Building Your Team
Building your remote team, or transitioning from face to face to remote, uses the same principles as standard teaming - forming, storming, norming and performing. However the way we do each of these steps needs to be a little different, especially if you can't get together and do some face to face work in the early forming stages. Let's explore the first couple of steps in a bit more detail and look at what you can be doing to get things started in a healthy way.
Forming - or Re-Forming
If you are an existing team transitioning from a face to face environment to a remote environment, assume that you will regress a couple of steps in the development of your team. In fact, we recommend that you look at your team as Re-Forming. You are having to start all over in a new environment, and not one that you had chosen. So strip things back and be prepared to do some teaming. If you are a leader, get your 1:1's happening, and create opportunities for the team to come together formally and informally.
Storming - or Re-Storming
Don't just automatically think that the team will get back to their way of performing straightaway. If it does happen, then that's a really good thing - and don't take it for granted. However, leading on from the first point of Re-Forming, your team members will be finding their way in this new way of working, so be sure to get some remote teaming activities happening. Below are some ways that you can stimulate collaboration at these stages:
Simple Activities that Stimulate Collaboration
Remote Team Charter
We recommend taking this step to more formally and explicitly align the team around how they think they need to be working together to execute successfully on the teams goals. This involves defining and aligning on key operating principles like communication, collaboration and resolving conflict. If you are comfortable with facilitating such a process it only needs to take a couple of hours; no more than four. We can also assist you, as little or as much, as you like. The link below will take you to our teaming solutions - all of which have delivered remotely and in person.
Forming - or Re-Forming
If you are an existing team transitioning from a face to face environment to a remote environment, assume that you will regress a couple of steps in the development of your team. In fact, we recommend that you look at your team as Re-Forming. You are having to start all over in a new environment, and not one that you had chosen. So strip things back and be prepared to do some teaming. If you are a leader, get your 1:1's happening, and create opportunities for the team to come together formally and informally.
Storming - or Re-Storming
Don't just automatically think that the team will get back to their way of performing straightaway. If it does happen, then that's a really good thing - and don't take it for granted. However, leading on from the first point of Re-Forming, your team members will be finding their way in this new way of working, so be sure to get some remote teaming activities happening. Below are some ways that you can stimulate collaboration at these stages:
Simple Activities that Stimulate Collaboration
- Virtual coffees, or drinks at the end of the day.
- Activities that require team members to share a story relating to an aspect of their life. This is really effective if you pick a theme and everyone contributes a story from their life that relates to that theme.
- A picture of your life - have each member of the team share their screen and a picture from their life, and they tell the story attached to why that picture is so important to them.
- A virtual tour - have members of the team sign into the meeting on their mobile device, and get them to take the team on a tour of their home or external surrounds. A great way for helping the team understand the physical constraints their colleagues may have.
Remote Team Charter
We recommend taking this step to more formally and explicitly align the team around how they think they need to be working together to execute successfully on the teams goals. This involves defining and aligning on key operating principles like communication, collaboration and resolving conflict. If you are comfortable with facilitating such a process it only needs to take a couple of hours; no more than four. We can also assist you, as little or as much, as you like. The link below will take you to our teaming solutions - all of which have delivered remotely and in person.
Free ResourcesShort Reads:
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Services & Solutions
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Develop Your People
Is working remotely for everyone? No, it’s not. When most people signed up for their current role, there was no expectation that they’d be working from home, juggling their work life with being a home-schooling parent as well as sharing close quarters with a partner or flat mate who may also be working from home. And if they happen to be someone who needs rituals, routines and constant visual reminders to stay focused then they are in for a rude shock!
But what about the leaders who have to deal with this on the home front, and keep their own teams engaged? Teams of people who are experiencing exactly the same challenges?
The 'new normal' is not what we were prepared for, but it is here. And as a leader or internal business partner our ability to keep our people focused and motivated is more important than ever; and as a team member, feeling like we are still part of something, and a valued contributor, is still a strong motivator. Below are a range of resources and solutions to support the development of your leaders, business partners and team members.
But what about the leaders who have to deal with this on the home front, and keep their own teams engaged? Teams of people who are experiencing exactly the same challenges?
The 'new normal' is not what we were prepared for, but it is here. And as a leader or internal business partner our ability to keep our people focused and motivated is more important than ever; and as a team member, feeling like we are still part of something, and a valued contributor, is still a strong motivator. Below are a range of resources and solutions to support the development of your leaders, business partners and team members.
Free ResourcesVideo Tips:
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Short Reads:
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CoursesThe courses below are designed specifically to support leaders and employees working in remote teams and complex environments, like matrix organisations.
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CoachingThe coaching programs below are delivered by globally experienced coaches who have worked in and led remote teams.
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Develop Your Remote Team Culture
The team culture required to work remotely is not completely the same as the one you developed and evolved in a col-located situation. Our beliefs about what we think is important when it comes to how we do our job will be challenged. The most obvious ones evolve around communication and collaboration. For example, if your team was blasé about collaboration in the daily grind of the office environment and got ok results, then you will definitely struggle in the remote environment. In the office people are accessible. You can see them, walk with them, go to them, have coffee or lunch with them. Until we have to transition from co-located to remote, we generally take our environment and culture for granted.
Be prepared to have the conversation in your team about what your team values when it comes to how you do your work. If we use the Multi-Focus Model of Organisational Culture as a guide, you could bring the team together and regularly check in with the following questions:
To be an effective remote working team:
You can also measure your Team Culture, using the Hofstede Insights Team Culture Scan and gain an objective and evidence-based picture of where you are today, and what you may need to recalibrate to be effective in a remote sense. You can download a sample of the report below, and if you want more information on developing your team culture for remote working, contact us.
Be prepared to have the conversation in your team about what your team values when it comes to how you do your work. If we use the Multi-Focus Model of Organisational Culture as a guide, you could bring the team together and regularly check in with the following questions:
To be an effective remote working team:
- How approachable should we be? Do we make it easy for collaboration and communication to happen?
- How disciplined should we be? Do we need to be tighter with our meeting times, more punctual with hitting deadlines? or do we need to loosen up a bit and be more flexible...or aim for somewhere in between?
- How do we stay in touch with our wider organisation? How do we stay current with our professional knowledge?
- How do we live the organisational values from home?
- (for leaders specifically) How do I engage my people and lead with empathy?
You can also measure your Team Culture, using the Hofstede Insights Team Culture Scan and gain an objective and evidence-based picture of where you are today, and what you may need to recalibrate to be effective in a remote sense. You can download a sample of the report below, and if you want more information on developing your team culture for remote working, contact us.
Free ResourcesShort Reads:
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Services
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