Mastering the Art of Virtual Leadership: How to Make Soft Skills Your Superpower
By Pria Lawrence, an Highly Experienced Executive Leader and Business Consultant
In a world where remote and hybrid work arrangements are increasingly becoming the norm, our approach to leadership must evolve to meet these changes. Most importantly, enhancing your soft skills such as empathy, communication, and accountability can truly transform your impact as a leader.
Introduction: A Personal Story
The significance of virtual leadership was an invaluable lesson I learned one terrifying night, many years ago. An emergency with my young son led me to communicate with a dispatcher who displayed clear, directive communication coupled with an empathetic nature. The dispatcher's mastery of virtual leadership helped me stay calm and effectively manage the situation. This became an inspiration for what I call the "clear leadership" framework.
Getting Down to the Framework: What is Clear Leadership?
The clear leadership framework is about focusing on developing Collaborative Communication, Learning, Empathy, Authenticity, Accountability, and Responsibility.
These six aspects represent the most significant aspects of successful remote leadership. Through hundreds of discussions with managers & executives and conducting a survey with more than 250 managers worldwide, the importance of these principles was reaffirmed.
Unpacking the Elements of Clear Leadership
- Collaborative Communication: Topping the list of most important skills according to 41% of the surveyed managers, collaborative communication stresses the importance of active listening and questioning. Making sure to observe body language, facial expressions and maintaining eye contact lends to effective listening.
- Learning: Lifelong learning fuels personal & professional growth. Awareness of skills and behavior gaps and willingness to learn from failures can lead to advancement in this area.
- Empathy: An essential leadership skill, as emphasized by 34% of surveyed managers, empathy forms the basis of connection, relationship, and trust. Practicing active listening and understanding others' perspectives, even if differing from our own, can establish this.
- Authenticity: It is vital to be genuine, showing our true selves instead of hiding behind a mask. Being an authentic leader involves increasing self-awareness, staying true to values, and leading by example.
- Accountability: Foster a culture of accountability by providing support, resources, transparent communication, and behaving authentically.
- Responsibility: A leader's role in fostering talent development, nurturing a growth mindset, and owning up to their impact on the team's success.
Making the Most of Clear Leadership
The story of the first responder serves as a paradigm of these principles. The ability to manage stressful situations through clear and empathetic communication, coupled with the power of accountability and responsibility, all play a part in effective leadership, coming into full display in this scenario.
Leadership in a hybrid world doesn’t have to differ from other contexts. As leaders, we should be role models, transparent, true to ourselves, and our teams. By leading with this clear framework, we can unlock the formula for successful modern leadership.
Remember: lead yourself first, and uncover the secret of modern leadership.