Remote leadership = leading at a distance

Remote leadership refers to the management of employees who work from a different location than the manager himself. Remote leadership can take place in virtual teams or in hybrid teams. The trend toward remote work has increased significantly in recent years, particularly as a result of the Corona pandemic. Today, many companies are embracing the ability for their employees to work from anywhere. This brings with it many advantages.

See also the articles on Hybrid Teams and Virtual Teams.

Remote leadership - new skills are needed

However, remote leadership also poses new challenges for managers, because management at a distance sometimes requires different skills and strategies than traditional on-site management.

Remote leadership - clear communication as a key factor

A key prerequisite for successful remote leadership is clear communication and adherence to agreements in the virtual or hybrid team. Since not everyone is directly present, it is crucial that leaders define goals and challenges together as a team, or communicate their expectations and goals, and ensure that all employees are well informed about current developments and changes.

Remote leadership - meetings, check-ins, sharing

Regular meetings and check-ins that promote content-related and personal exchange are important. Only in this way can important information flow and a common team spirit be developed and strengthened. If this is neglected, the result is often demotivation and dissatisfaction among employees.

Remote leadership - the use of digital collaboration tools

Another major challenge is the target-oriented use of the communication and collaboration tools employed. A key leadership challenge is to bring all employees up to speed and to develop and support them in such a way that they can effectively use the tools used, such as Zoom, Teams, Slack or Miro-Board.

Often it is not enough to simply demand and instruct, but requires the manager to deal subtly with the fears and resistance of the employees. If this leadership task is not performed, there is a great danger that individual team members will be left behind and that overall not only satisfaction but also the overall performance of the virtual or hybrid team will decline.

Glossary