5 Tips for Building a Successful Distributed Team

Everyone wants to build a great distributed team. But what is “a great distributed team?” Is it one where everyone lives in the same city? Or maybe the same country? What if some people live in different countries, or even on different continents?

There are more than just two valid answers to this question. One of them is that a distributed team is one where it doesn’t matter if people are co-located or not, as long as they’re all working together. The other answer is that the only requirement for a distributed team is to have an internet connection.

What is a distributed team?

A distributed team can be good both for employers and employees. Employers don’t have to provide office space, furniture, equipment, snacks, drinks, or any of the fancy perks some companies have on their desks for free. On the other hand, employees don’t need to commute and can save a lot of time and money.

A growrk distributed team also has two major issues: managing communication and coordinating work across multiple time zones. You can’t just call someone up and talk to them whenever you want, and everyone needs to be online at the same time. You can’t just drop by someone’s desk to ask a question or give feedback on something either.

Every distributed team has to find solutions for these problems since it’s impossible to build a distributed team without solving them somehow. There are many ways of solving them, but it’s important to be clear about what you’re trying to achieve to choose the right approach.

This post lists some possible solutions for building a successful distributed team. It doesn’t matter which one you choose, as long as everyone in the team is on the same page with their expectations of working together remotely. 

1. Mix remote and co-located team members

The first thing you should do is try to get everyone working in the same place if possible, either in the same office or at least in the same city. This is not only convenient for communication and coordination, but also it’s easier to build a sense of having everyone around. If you absolutely can’t get all your team members together physically, try mixing them up.

One way to do that is by alternating who works in which location every week or two. Team members can rotate among each other, or one person could spend even longer in a remote location if it’s not too disruptive to their work. Another option is to start by having everyone work remotely for a little while and then re-assess the situation after that time has passed.

If you see problems with communication or coordination, try mixing things up a bit. If everything seems to be going well, continue the original arrangement. But if everyone on the team is happy with how communication and coordination are working out, you can make some changes.

One option is to have one person who always works remotely. That way you can keep a set-up that reduces some of the problems with working remotely, such as having a single person available most of the time. Another option is to try rotating remote and co-located people now and then so that everyone gets a taste of both. 

2. Use video chats

A lot of communication problems can be solved by simply talking to people in real-time. Video chat is the best tool for that because it works even when there’s a language barrier, and you can see people’s faces too, which makes it easier to understand what they’re saying.

If you can’t do video chat, try group chats instead. You can also use group calls with things like Google Hangouts if everyone has the right equipment. 

3. Get together during longer meetings

When you have a meeting with your whole team, it’s better if everyone can talk to each other at the same time instead of having to wait for replies from people who are out of the room. So once a week or month get everyone together in a single place and do that.

4. Communicate face-to-face

If you can’t get together every week, try at least communicating face-to-face a couple of times a month. Even one or two days a month of working closely with everyone in the same room is better than nothing.

5. Try to have some remote team members

Having at least someone on your team who is working remotely can be a great help because it will remind the rest of the growrk team what they’re missing out on when working co-located. If that person is in a different time zone, then you’ll all have to adjust your schedule slightly to communicate with each other properly. But that’s exactly why having at least one remote member of the team is great.