Building Distributed Teams

I use the words “remote” and “distributed” interchangeably in this article. Both terms mean working for you full time (or maybe part time) but not in your office with you.  I wanted to clarify because there can be confusion. With that…

I am a huge fan of building distributed / remote teams as a way to get the best people onto your team. I’ve been hiring and working with distributed team members for the last 12 years. I don’t know any other way.

The ability to both hire for and then manage a distributed team, particularly on the technology side of your business, is a mandatory executive skill. The days of being able to find who you need locally, regardless of where you live, are either gone or about to be gone.

In this next series of posts, we’re going to explore, in depth:

• How you find, evaluate, hire, manage and even fire distributed team members.
• The necessary skills that you need as the leader of a distributed team
• Where the black holes are that make this model fail
• Why and how to bring on people who don’t speak the same language as you
• How to “land and expand” in a particular geography
• and much more.

This is a practice that, if you get it right, can change the trajectory of your company. It’s that important.

Stay tuned. I promise you that you’ll learn something, even if you’ve been at this for a while yourself.