Leading Virtual Teams Effectively

Leading-Virtual-Teams-Effectively-Chris-LemaDo you remember playing the telephone game as a kid? You’d say one thing to the person sitting next to you, and they’d pass on your message. Then the next person would pass on what they thought they heard and so on. The real fun of the game was when you heard the last person share what they thought was the message, and the first person share the message after that.

Leading Virtual Teams is Tough

For almost two decades I’ve been managing remote staff. In some cases these were full teams located in one place far from me. In other cases it was an entire team spread across three countries, with no two people within 100 miles of each other.

Leading a virtual team – one where members are distributed all over the place – can take that telephone game to a whole new level of crazy. And if you’ve been leading in a remote context there’s a good chance you know exactly what I’m talking about.

Leading Virtual Teams is Counter Intuitive

What I know to be true is that when it comes to leading virtual teams effectively, you can’t simply add a weekly phone call or regularly emailed report to your normal leadership strategies and hope for success. Leadership in this context requires something else.

In fact, the most central thing I’ve learned is that it’s all unintuitive. By that I simply mean, leading virtual teams effectively requires you to embrace two new leadership paradigms because, like the telephone game, what you think you know may not be what you need to know.

It Means Managing Less

One of the things we all tend to do in situations we’re uncomfortable in is to limit the degrees to which things can fail. So we control more and release freedom less. This puts us, we think, in a stronger leadership position.

But that’s not always the truth. The truth is that we’ll never develop ownership by assigning tasks. And that can quickly become a vicious cycle where we create the lack of ownership by the way we’re leading our virtual teams.

Instead, assign roles and goals. Get out of the task business. It will drive greater ownership over tasks simply out of necessity’s sake. After all, if you don’t own the tasks, someone must. And why should it be anyone other than the people with the roles assigned to pursue the goals?

In this way you step out of task management, and step into the leadership work of clearing the roadblocks and providing the air cover that your virtual team needs.

It Means Embracing Peer Pressure

We’ve all learned, from early on, that peer pressure was something we were supposed to reject. But we never stopped to question if some kinds of peer pressure was good.

I run a daily “pulse” call with my different virtual teams. That call can last anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes and it’s where I share context so that team members can make better decisions. It’s also where I hear about roadblocks that may be in the way, and anything else that someone thinks I need to know.

But the most important aspect of the call is when each team member answers the question – “What is done done?” No, that’s not a typo. It’s there twice on purpose. Because I want to know what is actually complete. Not partially or mostly done (with an attached modifier after the word “Done”). Instead, I want to know what’s so done that the only word after it is done.

As we “walk” around our virtual meeting room, each person shares what’s done done. They don’t share activity. They share accomplishment. And there’s no trouble when a person doesn’t have anything to share on any given day. But after a couple of days, there is mounting peer pressure.

The fear of peer rejection is stronger than the fear of looking weak.” ~Chris Lema (Tweet This)

No one wants to be the slacker, the slowest one on the team. And so they do what comes naturally – they ask for help. First from each other. And then from me. But they don’t hide for days. Because tomorrow’s another day where they can shine, where they can get something done, or help someone else on the team succeed.

What about Your Experience Leading Virtual Teams?

Are you leading virtual teams? What other paradigms have I missed? Share them with me in the comments.

Leading From The Heart

Leading-Heart-Susan-BagyuraLeadership is not a formula or a program, it’s a human activity that comes from the heart and considers the hearts of others. It’s an attitude, not a routine.” ~Lance Secretan

Even with leaders, loyalty and respect are earned, not given.  It’s the leader’s emotional intelligence skills determining their ability to influence and inspire others.

Here’s a perspective using the head and the heart.  Purpose and mission are important to both the head and heart leaders, but the day-to-day approach is stark in contrast.

When someone leads from the head, there’s an intellectual process that seems quite rational and reasonable.  As long as everything is running smoothly, this approach works well.

However, when there’s stress and tension, then the ego steps in looking for causes and someone to blame for the situation.  Voices and tensions are raised in reaction to the chaos. It’s like the lights were shut off as the darkness spreads throughout affecting anyone involved, even on the periphery.

Once the problem is resolved, outer appearances show that everything is back to normal.  However, a serious toll will have been taken, leaving anger and humiliation to fester in the wake. Things will have been said and done that many will carry as silent wounds.

When someone is allowing the head to rule during those stressful times, as things appear to be going desperately wrong, the ego is like a general involved in a bloody battle.  All civility is tossed aside in favor of getting the job done.  It’s a fear-based environment and everyone dreads being caught in the crossfire.

A heart-centered leader sees the people rather than the task as the number one priority.  This leader will be focused on bringing out the best in people in all circumstances.  Relationships are built based on respect, growth, cooperation and communication.

When leading from the heart, time is set aside to understand what’s important to each individual in terms of their:

  • Career/work
  • Growth
  • Family
  • Health
  • Finances
  • Future aspirations

The loyal union is predicated on helping each other get what they want.

Should a tense situation arise, rather than looking for a culprit, people will respond to the immediate needs while looking for the learning to be gained from the experience.  Instead of making accusations, ways to resolve the situation are found and changes are made to reduce the likelihood of a re-occurrence.

At the core of the heart-centered leadership is preservation of each individual’s value to the team, the organization.  When leaders take the time to view their staff from different perspectives, particularly personally, they will see strengths and commitment beyond their imaginings.

The proof of this is seen in each episode of Undercover Boss.  The CEO and their directors wonder how they can improve performance.  It’s decided the CEO will go undercover.

Always in disguise, the new worker experiences great difficulty doing any of the jobs they are given.  Suddenly at least 2 things become obvious to the boss:

  • The employees are working at maximum capacity
  • Most of the people, despite personal challenges, are performing amazingly well.

It’s only when these leaders have some heartfelt moments with some individuals that they recognize the extraordinary people working in their companies. Later the CEO institutes programs or assistance.

In each case, the CEO found the heart of their organization by engaging with each employee as a peer with something to learn from them.  Judgments were set aside in pursuit of understanding.

Although their individual contribution won’t show up on the spreadsheet, the personal pride of the workers performing to the best of their abilities shone through in the personal interactions with the undercover boss.

Each one ended up in tears when they were finally recognized and appreciated for their value to the organization.  Leading from the heart may take more time, but the outcomes are well worth the effort.

 Leading from the heart may take more time, but the outcomes are well worth the effort. ~Susan Bagyura Tweet this!

What other thoughts do you have about leading from the heart? Please share your thoughts below.