Working From Home For Dummies

Chapter 17

Transitioning from Old-School Manager to Virtual Team Leader

IN THIS CHAPTER

Evaluating your leadership style

Working within cultural boundaries

Circumventing common virtual team issues

When leading a virtual team, using an old-school style of management isn’t only out, it’s outlandish to even think it can work.

If you try to use an old-school style of management with your virtual team, you’ll be completely out of your depths in the new world reality of virtual team leadership. The ways of old-school management — which some business schools are still teaching — become a liability on a virtual team where adaptability, emotional intelligence, and a collaborative mindset are required.

More than likely, you know what old-school management looks and feels like. It’s top-down, command and control. It’s closed-minded and bullying. It always knows best, never asks your opinion, and fears change. It doesn’t value diversity of people or ideas. It makes you feel like you just stepped into an episode of Mad Men, but no one offered you a scotch. If you use an old-school style of management, you’ll likely fail miserably as a virtual team leader.

This chapter examines and compares ...