Distributed teams offer many benefits for employers and employees alike. Having a distributed team can make recruiting and retention easier, and it can help you build a diverse team. Depending on your circumstances, it might reduce costs, and it can improve productivity. As an employee, it offers increased flexibility, improved work-life balance, and broader employment opportunities.

However, success with a distributed team requires changes to work practices and style — and not just from the remote employees. Even the people who still come to the office every day will experience changes, and team leads perhaps most of all. We think it’s a fabulous way to go, but it helps to be prepared … and most of what we see being written and discussed is focused on remote workers, not the organization that supports them.

In this talk, we will look at the challenges and rewards of working in a distributed team setting, with a focus on team leadership and management.