This becomes even more challenging for smaller groups looking to prioritise their individual agenda while supporting the larger corporation.

So what is the best way to develop a future-ready strategy for managing a fully remote team? As someone who has managed and worked for a global team at Boeing and now at Aerospace Xelerated – Boeing’s startup accelerator entity – for a number of years, whether through partnerships, as an individual contributor, or as a leader, I’ve experienced the whole gamut. I’ve encountered different perspectives and had a wide variety of experiences. I know what it is like being the only person on the island when the whole global team is all together somewhere else. If I’ve learned anything, it’s that there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution but instead, there are approaches you can take to making it easier by hiring the right people, setting them up for success, getting their buy-in regardless of seniority, and creating work-life balance.

Hire well

The first and most important step is to hire the right people. This doesn’t just mean finding a convenient geographical hire, but instead looking for what I call activators – for me, this means innovators, influencers, change agents, and people who are naturally curious and proactive. Effective remote workers requires a sense of independence and ability to wade through lots of information autonomously to drive clarity, and this is not necessarily something everyone has in them. The ‘right’ people will recognise that they have the autonomy to make decisions. To be an effective global team, it has to be a truly global team. Instead of just recruiting one individual in one time zone, and the rest in another time zone, look to create a scattered team that features strong influencers who are culturally aligned with the external nuances of the regions they will be working in. It’s understanding the culture of your parent company while also thinking about the culture that you're trying to set forth with the vision and the mission.

Effective onboarding and establishing goals

Hiring well is important, but this has to be followed up by setting your new hire up for success from the beginning. This means proper onboarding, introducing them to key stakeholders, and making sure they have the necessary resources and support to succeed. Each of these takes time, but if done effectively, pay strong dividends. As a manager, it is important to continually focus on buy-in from the team, including new hires as well as those who are more senior. This process is not a ‘one and done’ – you have to keep iterating and continually ensuring buy in over time. What this means for managers is being able to articulate why team members should care and how their actions feed into the overall plan, and how the plan fits into their individual development plans. Together, form a strategy to action plan that will help everyone feel a sense of ownership and provide a clear path forward to continue to iterate and innovate.

Get rid of the idea that because you are the most senior you must ‘own’ everything; the best you can do for a global team (or any team really) is allow them to each own their perspective large pieces. Your job is to remove the roadblocks and help the team prioritize where needed. It helps to redefine the definition of ‘managing’ and acknowledge that you’re not going to be in control of everything, and that is okay. All you are managing is the ability for your team members to be successful.

Giving up a sense of control can be challenging, but having the conformity of everything being a set way does nothing for anyone’s sanity. Long term, it’s important to trust the people to know what’s best for their respective region. Of course, global teams still need to connect and establish a relationship, it requires work and some in-person elements. For example, at Boeing, there are certain elements that have to be in person because of defence requirements or because of security clearances; those factors are naturally unavoidable.

Most importantly, if you communicate with one another regularly and often, it not only ensures alignment, but also that everyone (more often than not) feels a part of the larger team.

Pick up the phone

Establish clear communication channels, utilise tools and technologies, foster a culture of respect, trust and transparency, and hold all employees accountable to the company’s values. Additionally, rotating in-person check-ins and having a clear structure for communication and updates can help team members feel connected and a part of something larger.

Even if the team is fully remote, it is still important to connect with each other and establish relationships. This may require rotating team staff meetings or even in-person meetups at least once a year. In some cultures, it may be necessary to have in-person check-ins prior to diving into work in order to establish trust and build relationships from the start.

Help team members feel like they are not siloed and are a part of something larger. To facilitate this, it may be helpful to use a structured weekly written update, like the ‘5:15’ approach our team uses — the concept is it should take no longer than 15 minutes to write and max 5 minutes to read consisting of key updates, look ahead, and help needed. Set clear boundaries between work and personal time and hold yourself and your team accountable to being mindful of this. Set realistic goals and deadlines so you don’t overwork yourself.

Conclusion

If you’re part of a firm that is branching out and trying to be more global, you’re developing people who will evolve and move up in whatever industry they’re a part of. When you think about a company culture, the culture is typically set by the company and adopted by the people. But with smaller firms branching out, you have more influence to be more people driven and culture setting. Be adaptable, flexible, and a change agent while keeping the backbone of the company’s values at the forefront.