Remote & distributed leadership
For: Anyone leading or working in a team that isn't all in one room
Distance amplifies whatever leadership style you already have. A 10-question check on whether you actually lead well across screens, time zones, and silence.
- 10 questions
- 3 dimensions
- ~3-4 min
- Self · Peer · Both
Remote and hybrid leadership isn't a different skill — it's the same skill played at higher difficulty. Things that were absorbed by physical co-presence (a quick hallway clarification, the read on whether someone seems off, the ambient sense of whether work is moving) all become explicit, written, intentional. Three dimensions are where most distributed leaders actually fail: their async writing carries less than they think, their trust-without-proximity wobbles under stress, and inclusion across rooms or time zones quietly stratifies. This template surfaces all three. 10 questions, calibrated for the receiving side — because distance failures land on the receiver first.
How it works
Run it on yourself first. Then send it to people you lead or work alongside across distance — direct reports in other locations, peers in other time zones, anyone whose experience of you is mostly through a screen. The most useful gap is between 'I communicate clearly async' (your view) and 'we usually have to ask follow-up questions' (theirs).
What's inside — 10 questions across 3 dimensions
Async clarity
whether your written communication carries what your in-person presence used to
Trust without proximity
whether you trust people you can't see at their desks
Inclusion across distance
whether everyone gets the same quality of presence and voice
The questions, in full
Every question is included below. You answer them yourself first, then send the same set to the people who've seen you work.
Async clarity
- Q1Rating (1-5)
This person's written messages are clear enough that I rarely need a follow-up call to figure out what they meant.
- Q2Rating (1-5)
When this person makes a decision asynchronously, the rationale is visible — not just the conclusion.
- Q3Rating (1-5)
This person doesn't default to "let's get on a call" for things that could be a clear written message.
- Q4Multiple choice
When this person needs something from me, the request typically comes as...
- — A clear written message — I know what's needed and by when
- — A written message but I usually need to ask follow-up questions
- — A meeting invite even when a message would have worked
- — A drive-by Slack ping with not enough context
- — It's hard to tell what's actually being asked
Trust without proximity
- Q5Rating (1-5)
This person trusts me to do my work without needing to see me online — green dots, response times, presence indicators.
- Q6Rating (1-5)
When something goes quiet for a few hours, this person assumes good intent — they don't escalate or check in nervously.
- Q7Open answer
What's something about how this person measures or signals "are you working" at a distance that you'd want them to know?
Inclusion across distance
- Q8Rating (1-5)
In hybrid meetings, this person gives equal voice to people on screens — they're not absorbed by whoever's in the room.
- Q9Rating (1-5)
This person is mindful of timezone fairness — meetings, decisions, and informal moments don't all default to one geography.
- Q10Open answer
What's one thing about how this person leads at distance that, if changed, would noticeably improve how it feels to work with them?
The research behind these questions
Drawn from Tsedal Neeley's research on distributed work at Harvard Business School (Remote Work Revolution) on output vs presence, Erin Meyer's INSEAD research on cross-cultural communication (The Culture Map), the publicly published GitLab handbook on async-first practices, Microsoft's Work Trend Index research on hybrid productivity and 'productivity paranoia,' and Cal Newport's A World Without Email on default-meeting culture. Each question targets an observable behavior — not vague 'good remote leader' rating.
References
- — Tsedal Neeley — Remote Work Revolution (Harvard Business School)
- — Erin Meyer — The Culture Map (INSEAD)
- — GitLab — public remote-work handbook
- — Microsoft Work Trend Index — annual research reports
- — Cal Newport — A World Without Email (Georgetown University)
Ready to run this round on yourself?
Sign up, pick this template, answer it about yourself, and send the same questions to the people who've been in the room with you. The gap between your view and theirs is where the actual learning lives.