Tweet

How to be An Effective Leader in a Virtual Team

Guest post by: Jo Romano

Article Overview: One of the major problems companies are facing is how to manage their workers. Most of them have this wrong belief that remote workers and workers at home are not as productive as an in house staffer.

How to be An Effective Leader in a Virtual Team

A lot of companies today are facing many problems. One of the major problems that they are facing is how to manage their workers. Most of them have this wrong belief that remote workers and workers at home are not as productive as an in house staffer.

They believe that mobile workers are harder to manage than on-site workers. The old style of managing which is the so-called "eyeball management" from which the leaders or the managers presume that these on-site workers are more prolific than mobile workers because they have been seeing them working at their desks.

Now is the time to change that assumption. Yes, on-site workers can be very productive but mobile workers can also do the same. If you are one of those who are having a hard time on managing mobile workers then the following tips might help you:

1. Establish Good Communications. Establishing good communication is one of the most important factors to consider in virtual offices. There are plenty of modern technologies that you can use to communicate. Often communication can help in guaranteeing the success of a virtual office.

2. Provide definite, quantifiable, and reachable goals. The major reason why some companies are thinking twice of hiring mobile workers is because they are not sure if these workers will still do their tasks without supervision. But the thing is even if you are there watching an on-site worker physically, you still can't be so sure what he/she is doing. The fact still remains that even with an on-site worker, you can't watch him or her every second and aside from that you can easily be confused by activity with productivity.

An excellent leader is the one who provides definite, quantifiable, and reachable goals for the mobile employees so that he or she knows what the tasks are that need to be done and when it needs to be done by. If there is a comprehensible description of employees' tasks and responsibilities then there is a bigger chance that the workers will be productive. You should focus your attention op the accomplishments of your workers. This way you will achieve a prolific mobile workforce.

4. Organize meetings. Nothing can be compared to a face-to-face conversation. That is why it is important for virtual offices to consistently communicate through regularly structured meetings.

5. Give remarks and support to your employees. Since there are only a few chances to connect with a mobile employee, the leader must exert some efforts in giving praises and positive observations to each staff member. This is one way to improve your relationship with them.

Related Articles
  6 Qualities of a Great Leader in a Virtual Team
  How to Stay Connected in a Virtual Team
  Virtual Collaboration is Not For Everyone: The Characteristics of Top Performing Virtual Leaders and Team Members
  No Trust, No Team: Building Trust in a Virtual Setting
  7 Steps to Improve Your Virtual Leadership and Virtual Team Effectiveness

Article Tags: leadership, leading virtual teams, virtual teams, virtual workers



Related Forum Posts
Re: Anyone Uses Elance.com? Guru.com? Rentacoder.com? - I've had quite a bit of success on oDesk.com. I've never used Elance so I can't compare. I like oDesk.com 'cos I get to sort thru people (e.g. within a certain bid range) with a single click. I find their help response very quick and I like the oDesk Team software that "providers" must install. This gives me the Buyer more insight as to what I am paying for. The Team software takes screenshots of the Providers screen on 10 min increments so I can see that the person is infact doing work for me.
Re: My 200 post - Well GT, You done it again, The Leader and now you have 1003 post, wow. Michelle and Trent, you are a winners too. WTG friends, you are an inspiration.
Blank text field might be better - Hi TheAnonymousMan, I like your idea! I'm assuming it would be similar to the status feature on Facebook where it might say "Kevin is ... " So I think having a blank text field in the profile box (and even "Leader" boxes on the left and top side of the forums if possible) might be more fun than just choosing from pre-set options from a drop down menu:D
Re: Traditonal Demographics Do NOT Work with Generation V - That article is the first time I ever heard the term. I found this definition - [i:189o61sy]The term Generation V (for Virtual) is used to describe the online culture in which relationships, services and communication are carried primarily and preferably through electronic media. Generation Virtual is made up of people from multiple demographic age groups who make their social connections primarily online - through virtual worlds in online games, in social networks, as bloggers, or through posting and reading user-generated content.[/i:189o61sy] I like the targeting options the internet offers much better than the typical demographics. Age is particular is not nearly as effective in finding a target market unless you want to target kids. Too many of the typical demographics rely on stereotypes and just seems outdated for many types of promotion. That's one of the reasons this article title caught my eye. Shri
Re: FILL IN THE BLANK: One thing I did to grow my business today - Website: Posted a new article on my main business website and bookmarked it. Team: Contacted new affiliates and invited them to join my training list.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

How to Improve Your Time Management

Looking for an Easy Online Business Opportunity?

LEARNING TO HAVE FUN – EVERYDAY!

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.