The Long-Distance Team - (The Long-Distance Worklife) by Kevin Eikenberry & Wayne Turmel (Paperback)

About the Book

"The latest book from remote-leadership experts shows leaders how to design a team culture that has a "one-team" mindset and gets great results under hybrid-work conditions. With hybrid work becoming increasingly common, organizations must address the unique challenges that hybrid teams pose and learn how to purposefully design them. The Long-Distance Team guides leaders on how to create the culture they envision for their teams and organizations while navigating a new way of working. This title shows how to apply the 3C model of team design-which focuses on connection, cohesion, and collaboration-to create from scratch a successful hybrid team and culture. It shows how leaders of all levels can overcome challenges such as proximity bias and deteriorating social connections to create an environment where everyone can contribute and add value equally, regardless of location. Drawing on their expertise in remote leadership, authors Kevin Eikenberry and Wayne Turmel provide tested guidance for building long-distance teams. The book includes practical tools and models that leaders can apply to define their aspirational culture, consciously design teams, and create and nurture engagement. Discussion guide is available in the book for reading groups and book clubs"--

Book Synopsis

Design and cultivate remote work teams that actually work.

From the experts who brought you The Long-Distance Leader and The Long-Distance Teammate comes the proven and practical guide for leaders to consciously design teams, define and create their desired culture, and encourage and nurture employee engagement--all from a distance.

Team design and culture are often presented as separate concepts when they are in fact intertwined in the remote work setting. Using the 3C model of communication, collaboration, and cohesion, leaders will be given the tools to overcome challenges, such as proximity bias and deteriorating social connections, to create an environment where everyone can contribute and add value equally, regardless of location.

The 3Cs are

• Communication--While communication is a fundamental part of being human, it is also a critical foundation of successful work. Without it, teams break down.

• Collaboration--Remote leaders face the misguided belief that physical presence is required to have a collaborative team. The truth is that proximity has nothing to do with successful collaboration.

• Cohesion--This dimension includes decidedly nonstructural aspects, such as relationships, trust, and accountability. While difficult to measure, a team's cohesion is critical to its success.

Using this framework, leaders of all levels will learn to assess, design, and develop their communication channels, methods for remote collaboration, and ability to foster cohesion to build successful long-distance teams. While a hybrid culture will be different, it can, when done right, be better than what existed before.

Review Quotes

"Kevin and Wayne provide a road map for designing and building (or rebuilding) teams that work well in any environment, whether collocated, remote, or hybrid/flexible. It's really the guidebook on 'team first and location second, ' and every team leader should learn from it."
--Rob Simmerman, Senior Operations Director, NAES Corporation

"A simple yet powerful guide to helping your team work together, no matter where they work from."
--David Burkus, author of Leading from Anywhere

"Creating teams, culture, [and] engagement puts a lot of emphasis on leaders investing some good old blood, sweat, and tears . . . this book gives us a great guide how to do this!"
--Ton van de Grampel, Chief Human Resources Officer, Redevco B.V.

About the Author

Kevin Eikenberry is the chief potential officer of the Kevin Eikenberry Group. Global Gurus includes him in its World's Top 30 Leadership Professionals. His other books include Remarkable Leadership, From Bud to Boss, The Long-Distance Leader, and The Long-Distance Teammate.
Wayne Turmel is the cofounder of the Remote Leadership Institute. He is the author or coauthor of fifteen books, including The Long-Distance Leader and The Long-Distance Teammate. He has been named to Remote Work Junkie's Top 50 Remote Experts and Leaders to Follow multiple times.