Remote employees is indeed invisible from our eyes, but that does not mean they must be out of your mind, a study at the University of Illinois revealed that they who lead employees working out of the Office – either at home or abroad – need to change their leadership style.
Business Professor from Illinois, Ravi Gajendran said managers can reduce the isolation of remote employees by using an approach based on relations of their leadership style. While the company usually uses a top-down, "one-to-many" style of leadership that treats all employees equally, research shows that it may be more successful if it handles remote employees by using the method of "leader-member exchange-".
This approach involves a personal relationship that is characterized by trust, loyalty, feedback and support between team leaders and members, "said Gajendran.
"Traditional leadership Model is, ' I'm a leader, you are a member of my team, and I am going to articulate my vision as it should be, '" said Gajendran. "What we found is that personal leadership strategy marked by the character of the leader-member exchange-which has a more powerful effect when workers globally distributed."
Gajendran said virtual team leadership is very difficult because of the lack of face-to-face interactions that occur with employees who were in the Office. For example, if the boss can't see employees of remotenya, it is difficult for him to determine whether their zeal in work or should be given motivation.
"As a leader, you don't know whether you need to motivate them or give them the space to them," he said. "And the team members also will miss the social aspects of the job:. Team room, dinner with the team and have a drink with the team "
The study found that personal touch needed to bridge that gap. In particular, Gajendran argues that leaders must be more interaction one-on-one with their virtual team members.
"The leadership should be unique and tailored to the team members, not even dictated from above," he said. "It's about building relationships with each of the members, and it takes more effort than normal at work."
The study also found that in addition to plant interactions, the leader should be a strong supporter of remote employees work in them.
Gajendran said the great danger in having a virtual team is that employees will feel their contributions are not noted or appreciated.
"You certainly don't want to if team members feel as though they are just sending their work out of the room empty," he said. "That is why leaders should be concerned – they should make workers" look "and you can do so by creating a sense of engagement."
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