Leadership Strategies For Virtual Work Environments
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According to the International Data Corporation, the mobile workforce in the United States, which has been the largest percentage of mobile workers in the world, is set to become 73% of the nation’s workforce by 2011.

New strategies for managing a virtual workforce are required for leaders, which begins by embracing these competencies for their own development. Promoting Brilliance, Inc. recommends developing a new vision of your leadership that incorporates communication and collaboration strategies to fit your virtual working relationships. Here are a four key leadership strategies listed below:

1) Consciously create opportunities to build relationships with your people and between colleagues. This may require some innovative strategies and applications, such as developing in-person group meetings, facilitating off-sites or time to learn more about each person's strengths, work histories, plans, and communications styles or preferences. You may also use other technologies such as video conferencing or Skype for regular, one-to-one meetings.

2) Create communication agreements that people will practice and respect within their work groups. Decide how you are going to use your technology as a group that will best serve your projects, clients and even meet individual needs. Make sure this includes the your communication tools, such as text messaging, email, phone, and meetings. For example, too often email is utilized to leave a communication trail as well avoid or escape difficulties or communication conflicts. Today, even people who are sitting on the same floor in office environments are too often using email when it would be better to discuss something face-to-face.

3) Cultivate learning, career development, and mentoring opportunities for people. Loyalty, trust and culture are built on investing in people’s development. Making time for career development as well as creating opportunities for people to meet others outside your immediate organization who can support learning and development opportunities demonstrates authentic interest in the people you are managing and leading.

4) Become a Collaborative Co-Leader who believes in leadership for the time—this means giving others the opportunity to lead for a specific time on a project or initiative, which allows others to lead and collaborate with you.