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Leading from a distance - How to maintain connection in growing organizations

A strong team is the foundation of any successful organization. Individual high performers may shine, but a cohesive team consistently achieves more than even the most brilliant individual.

As long as a team remains small, its dynamics are visible in everyday work. You quickly notice when something feels off. Tensions, ambiguities, or friction rarely stay hidden for long.

As organizations grow, this changes. More structure, more alignment, more reporting layers are introduced - often in an effort to maintain oversight. Yet proximity and genuine understanding cannot be replaced by metrics.

In larger engineering organizations, I have rarely seen technical issues as the primary challenge. What tends to slow teams down are unclear goals, misalignment and diffuse ownership. Recognizing these dynamics requires more than formal transparency - it requires deliberate awareness.

One book that shaped my thinking early on was The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni. My first manager recommended it when I stepped into my first leadership role. It helped me understand that team dynamics often operate beneath the surface - and that leadership means making those dynamics visible.

Over the years, I’ve tried many ways to maintain that connection as organizations became larger and more layered. Some worked, some didn’t. The following methods have consistently helped me understand what is truly happening within a team:

  • Pulse Checks
  • Skip-Level Meetings
  • Joining Team Meetings (e.g., sprint reviews, demos, post-mortems, or knowledge-sharing sessions)
  • Open Formats such as team events or Q&A sessions

Pulse Checks

Pulse checks are quick to build and give you fast insight into how the team is feeling. They highlight what’s working, what’s missing and where challenges are brewing.

I usually run them quarterly. They take just a few minutes for people to fill out but deliver valuable signals. When they are anonymous and taken seriously, the feedback is honest and actionable.

My Four Standard Questions

  1. Would you currently recommend working in [Team Name]?
    The only required question - an NPS rating from 0 (definitely not) to 10 (definitely yes).
  2. What should we stop doing? (optional)
  3. What should we do more of? (optional)
  4. What should we start doing? (optional)

Additional Questions

To keep things fresh, I sometimes add one or two questions tied to current topics. For example:

Reflections:

  • What was your personal highlight of the year?
  • What do you wish for next year?
  • What comes to mind when you think about [current year] at [Team Name]?
  • I value working at [Team Name] because …

Individual topics:

  • How much do you agree with: “Our strategy and OKRs are clear enough to help me structure my work.”
  • How much do you agree with: “I enjoy working in my team. I trust my colleagues and can address conflicts openly.”

Open field: Is there anything else you’d like to share?

Practical Tips

  1. Start small: A few questions are enough. The first pulse check takes less time to create than reading this paragraph.
  2. Explain the purpose: Be clear about why you’re running it - and that feedback leads to real changes.
  3. Respond to feedback: Share the results openly and discuss next steps. It shows that feedback is heard and valued.

Common Pitfalls (and How to Avoid Them)

  1. Low participation: Keeping engagement high over time is hard. Keep it short, send gentle reminders, but don’t overdo it. 100% participation is unrealistic - 65-80% is often a solid target.

  2. Vague questions: Wording matters. I used to ask, “What do we do well? What should we keep or do more of?” It sounded fine, but it was ambiguous. Now I ask only, “What should we do more of?”

    The Nielsen Norman Group details this in their 10 Best Practices for Writing Effective Survey Questions.

  3. Anonymity trade-offs: Anonymous feedback is more honest but loses context. Accept it - you’re looking for trends, not detective work. Tools like Culture Amp allow tagging by team without names. Personally, I skip that to avoid internal competition and focus on the overall mood.

  4. Critical feedback: Negative comments can sting, but they’re valuable. Don’t take them personally - see them as a chance to learn and talk openly with the team. Don’t try to guess who said what. If repeated criticism lacks context, say so openly: “I can only act on what I understand.”

Tools That Worked for Me

I use Google Forms: simple, anonymous, flexible.

Results can be viewed directly or exported to Google Sheets - perfect for NPS tracking or participation stats. Here’s my survey template and a sample analysis sheet.

Alternatively, tools like Culture Amp or Leapsome offer more advanced analytics.

Skip-Level Meetings

Skip-level meetings are conversations with people who report to someone in your team, not to you directly.

They are a great way to surface insights you usually don’t hear - worries, ideas, or small observations that never make it into formal meetings. Once trust builds, they become incredibly valuable.

How I Set Them Up

  1. Plan with care: Align with your direct reports so they know what you’re doing. I now run them roughly every six months.
  2. Be transparent: Explain that the goal is to listen and understand, not to control.
  3. Choose the right format: One-on-ones build trust, small groups add energy. I alternate depending on team size and topic.

Sample Invitation

Guiding Questions

These conversations work best when the other person does most of the talking. Still, a few questions help get things rolling:

  • How are you feeling about your role right now?
  • What’s going well - and what could be better?
  • How does collaboration in the team feel?
  • Are there topics that get postponed or don’t get enough attention?
  • How can I or your manager support you better?
  • What would you like to develop next?
  • What do you enjoy most about your work here?
  • If you could change one thing, what would it be?

Why These Talks Matter

When done well, they build trust up and down the organization. You get a clearer sense of what truly matters to people. Sometimes one honest conversation resolves tensions or sparks the ideas that stay hidden everywhere else.

Joining Team Meetings

Nothing helps you understand your team better than spending time with them.

I regularly join meetings like sprint reviews, demos, or post-mortems - not to evaluate, but to listen, ask questions and understand how collaboration works.

You see what’s effective and where you can support without getting in the way.

Three Things That Help Me

  1. Be fully present: Show genuine interest.
  2. Ask questions: Not every question needs an answer - sometimes listening is enough.
  3. Give feedback: Keep it short, specific and encouraging.

Time is limited. That’s why I rotate between teams and focus where my presence adds the most value.

Practical Tips

  1. Be attentive: Listen, observe, ask. Your presence signals respect and appreciation.
  2. Ask before judging: Aim to understand, not to evaluate.
  3. Keep feedback actionable: Focus on clear, constructive next steps.

Common Challenges

  1. Time investment: You can’t be everywhere. Choose intentionally and rotate.
  2. Avoid micromanagement: Observing doesn’t mean controlling. Show interest without taking over.
  3. Encourage openness: Create a safe space where people feel comfortable sharing. Explain that you’re there to learn and support, not to inspect.

Open Formats

Not every conversation needs an agenda. Sometimes the best insights emerge over coffee, at a Q&A session, or during a casual team event.

These formats often let people talk about what really matters - culture, values, collaboration.

They make visible what moves people, build trust and show that you’re approachable beyond formal structures.

Further Reading

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Leading from a distance - How to maintain connection in growing organizations · Holger Rüprich