In the post-pandemic period, when the general public understood and recognized the value of remote work, this form of work has proven to be quite common. This is not surprising since the benefits of remote work are significant and allow for increased production capacity by attracting workers from all over the world. However, as this phenomenon grows in popularity, discussing effective leadership strategies to coordinate and motivate remote workers is becoming increasingly important.
The main problem in this light is the virtuality of communication: a team of remote workers is not bound by a common space, so it can have problems with cohesion and unity. An effective leader who understands this barrier must make every effort to overcome the virtual barrier and create an environment where employees can feel part of a complete team (Phillips, 2020). To this end, it is acceptable to use communication game techniques before virtual meetings, including reflection or discussion. Familiarity of all participants with each other should be ensured. An additional recommendation for overcoming this barrier can be informal events, which unite the team. For example, this can be a birthday call of one of the employees or a game of Secret Santa timed to coincide with Christmas.
In addition, unlike the real environment, the virtual one is associated with technical complexities, including the coordination of communication. When an effective leader polls employees’ opinions and shows that their ideas are important, the conversation can be difficult because of the multiplicity of sounds in the background, interruptions in the Internet connection, or noise. The leader must take control of the introduction of communication, taking on the role of facilitator or moderator, passing the word between participants, and being responsible for time management.
To maintain a sense of discipline and to maintain the corporate culture, an effective leader should implement regular meetings on a predetermined schedule. The remote work format does not involve freelancing but responds to the same office environment, with its rules and ethics transposed into the cloud. Therefore, the supervisor must motivate the participants to show up on time, report the reasons for absences, and adjust the schedule. In addition to group video calls, one-on-one meetings should also be provided, which will give each remote team member a sense of importance and complicity in the work process.
Reference
Phillips, S. (2020). Working through the pandemic: Accelerating the transition to remote working. Business Information Review, 37(3), 129-134. Web.