In today’s business environment, it is no longer surprising when companies heavily rely on contribution of virtual teamwork. Indeed, the best experts are not always willing to relocate to another country, while virtual teamwork empowers an organization to take advantage of their knowledge, experiences, and skills that would otherwise be unavailable. However, unlike traditional team leadership, virtual teams require a different approach to leadership.
The first element that a virtual leader should be aware of is time difference and the importance of high technological investment. A leader, as a coordinator of teamwork, should be skillful in using technological advances and ensure all virtual meetings are carried out in the environment that allows all team members to actively participate. In addition, a virtual team leader should have excellent planning and organizational skills in order to bring all members of virtual teams together on time.
The second critical success factor for virtual team leadership is autonomy of team members in the performance of their jobs. According to Duarte and Snyder (2006), virtual teams tend to be very autonomous, whereas the role of a leader is to coordinate their work, to monitor the progress, and ensure all team members are working in the same direction. Moreover, it should also be mentioned that virtual teams may consist of people from very different cultures and working preferences. Thus, a virtual leader should have excellent multicultural skills to be able to communicate with a team successfully and productively.
Virtual team leadership is indeed a challenging task; however, it enriches the experiences of leaders with unique situations that are not common for traditional interaction of teams. If a virtual leader is not good in planning or lacks understanding of cultural differences, a virtual team can hardly be productive.
Reference
Duarte, D. & Snyder, N. (2006). Mastering Virtual Teams: Strategies, Tools, and Techniques That Succeed. New York, NY: