working remotely. To me, that says cut-off, that says siloed, that says really separate. It doesn’t say cohesive team. And I think this language matters. If, by using the phrase ‘remote’, you are almost holding your team at arm’s length, there may be a problem. I think if you want to build a cohesive team that communicates well together, think of other words. One of the words I’m hearing more and more is ‘dispersed’ – we have a dispersed team. Or ‘distributed’. The team behind WordPress don’t have a physical office, and they use the phrase ‘distributed team’, which I think is really nice.

‘Diffused’, or even ‘spread out’ are also words you could use. However, one of the words I think you should try and avoid using to refer to your team is virtual. Unless you are working in a virtual reality environment and you all have avatars set up, you’re not a virtual team. I find it rather distancing, and it implies that these actually aren’t real people, they’re just avatars, who are, again, at arm’s reach. So, think about the language you’re using. Don’t refer to your team as remote or virtual. Think of other words you can use that suit you and your setup. I think finding a right word is important in building a true sense of team.