Why Connector managers excel in remote and distributed teams

Why Connector managers excel in remote and distributed teams.

A traditional view of management and leadership echoed hierarchical templates from the military and the class system. Titles carried great weight, no matter how they were earned, and instruction flowed downwards, often with great success because this was the accepted norm and the majority of people were obedient and short of alternatives.

In today’s increasingly complex, dynamic and fractured work environment we have a much greater opportunity to access diverse perspectives, disseminate information, and accelerate learnings as we adapt to the opportunities and challenges of remote and distributed working.

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However, the demands and expectations faced by managers mean time is short and they are likely to default to a natural management style, especially when they are under pressure from senior managers or their inboxes reflect the attention demanded by the growing entitlements of their teams.

Management styles.

A study of 5, 7, or 9000 managers and their direct reports (sources vary!) by Gartner Research, identified 4 types of manager (follow the link to the report). Here, I have interpreted their definitions...

Teacher managers

... aim to develop the skills in the team to align with their own expertise - often a promoted individual contributor. Here they are most comfortable and able to retain control and credibility. Problems are typically viewed through a narrow lens of personal knowledge and credentials.

Cheerleader managers

... focus on general positivity and maintaining the supply of Oxytocin! Comfortable shining a light on success and enjoying the reflective benefits. There is a sense of momentum when times are good but impact is quickly diluted when times are tough and energy alone is not enough.

Always-on managers

... provide a running narrative and instruction. Most likely to be considered a ‘micro manager’ even if the inputs are useful. Elements of Teacher and Cheerleader, focused on ‘adding value’ but can become a heavy burden in remote settings.

Connector managers

...provide resources, references and ideas in their domain and are comfortable connecting individuals with others in the team, or the wider network, to engage different skills and perspectives.

We can imagine that each style has its merits in specific situations, dictated by the task to be done, the people involved, the urgency, and the prevailing environment, and I’m pretty sure managers themselves will be smart enough to bend the language and make the descriptions work for them!

Gartner’s study emphatically proposes the Connector manager is the most effective and can increase employee performance by up to 26% (compared to 7-9% for Cheerleaders and Teachers). We argue the reasons behind this are further emphasised in a remote or distributed environment where managers and their teams need to develop skills and adapt to new situations quickly.

Recognising a Connector manager in a remote work environment?

Connector managers are not interested in having all the answers on tap or to being seen as the fount of all knowledge for their teams. In fact, if either descriptor is remotely true the organisation will soon begin to experience bottlenecks. They have sufficient self-regard and emotional intelligence to be comfortable building environments where the needs and preferences of key individuals are recognised and embraced. They believe this contributes more to sustainable team success than doubling down on the weight of their own wisdom or force of personality.

This does not suggest the tolerance of soft performance. In fact, the levels of collaboration and interaction will allow the cross referencing of views and ideas and encourage positive, open, discussion to frame changes that benefit individuals and teams. Still performance focused, but through a people lens and not simply a number.

There are many tasks a manager must perform and levers they can pull that will be common to any manager type. This is about style and, in some regards, the approach that is a natural default rather than the enactment of a perceived obligation.

A Connector manager will naturally...

·      facilitate productive exchanges between people and teams. This could be ‘hands on’ or by skilful crafting of objectives and challenges to bring people together.

·      encourage individual accountability for learning and development and ensure the best resources are accessible and usable.

·      prioritise a culture of learning in their teams and find ways to reinforce the value of curiosity and active collaboration.

·      invest time to understand the context for individual team members for the purpose of ensuring they can access appropriate resources.

·      leverage their network to find mentors and coaches for themselves and their colleagues to develop specific topics.

·      create moments and forums for peer-to-peer coaching, knowledge sharing and open discovery.

·      successfully make the case for investing in talent development.

These are invaluable themes and priorities in a remote or distributed organisation which help to build a culture of responsibility, autonomy and trust.

Increasingly relevant.

There are some environments where these attributes will be read as ‘soft skills’ and intolerance grows as senior leaders wait to hear what the growth in performance will be. Of course, they address the demands of day to day management,  Connector manager believes in an ‘aggregator’ approach. but their true goal is to develop teams, their skills, resources, process, and mindset, to create an environment where the opportunity for growing, profitable, and repeatable performance levels can be sustained.

In a remote world it is a significant challenge to build a culture that can sustain this approach but the benefits to employee engagement, retention, well-being and performance are worth the investment. This is borne out in a later Gartner article from 2021 defining hybrid workforce champions. In it, the preferred archetype shows very similar traits to the Connector manager...

·      Championing development

·      Communicating effectively

·      Connecting remote workers

·      Fostering inclusivity regardless of location

·      Collective problem solving

... and establishing cultural norms across in-office and remote teams. Consistent, high impact themes in a changing, disrupted world.

Margin notes...

The reality is that most managers will have developed an array of tools and references to bring into play at appropriate times. The Connector manager will maintain an approach that embraces the needs of individuals as well as teams and adapts to the volatile and disrupted world in which we all now live. A Connector manager will often be defined by the quality of the questions they ask in order to fully understand the needs of an individual, beyond the demands of a current challenge.

By adopting and supporting the qualities of a connector manager, businesses can more effectively manage remote teams and networks. In simple terms, we are describing managers who prioritise the development of their people and provide a sense of belonging to underpin a desire to do great work regardless of the location.

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