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Is anyone out there? A Guide to Virtual Team Working and Leadership

Part 3: The role of Leadership

In order for virtual teams to make best use of their diversity, to achieve the results required of them amidst all the other constraints and pressures on their time, their effort must be co-ordinated and new working practices established under the guidance of a leader.

Effective leadership is a personal role that requires the blending of motivational, strategic and management skills to align focus, energy and drive whilst creating a culture that encourages individual thinking and attainment. Ultimately leadership is about pushing ideas and thoughts forwards, shouldering responsibility and unlocking hidden drivers and aspirations to bring out the confidence of others. Harnessing energy in a strategic way that inspires and unites a team towards achieving some common task.

Although working practices have undergone dramatic change, the essential qualities of a good leader remain remarkably unchanged, the only point to note being that with the flattening of company structures and loss of middle-management, leaders are required to have greater project management and influencing skills than in the past.

Summary of key leadership skills:

• Visionary – know what needs to be achieved and how to go about achieving it
• Inspirational – create and bring to life an image of how things can be
• Aware – understand each individual's abilities, limitations, motives and drivers
• Influential – use vision, argument and important stakeholders to sway opinion
• Trustworthy – speak honestly and openly and expect the same from others
• Managerial – keep track of progress against targets and take action on slippage

Assuming the role of leader is always a challenge and in the case of leading a virtual team, particularly so. The rest of this report looks at specific issues and provides practical 'rules of engagement' that can be put into place to overcome potential problems.

Part 2 < Back to Top > Part 4   

© 2004 Copyright MaST International Group plc. All rights reserved. Reproduced with permission. Any opinions or views contained in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Training Reference.

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