Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses have had to adapt swiftly to the new reality of remote work. Since it seems that remote work is here to stay, the need for virtual management and leadership has emerged. Virtual leadership is a form of leadership in which teams are managed remotely. Like traditional leadership roles, virtual leaders focus on encouraging workers and helping teams accomplish their goals.

 

Here are 5 essential tips and tricks for virtual leaders that will result in more efficient workflow and improved team spirit.

 

1. Establish team goals & guidelines

When you collaborate with your team, it’s vital to create a framework of mutual expectations, rules, and goals and stick to them. Body language and social cues, which can be easily grasped in the office setting, are challenging to transmit or perceive not seeing the person face-to-face. 

- Always have an agenda: Successful leaders always have a clear idea of the topic, goals, and action items for the meetings. Share your agenda points with the team before the meeting, so everyone is on the same page.
- Set expectations: How should people participate in a meeting? Are they active listeners, speakers, or both? Do they have to prepare anything? Whatever you decide, let your team know, so they come prepared.

 

2. Utilize the right technology

Virtual leaders use the right communication tools, meaning that they match the medium with the message. These are some recommendations of appropriate messages for each medium:

- Instant messages: Programmes like Slack, Teams Chat, and Google Chat 
- Email: If you need to share some formal instructions, files, or updates with one person or a group of people, email is a good choice.
- Video: Video is your optimal choice to create and keep a face-to-face connection. Many things are easier to explain face-to-face instead of composing lengthy emails.
- Phone: Conflicts, sensitive conversations, as well as urgent matters, are optimal over the phone.

 

3. Foster team relationships 

Building strong relationships is one of the essential things you can do as a virtual leader. Stronger connections will improve culture, collaboration, and engagement levels in your organization. How can you boost team connections when you aren’t even working in the same building? Well, even virtually, you can encourage socializing and give people the same opportunities to build relationships as done offline. One example is to organize a recurring time slot for your team to join a video call to chat with each other. It means no agendas and no work talk. Try a 30-minute happy hour one evening.

 

4. Support your team

Virtual leaders need to understand that working remotely can be lonely for team members, and not everyone shares the energy and excitement of working alone at home. As a virtual leader, it is crucial to know how team members are doing emotionally, i.e. asking them how their weekend was or what their current concerns are.

Another type of support is showing that despite the distance, their leader and the team members are there to support if needed. If before it was easy to walk by the desk and ask how things are going, there have to be other ways to show that you’re there for them.

 

5. Make transparency your friend

Sharing openly status updates, including inconveniences, failures, and errors is vital for both leaders and employees to maintain credibility and to achieve common aims and goals. The team members have to feel together in the face of adversity instead of trying to figure things out on their own. Here the stance of the leader becomes paramount: it depends on their reaction and degree of empathy if workers share unfavorable information in the future.