Episode #303: Virtual Leader Best Practices

Developing people who you can walk up to and speak with face to face is hard enough for most leaders, let along doing this when they are in another country and in a difficult time zone. Fortunately these days the technology is pretty good when it comes to virtual meetings, where we can see each other as well as talk. We can share our screens and show various data as well, which makes the whole experience much richer. This is fine for one on one, but what about when there are multiple team members scattered to the winds? How do we create a team feeling, when all we ever do is see each others photos, in thumbnail size on a screen? There are five things we can focus on to become a better virtual leader.

The leader’s job is to create a connection between the team members. They can be remotely located but they don’t have to be remote from each other. For example, sharing information is a good way to connect with each other and to establish some feeling of unity and solidarity. When holding these virtual meetings have each person share two pieces of good news, one business and one personal. This helps to establish some bonds amongst the team where they can celebrate together positive news.

Building confidence comes from success. Hearing about successes in the network builds a sense of we can do better, let’s catch up with that office, if they can do it then we can do it. Sharing information about what is happening across the whole organisation is important. Often mid-level leaders are like big sponges. They soak up all the information from the senior executives but they are scanty when it comes to sharing that information with their own troops. By keeping the whole virtual team up to date, they can be more confident about how the organisation is progressing and see things beyond the limitations of their current horizons.

Communication is a given but often the quality of that communication is poor. Regular virtual meetings with compulsory attendance can be required to make the whole thing work. If some people are missing from the meeting, then they need to get the minutes and to be brought up to speed. We need to communicate even more when we don’t see each other face to face. Being busy though everyone today is a minimalist when comes to communicating. We have too many meetings and too many emails to get through and so we are always looking for shortcuts. Virtual though lends itself to more leisurely ways, in order to slow down in order to speed up. We have to give it more time than normal, so the meetings may be a bit more frequent and a bit longer than usual.

Collaboration sounds good in theory, when you are sitting on different continents. Actually making that work across tough time zones is less straightforward. This is where more supervision of projects and joint work is needed. Normally, the leader tries not to micro-manage the team, but in the virtual world there is a greater need for more involvement and following up to make sure what is supposed to be happening is in fact happening. Getting updates and reports on what the collaborating parties are doing is a must. Out of sight and out of mind is an old saw and so true. With virtual, we are definitely out of sight, but we have to remind everyone of the goals, milestones, agreements and schedules to make sure they don’t drift off track.

Commitment is more than words. It is easy at the meeting to agree to produce certain work, but the day to day realities interfere and the work is not done or is delayed. When others are waiting for our input before they can move forward, we have set up a possible delay mechanism without knowing it. This is why we need virtual partners to commit and then to be held to those commitments. The leaders job is to hold toes to the fire and force stuff to get completed. This means monitoring progress, getting updates and reports, to see if everyone is playing their role in the team.

Virtual demands a different approach. We have to become more heavy handed than usual as the leader and force more transparency between the team members. The distance of location and time zone cannot be counted on as excuses for failing to get the work done. Knowing early if things are going adrift means being a bigger sticky beak than normal, but it has to be done. The key is to keep reminding people why you are doing it this way and to ask for their continued cooperation. When people understand the challenges of virtual leadership, then they are more willing to take accountability for their roles. Don’t forget to praise people when they do their job and be as specific as possible to make the comments meaningful. Praise and vigilance are two key tools to be employed regularly by the virtual leader.