Leading Virtually With A Human Touch

Return to the roots

An increase in vaccination is leading to the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions completely in some parts of the world and the return to quasi-normalcy. But parts of the world are still struggling and bracing for impact. Either way, post-pandemic leadership is yet to be a reality. However, the pandemic has shifted our priorities and opened new ways to work including remote and flexible working. The genie is out, and it is not going back. For the first time in her career, my workaholic sister-in-law has enjoyed the flexibility of working from home and from the homes of her adult children who live in different parts of the world. She is not going back. When Apple CEO Tim Cook released an email about a return to work, employees have pushed back demanding flexibility and highlighting the relationship between flexibility and inclusivity.

As Google CEO Sundar Pichai puts it, “the future of work is flexibility.” Most of my contemporaries in the academy are used to accessing library resources from anywhere if you have a computer. We have been enjoying the flexible working arrangements for decades now. I remember how much the senior faculty members in my previous institution were discomforted by this approach to work. We were always not in our offices during work hours. But it is that type of flexibility that let me build a credible academic career while raising and homeschooling a child as a single parent. Flexibility is inclusivity. We now know that a substantial portion of the work we do, especially in knowledge industries can be done effectively remotely.

We already know that leaders need to be capable change agents, possessing digital fluency, an understanding of technology transformation processes, cognitive flexibility and agility, and an ability to be comfortable with ambiguity. However, we need to remember that leadership and management are primarily relational functions of cohering people around a purpose, meaning, problem-solving and skills for the collective betterment of all. Therefore, leaders above all must focus on the human side of organizing. What brand of leadership do organizations need in the post-pandemic world? If flexibility is the future, and the virtual world of work is here to stay, leaders must learn to lead virtual and flexible teams with a human touch.

First, leaders should learn to trust. When leaders and coaches talk about trust, they almost always refer to leaders who are trustworthy and how to become trustworthy leaders. However, never about leaders trusting their employees and how they can learn to trust people, who may be lower in hierarchy and can still be trustworthy and take pride in their work.

Trust goes both ways. In a virtual world, where you cannot physically keep your eyes on your employees, it is important to trust them. It is not a new concept. In his seminal book on management, Douglas MacGregor built his theories about Type X and Type Y managers. Theory X holds that employees are inherently disinclined to work and needed to be strictly controlled. Theory Y holds that employees should be trusted and empowered. MacGregor’s work was built upon Maslow’s hierarchy model with the assumption that managers who believe that everyone including their employees seeks to meet higher-order needs fall into the Theory Y perspective. Let us cultivate trusting leaders. For this, we need to develop authentic, courageous, and reflective leaders, who are not afraid to examine their own assumptions about people and their mental models with regard to how they deal with others. Seeking dignity, esteem and self-actualization is not the sole privilege of the ‘leaders.’

Trust cannot be separated from respect. Imagine this situation. Work instructions are clear; there is alignment and understanding between leader and followers about work outcomes and accountability; the assignment has been made based on the confidence in people’s abilities, and appropriate resources are made available to learn. After all this preparatory work is done, if leaders still do not trust employees to do their work with diligence, then there is a serious issue with the leaders and not the followers. To trust followers and employees, a leader should be willing to let go of control and respect the autonomy of the employees and their integrity. It is not easy but essential for virtual leadership if it is to achieve the primary goal of flexibility.

Even though employees may prefer to work remotely for various reasons, it is still important for the leader to nurture the relational and human aspects, such as conviviality and bonds of affection, usually attributed to regular in-person interactions. We face a care deficit. Over a million lives have been lost to the pandemic. Countless lives and families have been disrupted. The world is suffering from a collective trauma that none of us have had any time to even unpack let alone process. We have had to instead pivot and become digitally fluent.

Working mothers, women in senior management positions, and black women have suffered a great deal of negative career impact due to the pandemic gender effect. Women in emerging economies are struggling, even more, reporting greater challenges. There is an increase of 45% in employees reporting burnout. To rise to this situation, we need to consider new models of leadership. Feminist theories have fleshed out an ethic of care as an alternative to an ethic.
Political philosopher Joan Tronto highlights attentiveness to others’ needs, responsibility, competence, responsiveness, and solidarity as key qualities of the care ethic. We need leaders who are caring, emotionally and socially intelligent and are trauma-informed.