Leading Teams in Virtual World

"Leadership is a Contact Sport!" I have heard this phrase umpteen times from very successful leaders from different industries.

For about a year now, I have seen a number of them floundering, when it comes to leading their teams virtually. They were able to masquerade the values of Trust, Openness, Vulnerability in the traditional form of organization. In the new age of Teams operating in the virtual world most of them were not able to keep their masks on. They were found out by their teams during these pandemic times when it was required to take teamwork to a next level. Most of these organizations became more toxic, more controlling, more opportunistic. Many of them think that all these measures during extraordinary times have allowed them to survive. But they have missed a huge organisational Learning opportunity. They have become a laggard in understanding the dynamics of leading teams in the virtual world. This price will be very heavy to pay for many of them when the world will pass through these times and they will realize that Team Working has not returned to pre-pandemic days.

But there are a number of silver linings also on the horizon. During my interactions with a number of leaders from different industries, I also observed a number of them who displayed splendid humility, resilience, trust, vulnerability and courage to adapt to the new normal of "Virtual TeamWork".

In this new normal Leadership is a contact sport of making contact at emotional plain.

I worked with the pharmaceutical giant Zydus Cadila. During this Pandemic Year, they decided to get their Great Place to Work Certification. How they handled the entire project in a virtual work mode and showcased an exceptional level of teamwork was an example that was a great display of being vulnerable, Trust and Resilience. An organization that not only handled their virtual work environment with elan but also successfully fulfilled the responsibility of a leading pharmaceutical manufacturer not only for India but for the entire world.

Another two examples that come to my mind are ICICI and Edelweiss. Among these two organizations, I saw teamwork going to the next level. They adapted their entire work processes. They configured these processes as per the need for Virtual Team Work. The care which they displayed during these times is worth appreciating. They became some of the first ones to invest in collaboration platforms with lots of right intent to promote openness, trust and accountability. They experimented with newer and holistic ways of connecting with their employees. They adopted these new principles not only for their teams but extended them to their customers as well. This allowed them to build a new level of trust with their customers and teams.

So what is the secret sauce for a Successfully Leading Virtual Team?

You know the sauce is not a very different one. Actually, It's about following the earlier available recipe but with a greater dose of vulnerability and humility.

Before I move to explore the ingredients of Successfully Leading a Virtual Team Working,

One quote which comes to my mind while analyzing Leading Virtual Team is from none other than Mahatma Gandhi (Architect of India's Freedom).

Successfully Leading a Virtual Team in a New Normal is nowhere closer to leading virtual teams in the IT and Services Sector in a normal situation. Where is the difference? You may be wondering. While these organizations have operated virtual teams now for decades and produced a lot of learning around how to manage and lead them, this pandemic has transformed the dynamics of leading virtually.

This Pandemic has seen the evolution of leadership beyond this quote. The New Quote which defines successfully Leading Teams in a Virtual World is :

This transition has been remarkable during the pandemic, It required not even following them. It required more Trust, more vulnerability and more Leadership at all levels. This transition is about bringing C.K. Prahlad's strategy of creating greater business success by adopting strategies that tap into the bottom of the pyramid to the domain of Leadership Development.

In this new era of Virtual Work, the organizations which succeded displayed the following seven characteristics:

a) Being More Human
b) Promoted Bottom of Pyramid Leadership
c) Accepted the Vulnerability of Top Leadership Structure
d) Promoted Followership at Top
e) Promoted Unconditional Peer to Peer Accountability
f) Invested Heavily in Open Collaboration Platforms
g) Increased Investment in People Capability Building

a) Being More Human: This parameter became the first principle of decision making in organizations that successfully lead Teams in the Virtual World. While there are many organizations that found an opportunity to exploit and downsize their teams. Humanistic Organizations created open dialogues and made "CARE" as the fundamental word guiding their decisions.

b) Promoted Bottom of Pyramid Leadership: Trust the Leadership Potential which has remained untapped during the modern history of organizations. These organization allowed their organizations to completely behave like an amoeba organization. Anyone and everyone have been allowed to take leadership roles and make decisions. What is this shift about? This shift is from the "Art of Control to Art of Trust". Not an easy one to master.

c) Accepted the Vulnerability of Top Leadership Structure: Traditional Leadership Structures at the top of the hierarchy accepted that they are vulnerable to the new realities of work. They can't lead by just walking the talk or displaying trust, resilience etc. They have to accept that they can't lead at every place. Let Bottom of Pyramid Leadership Take Over the Mantle. The best person to make the decision in this Virtual World of work is the Person who is facing the situation.

d) Promoted Followership at Top: Traditional Leadership switched roles from being a Leader to being a follower guided by the Servant Leadership Principle. This is about identifying and believing in the potential of people at all levels and about cherishing their success.

e) Promoted Unconditional Peer to Peer Accountability: To do this everyone became more aware of each other. This shift has been a big shift. It involved shifting awareness. Earlier awareness was largely limited to awareness of each other's work and deliverables and standing for each other if that was required. New Virtual worlds required Teams to take this awareness to the next holistic level which included being aware of Your Team Members 360-degree environment. These organizations made family members part of their Teams.

f) Invested Heavily in Open Collaboration Platforms: They invested very heavily in platforms of open collaboration which allowed seamless work. This promoted openness and accountability and higher clarity of outcomes for everyone. This allows people at all levels to seamlessly move up, down and sideways wherever they are needed without an iota of the feeling of trying to replace each other. Many organizations do this investment with an aim to keep an eye on everyone and to control more. This motive will decide that whether you will be successful in leading Teams in the Virtual world or Fail.

g) Increased Investment in People Capability Building: They invested more in People capability building at all levels which allowed them to leverage the benefits of the bottom of Pyramid Leadership. This allowed people at all levels to feel capable to rise to the occasion and be successful. They felt comfortable displaying Self Leadership.

If you are looking at getting assessed your readiness to successfully leading teams in the Virtual World of Work, write to us at info@mindstream.in