What defines an excellent leader in the virtual space? Are the skills required the same as the ones for a traditional one?
In many years of consulting and then working for big companies, I had the opportunity to explore both sides of leadership and came to the conclusion that what is needed to be recognized as a great leader is not too much different in terms of content but differs a lot when you look at it under the lens of the “virtuality”.
So let’s analyze in a deeper detail some of the most important traits.
Values and vision
Perhaps one of the most relevant characteristics is the ability to identify a common set of values and a shared vision. The individual members will certainly have their different way of approaching the activities but a team that excels makes cohesion and sharing of the setting a pillar of their daily life. It is very important that you review your values and vision with your team on a regular basis. Even more critical when you are not sharing the same space: becomes easier to forget the shared aim of working together and this definitely leads to inefficiency and personal agendas.
Give respect, receive trust
Trust and respect are two other distinctive elements. In person it is much easier to “read” the expressions of the persons in front of you and interpret them accordingly. Therefore, an approach that is always calibrated to avoid misunderstandings becomes fundamental, especially in the discussion related to operational issues where the difference in vision between “local” and “global” or “this” and “that” team can sharpen the positions. The trust that is generated, also as a result of respect, is an evident ingredient for the success of the team.
Excel beyond
A further fundamental and transversal to all the others is excellence and the desire to excel that harmoniously guides the activities that must be carried out every day. This means thinking every moment how we can improve our work and ourselves: if you don’t start challenging yourself you need to rely on others that may not be so interested in doing so. This in a virtual environment is particularly tricky because “pressure” may be perceived as lower and “latency” does not help to maintain it.
Zooming in and outside on a plan
All of us need to put thing in perspective and this leads to another fundamental skill of the leader: knowing how to change perspective and depth of vision in daily activities. This is generally applies to physical teams but assumes greater importance when we talk about remote ones (for example each member of the team could have different ways of framing the problem or what is detected locally could be in a different perspective from how you see it centrally). You as a leader need to help the organization to position correctly the pieces of the puzzle, looking with the “zoom level” that in a specific moment is more appropriate.
Strategy vs tactics
A point of certain relevance is represented by the ability to identify and differentiate strategic issues from tactical ones, positioning them temporally and acting accordingly, including planning the resources necessary for each moment: it is necessary to pay maximum attention because it is very important to identify not only when each member of the team will have to give their contribution but also the support they will need as an individual and what the team will need.
Care about your team
Attention and empathy towards your team are everything and are even more important in a virtual team. Spend time in a structured way for your team, be there. At this time, try to be close but authoritative: this is where you build your credibility towards your team. Being empathic is not easy and sometimes difficult in trying to be natural: try to grasp this limit so as not to exceed and decrease your effectiveness.
The right attitude
Be always humble and act as “good hosts”. The relationship with a virtual team is very different from the one you manage in person on a daily basis and the logics that apply are different. It is very important that you are perceived as authoritative but not snooty because your accreditation and your power are based on the perception that your team has of you. Conduct an analysis on a regular basis on yourself to evaluate how your attitude is. The faster you correct it the better it is.
Feedback, feedback and even more feedback
Always give feedback, even more than you would do in a face to face situation. There is nothing worse than having no way of knowing what your manager thinks and feeling abandoned as a result, with the clear consequence for you as a group manager of losing resources and later wasting energy trying to recover them.
What are your considerations? Best practices? Thoughts?
