Success Impulse: How Remote Leadership Works
Since the Corona pandemic, more people are working in home offices and being managed remotely. The importance of such "remote leadership" will increase. What are the keys to successful remote leadership?
Whether we like it or not, the need for leadership from a distance will grow in importance. We will see fewer and fewer teams where all members work together in one place all the time. Most leaders will have less and less ability to mandate attendance - at least not if they want to attract the best people. We will have to live with "hybrid." And that's a good thing. Because ultimately, physical distance is just an amplifier of previous leadership deficiencies: previous deficiencies become more obvious when people are remote and not "directly tangible." But outstanding leadership also works remotely without major problems. Here are three keys to remote leadership success:
Key #1: Clear goals and expectations
The lack of clear goals reduces the effectiveness of leadership in any situation. In leadership at a distance - where you have less insight into the progress of work - the importance is amplified. If you as a leader do not agree on clear and jointly supported goals that are worked on with full force to achieve, then it will be difficult.
Tip: Help your people by suggesting that they derive personal daily goals from the agreed quarterly or monthly goals each morning. This helps immensely to maintain focus.
Key No. 2: Regular conversations
It is recommended anyway that as a leader you have a short calibration meeting with each team member every week or at least every 14 days to discuss successes, progress, barriers and support needs. I recommend a clear agenda for this and a duration of 15-30 minutes. In remote leadership, this is essential as you will not "accidentally" run into each other.
Sometimes I hear from managers that you can hardly find the time to talk to every team member every week. Beware: If you can't find time for that, what else can you find time for? This is one of the foundations of leadership!
Key No. 3: Make communication simple
This is a topic where I see huge deficits in most companies. If your people are scattered, you need a platform where people can exchange information easily and intuitively. Why do you think almost everyone (the younger the more) prefers chat platforms like WhatsApp or iMessage for exchanges? Because it's easy and you can also convey certain emotions. In this day and age - and if you want to attract young people, you need a modern communication platform that works intuitively and emotionally.
Tip: Have your people trained in the proper use of these tools as well, so above all, don't get distracted by them. That works!
Conclusion:
If you take these three keys to heart and put them into action, remote leadership is not much different than on-site leadership - only with more freedom and then even higher productivity and greater engagement.
To the author:
Volkmar Völzke is a success maximizer. Book author. Consultant. Coach. Speaker. www.volkmarvoelzke.ch
