Going the (Virtual) Distance

Karen Sobel Lojeski - November 19, 2009

Leadership Talent Management Teams ProjectsAtWork

More project team members are working virtually, but the leadership models that once prevailed in organizations no longer cut it in an environment in which cohorts type instead of talk and rarely see each other face-to-face. Here are three core competencies for leading virtual teams.

Just 20 years ago, “going to work” meant waking up, getting dressed, jumping in the car, and driving to a physical location where you interacted, face-to-face, with your boss and coworkers all day. In 2009, it might mean stepping across the hall to your home office and getting on a videoconference with team members you haven’t seen in months — if, indeed, you’ve ever met.

Yes, everything about work has changed. It’s gone from a permanent, flesh-and-blood world of people who know their coworkers well — from where they live to how many kids they have to how they drink their coffee — to a transient one where the voices on the phone may change week-to-week and project-to-project. Even inside an office coworkers are more likely to email the person in the next cubicle than speak to him.

The implications of these changes are staggering. In fact, they require a whole new leadership model.

The virtual workforce in the U.S. has exploded. In fact, according to the International Data Corporation, the mobile …

Please log in or sign up below to read the rest of the article.

Going the (Virtual) Distance

Continue reading...

Sponsors

Vendor Events

Guessing is not a strategy: How to build decision velocity with AI and real-time data

Newsletters