The Virtual Workforce: Why We Must Rethink The Way We Manage And Lead This New Reality Category:Business and Professional posted:November 18th, 2009 Hoboken, NJ - Just 20 years ago, “going to work” meant waking up, getting dressed, jumping in the car, and driving to a physical location where you interacted, face-to-face, with your boss and coworkers all day. In 2009 it might mean stepping across the hall to your home office and getting on a videoconference with a boss you haven’t seen in years—if, indeed, you’ve ever met her.
Yes, everything about work has changed. It’s gone from a permanent, flesh-and-blood world of people who know their coworkers well—from where they live to how many kids they have to how they drink their coffee—to a transient one where the voices on the phone may change week to week and project to project. (Even inside an office coworkers are more likely to email the person in the next cubicle than speak to him.)
According to Karen Sobel Lojeski, the implications of these changes are staggering. In fact, they require a whole new leadership model.
“The virtual workforce in the U.S. has exploded,” says Lojeski, author of the new book Leading the Virtual Workforce: How Great Leaders Transform Organizations in the 21st Century (Wiley, 2009, ISBN: 978-0-470-42280-9, $29.95). “In fact, according to the International Data Corporation, the mobile workforce in the U.S.—which has the largest percentage of mobile workers in the world—is set to become 73 percent of the nation’s workforce by 2011.
“The problem is that while the way we work has changed, the way leaders lead those workforces has not,” she adds. “In fact, many organizations are still using leadership models that were created almost a century ago. As a result, businesses worldwide are suffering from what I call Virtual Distance.”
Lojeski’s book—which includes never-before-published interviews with executives from IBM, Merck, HP, Alcatel-Lucent, Crayola, Western Union, and more—explores the subject in detail.
Virtual Distance is characterized by a combination of physical separation, technology mediation, and disconnected relationships, she explains. These dynamics lead to a psychological separation that builds over time, leading to negative effects on productivity, innovation, and trust between employees and groups of organizations.
In fact, studies show that when Virtual Distance is relatively high, innovation falls by over 90 percent and competitive advantage is severely impacted, while trust and job satisfaction decline by over 80 percent. On-time/on-budget project performance suffers by over 50 percent and can cost a company millions, and goal and role clarity decline by over 60 percent.
“Rapidly evolving changes in the way that we work have led to the need for a new model of leadership,” asserts Lojeski. “Leading the Virtual Workforce presents the Virtual Distance Leadership Model, which helps organizations motivate and inspire employees who are geographically, culturally, and functionally dispersed. It supplies leaders with the new behaviors and skills they need in order to reduce Virtual Distance and improve employee productivity and satisfaction.”
The Virtual Distance Leadership Model consists of three core competencies for leading today’s virtual workforce: Creating Context, Cultivating Community, and Co-Activating New Leaders.
To fully understand the Virtual Distance Leadership Model and why and how it works, one must first understand these core competencies. Read on for more about the core competencies and how you can use them to bring greater productivity and overall success to your organization.
Creating Context. What is meant by context? It is everything around us that helps us to understand who we are, where we are, and what our role is. Context is the foundation upon which we derive meaning from what other people say. In the past, the requisite context needed to do a good job was readily available. Coworkers knew about the personal lives of their colleagues. They saw each other every day. With that information, they could cipher who thought what about work as well as politics, family, and other important notions in life. But today it’s not so simple. Work is commonly done in temporary projects where people come and go, and organizational affiliations change with each new project or merger or downsizing.
“While it might be easy, neat, and logical to think that we don’t need to know each other to stay on task, that’s just not the case,” says Lojeski. “That kind of magical thinking has led many leaders astray. When we are blind to others’ contexts—their surroundings, the way they think, and more, we simply do not operate with maximum effectiveness. So one of the things that leaders need to do most is to help individuals and teams in the virtual workforce see the context that is otherwise invisible. They do this by understanding how to use technology to communicate effectively and by serving as a human anchor, or constant, to help everyone stay connected.”
