Team leadership in a hybrid working context
Leading teams in a hybrid working context requires a different approach than traditional team leadership, but with the right tools and strategies it can be just as successful, if not more so...
Four tips to avoid people being fed up with your online meetings
Many people are fed up with online meetings even though they have become an essential part of collaboration in the "new normal". To avoid frustration be very conscious of the necessity when calling for a meeting. Let me explain ...
Purpose at work
Is the discussion around purpose at work just a fad? If you are interested in high engagement at all levels, you better act on it. Let me explain…
The jab against the online meeting pandemic
Working from home has great benefits but also shadow sides - the meeting pandemic. Rethink your approach to planning and conducting online meetings. Apply an old trick with new technology effectively…
The missing element?
One effect of working from home is that the number of online meetings has exploded. Some leaders seem to overstep lines pushing even more meetings to stay in touch. Watch out for the impact…
My monthly tip for virtual leaders: strengthen what members of virtual teams need most
The need for trust in virtual teams is even more crucial than for co-located ones. What do I do to foster it leading virtual teams? Learn more about why and how to develop trust ...
My monthly tip for virtual leaders: how can you best care for your people whilst we all distance physically
I am offering some tips to maintain or strengthen the social cohesion and personal connection in your team, i.e. simulate the coffee corner online
My monthly tip for virtual leaders: advanced facilitation of online meetings
In controversial discussion keeping an eye on everyone was and is crucial to the success. How does this work online when you screen-share and lose sight/ videos of the others ?
The holographic meeting is nigh, or isn’t it?
News about holograpghic techonolgy for person to person virtual interaction. Closing the gap? Not yet, but intersting steps forward
My monthly tip for virtual leaders: how can you be present when everyone is in their home-office?
How can you be present to your team whilst working from home? Online and off-line presence counts. Some tips..
Dealing with the challenges related to everyone working from home
Working from home poses several challenges. I am offering various tips from blogs I had written about remote /virtual work. Subjects covered are: Keeping motivation up Taking care of social cohesion Building resilience – your own and your team's Celebrating in the team What about technology?
My monthly tip for virtual leaders: Make online meetings engaging
Make online meetings engaging through involving participants in the preparation, facilitate with high interactivity and involve everyone by...
Eye contact is key in online conversations
My monthly tip for virtual leaders - February It is a fact that we need eye contact - at least to some degree - when we want to have a trustful conversation and good connection with someone we communicate with. In face-to-face settings that is…
Join our discussion about the best ways to motivate remote team members
The Virtual Leaders Lounge is (y)our place for informal exchange and learning Next session is on 26th November! Business leaders of virtual teams and our virtual working strategist share tips around what works and what doesn’t to motivate virtual team members. SIGN-UP now for a…
Virtual Leadership effectiveness: 4 success factors
In this blog I want to focus on the most important factors I consider necessary for virtual leaders to be effective and successful. Presence is one fo the 4 keys, synchronos or asynchronos
Fostering bonding in a virtual team
The simulated coffee corner effect for virtual teams When we, as the leader, start a new team, we like to do everything possible to make it a success and still an enjoyable experience. In order to enable a team to perform well high quality relations…
My way of celebrating with my virtual team
I already posted this a while back, but thought it would be good to repeat, as more and more teams around the world are facing the situation that they work in dispersed locations and barely -if ever- meet with their colleagues. But there is ...…
Advancing your leadership in the virtual world – final part 8 – Awareness for team dynamics
Virtual teams can suffer from critical dynamics going unnoticed Awareness for team dynamics is another competency for effective virtual leaders. This post is closing the series of essential competencies for virtual leaders. With this last one on team dynamics I would like to present you…
Advancing your leadership in the virtual world – Part 6 – Direction and Meaning
Strong intrinsic motivation is essential to virtual teams Direction and meaning are essential triggers, and a key competency for effective virtual leaders. With this post I am continuing the series as announced in the opening blog post 5 weeks ago: I will present the fifth…
Advancing your leadership in the virtual world – Part 1 – Introduction
THE 7 key competencies which make you highly effective as a virtual leader Looking into larger organisations and how their structures have evolved over the past years I see the dispersion of functions and their teams across sites, national or global, as the norm. As a response…
Leadership communication in virtual teams
The leadership paradox of organised informalities Communication is one of the keys to success in any team, be it local or virtual in structure. To get things done and deliver results team leaders have to pay attention to the quality of formal communication with and…
Digital transformation for virtual teams
How to use artificial intelligence in managing virtual teams I have recently attended an online event organised by Adobe, called Experience Festival. One highlight for me was a talk around artificial intelligence (AI) and how it could help organisations to create a different future in…
Team Maintenance: keep your team in top shape!
