Journal: People Science - Human Capital Management & Leadership in the public sector Volume 1, Issue 2 Spring/Summer 2014 | Page 37

Trust also enables you, as a leader, to feel confident in the
work outcomes, despite the inability to physically oversee your
team’s work. When an individual believes they have your trust,
performance is likely to improve. Keep in mind
that building trust with your team members
is an ongoing process. Constantly invest in
mutual trust by showing respect, making
regular but not overbearing contact, providing
feedback, being available for them, making it
safe to acknowledge issues, making it easy for
employees to ask for help, and certainly, when
you see bad behavior, calling it out.

meetings, show photos of team members and talk about
things that go on in your personal lives to the extent everyone
is comfortable. Celebrate team accomplishments together.
Do the same things you would do in person, in
other words. This helps to stay connected at
a human level. Set aside just a little time at the
beginning of staff meetings to allow for informal
dialogue between those who are physically
present in the room and those who are remote.

Summary

The distributed workforce is a positive, fast
One of the most important things you can do
growing workforce trend, It allows for higher
with your team to build trust is to co-create your
organizational performance and tremendous
own team protocols. How should you and your
social benefit. Enlightened leaders – including
distributed team work together? What is your
Dr. Rebecca Ayers
supervisors and managers –can significantly
team willing to commit to doing? Explore topics
accelerate the development, cohesion and performance of
like frequency of meetings, preferences for communication and
distributed teams.
decision-making processes. This forms a social agreement that
binds the team together. This provides clarity and co-creates a
foundation of trust.

About the Authors

Five Leader Behaviors For Gaining Trust
Among the Distributed Workforce
1. Make realistic commitments. Don’t overstretch yourself
or your team to anyone, either to your employees, your
supervisors, or your own management.
2. Follow through on promises. If you commit to do
something, do it. Be honest when you can’t follow through.
3. Keep the team informed. Communication is key. Share
information - even of things going on in the organization that
may not impact their direct.
4. Show support and avoid blame. When projects, products
or presentations fail, support your team. Encourage them to
share what went well and discuss mistakes to avoid next time.
Avoid singling anyone out for blame.

Mika Cross
Work/Life and Wellness Program Director at the US
Department of Agriculture

Kate North
Vice-President, Global Development at e-Work

Kate Lister
President of Global Workplace Analytics

Dr. Rebecca Ayers
Manager of Performance Management Solutions at the US
Government’s Office of Personnel Management

5. Protect those that are not present. It’s very important to
be aware of what you say or allow said about people when
they’re not around.

Fostering Community
Build community using the technologies and techniques of
trust and communications described above, but also take
time to celebrate. Celebrate birthdays, anniversaries and
other life events. Celebrate team achievements and recognize
individuals in all of your meetings. Work hard to include remote
workers in celebrations. On their birthdays, for example,
consider sending a team gift, or ordering them their favorite
food for delivery and having the same meal in the office,
connected by video teleconference. At the start of virtual

People Science

Spring 2014

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