Cultivating Community. The word “community” is not one normally associated with corporate leadership. But today as organizations have become flatter and more matrixed, the ability to “recruit” people to work on projects or other assignments has become an important aspect of leadership. One way that effective leaders do this is by building diverse communities of people who have the skill and commitment to help, even though this may fall outside their prescribed organizational roles.
“A lot of what happens to get work done in organizations today is voluntary,” says Lojeski. “Organizational psychologists refer to these activities as organizational citizenship behaviors, because they help maintain the growth and sustainability of the organization in ways that are not role-specific. Examples of community-building activities include mentoring others, taking on a project to build a wiki, and acting as a coach.
“Leaders can create a sense of community that activates a kind of virtual team spirit and produces extraordinary behaviors—even among the most dispersed set of workers,” she adds. “Today, great leaders who create cooperative and constructive communities, fostering community commitment across boundaries, are making many innovative products and finding ways to leverage collaboration. They are believers in community development as a potent path on which to gain insight and drive revenue.”
Co-Activating New Leaders. Many of the most successful virtual workforce leaders recognize and internalize a simple reality: Their leadership alone is not enough when it comes to large, networked organizations consisting of people who sit within the bounds of traditional organizational structures but who are also part of the new virtual workforce. These leaders know that to succeed they may need to draw on people who work for other organizations, or for themselves, or who simply gravitate toward the organization’s orbit from time to time.
“Unlike models that espouse the leader as the singular transformative figure, today’s leaders co-opt others to make things happen—putting themselves aside at times, asserting their authority at other times, but recruiting others to lead at all times,” says Lojeski. “Being a co-activating leader involves motivating and inspiring others to do something for the organization without the benefit of any reward, and most of the time, without the benefit of establishing face-to-face contact.
“Co-activating leaders build greater trust, higher levels of satisfaction, and better citizenry behavior,” she adds. “In addition, higher levels of motivation to volunteer time, energy, and resources to forward organizational goals are gained.”
Naturally, there are additional characteristics that enable the core competencies of the Virtual Distance Leadership Model. One critical aspect is techno-dexterity—essentially, understanding technologies and knowing what kind of communication technology to use and when. Because they are so essential in helping leaders build communities, understanding social networks and how to use them is another critical element. And finally, authenticity is key.
“Today’s workforce is very different from the workforce of 20 or even 10 years ago,” says Lojeski. “Authentic leaders are not only genuine, but also transparent. This allows them to create a level of trust and commitment that is essential in leading a multicultural, multi-generational global workforce.
“In the 21st century business world, the Virtual Distance Leadership Model is the big bang for the buck that people intuitively respond to,” says Lojeski. “The model transforms organizations so that they are much more successful at increasing financial performance and setting the stage for competitive advantage in the new world of work.”
Examples of Excellence: Three Great Leaders from Three Great Companies Show How to Lead in the Virtual Business World
By Karen Sobel Lojeski, author of Leading the Virtual Workforce: How Great Leaders Transform Organizations in the 21st Century (Wiley, 2009, ISBN: 978-0-470-42280-9, $29.95)
Creating Context: Merck & Co., Inc. Robert McMahon, President of U.S. Commercial Operations at Merck, has been with the company for over 20 years. Bob’s breadth of experience is impressive. He has worked on many different kinds of initiatives, one building upon the next, bringing increasing responsibilities with each “zig” and “zag.” Via a combination of longevity as well as latitudinal experience, Bob brings a stable and informed perspective to his followership. How has he set such a high standard among such a dispersed set of resources?
“I think people need to have a sense of who you are,” he says. “I think you have to be credible, a thoughtful, and a substantial leader to make different choices about how to get in front of your people…I’ve invested a lot of time over the years getting people to believe in me—doing the kinds of things that convince people that I’m a trusted, valuable leader they will want to follow.”
Developing virtual workforce leader qualities involves honing perceived constancy by becoming aware of the dynamic forces that propel people forward. Bob explains that his success doing so has come with knowing how best to communicate with his employees. “Now that I have 4,000 representatives out there who are at the age of my children, and, in many cases, younger than my children, I’ve really had to work very hard to understand what it is they need to hear and how they need to hear it,” he says.
