3 Challenges of Leading a Multicultural Remote Team and 7 Ways We Solve Them

Authored by Marina Byezhanova, Co-Founder and CEO of Brand of a Leader

At Brand of a Leader, our team spans Canada, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, Poland, Montenegro, the Czech Republic, and soon Spain, and even within Canada we operate across four different cities while many of our team members travel frequently throughout the year. This means that we collaborate across time zones and cultures on a daily basis.

As I have led our distributed multicultural team, I have repeatedly encountered three core difficulties of managing a remote team versus being together in person at the office:

• limited visibility into my team members’ emotional states and wellbeing
• a higher risk of miscommunication in written exchanges
• fewer built in opportunities for relationship building.

Instead of leaving these to chance, we put specific practices in place to address each one directly.

Challenge 1: Limited Visibility into Team Members’ Emotional Wellbeing

When teams work from the same office, it becomes easier to notice changes in behavior and communication, yet in a remote environment many of the signs are less obvious and more difficult to catch, especially when we can go days without talking to each other. Because of that, we rely on consistent habits that help us understand how people are actually doing.

Solution: We Begin Every Meeting with a Personal Ice Breaker

All of our team meetings start with an icebreaker before we move into operational topics, and we ask such questions as: What is one good thing that happened to you recently? or What good news would you like to share? Everyone speaks early in the meeting, which gives us a sense of how each person is showing up that day. It is easier to conceal a challenging emotional state when talking about work, but it’s harder to do when connecting on a personal topic.

Each team member has a recognizable way of participating in conversations, and over time I become familiar with how that person typically communicates in group settings. I pay attention when responses to ice breakers become noticeably different, because those changes often signal that a conversation may be needed.

When I notice a change in how someone is communicating, I reach out privately with a direct message and ask how they are doing, which frequently leads to a more honest exchange than a group setting would allow. Since we do not share physical space, I make a conscious effort to initiate these check-ins rather than waiting for concerns to surface on their own.

Challenge 2: Miscommunication

Working across countries means that much of our communication happens in Slack and email, where tone can be misread and we can quickly jump to misplaced assumptions. Cultural differences and language nuances can naturally complicate communication further.

Solution: We Move Sensitive Conversations to Video

When a written exchange begins to feel tense, we immediately suggest a video call and pause the message thread so that we can address the issue directly. In most cases, a brief live discussion brings clarity faster than continuing to type explanations back and forth.

During a video conversation, we can see facial expressions and hear tone in real time, which reduces misinterpretation. Once each person has had the opportunity to explain their perspective, we typically reach alignment and return to productive work.

Challenge 3: Fewer Built In Opportunities for Relationship Building

In a traditional office setting, connection happens during informal moments throughout the day, while in a distributed team those interactions require intentionality. At Brand of a Leader, we design opportunities for shared experience rather than hoping they will happen naturally.

Solution 1: We Host Structured Virtual Workshops

At the end of each year, we organize a three part virtual workshop focused on reflection and planning, where we review our individual years coming to a close, discuss lessons from the year, and clarify our individual vision for the year ahead. These sessions allow everyone to connect on a human level without thinking about work.

Solution 2: We Celebrate Important Milestones and Weave in Online Fun

We have hosted virtual baby showers and organized farewell celebrations for team members who were moving on, ensuring that meaningful life events are celebrated together. Recognizing these milestones through games and shared fun has helped us strengthen relationships within our global team.

Solution 3: We Invest in In Person Gatherings

Whenever possible, we bring team members together around sponsor events or conferences and intentionally build in time for personal connection. Business trips become team engagement events. We celebrate birthdays, play games, go on hikes, and have informal conversations we usually don’t get to have.

To celebrate our fifth anniversary, we are bringing the entire team together for a three day retreat that includes our team members from every country where we operate, and we have designed the agenda to balance strategy sessions with meaningful time together.

Solution 4. We Encourage Sponsored Spontaneous Meetups

We implemented a policy that encourages team members who find themselves in the same city to meet for a meal without seeking prior approval, after which they submit the expense for reimbursement. Our goal is to remove unnecessary friction and support organic connection between colleagues.

Leading a multicultural team across continents means making conscious choices about how we communicate and how we connect. We rely on consistent meeting rituals, clear communication norms, and intentional shared experiences to support one another across distance. Through these ongoing practices, we maintain alignment and strengthen relationships regardless of geography, which leads to a culture we can be proud of.

Authored by Marina Byezhanova, Co-Founder and CEO of Brand of a Leader – the only personal branding agency designed specifically for GenX CEOs and Founders. Marina is a regular keynote speaker to audiences across the globe, part of Deloitte’s faculty of speakers, and a contributor to such publications as Inc Magazine, Forbes, Success Magazine, Entrepreneur, and Fast Company.