virtual distance leadership and management uk

2

Hyper-individual

Online

Glocal

Sharing economy

A.I.

Complexity

Big data

Access

Innovation

Gig economy

Gen whY

Robotics

Transparency

Augmented

Exponential

VR

Wirearchy

Collaborative

Communities

Environmentalism

3

What is virtual distance?

Physical

distance

Operational

distance

Virtual

distance

Affinity

distance

4

Virtual distance and working – the pros and cons

High virtual distance often means that:

• Innovation declines by up to 90%

• Time and budgets are exceeded by more

than 50%

• Decrease in trust by up to 80%

• Well-being is reduced by 80%

• Objectives and role clarity decrease by up

to 60%

1. Virtual distance has a significant

impact on performance.

2. When the virtual distance is relatively

high, actual performance drops

significantly compared to when the

virtual distance is low.

Then WHY?

→ Because we can get our

hands on the best minds

→ Because we reduce time

and travel expenses

5

The psychology of virtual distance

1. Recognise

2. Trust

3. Loneliness

4. Cultural and contextual

5. Communication

6. Direction

6

Types of virtual teams and collaboration – a quick questionnaire

Questions (yes/no):

1. Do your colleagues/team

members normally work during the

same hours?

2. Do your colleagues/team

members normally work in the

same physical space?

3. Do your colleagues/team

members share the same culture?

Space

Time

Culture

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Type of team and collaboration Challenge

A

Different time

Same space

Different culture

Cross-shift interaction

Multicultural interaction

B

Different time

Different space

Different culture

Cross-time zone interaction

Multiple locations interaction

Multicultural interaction

C

Same time

Different space

Different culture

Cross-geography interaction

Multicultural interaction

D

Different time

Same space

Same culture

Cross-shift interaction

E

Different time

Different space

Same culture

Cross-time zone interaction

Multiple locations interaction

F

Same time

Different space

Same culture

Cross-geography interaction

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The 3 T’s

Team building

• Face-to-face meetings

• Virtual team building

• Train the use of social

technology

• Learn to hang out online

Techniques

• Develop shared and

common goals

• Share contextual

knowledge

• Team facilitator

Technology

• Collaborative tools –

synchronous/

asynchronous

• Share point

• Visual tools

• Virtual decision support

9

Expand your technological repertoire

10

From emails to social texts

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How do we reduce the experienced virtual distance?

Cultural distance

Social distance

Relationship distance

Interdependence distance Physical

distance Operational

distance

Virtual

distance

Affinity

distance

12

The most common response to virtual collaboration and leadership

• By phone

• By email

• And perhaps Lync/Skype

A lot of one-to-one communication

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The shift from F2F collaboration to virtual distance collaboration

Job

Engagement

Collaboration

Teams

Co-leadership

Time

Control

Broadcasting

Department

Leadership

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A good virtual leader

Should be competent in the same leadership

skills as other talented leaders:

• EQ

• Building followership

• Building trust

• Cultivating collaboration

They also need to:

• Develop a type of “natural” disciplined collaborative authority – without being

too autocratic or abdicating

• Spend time on building up and creating purpose in the virtual team

• Clearly define and delineate roles and responsibilities

• Provide time, budget and other resources

• Develop both social and technical infrastructure to support the team

15

Expectations of the individual virtual leaders

1. Focus on co-ordination

2. Availability

3. Balanced information flow

4. Feedback

5. Fair

6. Determination

7. Honesty

8. Focus on development

• Understanding the business

• Technical competence

• Interpersonal training

9. Building a sense of community

10. Respectful

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How to build virtual trust

1. Communicate openly and often – “subtitle”

2. To gain confidence – give confidence

3. Be honest and transparent

4. Establish strong ethics, culture and values

around the mission, networking and the

organisation

5. Do what you say you will do and make

your actions visible

6. Make sure that your interaction is

consistent and predictable

7. Set the tone for collaboration

8. Be available and responsive

9. Maintain confidentiality

10. Be aware of your language

11. Provide social team time – also online

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Collaboration via emails

1. Have a “no scrolling” rule

2. Avoid group replies

3. Keep group lists updated

4. Do not keep everyone’s attachments

or full dialogue in email replies

5. Check email regularly

6. Use the subject line

7. Use automatic replies when

necessary

8. Establish email culture in the team

9. Have a no spam rule

10. Use filters to sort emails

11. Use different emails, if you sign up to

a public website

12.Use blind addresses when you email a

group

13.Know your recipients’ configuration and

email them accordingly

14.Keep your inbox lean

15.Manage your address book

16.Never write confidential or private

content in an email

17.Teach your team about appropriate or

inappropriate emails

18.Do not open suspicious emails

19.Be careful about writing emotional

content

20.Never use emails to address

performance or interpersonal issues

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Online meetings and facilitation – good ideas

• Understand and know your

technology

• Virtual meetings or workshops are

real

• Have a co-facilitator, focusing on

chat and technical issues

• Always use a webcam

• Speak clearly

• One person for one computer

• Communicate explicitly

• Think about plan/agenda and

objectives first, then the technique

19

Online – the basics

Visual

• You are on

• Fill the video image

• Have good “table manners”

• Remember good lighting

• Use a picture, if video streaming

quality is bad

Audio

• Always use headsets

• Use mute when you do not speak

• Be aware of voice volume

• Avoid speaking all at once

• Minimise interruptions from the

outside

• Pay attention to noise and sound in

the background

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Virtual distance leadership and collaboration – a model

1. Creating context

• Who are we?

• Where are we?

• What is our role?

2. Cultivating community

• Virtual team spirit

• Collaboration

• Organisational citizenship

3. Co-activating leadership

• Shared leadership

• Leader intent

• Informal authority

Collaborative

leadership

Cultivating

community

Creating

context

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The art of collaboration

Collaboration is when

individuals or groups work

together, combining their

strengths and negating each

others weaknesses to

accomplish a set of goals.

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What makes a good collaborator

P2P

Motivators:

• Competence

• Autonomy

• Relatedness

Group

Motivators:

• Pleasure

• To feel an active participation

• A wish to be recognized

Trust

Recognition

Authenticity

Enthusiasm

You are who you

say you are

knowing that what

you are doing is

appreciated by

others

I am happy to

share with this

person/these

people

23

Hyper-individual

Online

Glocal

Sharing economy

A.I.

Complexity

Big data

Access

Innovation

Gig economy

Gen whY

Robotics

Transparency

Augmented

Exponential

VR

Wirearchy

Collaborative

Communities

Environmentalism

Q & A