by Patricia Redzewsky

Already in the early 2000s, remote leadership became increasingly important as a result of the changes brought about by globalization and digitalization. Faster internet connections and cloud technologies create the basis for cross-location collaboration, which is increasingly used by teams in internationally operating companies and organizations. Teleworking and mobile working models are also becoming more widespread.

The big change comes two decades later. While remote work and remote leadership remain the exception in many areas, they are suddenly becoming the norm in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic: The need to maintain social distance is forcing millions of organizations around the world to send their employees to work from home.

In this process, remote leadership is not only an option, but a prerequisite for remaining operational. Management activities are now increasingly based on digital communication and collaboration tools. Managers rely on video conferencing, email, chat tools and other digital channels to ensure productivity and quality of work results as well as the well-being and motivation of their teams.

Forced Change – Opportunity for Innovation

The pandemic has made clear that many conventional employment and work models are outdated. Trends and developments that have been apparent for some time are becoming more pronounced (for example, the increasing need for agile management and work, increased self-organization in organizations, issues of compatibility between family/social and cultural engagement/leisure time and paid work). It turns out that working hours and locations no longer have to be strictly specified in order to achieve good results and that productivity in many areas is not tied to physical presence. This also gives new impetus to new types of leadership that are flexible, technology-based and location-independent and focus on the self-organization of employees and their support (servant leadership).

Trust and autonomy are playing an increasingly important role. Employees who have the opportunity to work independently value this freedom and are often more motivated. Accordingly, managers are required to strengthen their employees and teams in their ability to manage themselves. What is needed above all is a good framework, orientation, for example by communicating meaning, benefits, agreements on objectives and also by asking encouraging questions that facilitate the appropriate empowerment of employees. And very practically by new routines. Clear communication structures and regular feedback loops can help avoid misunderstandings and promote cohesion. Many organizations are experimenting with new formats and tools, developing rules for digital collaboration and for combining presence and remote work in the most functional way possible for everyone. In doing so, they repeatedly encounter limits, for example when maximum flexibility is combined with the desire for an individual, always-available desk. As a manager, it is important to navigate these tensions and create acceptable solutions with the teams. Leadership is increasingly in demand when it comes to supporting social and psychological team dynamics.

Fair Participation

From a diversity perspective, an increasingly flexible working world and the possibilities of digital collaboration offer a number of advantages and potentials that managers can specifically leverage: such as recruiting from a larger talent pool with a view to larger geographical areas, better compatibility, advantages for people with specific abilities/impairments and also for introverted employees, since opinion formation or idea generation do not have to happen “on the spot”.

At the same time, obstacles and challenges become visible that can make fair access and participation opportunities more difficult. Some examples:

• Digital skills as well as access to adequate technology and further training are unequally distributed (e.g. with regard to gender, age or working hours).
• The living situation has a decisive influence on how well digital collaboration can succeed. For employees in cramped living spaces or those with children in the household, it can be a challenge to find a proper place to work and to create a consistently quiet working atmosphere.
• Working independently of location and time carries the risk of increasingly delimited work. For some groups of people more than others (e.g. for care givers – still predominantly women – in combination with care tasks).
• Onboarding processes, especially of people who represent (organizational) minorities, carry the risk of higher drop-out rates when predominantly digital and few bonding experiences are availed.
• New unconscious prejudices emerge. Managers perceive employees who are present in person as more competent (proximity bias). And even in video conferences, people’s perception of competences differs – depending on the virtual background used by the participants.

Managers should be attentive and look for ways to break down barriers in order to ensure that all employees, in all their diversity, have fair opportunities to participate and that they work together in a healthy and fair working environment.