Building a Distributed Team: Insights from Chinedu Enekwe and Lajuanda Asemota

A distributed team is a team that’s connected in their purpose but maybe not their location. It’s no secret that great local talent is expensive and difficult to hire across several industries. Yet, technology has made it possible for hiring managers to hire from a global talent pool. 

Against that backdrop, we were very enthusiastic about chatting with Chinedu Enekwe and Lajuanda Asemota at the recent edition of SFAN live chat because they have both built and led distributed teams at TipHub Africa and Singularity University respectively.

Here are the insightful lessons from the meeting on building trust, maintaining culture, optimizing productivity, and keeping teams engaged.

1. Build Trust and Coordination Through Effective Communication

Sara Sutton Fell, CEO of FlexJobs once said that communication is both the biggest obstacle and the solution to developing trust within remote teams. 

“To build trust in a distributed team you must be thorough, almost annoyingly consistent”, Chinedu says. “Learn habits and patterns that work with each team member.”

But at the initial onboarding stages, you must create a period of a face-to-face meeting or weekend retreats for folks to physically connect with team members.

Lajuanda observed that as the team leader, you should consider occasional personal check-ins with everyone. You have to genuinely care about people for them to trust you and stay on track with the rest of the team. "Coordination comes from communication. So creating multiple channels for updates is the key," she observed.

As  Peter Drucker said, organizations are no longer built on force but on trust .

2. Maintain Culture Through Value-driven Autonomy

It is common knowledge why fixing the culture problem in a co-located team could be easier than in a distributed team. Distance, under-communication, and lack of collaboration are easier handled in co-located teams.

This need not be the case, Lajuanda said. “Organisational culture is intangible, so location doesn’t have to be the driving factor. Values do. And in my companies, I start by reviewing team values. I keep the team engaged by regularly inspiring them to live those values.”

With a team that spans from Washington D.C. to Lagos, Nigeria, Chinedu Enekwe is no stranger to building culture.

Apart from open communication, creating offline meetings, he says, helps encourage sharing and team relationships. “If distance doesn’t permit, at least do quarterly virtual retreats,” he observed.

3. Ensure That Your Team Members are Actually Working

Achieving productivity is among the fears that hold managers from going remote. Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo, was once in the news for scrapping Yahoo’s remote-work policy due to concerns about non-productivity.

“At the heart of the question of productivity and teamwork, is creating accountability,” Chinedu explains. “Accountability isn’t complaining about one another, it’s about completing tasks. This links back to creating a culture of communication so work can be delegated and silos of silence don’t form. When a team member goes silent, I try to read it like a pulse to plan our next move.”

Through her work at Singularity University, SpeedUpAfrica, and her own experience design company, Lajuanda often manages a diverse team that implements several high-level, multi-faceted events and programs for hundreds of leaders in Silicon Valley and beyond.

Achieving productivity, she says, requires great project management skills. “I use Smartsheet, Trello, or Asana, and automate reminders for the team to update the project tracker. I also combine one-on-ones with briefing sessions and team meetings.”

4. Leverage technology to Keep the Team Engaged

A co-located team can afford a foosball table, inside jokes, shared experiences, and a meeting room with whiteboards to develop its personality and enhance collaboration. However, remote teams bank on different technology tools. Knowing what works for your team helps you get the best results. All tools aren’t common in all regions.

Lajuanda says, my favorites are Slack, Smartsheet, Google Apps, IFTTT, Zoom , and Timeanddate.com. "Slack is your virtual office because of the various channels it accommodates. Oh did I mention the GIFs and Memes!?"

“My team lives and breathes daily chats on Whatsapp Group (love those check marks!),” Chinedu says. “We use Google Hangouts for meetings (without video when on the continent). It just works."

In responding to the question of the best tool to track time and do payroll for distributed teams, by the team at Rise Africa Rise, Lajuanda noted that her team uses Zenefits. “I’ve also heard of small organizations using Gusto, Wave, Freshbooks. My advice: Get a full demo and use what works.”

Understand that all tools might not work equally for every region. Find out what works best for you.

Why Distributed Teams Fail

Distributed teams fail due to a lack of consistency and communication. In some cases, lack of maturity, Lajuanda explains. “Everyone has to understand the importance of doing what you say you will and supporting each other”.

In his book, Exponential Organisations, Salim Ismail outlines new organizational structures that leverage exponential technologies for a shifting global business mindset. This is very vital for a distributed team.

Before transitioning your onsite team to remote or onboarding new folks, have a “trial period” to test things out, Chinedu cautions. “Every team isn’t built to be distributed. You have to figure that out quickly.”

Wrapping Up

In the final analyses, building a great distributed team requires that you go in with your eyes open. To make it work, you must build trust and coordination through effective communication, maintain culture through value-driven autonomy, ensure everyone gets their stuff done, and leverage technology tools to create fun and collaboration in your team.

Read a recap of a previous SFAN live chat, and subscribe for an upcoming SFAN event.