How Coaching can help overcome the challenges of the "virtual" leader

COVID-19 has only made transparent the challenges of moving to the virtual environment, with the leadership approach to remote working being one of the litmus tests. And it is still unclear how much longer this need for remoteness will extend. Thus, how can leaders in organisations live with all the emerging vulnerabilities in this process of confinement? How can leaders support teams to find their solutions, to learn from what goes less well, and to assume a higher level of responsibility and commitment even when working remotely?

Dynamic Leadership Coaching is the function that will enable the "virtual" leader to play his role effectively, and the entire team to be agile in improvising adaptation. At times when the context requires a style of leadership that is collaborative, patient and motivates reinvention, such as the context in which COVID-19 has placed us, this function will certainly make a difference.

If your task is to lead a team, from home, these are the principles you should keep in mind:

1 - Clarify expectations - transparency and specification are key elements in a more distant or spaced communication; still no one can read each other's minds, so it is important to pass on information as specifically as possible and to create openness for questioning; make sure that everyone in your team understands and is committed to what is expected of them in terms of the task, but also of behaviours in the virtual space, and that it is clear to everyone what their interdependencies are. It will then be important to get agreement from everyone involved in the virtual rules and tasks, questioning each other's understanding until you feel the framework is aligned;

2 - Keep channels open to communication and alignment - at the current time we have seen an increase in meetings with no spaces in between. Suddenly it seems everyone has to prove they are working by looking for meetings to do so. Planning meetings without breaks, makes impossible the sharing space that used to happen when we left a meeting and headed to the lift together. Now, psychological security among your team members is crucial for motivation and engagement in effective and innovative solutions (so necessary in times of uncertainty). Rather than mentioning that you are available by phone or Teams whenever someone needs your support, make sure you tell your team members that you will be in the meeting 10 minutes before and stay in the call 10 minutes after the meeting is over for more informal feedback, and encourage everyone to do the same.

3 - Ensure moments of collective learning - we all experience moments we have never experienced before. It is important to ensure that the wealth of learning we gain in this new place of reinvention, is made conscious and remains collectively structured. Certainly we have all learned new ways of interacting and producing. See this learning as an opportunity to improve procedures and deepen human relationships, previously taken for granted, and promote improvisation on the way to a different level of development.