Remote Design Leadership: Managing Distributed Design Teams

How do you keep a team motivated, collaborative and focussed when you’re in a room together less than Noel and Liam? How do you make them feel like a team, one that feels part of common purpose  moving towards an objective? In-person leadership and remote leadership have plenty of commonalities, but there are some things to consider for remote leadership.

Water cooler in the style of artist Roy Lichenstein

Context

March 2020 seems a long time ago when Covid19 struck and had a cataclysmic impact on all our lives, both personal and professional. Practically, there were so many short-term positives, it meant we didn’t have to deal with the commute to and from the office and it meant we would have more dedicated time in front of a screen to get more work done without interruption. 

Despite these practical benefits, for most of us actually working and being effective as a team in this new remote environment this was a completely new concept. Sure, things like weekly rituals and team meetings would gravitate towards virtual meeting software like Microsoft Teams and Google Meet, but what about those nuanced conversations between teams you and your line report? What about those opportunities to gather round a whiteboard at a moment's notice and be taken through your coachee’s vision or approach to a design problem? The truth is the spontaneity of the working environment was now gone.

And, even though companies are adopting the hybrid model, it still means teams and leaders are having to embrace a new dynamic and create new rules of engagement. 

Challenges and resolutions

As a team leader, I've seen key challenges related to 'people,' 'practice,' and 'purpose.' By addressing these three areas – fostering strong relationships, refining our design processes, and ensuring a clear and compelling mission – we can cultivate a highly motivated team and contribute to a thriving organizational culture.

Relationship building is hard. I have confidence issues which makes bridge building hard anyway, but when you’re only able to see people through a tiny rectangle on your bigger rectangle? That’s even tougher. It means you have to be more proactive, it means making time instead of stumbling upon that time. So in order to change this I’ve made some adjustments to my working week to help things along. For instance, I’ve increased the 121’s I have with my line reports. We still hold the same agenda; work growth, development. But when there’s not much to say, we just shoot the breeze and talk lego, holiday plans or how is it physical interface design for things like lifts and toilet doors on trains is damn shite! The team also have a designated meeting in our week 20 mins to come together and talk anything other than work.

Another issue I struggle with is not having the office to be able to have those ‘chance chats’ where you run into someone, or even grab someone to chat about something work related or a potential opportunity for a new project. These interactions are hard to replicate in the virtual world, but by being proactive and carving time out to catch up with someone over a virtual coffee, or hanging on to a group meeting so you can check-in with someone you’ve not chatted to for a while. It all adds up.

Perhaps the biggest implication for teams is how a leader connects their team to culture? How can might we connect them to a purpose and align our teams to a vision when they have to realise it in isolation? It’s a tough one as we assume people bread culture. And it’s not just down to the leader, it’s down to the team too. 

What a leader can do

• Communication is key. Overcommunicate if needed. A quote I love from the brilliant book ‘The Agile Comms Handbook’ by Amy McNichol is “The best communication is invisible.”. It insinuates that good communication is effortless and flows seamlessly through an organisation.

  
  

• Understand communication channels to use them to your full advantage. For example if you’re building consensus for a new initiative you want your team to pick up, don’t use email, use your dedicated team call so it can be explained fully and people can ask questions and understand better.

  
  

• Use team huddles for activities like building team objectives and regular reviews of goals. By consistently engaging in this practice, we not only foster a culture of collaboration within the team but also empower individual members by demonstrating the value of their contributions and how their efforts directly align with the broader team objectives.

  
  

• Communication is key, but talking about the mission and strategy frequently is so important to keep your team aligned and bolstered to a single source of truth. I've learned from my own experiences that individuals can easily become bogged down in their daily tasks and lose sight of the broader objectives. Therefore, frequent reminders of our collective purpose, ensures everyone remains focused and motivated towards achieving the vision.

  
  

• Under the same umbrella of communication; promote an environment of transparency and openness. Create safe spaces where people feel free to express their opinions and their views without fear of judgement.

  
  

• One thing that’s harder to come by in the virtual world of working remotely is the opportunity to observe people doing great work. So, identify invisible efforts. It’s so much more prudent to recognise when someone has done work. I tend to do this (with the person’s permission) in a shared space, whether it’s a shared Team’s channel or even in a team call. 

What a team can do

• Like many remote teams, the opportunity to come together is so infrequent. Therefore, we make a big deal about away days. Whether it’s just for our discipline or for our entire business, we go big. There’s an equal balance of formal exercises and opportunities to connect as humans. After these experiences when I chat to members of the team I get an instant sense that it’s boosted moral, motivation and a sense of purpose.

  
  

• Wherever I’ve worked, sharing work and good practice has been at the heart of a business’s culture. Whilst it’s another opportunity to come together as a team, it also makes up for the lost opportunity of looking across at your colleagues screen and asking “That looks cool, what are you working on?”. Blend with this the fact that it drives business efficiency and fills knowledge gaps, you’ve got a win-win situation.

  
  

• Culture stems from human interaction, built on empathy and understanding at both individual and organisational levels. To foster this, in our business we create an artefact called a ‘User manual of me’. New starters fill out a few details about themselves like the conditions they like to work in, the times they work, how to communicate with them and the things that they struggle with. This information can be shared with those they’re working with and gives a really good idea of who they are and how you can work best together. In a remote setting, these ‘user manuals’ are particularly valuable as our interactions and communications have to be much more considered. This document allows for that next level of respect and empathy.

  
  

• Speaking from my own experience, meetings, chats and our interactions in the workplace seem to always be able, well, work. And we all know when we’re in person, it’s not like that. We catch up about what we did at the weekend, the amazing new Netflix series we’re watching and why that smell has been lingering near the accounts team for so long. Creating the virtual water cooler has been by far and away the best little meeting of my week. A space, 20 minutes, just to shoot the breeze and basically just talk shit. It’s valuable time to build connections with your colleagues about everything other than work and create deeper bonds.

Looking forward (conclusion)

In conclusion, leading a design team remotely presents unique challenges, but with the right approach, it's entirely possible to build a high-performing and engaged team. By prioritizing open communication, fostering a strong team culture, and creating opportunities for genuine human connection, leaders can navigate the complexities of remote work and achieve remarkable results. Remember, even though we're physically apart, building relationships and fostering a sense of shared purpose are still paramount. By embracing these principles, we can ensure that our teams thrive, even in a distributed environment.