Sonia McDonald* outlines some of the important rules for leading a virtual team — especially in a crisis situation.
The world is changing and the need to lead kindly and courageously is even more crucial.
This also means when we lead virtually.
Leading a virtual team requires the same sort of leadership skills as in-person situations, but it also poses different challenges.
These challenges demand an adjustment in leadership techniques and skills, but that doesn’t mean that virtual leadership is as far removed from in-person leadership as you might think.
If you’re a virtual leader, here’s how you can lead effectively, with kindness and courage, even when your team are in different places, facing different challenges and obstacles.
Emphasise communication: While you might not be in the same room, there are many ways to facilitate meaningful communication with your virtual team.
Video calls, emailing, phone calls, instant messaging and even text messaging are ways that you can talk with your team regularly and effectively.
These types of communication can feel more informal and so may not be taken as seriously by some team members.
This is why setting clear guidelines for the use of these methods is important.
Guidelines should include things like what to do with differences in time zones, and how to communicate urgent messages.
Build trust at every opportunity: Without being able to spend time together in person, it can be harder to develop trust within your relationships with your team.
It’s important that you really take the time to communicate with each member and get to know them individually.
Whether this is through instant messaging or regular phone or video calls, you have to try even harder than in person.
You must be willing to be available to your team, more so than you would be if you were in an office environment.
Being honest, open and available to your team will help foster that trust and promote your accessibility.
Ensure your team has clarity on its tasks: Your team members must know what you expect of them at any given time.
You need to ensure that you have clarified each person’s role in a project or task so that there is no uncertainty.
As their leader, ask yourself if your team members know exactly what they need to do and what the other team members are going to be doing.
Consider whether the deadlines are clear, and how results should be reported.
If your team aren’t meeting your expectations or achieving the desired results, you must ask yourself why that is.
Is it because you haven’t actually been clear to begin with?
Make sure that your team knows it is able to come to you and ask questions for clarity if need be.
It’s better that members know they can approach you, rather than flounder without direction.
Provide support and make it clear it’s available: The virtual working environment can be isolating for some people.
They might thrive on the energy of being in an office space with others around.
Your job as a leader is to make sure that your team is supported emotionally, as well as professionally.
Check in with each team member regularly to ask how they are doing — and really mean it.
You should also encourage your team to ask for help from you if it needs it.
A team that feels supported is a happy team, even in a virtual environment.
This is also a great way to practice kindness.
Empower your team to exercise authority: Virtual teams are challenged by time.
Sometimes decisions need to be made quickly, and there isn’t time to seek out approval or direction from the leaders.
This means empowering your team so that it is comfortable exercising its authority when necessary.
It can be hard to relinquish some of your control, but the most courageous leaders are those who trust in their teams and allow them some autonomy.
You must also support the decisions your team members make, even if they aren’t the same decisions you might make.
Many leadership skills that are effective for traditional leadership also translate to virtual teams.
You just need to be aware of the subtle differences that require an altered approach.
By establishing communication, empowering and supporting your team with clarity and kindness, you will build trust and develop a great relationship with each member.
Be courageous enough to embrace the benefits of virtual work, and kind enough to understand the struggles that come with it, not just for yourself but for your team as well.
*Sonia McDonald is the Chief Executive and founder of Brisbane-based LeadershipHQ and McDonald Inc. She can be contacted at soniamcdonald.com.au.
This article first appeared on LinkedIn.
