In today’s technological and communication era, leadership challenges and variables can change quite often. At one point in our careers as federal government employees, supervisors and executives it was a challenge to get folks to hang up the phone, get off the computer and come to the conference room for staff meetings and tag-ups. Now we have team members located in various parts of the country, in different time zones and with various technical capabilities and skills. When we communicate, how often, the technology used and what we communicate have powerful repercussions for leaders.
Teams composed of virtual members allows agencies to hire individuals with skills sets and mind sets matching that of the organization, regardless of location. Personnel does not have to necessarily relocate in certain situations. Of course, we have certain positions which require face to face interactions with other leaders in the organization and must be physically available to respond to specific types of situations or equipment. Therefore, we know that not all positions can be handled virtually.
For those positions which can be handled virtually, it is often advantageous to teams to benefit from the expertise of those who may not be able to relocate or do not wish to relocate. George Bradt of Fortune says there are three keys to effectively leading virtual teams, Trust, Clarity and Vision. Leaders should do what it takes to get team members to trust you and each other. Leaders have to be clear about what each team member needs to do – specifically. Then make sure the parts fit together in line with the overall vision.
Regardless of how good the leader is at building Trust, Clarity and Vision, the Team should plan to meet face to face at least twice a year. Live meetings help to nurture and grow relationships. Live meetings provide time to give those step-by-step actions that are essential to producing clarity and allows discussion of how each team member fits into the vision.
Randy Conley in “Leading with Trust” indicates the downside for virtual workers is that individuals can suffer from “out of sight, out of mind” so it’s important they work extra hard to be visible and active within the team. The leader of the team has to Understand and manage the unique dynamics of a virtual team– Virtual teams add a few wrinkles to your job as a leader and a specific one is communication. It’s important to ramp up the frequency of communication and leverage all the tools at your disposal: email, phone, webcam, instant messenger, morning reminders, sharing of updates, maintaining all tasks in one place, meetings in a shared calendar, documents accessible and available to everyone, and others. It’s helpful to set, and keep, regular meeting times with virtual team members.
Leading virtual teams is complex but it is here to stay so we should be prepared to meet the challenges!
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