Five Leadership Best Practices: Check-In Regularly And Encourage Your Team

Leaders must give up on their desire to control. If letting go is difficult, take time to self-reflect. Why micromanage and smother employees? Why keep checking if team members are connected?

Employees know when leaders are checking in out of genuine concern and when t...

In the office, leaders can clearly view progress and provide immediate feedback through direct communication. This is more challenging through a screen.

So, rather than being overly directive, leaders should create conditions where employees feel empowered to complete their work, a...

• Threats to team commitment and trust. Building team commitment, trust, and mutual support virtually, is challenging. By focusing on relationship-focused activities, leaders promote a collective sense of purpose and a positive environment.
• Feelings of isol...

Accept that micromanagement isn’t possible as a virtual leader. Delegate to team members and empower them to manage their own performance.

Studies show that team leaders fear becoming dispensable and underestimate team members’ ability to lead when necessary. This hin...

Creating space for team members to speak up and is even more critical in virtual environments where people offer feedback less readily.

But, it may not happen unless leaders make a special effort to solicit feedback, surround themselves with people who keep them honest, a...

To get the work done, virtual leaders may become more directive because they feel a loss of control. It is difficult to monitor employees’ work remotely. To compensate, they over-rely on providing structure and direction to monitor and control.

Paradoxically, this...