Since the Great Pause caused a dramatic shift in the way we work, businesses had to adapt quickly. Along with this shift, the expectations for leaders have changed. Cognizant remote leaders have become aware that leading virtual teams effectively requires more than video conferencing software and online collaboration tools. In my new book, Virtual Leadership Skills, I talk about the set of foundational leadership skills that are especially challenged in remote leadership.
Virtual work has its own dynamics. Most of the paradigms that originated in the classic office world do not work in the same way in a virtual environment. Moreso, traditional office rules can be counterproductive in remote work settings. The absence of key leadership skills becomes more evident in remote environments.
- What are the mission-critical leadership skills you will need in 2022 and beyond?
- How do you enable or groom these skills in your organization?
- How do you use this combination of critical skills to beat the Great Resignation and attract and retain talent?
Virtual Leadership Skills answers that question, but in this article, I want to share how I have grouped virtual leadership skills into four sets of skills remote leaders need to master.
What Changes in Remote Leadership?
Virtual and remote leadership skills are essential for any leader who wants to lead remote teams in today’s virtual, remote, and hybrid work environments. Key challenges of remote leadership include common shifts in traditional expectations for leaders, for example:
- Reliably achieving objectives from a distance
- Leveraging technology to enable employees to collaborate effectively
- Creating an inclusive environment where everyone contributes freely
- Setting expectations and providing clear directions
- Making decisions and enabling decision-making
- Fostering collaboration and culture and overcoming projected distance
- Retaining and attracting talent
- Developing talent & enabling re- and up-skilling to match new market demands
Remote leaders need to effectively apply many of the traditional leadership skills. However, a key difference is the need to overcome the challenges that virtual, remote work brings. This has led to the term “E-Leadership” and describes the challenges remote leaders need to master.
Among these challenges are managing from a distance, cross-cultural and inclusive team building, motivation from afar, adaptability to rapid technological changes, and a commitment to consistently learning how to use technology to facilitate effective leadership.
Additionally, leaders must have the ability to communicate clearly and efficiently across all channels. Remote team leaders need to be able to inspire remote workers by communicating their vision and values in a way that promotes results. They also need to build trust faster and create strong relationships with those they lead. This is frequently mentioned as a key obstacle. It is often used as an objection to remote work because it is challenging but can be mastered.
However, no matter where you work – whether in the office or remote, you will have to learn to lead remotely when you work with global organizations or dispersed teams. Whether you embrace remote work or despise it – the skills behind the four key areas summarized below are key to your success as an effective leader. They represent a hybrid of evergreen expectations for leaders and trending skills that emerged from cultural and economic shifts.
A Trending Demand for Mission-Critical Leadership Skills in 4 Areas
I’ll summarize critical leadership skills in four key areas:
- Communication Skills
- Mobilization & Enabling Skills
- Problem-Solving Skills
- Adaptability Skills
1. Communication Skills
75% of employees view communication as the most important leadership skill yet only 18% see this applied by the leaders in their organization. Share on XMore companies today are working remotely in order to reduce costs and increase employee productivity. This presents challenges for both employees and employers who must learn how to communicate effectively across geographies. This includes overcoming the perceived distance or distance mindset.
Communication skills impact your effectiveness as a leader in a remote environment more than proximity. You need them to convey expectations, articulate vision, build trust, mobilize teams, solve problems, foster collaboration, and drive results. That’s why I begin with this set of skills.
Communication Skills are pivotal to the success of all other leadership skills. For example, if you are a gifted problem-solver but cannot mobilize teams or build trust to foster collaborative and creative problem-solving, you have slashed your chances for success.
If you are in charge of hybrid teams, bridging the distance – both geographically and perceived – is even more challenging. This requires mastery of effective communication skills and emotional intelligence to navigate hidden assumptions, biases, and even resistance to enable entire teams to collaborate despite real and perceived barriers to communication with team members. I covered leadership communication in more depth in my last article on LinkedIn.
2. Mobilization & Enabling Skills
Remote leaders need to be able to mobilize and enable others to generate prolific outputs with minimal supervision. This includes mobilizing teams to make decisions and act on them. Furthermore, it includes enabling employees to get the support they need and providing organizational context.
Remote leaders also need to be able to provide feedback and coaching to employees to help them find ways to improve their performance. Let’s not forget about a leader’s responsibility to ensure the continuous development of your talent. How will you ensure your team is ready for tomorrow’s skill demand and promote continuous evolution?
3. Problem-Solving Skills
Problem-solving is the ability to identify and analyze problems and find solutions. It’s the ability to think critically and creatively. It’s also the ability to make decisions based on facts and logic. Problem-solving is not just about knowing how to solve problems but also being able to recognize them early on and making decisions based on what you know and/or anticipate.
Being able to deal with change and uncertainty is another core part of effective problem-solving. When we don’t know what the future holds, we can use a problem-solving methodology to provide solutions for different scenarios and enable preparedness.
Problem-solving skills are especially useful in situations where you have limited resources. As a remote leader, you might be forced to make decisions on your own without immediate access to expert advice. Leadership decisions often require quick thinking and a willingness to take calculated risks.
How do you currently apply problem-solving in your organization? What can you do to promote it on your team?
4. Adaptability Skills
One of the most essential skills for business leaders in 2022+ will be the ability to adapt to changes in workplace technology, culture, and employee engagement. Leaders must advance their organizations by developing a collaborative, innovative, and supportive workplace. This may require a shift in your approach to leadership, specifically in the ability to adapt and help your employees navigate change.
Adaptability is the ability to change quickly and easily when faced with changing conditions. Adaptability allows you to cope with change, respond to challenges as they evolve, and seize opportunities.
Adaptability enables leaders to deal with uncertainty and ambiguity while maintaining strategic foresight. Today’s leaders need to maintain a high level of adaptability to navigate ever-changing business environments, anticipate and detect trends and make important decisions for their organizations. Successful leaders adapt quickly when they find themselves in an unfamiliar situation. They remain calm and quickly assess what they need to do to succeed.
What You Can Do
My latest book, Virtual Leadership Skills, (available on Bookboon) covers 16 crucial leadership skills in these four areas. I explain the drivers behind these skills, provide practical applications with examples and share how you can enable these four areas in your organization.
Share your insights:
- Is your organization providing remote leadership training or coaching?
- What remote leadership challenges are you experiencing?
- Have you taken a remote leadership course – and, if so: how has it helped you or your team?
Let me know your thoughts on LinkedIn!
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