Regular team maintenance is essential to keep your team performing Over more than 25 years I had the privilege to work with many teams in a wide range of settings. They varied from localised, national project teams to very dispersed international teams, ranging from focussed…
High performance virtual teams by design – part I
My approach to team design to succeed with a virtual team Key factors for successful virtual teams: tips for management and leadership - part I The foundation for high performance virtual teams lies in the selection of team members and the design of the team.…
Virtual Working made effective
Good reasons why sometimes face-to-face meetings are NOT outdated If you have followed our blog so far you know by now that I am an evangelist for virtual working. And I am always willing to share my experiences in that area with anyone who is…
How I boosted the engagement in my dispersed teams – Part II
The recipe for delivering a compelling vision In last week's blog I had reasoned that as the leader of a virtual team you can boost the engagement in your team through a compelling vision. I had also outlined the 5 ingredients necessary to make a…
How I boosted engagement in my dispersed teams – Part I
The ingredients for a compelling vision As mentioned many times before, organisations are getting highly dispersed. One of the biggest risks in dispersed organisations is that members are far less engaged than in co-located organisational units. Over and over again this challenge surfaces in conversations…
Importance of Team Kick-Off
For the creation of High Performing Teams a proper Team Kick-Off is essential Over the years I had the privilege to work with many teams in a wide range of settings. They varied from localised, national project teams to globally dispersed international teams, ranging from…
How to set yourself up for great virtual meetings – Part II
The things “aside” most people do not pay attention to but make a great difference in virtual meetings Virtual meetings should be fun and effective and not frustrating or energy draining. With this attitude in mind I have - in part I of this blog - focused…
Launch of Virtual Leaders Lounge
Join free informal exchange with other leaders on topics relevant for you We offer you a unique place for interaction with leaders from other businesses to interact in an informal way and get new perspectives. This helps you to meet new people and discuss challenges…
Trust: the magic ingredient in Virtual Teams
My one essential ingredient leading a dispersed team effectively Leading over distance, being a virtual leader, is the norm in most international organisations. Yet, it is a widespread view in business that virtual teams are often managed badly and are performing way under their potential…
Help: virtual work is becoming viral …
... and not limited to multinational companies Some years ago it was my firm belief that virtual working was only found in multinational companies: people across the globe working on the same task or project need to work in a virtual way. Those dispersed teams…
Review VLD-Café session #7
Overcoming intercultural challenges when leading virtual teams ... ... was this months subject for the VLD-Café. In a lively discussion our diverse group of visitors came up with these fundamental challenges and ideas around the subject: the style of leadership the style and methods of…
Technology: does it help or hinder your virtual team?
Two factors you should consider when choosing the technologies to use Many discussions with leaders of virtual teams sooner or later lead to the question whether the importance of technology and its role in virtual collaboration is over- or under-estimated. From my personal experience and…
Review VLD-Café session #6
The original theme of this 6th VLD-Café session was the development of talents in a virtual context. In other words, how to deal with the development of human capital in dispersed teams where you as a leader have only limited line responsibility for the person…
Part 2 – How to boost presence in virtual meetings
Very often I hear from leaders that they consider videoconferencing the ultimate way of interacting remotely and be present. This is true if you still rely on visual tools as the one and only form of expressing your presence. Research shows that the selection of technology…
Part 1: How to boost your presence in virtual meetings
In recent years virtual leadership has matured from an exception to being almost the norm in international organisations. Many conversations I have with leaders who are more and more exposed to virtual leadership show that different mindsets are necessary to be effective in a virtual context.…
How to resolve the loyalty challenge as leader of virtual teams
Working with virtual teams is a common place in multinational organisations these days. As we all know, next to motivation, loyalty between the local organisation and the virtual team can become a challenge for the people working in your virtual team. This challenge of staying loyal…
Vision: Key to effective leadership in a virtual / dispersed context
In today's organisational reality leaders in medium to large companies name complexity and virtuality of their work as the key challenges. Especially working in a virtual context is becoming much more dominant and the norm in international business settings. The real challenge is, however, that…
Managing innovation in the global marketplace – Part 3
(co-author: Ian M Clark) The following is the last of 3 parts of an article on the challenges around managing the global transfer of innovation in today's businesses. It was originally written for and published in the "SOFW Kosmetikjahrbuch 2014". Parts 1 and 2 were…
Managing innovation in the global marketplace – Part 2
(co-author: Ian M Clark) The following is the second of 3 parts of an article on the challenges around managing the global transfer of innovation in today's businesses. It was originally written for and published in the "SOFW Kosmetikjahrbuch 2014". The first part was posted…
Managing Innovation in the global marketplace – Part 1
(co-author: Ian M Clark) The following is the first of 3 parts of an article on the challenges around managing the global transfer of innovation in today's businesses. It was originally written for and published in the "SOFW Kosmetikjahrbuch 2014". The Analysis Speed of innovation…
Does your virtual team have everything it needs?
Tools for self assessment related to working in virtual teams How do you select the team leader for an important project that is spread over several geographical locations? Or how do you evaluate your strengths and weaknesses as a leader of a virtual team so…
