Focus Magazine - Winter 2014 - 38

LEADERSHIP/MANAGEMENTDEVELOPMENT

What Makes Virtual
Leadership So Hard?
I By Sebastian Bailey, Ph.D

E

Leaders need to
work harder to
overcome the
invisibility factor
which stands in
the way of team
performance.

ight months since Marissa Mayer banned
home working at Yahoo!, the debate
about whether virtual working works
rages on. The answer from a Chinese company
that randomly selected employees to work
remotely was a resounding yes: Home workers
were more productive, happier and less likely to
leave than their office-bound peers. More
importantly, virtual working is no longer a
choice - it's a necessity to compete in the global
marketplace. But it's not without challenges.
Overcoming the obstacles to virtual working
isn't about high-definition video conferencing;
it's about effective leadership that accounts for
the nuances of the virtual environment.
So what makes it hard? Virtual teams lack
informal, everyday conversations - sharing
information at the water cooler, solving
problems on the coffee run - which breeds

An inability to see each
other's contributions
can breed distrust between
virtual co-workers.

38

feelings of isolation and hinders innovation. By
forging goals where people have to rely on one
another, leaders can increase the volume of
everyday interactions. Encouraging the use of
instant messaging can also reduce feelings of
isolation. Research with 40 virtual teams showed
that when the leader-employee relationship was
strong and the leader communicated frequently,
the employee was more likely to contribute to
team decision making, which increased
innovation.
An inability to see each other's contributions
can breed distrust between virtual co-workers.
When only some team members are virtual,
office workers can spread "shirking from home"
stereotypes while home workers feel hard done
by for missing out on office celebrations. To
build trust, virtual leaders need to publicize
individual roles and responsibilities and
communicate each team member's weekly
activities and availability. Regular positive
feedback and recognition helps to build the
team's belief in their colleagues' competence.
Virtual teams tend to lack team spirit; that
subtle unity that builds gradually in face-to-face
teams. Cultural differences and
miscommunication make 'all for one and one for
all' rare in the virtual world. Research shows that
virtual teams are more cohesive and effective
with shared leadership when each team member
takes some responsibility for team success. To
achieve this, leaders need to encourage team
members to monitor and manage their own
performance - for example, giving them access
to business metrics. Virtual leaders can also
celebrate team diversity and create inclusion by
building a team profile which shares each team
member's experience, expertise and personal
information.
In face-to-face teams customs emerge over
time, but virtual teams require clear ground
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Focus Magazine - Winter 2014

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