Leading from a distance has become a particular challenge in recent years. Many leaders fear losing control over their employees. However, even with physical distance, personal closeness is possible! Discover in the article how Remote Leadership can be successful with various methods and tools.
Leading from a Distance: These are the Challenges
As a leader, you know the challenge: Due to the pandemic and the associated remote work regulations, you are at least temporarily separated from your employees. Until 2020, leadership was strongly characterized by physical presence. The mindset: Those who want to lead must know what their employees are doing!
Exciting insights on Remote Leadership are provided by a study from the Hernstein Institute. Particularly striking: The porridge is cooked hotter than it is eaten! Leaders who already have experience with Remote Leadership assess the challenges overall more optimistically.
We have summarized the most interesting results of the study on Remote Leadership for you in an infographic:
You see: There are various methods and tools that can help you regain closeness while leading from a distance. Because one thing is clear: Physical proximity is no guarantee of good leadership! This means conversely: Remote Leadership can even be an opportunity for you to create true closeness with your employees. We show you how this can be achieved.
Tools for Remote Leadership
Three key areas help you lead successfully despite physical distance and keep your team together:
Learning culture in the company
Methods for digital collaboration
Tools for digital collaboration
Successful Leadership from a Distance through a Good Learning Culture
What does learning culture have to do with Remote Leadership? A lot! When leading from a distance, your employees are particularly dependent on your support: They need to feel that you trust them and understand their challenges.
Reading Tip: Learning culture starts at the top!
A good culture in the company manifests in employees feeling empowered as individuals and supported from above. For Remote Leadership, this means specifically:
| Good learning culture in the company | Implementation in Remote Leadership || -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- || Leaders serve as role models. | Educate yourself about methods and tools to work well remotely. || Touchpoints allow mutual networking. | Create regular meetings where employees can exchange ideas with each other. || Employees should always know what benefits something brings them. | Communicate why and to what extent leading from a distance is necessary – and how they can benefit from it themselves. || Lighthouse employees serve as good examples. | Don't hold back on (sincere) praise and appreciation for your employees. || Learning culture begins during onboarding. | Pay particular attention to regular exchanges with new employees or at the beginning of the remote period. |
Learning culture is not tied to a specific room. Culture emerges between people, even across geographic boundaries. A good learning culture therefore significantly supports leading from a distance: Your employees feel empowered to receive support from you at any time and sense that you trust them. This allows them to give their best and even motivate each other.
Digital Methods for Remote Leadership
If communication predominantly takes place digitally, you should consider suitable methods as a leader. Meetings in the coffee kitchen or spontaneous visits to the office are off the table. How can you facilitate exchange digitally in a similarly informal manner?
5 methods to succeed in leading from a distance:
1. Set objectives
Setting objectives is the ideal way for Remote Leadership to succeed professionally. Discuss with your employee (in a one-on-one discussion!) what objectives they should meet and when. Tip: At least at the end of the agreement, another conversation should take place, ideally even earlier.
2. Your own participation in informal exchanges
Coffee dates, digital lunches, game nights after work – it can also be helpful for remote leaders to participate in such informal digital get-togethers. But please don't overdo it: For employees, a constant presence of leaders can also look like surveillance.
3. Retrospectives
Retrospectives are particularly helpful for leading from a distance, as you gain new perspectives – the perspectives of your employees. You can offer these after larger projects or structural changes. Tip: Ensure that the retrospective remains a mere "looking back" and that each participant has enough opportunity to speak.
Reading Tip: Your template for digital retrospectives
4. Offer one-on-one meetings
One-on-one discussions with your employees are particularly important in Remote Leadership. Tip: Be sure to give your employees space and time to address their own topics!
5. Strengthen the intranet
The intranet or similar platforms for information flow become particularly important under remote conditions: Your employees should always be informed about the currently applicable rules and offerings. Tip: Show your face even online! If you want to announce something, why not just record a short video of yourself instead of writing a text? It feels more personal and brings you closer despite Remote Leadership.
Checklist: Your employees should always find answers to these questions!
What rules apply to remote working?
How and when can I reach my supervisor?
How and when will I know if the framework conditions change?
Where can I quickly and easily get technical support?
Who is my contact person for which topic?
Digital Tools for Remote Leadership
Finally, we would like to give you some suggestions for tools that you can use particularly well for leading from a distance. Different methods are sensible for each medium – and ultimately, a good mix is usually the most successful.
Here are typical functions of digital tools, their potential applications for Remote Leadership, and some concrete tool examples:
| Function | Potential Applications for Remote Leadership | Tool Examples (non-sponsored links) || ---------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ || Chat, quick and easy communication | Spontaneous arrangements, informal conversations, team or group-wide surveys | Slack, Microsoft Teams || Video conferences, meetings | Show your face in digital conferences – turn on the video! | Google Hangouts, Zoom || Learning, training, onboarding | Monitor learning progress, enable sustainable learning and onboarding | blink.it, moodle || Intranet, information platform | Consolidate essential information for all to read, announcements | Google Sites || Creative teamwork, digital whiteboard | Actively involve employees in meetings, moving away from just "sitting and listening" | Miro, Google Jamboard || Project management, internal organization | Coordinate tasks, maintain an overview of workload, define responsibilities | OpenProject, Flow || Data storage | Instead of file folders, store data and manage access | Google Drive, Dropbox || Time Tracking | Track personal time for tasks, estimate how much time each area requires | Toggl, Clockify (free) || Scheduling | Find available time slots for appointments without verbal arrangements | Google Calendar, Doodle |
Conclusion: How to Succeed in Remote Leadership
You have now learned about the challenges, methods, and tools for Remote Leadership. In conclusion, we can say: Good leadership from a distance is always better than poor leadership in person! Because physical proximity is no guarantee of good leadership, and too often, leaders delude themselves into a false sense of security just because they have an office next to their employees.
The key points of this article summarized again:
Often the fear of Remote Leadership is greater than the actual challenges.
Those who lead from a distance should plan for more time for planning and communication.
A good learning culture is essential for the corporate climate and thus for Remote Leadership.
Digital communication must be particularly clear and easily understandable: Employees must always know which rules apply.
At least plan a meeting in one-on-one format once a quarter.
Give your employees sufficient opportunities to actively contribute.
Show your face! A quickly shot selfie video is a friendlier announcement than a text.
Those who think ahead and plan for the challenges of Remote Leadership can lead excellently from a distance. At the same time, you should seize every opportunity if a face-to-face conversation with your employees arises.
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