and support • Show warmth • Identification with company values • Repeat why each person’s work is important • Involve team in goal settings *Towers Watson 2012 Company culture
- 12. Keeping Motivation: Monthly Congress 1. Intro: Fun ice-breaker or personal info sharing 2. Into the circle: share company and team information 3. Course or development activity/Bonding and Belonging 4. Fun activity Company culture
- 13. Ice-Breakers Two truths and a tale: • Objective: Fun, increases trust. • Each person must make three statements about him/herself, one of which isn't true. • Example: I have two brothers, I was born in Australia, and I have a motorcycle. • The group must guess or vote on which statement is the tale. • Tip: Use a whiteboard to keep track of who is best at deceiving the others. He/she is the winner and probably the one with the craziest life! Group connections: • Objective: Fun, increases trust and knowledge between team members, reflection on communication and asking questions. • Team members have 2 minutes to discover an interesting, surprising, and separate connection you share with each person in your team. • Share your discoveries with the rest of the group. • Follow with a discussion about what kinds of questions were made, how many, etc. until a connection was reached. Company Culture
- 14. Ice-Breakers Sharing wisdom • Objective: Increases trust and knowledge. • The assignment for members to look back over their work careers and determine the 2 most important pieces of wisdom they have learned and share them with the group. • The topics can be different ones like things they have learned working in a team, working with different managers, etc. • Follow with a discussion where you guide the team into talking about how they felt before, during, and after the moment and how they feel about it now that they have acquired that knowledge. • Tip: If the team is too large, make teams of 4, with each group having different levels of knowledge. • Ask people to prepare the activity a couple of days before the meeting Company culture
- 17. Always use video 80% of the message we receive comes from body language Communication challenges
- 18. • Make communications warm • Get personal • Regular feedback • Team Leaders always available • Document everything • Use available tools: whiteboards, screen sharing, task management tools,… A new way of communicating Communication challenges
- 20. Beating loneliness • Promote virtual water coolers • Break the virtual world: – Pay for co-working spaces – Promote and pay for city/regional face-to-face meetings Beating loneliness
- 21. Private social media Beating loneliness
- 22. Team activities • Do activities to increase identification with company and team: Beating loneliness
- 23. Sense of belonging Create a mascot • Spend 5 to 10 minutes brainstorming with your team to generate a list of personality traits and skills that an ideal team member would possess. • Your list should contain items that would be common for any team, as well as traits unique to your specific team. • Encourage team members to go beyond the obvious. • After brainstorming, use the drawing feature of your online collaborative tool to create a team mascot representing your ideal team member. • It's fun to create your team mascot together in real time, with all team members contributing something to the drawing. Make a stick figure that has all the characteristics in it. • As a facilitator, you need to make sure that each person’s contribution is represented at least once in the figure. • Bring the stick figure to an artist (it can be a person in the team) and turn it into a cool-looking mascot. Add the company colors if possible. • Use it in presentations, and you can even make T-shirts and mugs with it and send them to the team members. Beating loneliness
- 24. Beating boredom • Promoting participation in transversal projects • Project related contests • Possibility to change projects or tasks • Provide growth • Activities outside the project Motivation killer
- 25. Motivation drivers: • Provide development, feedback and empowerment: Gratitude + Why • Listen to the team: • Use 1:1 meetings to gather information • Show you care: • Get personal • Send real gifts
- 26. Motivation drivers: Have fun: • Create playlists together • Telegram groups • Photo contest Coolest graffiti in your town Best moment in 2014 World Cup Madness
- 27. Specific Tools • Social Media: – Socialcast.com – Thoughtfarmer.com • Project management: – Wrike, Redbooth – Spotlightppm.com – blossom.co – Specific for Agile • Virtual office and virtual water coolers: Sococo.com • Team activities: Managing-virtual-teams.com • Measure engagement: Officevibe, Moodapp, Tynipuls • Know your team: PlayPrelude • Use white boards, share desktops,… think outside the box!
- 28. Managing-Virtual-Teams.com • Workshops for Managers and Team Members • Facilitate Team Activities • 1:1 Consulting Skype: annadanes anna.danes@managing-virtual-teams.com
Editor's Notes
- #4: Wait! … "What if you could hire the best possible person for the job, let them live in the best possible location for them and their family/community, let them work in the best possible space for their personal productivity, compensate them in the best possible way to reward their talent, and retain the flexibility to quickly adapt your entire infrastructure to changes in the business landscape?“@ChrisHardie works for Automattic
- #8: Mission of the company: Clients will have a better day and be able to focus on their core issues, externalizing all the non-core. Company oriented towards helping clients and employees, not clients and employees existing to make the company rich. Workers will have a good day enjoying their work, feeling recognized and motivated Love what you do or go find something else that makes you happy Communication is the key Quality is the most important thing No bullshit No politics Explain structure
- #9: Everything oriented towards helping the employee develop their job and themselves. Explain parts of Buena onda handbook Break paradigms – multicultural team: expectations of workers in different parts of the world. Explain Colombia.
- #10: Repetition: In every meeting and communication, repeat the purpose of your company. Importance of repetition in virtual teams. Explanaition about supercommunication and team leaders difficulty
- #12: Team leaders: higher company identification. Give examples of different parts of the congress.
- #24: Do activities to increase identification with company and team:
- #26: If they grow, you grow. All this is common sense but not common practice.