Check out These Tips For Leadership In A Virtual World
What has changed for managers for leadership in a virtual world? Remember the days when you could actually walk down the hall and “drop in” on members of your team? You could look into their offices, see family photos or awards, and be prompted to ask about the kids or favorite hobbies. As a manager, you could observe how your direct reports ran meetings and watch them interact with subordinates.
Nowadays, organizations are aware that the marketplace is increasingly multicultural and diverse. Greater diversity in the workforce is a by-product of virtual teams, since professionals with different backgrounds, styles, and languages “work at the same table.” As a virtual leader, you are responsible for building a virtual team and ensuring team results and that means you need to excel at multitasking in this ever-changing virtual world.
Before you even begin, here are a few of the challenges of leadership in a virtual world:
• Relationships. How will you get to know your virtual team members?
• Performance. How will you assess what kind of job they are doing?
• Communication. How will you keep your direct reports updated?
• Delegation. How will you delegate assignments and track their deadlines?
• Team Building. How can you build a strong team when your people have never even met each other?
• E-Mail. How will you use e-mail effectively to manage your staff?
• Conflict. How will you know when members have a conflict with each other?
• Promotion. How do you evaluate when someone is ready for promotion?
• Teleconferencing. When will you have time for longer teleconferences?
• Walking the Talk. How will your direct reports observe you and your management style?
• Travel. How often are you going to have to fly around the country (or the globe) to meet your team?
In this new business environment, the old skills of yesterday are no longer sufficient. Welcome to leadership in a virtual world; welcome to the virtual landscape!
How do you successfully navigate through the virtual landscape? This will be something we will explore in a series of blog postings that we plan to launch in the next few weeks.
To get started, think of navigating the virtual landscape as going on a road trip. First, you must plan your destination and properly align your team. Building a virtual team for success includes clarifying your Team Destination, setting the Rules of the Road, and conducting a Test-Drive. As a virtual team leader, it is your responsibility to open the lanes of communications and drive accountability within and across your virtual team. In business terms, this involves the communication, trust, conflict and deliverable mechanisms that you implement to carry out your plan.
“But wait,” you ask, “What about sharp turns, road blocks and potential accidents along the way?” Yes, the virtual landscape presents these challenges and requires leadership in a virtual world to refresh and realign your team to get back on the road to success!
