The Middle Management Podcast Middle Management Specialists

Sit back, relax and take plenty of notes as Colin discusses managing a virtual team.

A “virtual team” is one where people are geographically separated... but work together in real time on a project. 

This is dramatically different than working with a group of people who are in the same physical location... and it requires a manager to adapt to the situation. 

It may sound simple on the surface... but managing a virtual team can be anything but simple.

This makes it all the more critical for the manager to understand the dynamics of a virtual team... and learn how to effectively lead one.

Let’s explore the five ways to manage your team that will make your life easier.

High performing teams share common values and beliefs about themselves and their work. High performing team members also believe they can accomplish great things as long as they focus on the right things, set realistic goals, and work together effectively. 

They set high standards for themselves and others, and understand the importance of strong working relationships. To learn more, listen to the rest of this podcast and take notes. 

Enjoy!

Begin working on your emotional intelligence today.

Mastering the abilities of self-awareness, self-management and empathy paves the way for attaining greater levels of emotional intelligence. it’s not enough that we simply want to be good at our jobs, in order to be truly effective in managing our teams, we need to bring these skills together to become emotionally intelligent leaders. 

Listen to this podcast episode on emotional intelligence to learn more.

Managing for higher performance is something that managers can do both passively as well as proactively.

The Shared Management Model discussed removes the entire task responsibility from the manager and divides it between both them and their employees.

Ultimately,  It is the employee alone who has the authority, the opportunity, and the primary responsibility for managing immediate performance: which is the overall focus of any performance management systems.

In this weeks episode of the Middle Management Podcast...

One key element of leadership to note, are the situational variances. Each person on your team has a different set of needs due to personal work histories, knowledge and expertise.

Work situations will also vary, from high-pressure environments, seasonal influences and general organisational change. Endeavouring to utilise a one size fits all approach to leadership will pale in significance to adopting a more flexible and adaptable approach. 

Taking the situational approach will do wonders for forming ongoing positive team interactions. It was Dr Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard who coined the term ‘situational leadership’ back in the 1960s, so full credit given to their work. 

Hersey and Blanchard advise that an effective leader adapts their management actions according to the level of the subordinate’s knowledge, skills and self-confidence, and then use either a more supportive or directive leadership style.

Enjoy the episode

In this episode of the Middle Management Podcast, we will be looking at some different leadership theories. 

Trait Theory
Behavioural Theory
Situational Theory

And then we will be focusing on the five practices of effective leadership.