Bob demonstrates “outside-in” thinking. He can see beyond himself, become aware of others and their needs, internalize many sets of unique circumstances, identities, and personalities, and incorporate those into the transference of global goals to a broad base of technologically tethered workforces. Bob serves as the perfect anchor for those he leads, but he knows he wouldn’t be able to do it alone.
“You have to have people well-positioned in the organization to tell you the truth,” he says. “Blatant, hard, sometimes difficult truth about how good you are with respect to actually getting through to people.” Bob uses his well-established and trusted presence as a force that brings confidence to the thousands of people who depend on him.
Cultivating Community: IBM. Gina Poole, Vice President of Software Group Marketing 2.0 at IBM, knows a thing or two about corporate community building. She created the BlueIQ Ambassadors, a massive delegation of social software ambassadors and collaboration gurus, made up of 650 people from 35 countries.
The BlueIQ Ambassadors contribute in a number of ways. Some hold how-to one-on-one clinics on social software technology. Some hold “lunch and learn” sessions. Some do “jump-start” consulting for specific teams within the company. The most surprising thing about the BlueIQ Ambassadors? None of them are required to help out in this way. IBM does not mandate any time commitment from them. So why do they do it? “They’re motivated by the opportunity to share their expertise in a certain area of social software, and by the chance to build their own skills,” says Gina.
For the program to see continued success, Gina knows that in addition to these bottom-up initiatives, top-down buy-in is also key. “We do a lot of internal communications to share success stories, advocate the Ambassador program, and make individuals, teams, managers, and executives aware that we can help them,” she says. “The executives and managers have to view social software adoption as valuable, encourage it, and in most cases, do it themselves.”
To keep them motivated, she constantly recognizes and rewards her ambassadors. “People will follow someone who they see as having a good vision, who is excited about the job, and who will take care of them,” she says. “If you’ve created the environment and the vision and the support structure, they’ll work like crazy and you can’t stop them.”
Co-Activating New Leaders: Hewlett-Packard. Phil McKinney, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Hewlett-Packard’s Personal Systems Group and head of HP’s Innovation Program Office as well as Industry Standards and Ergonomics, knows how to harness new leaders. He leads 310,000 employees, located around the world. Because that’s a job impossible for one man to do alone, he uses several leadership practices to co-activate others. Social networking and actual face time between employees play a huge role in his efforts.
“In HP, as in any large organization, you’ve got the formal way of getting things done and you’ve got the informal way of getting things done,” he says. “And the way to get the informal things done is through the process of having that social network…having worked with enough people across different organizations such that if you need to get something done, you’ve built up social capital with somebody else in the organization.”
At HP, people develop strong social networks that they can leverage no matter where they are, or when they are, in their career. And it’s achieved through a strategy Phil calls “reverse-mentoring,” an intern program he uses to stay in sync with upcoming youth in the company.
A prime example of how the program works is Michael. He began as a design team intern in Calgary. When he graduated, HP hired him and promptly sent him to work in Taiwan. Phil explains why they moved him from place to place so early in his career: “So he can build up his relationships and his social network with the Taiwan team, which is critical. Because if you don’t have relationships with the Taiwan team, your ability to design a product and have that product actually go through the manufacturing process is pretty limited.”
Phil adds to his co-activating leader style by sharing his vision with others and then sending them on their way to experience a wide array of cultures and environments so that they will end up building great products for the company. Phil is actively engaged in developing new hires, the new hire is actively engaged in his new experiences, and together they become co-activating leaders co-existing on a leadership continuum at HP. =
Techno-Dexterity: Merck, IBM, and HP. The most successful of today’s leaders understand how to use technology in a more socially adapted way to impart vision and inspire others. That skill is called techno-dexterity. Several great leaders have figured it out:
When it comes to email, Bob McMahon knows it’s best to refrain on the weekends. On long car drives from his Pennsylvania home to his summer home on Long Island, McMahon works offline organizing emails he can send out Sunday night. “What I’ll do is package up all those messages because I can work offline and wait until I know everybody’s gone to bed on Sunday night and then get online and release them all,” says Bob. “Rather than having messages straggling in over the weekend…I’ve bundled all of what I needed to do in a way that doesn’t interfere with people’s space on the weekend.”
