Are Your Virtual Leaders Among The 50% That Underperform?

25% of 379 HR Professionals surveyed identified virtual leadership as a key barrier to virtual team success (SHRM, July 2012 Study). Join OnPoint’s study and learn what effective virtual leaders do.

New York (I-Newswire) March 20, 2013 - Most people would not have predicted the explosive growth of what we now know as the virtual workforce -- more than 1.3 billion people will soon be working virtually. To put this in perspective, a large number of organizations did not adopt virtual teams or employ telecommuting a few years ago, which makes the pace of this growth even more dramatic. Now, many companies are exploring a variety of virtual work arrangements such as employees setting up home offices, “hoteling” (or shared office space), and shared dedicated work spaces for virtual workers from different companies to allow for interaction and facilitate the exchange of ideas. In essence, traditional ways of working have been, and continue to be, dramatically reshaped.

Perhaps the most significant implication of the prevalence of virtual work is the need to make the transition to remote management. Many leaders, unaccustomed with this new virtual reality, are not comfortable leading employees from a distance. While companies have made significant investments to support virtual work, OnPoint’ Consulting’s found that almost half of the virtual team leaders in their global study were not meeting expectations. Surprisingly, many organizations have not fully prepared their leaders for success.

In their book Virtual Team Success: A Practical Guide to Working and Leading From a Distance, Darleen DeRosa and Rick Lepsinger share many practical tips for virtual leaders. To continue this research, and to more fully answer the question, “What exactly do effective virtual leaders do to successfully lead from a distance?” OnPoint is seeking virtual leaders to participate in their exciting new research study.

For additional information, please contact Meghan Powell at mpowell@onointconsultingllc.com.