The growth in dispersed working and the challenges presented by our more global environment are taking their toll on teams and their leaders. Recent research1 surveying people who worked in more complex team structures indicated that 70 per cent of the sample was geographically dispersed, 41 per cent were working across time zones, and 51 per cent were working in a multicultural environment. The research also demonstrated that, for most, the luxury of meeting up as a team only happened once a year.

Communication is what keeps a team together. It is a vital ingredient of success, particularly in complex teams where achieving a sense of ownership, belonging and common purpose is not always easy, especially without the advantage of face-to-face communication.

Through our research we were able to work with high-performing team leaders and identify four building blocks, essential for creating a positive and productive team environment.

1. Develop a clear communication strategy
The research indicated that communication took up at least 20 per cent of a leader’s role, and to be effective, leaders needed to create a clear communication strategy, identifying who needs information, when and in what format. Regular communication was seen as vitally important. Planning the communication, agreeing conference calls, meetings and communication protocols was seen as vital to ensuring everyone was aware of what the team was trying to achieve. Appreciation of time zone and location issues were also taken into account, so that the burden of out-of-office working and travel could be shared around.

2. Develop a network of shared responsibility
Shared responsibility was seen as a key success factor. The high-performing team leaders recognised that they had to create an environment of shared leadership. This was achieved by agreeing the shared vision and purpose of the team, and establishing what was required for each team member. They were given responsibility for different aspects of teamwork (i.e. budget management, client systems etc.) This created new communication pathways, allowing a network of interdependent relationships to develop within the team, thus helping to achieve the overall goal of shared responsibility.

3. Building trust and belonging
The high-performing team leaders we spoke to recognised that they needed to spend time building trust. Getting to know team members, posting up and sharing biographical details, hopes and aspirations was seen as important. Some team leaders had developed chatty newsletters, others made a point spending conference call time celebrating team successes and special occasions. In addition, many team leaders recognised the importance of being available for their team, and had developed good ‘non-visual’ communication skills. They were able to listen to the subtext in conversations, pick up on nuances in tone and inflexion, and recognise when there were issues that needed to be discussed. In addition, they were aware of cross-cultural differences, and spent time both individually and as a team to understand how to leverage diversity and avoid misunderstandings.

4. Growing and learning together
All teams need to grow and learn together, and in a complex team environment, this is an important way of building communication and trust. Reviewing both the task and the process of how the team is working on a regular basis helped to identify issues and problems. Understanding each other’s approach and dealing positively with conflict was also seen as a key skill. In addition, developing the skills of coaching and feedback within the team meant that team members could continue to improve their performance. Team training around issues such as new technology, cross-cultural understanding, and sharing the results from psychometric questionnaires, all served to create an environment where the team could learn and grow together.

Often the focus of communication in complex team structures is on technology. While this is obviously important, our research has demonstrated that the human aspect of communication requires attention, and that the role of leadership is to create an environment where teamwork can flourish without the luxury of regular face-to-face communication.

Reference
1. Teams Surviving in Complexity, Jones and Holton, Ashridge 2006.

Pam Jones is programme director of Ashridge\\\'s Performance through People and Leading Complex Teams programme.

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