Simple ways for a remote (or geo-diverse) team to stay connected
And I’m not talking about virtual happy hours, though we do those too.
In my 15+ years leading teams, all of them have included 2–6 office locations plus some fully remote staff, never completely co-located. And now I’m living a little dream of mine: building and leading a team that is 100% remote with intention. The biggest difference I’ve seen between a thriving geo-diverse/remote team and one that suffers the distance is designing it with intention.
Rather than thinking about how I should run the team, I think about what scaffolding the team needs in place in order to stay connected and grow together — with or without me. Google’s Project Aristotle set out to learn what makes teams work well, and found 5 key elements that define effectiveness: psychological safety, dependability, structure and clarity, meaning, and impact. If these traits enable a team’s success, then it is imperative to (1) hire people who care and (2) make it simple. Let’s break that down:
1. Hire people who care about connection
A team is not a mission or a product or a project; a team is a set of people. It’s on you as the leader to create an environment where people can thrive, but it’s a heck of a lot easier to let it grow when you bring in those who have the desire to do it with you.
Ask questions during recruiting and interviewing that consider not just what they’ve achieved but how they did it. Here are a few soundbites I’ve personally heard (and hired) that show promise in an interview:
- There was a developer who others struggled to work with. But I got to know them and learned they were just really passionate about doing the right thing — so we found a way to feed off of each other and make more than the roadmap originally had in mind. We worked so well together!
- I learned from the DE&I community I’m a part of about how language impacts access, so I pulled a group of volunteers together to add more languages to our product. It’s in testing now and I can’t wait to see if it will make the right impact.
- I was the researcher at a startup, but I saw that what our development team really needed was product support, not more research. So I let our leadership team know, and I stepped in to help make progress there while they continued to hire.
And a few red flags I have heard first-hand:
- As a team manager, I wasn’t able to make progress in creating a more diverse team because our recruiting organization hasn’t created any help for it. (Red flag: not taking responsibility)
- Are requirements all complete before it gets to design? I really don’t like going back and forth with PM. (Red flag: does not enjoy collaborative iteration)
- … and I told them “because I’m the designer, that’s why!” (Red flag: unlikely to earn trust with others)
2. Make sharing information easy, transparent, useful, and fun
Communication should feel organic, the methods should be easy to adopt and keep everyone equally in the know. If you, the team leader, are required in order for communication to flow, you haven’t established something that is sustainable. Below are four specific methods my team uses that are intentionally designed to keep the team building upon each other:
- Design Critique — there are two specific things I love to establish about design critique that feed a team. First, use self-service sign-up. Design managers who sign their employees up for review schedules take away the very first step of ownership. Second, discuss and document expectations on how and what to bring as a presenter, as well as how to offer feedback: address the type of critique that is and is not appropriate, as well as which mode to use (for example, what to put in chat versus taking time to speak aloud). This definition helps people move quickly, and makes clear what to expect from one another. The team is there to support each other, not to present to me as the design leader.
- “Monday Funday” — you can ask for a status report, or you can take the opportunity to build team transparency, trust, and knowledge-sharing. In my team we each (yes, including me as the org leader) post in Slack on Monday mornings based on a simple pre-defined structure: last week’s success and this week’s focus. Further, in our weekly team meeting, we make time to read all of the posts (yes, we are quiet for about 5 minutes just reading), and we give everyone a chance to ask any clarifying questions.
- Gratitude — a remote team needs to consider mental wellness at all times. Research supports the idea that gratitude can reduce stress and increase happiness, especially when shared with others. I’ve always been met with enthusiasm when I suggest we add this to our rituals. Some posts are as simple as “a sunny weekend” and others are about work or personal achievements. It’s a mental health aide as well as a lovely way to get to know your colleagues and have that water-cooler talk that wouldn’t otherwise happen in a remote team.
- “Friday Failures” — When you create a safe place, people will share and grow together. There are lots of creative ways to celebrate failure; try something that works with your team’s dynamic. My team uses a Slack bot to remind us on Fridays, and people post quick anecdotes on learnings from their week. One person learned something new about a customer that changed their design, another learned something from a colleague that made them more efficient with Figma after trying it the hard way, and more. The first day we tried it, the team posted 15 “failures” in about 10 minutes. It was a good week!
These are not magical methods. The thing that is common across all of these mechanisms is that (1) each one is small, simple, and includes explicit instruction — no one is left to guess about how to show up and participate and (2) they are made possible by a team of folks who care about connection. There are loads of strategic choices to make when you are designing your org (see Merholz & Skinner’s book if that’s what you’re up to), but don’t forget some of the small things, too. Everything I noted above could have been omitted or served up in a status report — but that would have missed what I believe is possibly the most important aspect of building a team: growing together.
