What tips would you give to leaders who are trying to build a collaborative culture on a distributed engineering team? How should they get started?

A kick-off face to face with structured and unstructured time to build rapport.  

The structured time should cover: 
1. Expectations from the team and from each other
2. Conflict identification and resolution approach
3. Formal / informal communication channels.  

Making sure that objectives are aligned between team is as critical in the beginning and throughout the project.  Keeping a "pulse" on the team through occasional survey provides very useful info for leadership to act upon.

"The Strongest Link" by Gene Slowinsk Matthew W. Sagal is as powerful of a guide today as it was 20 years ago when initially publised.

Its surprising, but i start with an in-person offsite/meet.

I just ordered an audio book by Daniel Coyle titled "The Culture Code". It has good ratings so perhaps it has some good tips to share on this topic. I'd seek feedback from the group. Set the goal/expectation and see what ideas they bring to the table.

Building a collaborative culture on a distributed engineering team is extremely hard, given the lack of face-to-face interactions. Encouraging everyone to turn on video during calls helps bridge that gap (exceptions for bad days are fine). Hosting team-building events like icebreakers and activities such as Pictionary or “guess the song” can also foster connections. 

Our approach involves patch groups, where individuals from different parts of the organization team up, enabling valuable insights and cross-functional understanding. It’s not just about addressing concerns but also building relationships within the team, making it helpful for creating a collaborative culture in a remote setup.