Leading at a Distance. Darleen DeRosa

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Название Leading at a Distance
Автор произведения Darleen DeRosa
Жанр Управление, подбор персонала
Серия
Издательство Управление, подбор персонала
Год выпуска 0
isbn 9781119782452



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would want to do so full time), and those who had already been working remotely before COVID-19 were even more enthusiastic about continuing to work remotely.

      The point is that virtual work is no longer a temporary phenomenon in our lives, but rather a long-term transformation in how millions of people will work and how most organizations will function. Virtual work is here to stay.

      Navigating the shift meant managers had to learn how to keep their teams running through videoconferences, colleagues had to figure out how to design or develop products while not being physically together, or professionals had to learn how to advise, sell, and service clients remotely. We were all going through it on a personal basis too. Most people were forced to abandon their plans and rituals and find new routines. Families turned to celebrating holidays, birthdays, and even weddings over Zoom, and there was an explosion of self-recorded video tributes. People talked about living in lockdown and how it was all working for them the way that they've talked about the weather for millennia.

      In general, leaders at all levels felt the shift, too. Based on our surveys, only about a quarter of CEOs believe that the shift to remote work has been a net positive for them individually compared to a surprisingly high 61% of non-CEOs, who said that remote work has been positive. However, the great majority of both CEOs and non-CEOs report much higher levels of personal stress as a result of the shift to remote work in their organizations. Furthermore, leaders acknowledge that their personal connections with colleagues have been negatively impacted by remote work.

      Both CEOs and other leaders report that they are more productive as a result of working remotely. Over three-quarters of CEOs and 90 percent of other leaders report being more productive or equally productive as compared to their usual in-office routine, and both populations agree that technology experience and access to learning and development opportunities have been positively impacted by remote work.

      This, in turn, has enabled advances in leaders’ ability to communicate with and inspire employees, which has fostered improved innovation, collaboration, and teamwork. And while no one expects CEOs to have great work-life balance (or sympathizes with them if they don't), CEOs report that the shift to remote work has been about neutral on their work-life balance, due to the elimination of customer and client travel and fewer (if any) in-person management, board, and investor meetings. On the other hand, among the broader group of leaders we surveyed, 60% of leaders report that their work-life balance has shifted in a positive direction.

      As we watched how companies adapted to the sudden, pandemic-driven need to work from home, and how leaders were assessing the potential for this trend to remain or increase after the pandemic eases, we identified three distinct perspectives:

      The First Perspective: Net Positive

      An inspiring example of the net positive is Kenya-based Jessica Posner Odede, CEO of the global not-for-profit, Girl Effect (on which Jim is a board director), who shared with us that she has experienced game-changing benefits from the shift to remote work. We spoke to Jess to learn how she's used leading at a distance to reimagine how the entire organization operates. Girl Effect's mission is to empower girls around the world through youth brands and mobile platforms to change their lives. Focused on designing girl-centered technology, they create content and products that millions of girls, particularly those in Africa and India, use in ways that encourage their health and well-being. Rather than managing the organization and making decisions from a centralized headquarter office in London, where the organization had been based before Jess became CEO in 2019, Jess created a distributed organization, with colleagues on three continents. Prior to COVID-19, Jess moved to Nairobi herself (with her Kenyan husband, Kennedy Odede). The most critical lesson for Jess coming out of 2020 is that it's not just about how you lead a virtual team, but it's about taking the organization to your consumers and rethinking the delivery to dramatically increase your impact.

      The Second Perspective: Net Negative