Leadership: it's always been virtual

Published: 2012-02-20   There are 3 comments ... please add yours below

How often does a colleague say to you “yes, it’s virtually done”? And, what do they mean? According to the dictionary, it’s this: your car is almost ready “but not quite.” So, why don’t they say: it’ll be out front in an hour? Because there’s something unreal (perhaps surreal) about their promise – rather like much of today’s online virtual world. To converse at one time with six friends across the world or pay online for CDs from a New York shop you’ve never visited is alarmingly different from what we did even a few years ago. But, in one sense, our world has always been virtual: operating at a distance, across space and time, intermediated in ways we didn’t fully understand. Leadership is a classic case – as per the examples below.

• It’s not about you. We hardly understand ourselves, so what chance have we got with understanding others. And, it’s patently clear that we’re in trouble if we assume others are just like us. So, good leadership starts with knowing your followers. Lessening the virtuality by grounding your leadership in actions that actually meet their needs.
• Communication is partial at best. And, in that sense, also virtual. Even talking to my wife at dinner, we can misunderstand each other. So, it’s not surprising business leaders have problems reaching people in another department, let alone in other plants or offices?
• Motivation is more effective than instruction. Even in a shared location, the best way to make people productive is empowering them to self-direct. Doubly so when we operate at a distance – by email or SMS that lack voice tone or body language to help us.
• Rapid-fire innovation separates us from language we know. New products and technologies force us to converse about new tools using new words; and, interact with people from different cultures and different skills to our own. Is it any wonder we’re disoriented at times?
• Matrix and networked organisations make business more complex. As the regional head of sales, am I Fred’s leader: the one with final say on what he does and how he’s rewarded? Or not? If I’m unsure, then think what’s it like for him?
• Travel, hot-desking and working from home make life ever more virtual. Do people still feel part of my team? Mary’s selling in Asia this month, Bill’s onsite with a customer and Jane’s working three days a week. So, how well are we connecting – and what can I do?

Historically, our family was our community. Then the village with its guilds and church groups. More recently, offices and factories. However today, there are global virtual communities: Facebook, LinkedIn and their kind, many of which include job sites. As a leader, you compete for the attention and commitment of colleagues not just against other leaders in your company. In a market of educated people (with virtual possibilities and expecting their needs to be met), your voice is just one of many seeking their affiliation. So, in this competitive environment, do you feel you should do more to engage your people – and bond them together? If yes, then click here to plan what you’ll do. It’s on us TODAY!

Dr. Timothy Pascoe AM
PhD (Cambridge), MBA (Harvard), BE & BEc (Adelaide)
Creator, V|E|C|T|O|R Leadership^®