Navigating the new landscape of hybrid and dispersed teams can be a real challenge for you as a leader. I know! I’ve been there. And that was even before the pandemic.
Given the WFH vs Back to the Office debate is still on going, I thought it a useful subject to launch my new season of the GOBO show – Glimpses of the Blindingly Obvious. I was so grateful to my friend and colleague Anthony Ryland for joining me for a ching wag on the subject of navigating the new landscape of hybrid and dispersed teams.
As we know, leading hybrid and dispersed teams has become the ‘new normal’ for many organisations, even though they existed way before Covid. But that way of organising teams is not without its challenges.
For you as a leader, maintaining cohesion, motivation, and performance across teams spread across different locations can feel like a balancing act. Without the benefit of daily face-to-face interaction, you need to find new ways to foster connection, belonging, and team effectiveness.
A sense of belonging can improve job performance by up to 56%, reduce turnover risk by 50%, and lead to a 75% decrease in employee sick days.
What are some of the leadership challenges of managing hybrid and dispersed teams, and why is creating a sense of belonging critical to team success? Here are some thoughts.
Your Leadership Challenge with Hybrid and Dispersed Teams
One of the main pain points of leading hybrid or dispersed teams is communication. In traditional office settings, you can have impromptu chats in the hallway, gather quickly for a meeting, and even pick up on non-verbal cues that help you gauge the mood of the team. However, when your team is spread across different locations—some working remotely from home, others in the office, and maybe some across time zones—those informal moments of connection are harder to come by.
This can lead to fragmented communication, where only certain parts of the team feel ‘in the loop,’ while others feel left out. It also presents challenges for team cohesion. As Anthony pointed out, in dispersed teams, proximity can be misleading. Even if team members live on the same street, they can feel just as disconnected as if they were 10,000 miles away. The absence of regular in-person interactions can result in a lack of emotional connection and contribute to the feeling of isolation.
According to Gallup, some of the challenges of hybrid working they surveyed were feeling less connected to the organisations culture, a decrease in team collaboration, impaired working relationships, reduced cross-functional communication, disrupted processes and fewer opportunities for feedback, to name just a few.
Why a Sense of Belonging is Critical
Very often, one of the most underestimated but crucial factors in managing dispersed teams is creating a strong sense of belonging in the team. When people feel they belong to a team, they are more engaged, motivated, and committed to the organisation’s success. Belonging goes beyond the functional aspects of work—it taps into a deeper human need to be part of a group, to feel accepted, and to know that one’s contributions matter.
In a dispersed team, communication must be more than just frequent – it needs to be intentional and inclusive.
According to research published in the Harvard Business Review, a sense of belonging can improve job performance by up to 56%, reduce turnover risk by 50%, and lead to a 75% decrease in employee sick days. Belonging directly influences an employee’s emotional connection to their team, which is especially important in hybrid and dispersed environments where people may struggle to feel included. Admittedly this research was US based, but the authors calculated that in a 10,000 person company this would result in annual savings of more than $52 million. Even if the error rate was 50% if we placed it in a UK or European context, that’s still a lot of money.
When your team members feel they belong, they are more likely to give what’s called “discretionary effort” – going above and beyond their basic job description. This level of engagement is crucial for team success. In hybrid or dispersed teams, where day-to-day interactions are limited, fostering this sense of belonging can make the difference between a high-performing team and one that struggles to connect and execute.
Without a sense of belonging, team members can easily become disconnected from the team and the organisation. In the podcast I discussed how team members working remotely often form “echo chambers,” developing opinions based on limited information because they aren’t exposed to the broader context of the organisation. This disconnect can lead to a lack of alignment with the team’s goals, decreased engagement, and ultimately, poor performance.
As we are now all too familiar, a lack of belonging can also contribute to burnout and mental health issues. You team members may feel isolated and unsupported (even if that’s not your perspective or intention), particularly if they don’t have sufficient regular touchpoints with their team or with you. This emotional distance is a serious risk for hybrid and dispersed teams, as disengaged employees are more likely to experience stress and burnout, which negatively impacts their productivity and well-being.
But how do you foster a sense of belonging?
It’s not just about upping the level of communication
Creating a sense of belonging in hybrid and dispersed teams isn’t easy, but it’s crucial. In the days when I lead a geographically dispersed team, the mantra was just communicate more than you would normally. But as we discussed in the podcast, having more of something isn’t necessarily a good thing. For example if you said to your team members that they would get more email communication from you, the chances are they would cry into their tea cup.
In a dispersed team, communication must be more than just frequent – it needs to be intentional and inclusive. Simply increasing the volume of communication won’t improve engagement; you need to focus on quality. You team members need to feel included in conversations, whether they’re working from the office or remotely. One-to-one check-ins are essential for understanding how each person is feeling and what challenges they’re facing. These meetings should focus on more than just tasks – they’re a chance to check in on well-being and foster a personal connection.
In these environments, it’s important for you to personalise your approach to meet the unique needs of each team member.
Using digital tools effectively is another issue. Apps like Slack or Teams are great but they can produce the same kind of pressure felt in a barrage emails. Virtual meetings, too, shouldn’t just be for work updates. Creating space for informal conversations, team activities, or “virtual coffee breaks” that mimic the spontaneous interactions of an office environment can be important when your people aren’t co-located. Encouraging these moments of personal connection helps bridge the gap created by physical distance.
Purpose, Successes and Adaptability
When your team understand how their work contributes to the bigger picture, they’re more likely to feel engaged and motivated. In hybrid and dispersed teams, you need to ensure that each team member knows how their individual efforts align with the team’s and organisation’s goals. This is where purpose comes in.
Daniel Pink’s model of intrinsic motivation – autonomy, mastery, and purpose – can be a useful framework for you and your dispersed teams. When employees are given the autonomy to do their jobs well, the opportunity to master new skills, and a clear understanding of how their work contributes to a greater purpose, they are more likely to feel a sense of belonging and engagement.
Regularly reinforcing the team’s purpose helps remind everyone that they are part of something bigger, even if they’re working from different locations. This shared sense of purpose can help create unity and alignment, driving team performance.
One of the best ways to build belonging is by celebrating team and individual achievements. In any team, but particularly hybrid and dispersed teams simply because we’re not in the same space, it’s easy to overlook small wins or personal milestones like birthdays and work anniversaries. But these moments are critical for creating emotional connection and reinforcing a sense of community.
Personal recognition goes a long way in enabling people to feel appreciated and valued. These celebrations don’t have to be formal or elaborate—what matters is that they are genuine and consistent.
In these environments, it’s important for you to personalise your approach to meet the unique needs of each team member. Some team members may need more structure and guidance, while others may thrive with more autonomy. John Adair’s Action-Centred Leadership model, which focuses on balancing attention between task, team, and individual, I think is particularly relevant to hybrid and dispersed teams. The need for individualised leadership is even more pronounced because a remote or hybrid colleagues, may need different types of support than their ‘in-office’ counterparts. By understanding each person’s strengths, challenges, and personal circumstances, you can provide the right level of support and help each team member feel valued and connected.
In my experience leading hybrid and dispersed teams is not easy. It comes with unique challenges. But by fostering a sense of belonging, looking after the emotional connections, and the feelings of psychological safety and trust in the team you can overcome these obstacles and create a high-performing, engaged team. Because physical proximity is no longer a given, belonging is the glue that holds teams together. If you recognise this and take proactive steps to foster emotional connection, communicating intentionally and meet the differing needs of your team members by tailoring your leadership, you will see your teams thrive, no matter where they’re located.
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