Part of Gina Poole’s mission at IBM is to promote and facilitate the use of social software tools to help teams be more productive and effective. As she was building her team, she came across an IBM employee who had mastered social networking for a good reason: He lived on a remote island. “Before he worked for me, everywhere I turned, I’d bump into him online, or people would say, ‘Oh, social networking—have you talked with Luis?’” says Gina. “So here’s a guy sitting in the middle of an ocean, but he is incredibly well-known in the social networks inside and outside IBM. I had him come to Orlando for a conference and as he and I were walking around, people were recognizing him and hugging him. He is a great example of someone who builds relationships online and offline.”
Phil McKinney used his blog to spread the word about his reverse-mentoring program. He wrote, “Hanging out with staff and interns who are younger than your own children is a real eye-opener. You quickly realize that you are so far out of the loop—you can’t even see the loop. The challenge is how do you get yourself back in the loop without looking like an old guy trying to re-live your childhood…My goal with interns is to not only give them experience, skills, and mentoring that they will find beneficial as they get ready to launch their careers—but to also learn from them.” And more recently, Phil used his blog to discuss a museum exhibit of Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks and used the example to highlight the importance of capturing ideas in notebooks for innovation.
Words to Lead By: Lessons on How to Lead a Virtual Workforce from Those Who Do It Best
Excerpted from Leading the Virtual Workforce: How Great Leaders Transform Organizations in the 21st Century (Wiley, 2009, ISBN: 978-0-470-42280-9, $29.95)
“Buckle your chin strap! I would say stop thinking like DOS and start thinking like LINUX.”
- Robert McMahon, President, U.S. Commercial Operations, Merck & Co., Inc.
“You’ve got to be clear, consistent, available…They have to know that you’re interested in what they’re doing.”
- Susan Roser, Senior Vice President, Global Service Support, Western Union
“Nurture creativity. It’s the only way you’re going to get the new solutions, the new innovative ideas, the new discoveries.”
- Cheri Sterman, Director, Child Development and Consumer Relationships, Crayola
“First of all be an open communicator. You can only be effective if you communicate openly about your plans, your goals, your strategy, and so on.”
- Guido Petit, Director, Alcatel-LucentTechnicalAcademy, Alcatel-Lucent
“There’s nothing more infectious than an enthusiastic leader. You motivate people because you’re being genuine. You’ve got to be excited about your own mission, your own vision, and do whatever you can to pave the way for your team to be successful.”
- Gina Poole, Vice President, IBM Software Group Marketing 2.0, IBM
“Recognize that the value of the individual is not constrained by the person who is directly on your team but on the broader team that can influence your success. It’s about an ecosystem of people, not just people who are sitting within the 100-foot radius of you as a manager or as a leader.”
- Phil McKinney, Vice President and CTO, Personal Systems Group, Hewlett-Packard Company
“[Today] people are valued not necessarily because they have an ancient history with the organization but more if they can be able to operate in the current mode. So you can’t hold yourself up on a pedestal and think that you don’t have to learn new things.”
- Kathy Burke-Thomas, Associate Director, AT&TProjectManagementCenter of Excellence, AT&T
“Technology on the whole can be a distracter from the decision you need to make…Never make a really important decision without sleeping on it.”
- Lawrence A. McAndrews, CEO, National Association of Children’s Hospitals and Related Institutions (NACHRI)
“It’s about being positive, it’s about being encouraging, it’s about empowering your people and enabling them to be the best they can be; it’s about directing, not managing, and it’s about communication.”
- Jack Barsky, Vice President of Information Technology, NRG
About the Author:
Karen Sobel Lojeski, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Technology and Society in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Karen is also the CEO of Virtual Distance International, an advisory firm specializing in leadership and innovation in the new millennium of virtual workplaces.
About the Book:
Leading the Virtual Workforce: How Great Leaders Transform Organizations in the 21st Century (Wiley, 2009, ISBN: 978-0-470-42280-9, $29.95) is available at bookstores nationwide and from all major online booksellers.
For more information, visit www.virtualdistance.com. |