How can you lead diverse and remote teams with resilience?

We’ve been talking about “creating a vision for the team” for years. Now it is time to question this idea. For some people, a job is a calling. For other people, it’s a way to make money to support the rest of your life. One viewpoint is no better or worse than the other. It’s time to drop the notion that we have to create a vision for our teams. When you join a book club or an exercise group, you have a reason to be there and with luck, you and the other team members interact well together. Over time, you build trust. No vision for the team is required. It’s time for us as employers to stop shoving our visions down our employees’ throats. They have their own visions for their lives, as well they

A vision is essential in keeping your people motivated and informed on where the team (and them by extension) are going. By understanding this, it reduces their anxiety around necessary changes that are either currently happening or will happen in order to move in the right direction. When change happens it can actually motivate your people because they will see progress happening in an expected direction. When your people do not know what the vision is, any changes that occur can seem unnecessary, unorganized, and unhelpful. So instead of fueling their motivation, you will increase frustration, reduce morale, and witness growing disengagement.

The ability to lead diverse and remote teams requires a shared vision. It's also important to align the team's goals, values, and strengths with each member's goals, values, and strengths. Your leadership vision will otherwise align only with the team instead of the individuals who contribute to the team's success.

This seems so obvious but it is important to be intentional about sharing the vision and helping everyone on the team align with the vision. Integrate the vision and values into all aspects of work so that it becomes more than words. Everyone wants to feel a part of something that matters, even if they are remote.

Keep it simple. Keyworkds, shared objectives, ways of working and principles that keep the team together and aligned. Regardless of how motivated team members are (and that is a very hard thing to measure!), how can they all understand what impact they have when doing their jobs. Regardless of their roles within the team, how easily can they describe what it is like work in that team?

You build trust with your team by supporting them. Ask them what they need, and deliver it. Be honest with them about what you can do and what you can’t, and if the reason you can’t deliver something they need is because you don’t want to risk your political capital, ask yourself what you are saving that capital for.

Instead of starting your conversations (with your people) with: “What are you doing?” Try “How are you doing?” LISTEN TO THE ANSWER. Trust will follow.

A leader once told me, “People will be almost embarrassingly loyal to you if you are loyal to them.” It’s the same with trust.

I find that many leaders and team members want to be able to trust others but neglect spending time developing themselves to create a culture of trust. If you are a leader, modeling HOW to create trust is a great way to bring more into your organization.

Yes, and be empathetic with ourselves first to give from the overflow. In times of stress, I often find myself putting my hand on my heart, and I might say to myself, Ho?oponopono (I am sorry, please forgive me, thank you, I love you). This way, I can hear my leader within clearly and be objective to create the most positive impact for myself and those around me.

Technology and tools can strengthen the resilience of your team in a big way. Two examples: - Make the best use of your channels, have dedicated, private and safe spaces where the only purpose is to help each other. - Recognise those sharing openly their challenges and their successes, for the benefit of the team - Asynchronous communication and disciplined documentation is key to be resilient as a team, to allow distributed team members to access the right information in real-time. It is easier said than done. Keeping that discipline is key. The lead needs to walk the talk and go the extra mile here.

Letting your team know you value growth by finding practical ways to incorporate learning into how your team works yields so many positive results as well. For example, imagine consistently doing 15-minute debriefs with your team at the end of every project where you ask: What worked? What can we do differently next time? Or even using the last 5 minutes of your weekly team meeting to ask each team member to share one thing they learned that week? The possibilities are truly endless!

Before you give them resources, give your people the TIME to learn. Resources are wasted if your people struggle to find the space you consume them. How do you give them time? Put the specific amount of time you want them to spend learning IN THEIR OBJECTIVES…it’ll show them you mean it.

When I get my team involved by helping me set goals for themselves and their team, sign up for professional learning, and contribute in team meeting discussions, not only does learning happen, but self efficacy, empowerment, and commitment to our cause and organization is strengthened!

Leadership development is a journey and not an event - and the same goes for the development of your team members. Provide opportunities for growth, and talk to team members (regularly, not just once per year at performance review time) about the work that gives them energy, work that doesn't give them energy, and what they would love to do that they haven't had the chance to do yet. Play to their strengths, and help make those new opportunities happen for them.

Plan time for your well-being before you plan time for work. This turns Parkinson’s Law on its head. I call it Holbrook’s Law: “If you plan a life, you get a life”

Asking team members how they are is important - really check in with them to see what's driving them and what's standing in their way. And this check-in needs to be regular, and separate from check-ins about project status and updates about work priorities. Show your team members you really care about them. And model good habits - if you tell your team to sign off from emails at 5pm but you continue to send email through the night, you are sending mixed messages. Demonstrate to your team that wellbeing is important, and there is a life away from work.

In the virtual work world we ping and chat a lot more now. If I start a chat after-hours, I preface it with, “No need to respond outside of your work hours.” I don’t want my team to feel obligated to be online just because I am. I prioritize having wellness discussions during 1-on-1s prior to any work talk. We exchange wellness stories and laugh about working parent life. I’m glad that my team feels empowered to disconnect and rest as they need to.

Yes. It starts first with you. What are you actively doing to develop your skills as a leader? What do you do to increase your Emotional Intelligence? How do you respond, interact and lead others with empathy, clarity and a sense of creative, positive energy? What do you intentionally do to boost your well-being and ability to lead? If you don't know, now is a good time to find answers.

Radical transparency and vulnerability can go a long way in developing self-awareness and resilience. If your team can relate to some of the challenges you are sharing, they will equally relate to the way in which you tackle and overcome these challenges.

Resilience requires leaders to walk the talk and translate their resilience into action where building a resilient mindset, self-awareness and self-care are the keys. By understanding their strengths, limitations, and emotions, they can effectively manage themselves and respond resiliently to challenges. Embracing change and uncertainty is another important aspect of developing resilience. Leaders must be adaptable, agile, and open to new possibilities. Learning from our experiences, both successes, and setbacks, allows to continuously evolve and grow in resilience. By consistently living a resilient mindset, they create an environment where their teams feel supported, empowered, and encouraged to develop their own resilience.

Communicate, communicate, communicate. I see so many leaders making assumptions that everyone is on the same page because a few people had a conversation on a topic. Make sure you consider who is NOT in the room/office and how to bring them up to speed and get everyone aligned. I suggest OVER communicating to push the envelope of inclusivity and belonging.

Celebrate your people. You lead “people” & You manage “things” ( read in a LinkedIn post ) So when we try to manage people they get treated as things. Trying to have their humane side acknowledged and celebrated makes you a humane leader. Whether one is working with you remotely; the life, career and project milestones continue to happen. A simple employee spotlight call; virtual -coffee shows that you remember and your care. That empathetic connection stays alive beyond the screen time.

Diverse teams can benefit from embracing cultural differences and communicating accordingly. Work can sometimes be stressful, but it shouldn't kill the joy. Leaders should be able to nurture and protect the joy of work even when things are challenging.

Strive for transparency so that team members don’t craft an inaccurate narrative about the way strategies are set. By sharing the why behind decision making you help deepen the common purpose. For example, with a team that feels frustrated by budget restrictions, havinga transparent discussion about why the budget is set up a certain way could lead to creative ways to work within budget or build a business case to ask for more. Trust your team to handle the truth.