A recent article, The 7 Virtual Leadership Competencies Every Manager Needs by Rick Lepsinger says that while most of competent leaders share the same qualities, those who handle virtual teams must be particularly strong in the following aspects to ensure they have the competencies to lead and collaborate remotely.
1. Collaboration
Virtual leaders in various places and in different Full Service Virtual Offices must understand the diversities of each team member’s culture and time zone to be able to build strong and efficient collaboration.
2. Communication
A virtual leader need to stay connected with team members to establish trust and loyalty and to conduct virtual meetings successfully using meeting space with appropriate technology.
3. Administration
Virtual leaders must hold team members accountable. It means they need to set reasonable deadlines, they need to keep track the work in progress and follow up with team members at key milestones.
- Innovation
Virtual leaders must be able to bring in new ideas to their team, help them overcome confusion and uncertainty about change and keep their team engaged and motivated to continue with those innovations.
- Resolving conflict
Distance creates misunderstanding between virtual leaders and their teams . Therefore, leaders must determine the cause of conflict and resolve it using an approach that is most appropriate for a given situation.
- Decision making
Virtual leaders need to work harder to catch up with the right stakeholders and collect the data needed for decision making. They need to conform to a strategic framework and consider every detail before deciding on a game plan.
Conclusion
Competent virtual leaders produce efficient and productive virtual teams which are the building blocks of any business with different locations across the city, country or world. These virtual leadership skills can be honed by proper training. Likewise, if you need workplace solutions for your virtual team in Philadelphia, YourOffice Philadelphia offers you a wide choice of office and workspace solutions: virtual office space Philadelphia, meeting room access, and coworking office space Philadelphia. You’ll have access to a complete array of office support and concierge services as well as state-of-the-art business technology.
Any other important skills of a competent virtual leader? Feel free to share your comments. You can also see us on Facebook and Twitter.
