Managing Virtually

Less than a year ago, I researched the effectiveness of virtual working for my final MBA project. I've always been an advocate of virtual working and studying, it's just normal life for me, but who knew it would become so essential so quickly for a large part of the population?

My research found that in 2019 there were 4 key elements to effective virtual working:

HIRING - it was seen as absolutely essential to hire the right people to work in virtual roles, and not everybody was capable of the required self-management or self-motivation

INDUCTION - also essential was setting the right expectations of people right from the start and establishing trust

CULTURE & MANAGEMENT - the right culture was key to virtual workers and their managers – trust was seen as key by both groups along with a management style which hits operational goals whilst also creating a trusting, motivational and nurturing environment

TECHNOLOGY - systems needed to be checked for robustness and suitability to support virtual working. Good tech and communications were cited as essential not only for information flow and timely transactions, but also for keeping staff engaged

And now.......

Back to the present and businesses/education establishments are having to adapt without the luxury of time to sort out the right hiring or induction, and they might also not have the best tech either. Virtual working has had to become the norm very quickly and people are learning as they go. The one thing from my previous research that we can all work on however, is culture and management - keeping staff or students engaged and involved is really important right now - if everyone feels they are still a part of their workplace or school, they will be more emotionally healthy and therefore more productive.

And there is a huge positive to all of this. We are equipping our workforces, and our future workforces, with the skills they will need to thrive in the #futureofwork: adaptability, resilience and the ability to change quickly and effectively. There may be a few bumps in the road to start with, but learning to make virtual working effective will pay forward in many ways, and we will all look back on 2020 as the year when we learned to adapt and survive.