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A recent survey by Upwork suggests that 36.2 million Americans will be working remotely by 2025. This is an increase of 16.8 million people before the pandemic.
The ever-growing trend for remote working calls for a new, more effective leadership style for distributed teams. How do you lead a team that doesn’t work in the same office or even lives in the same state/country? How do you deal with the key challenges like team communication, lack of work discipline, security issues, and productivity?
That’s where transformational leadership shines as the best leadership style for virtual teams. Effective direction is a fundamental part of business efficacy. It’s therefore important for organizations to consider how best to integrate transformational leadership into business strategy.
What Is Transformational Leadership in Business?
Transformational leadership seeks to promote a collaborative work environment. This leadership style is primarily associated with constantly improving upon the organization’s conventions. It focuses on building mutual trustful relationships between team leaders and employees, as well as a nurturing remote work culture.
When team members are given basic tasks and goals to accomplish every day, week, or month, the leader pushes them to think out of the box. A transformational leader challenges their team to grow, no wonder it’s a highly recommended leadership style for remote teams.
As this study from Kore University of Enna proves, participants favored transformational leaders over transactional leaders. It regarded the former as intelligent, creative, and endowed with originality.
Unlike transactional leadership where the leader works within the system and sticks to a known pattern, a transformational leader works to change the system. They always want to know what has to change within the organization and focus on maximizing the team’s capacity and capability.
Top Qualities of Transformational Leaders
Charisma
A charismatic leader tends to have a huge influence on their remote workers. A study on the multilevel impact of transformational leadership on service quality concluded that “leaders with charisma earn followers’ respect by setting good examples.”
They express charisma by listening, appreciating a good job, being there for their team, and taking responsibility when things go wrong. They also provide constructive criticism to their subordinates.
Team-First Attitude
Transformational leaders lead by example and want the best for their teams. They keep their egos in check, putting the interests of their employees before their own personal gain. This attitude helps them learn the traits of individual team members and find ways to help them grow.
Visionary
Transformational leaders have a unique perception of the future and believe that no detail is too small to be ignored. Their insights and intuition give them clear direction – they know exactly what the team wants and how to get them there.
It’s a critical leadership style, especially in a remote working environment where isolation and loneliness can affect performance. A transformational leader gives teams a clear sense of the common goal and works with them toward achieving it. It’s a quality that ensures a loyal following and unrivaled commitment from people.
Proactive
A transformational leader takes a proactive approach to leadership. Doing so helps them mitigate risks and avoid problems before they get full-blown. This approach also allows them to turn challenges into opportunities, introducing teams to innovative solutions they may not have thought about.
Good Listener
Transformational leaders lead with vision but are humble enough to realize that they are still learning and growing. They understand that active listening in the workplace plays an integral part in the overall growth of the team and the entire company.
Active listening skills help avoid misunderstandings that can sometimes be costly. It also demonstrates the attentiveness of the leader—a quality that opens the door to effective collaboration.
Inspiring and Accountable
Transformational leaders look for ways to inspire team members, creating an enthusiasm that causes them to aspire for better performance. A highly inspired team is more likely to be engaged and motivated, which, in turn, lowers turnover and increases productivity.
Additionally, a truly transformational leader is accountable for their actions. They don’t shift blame, but rather own the mistakes of their team. When a leader is accountable, their followers will reciprocate, creating a workplace that thrives on trust, loyalty, and support.
Why Transformational Leadership Is Important for Your Remote Workforce
There are various leadership styles, each with unique characteristics. So, why choose transformational leadership?
- Increased team morale: People working under a transformational leader feel heard, included, and valued. This boosts not only employee morale but also performance. According to a survey by Gallup, highly engaged teams result in 21 percent greater profitability, 59 percent less turnover, and a 41 percent reduction in absenteeism.
- Increased creativity and innovation: Transformational leaders are open-minded and willing to listen to the ideas and suggestions of the team members. Teams end up having high degrees of psychological safety which creates the belief that you won’t be punished for making a mistake. It’s this atmosphere that fosters innovation and creativity.
- Improved performance. Studies show a direct link between transformational leadership and organizational performance. Hence, if applied in a remote work environment, it promotes team growth and better performance.
Key Challenges in Transformational Leadership
We’ve seen that transformational leadership encourages innovation, creativity, and teamwork. However, it has its downsides:
- Difficulty implementing an effective mode of communication. Leaders must strive to apply the appropriate communication modes and tools that enhance cohesiveness among the workforce. It’s only by delivering clear goals, missions, and objectives can maximum efficiency be achieved in the workplace. That’s why it’s crucial to consider how remote workers process information and find the best communication channel.
- Keeping the remote workforce motivated. Another big challenge is to continually motivate the remote teams. Given that remote workers are surrounded by distractions, it can be hard to maintain consistency in performance. What’s more, lack of work discipline due to isolation can be a major hindrance to productivity.
Thanks to emerging technologies, leaders can enforce team and project management tools to monitor employee performance. However, care should be taken not to invade privacy as this can lead to trust issues. The best approach is to promote employee monitoring ethics as part of the company culture. You need to show you trust your team to get the job done. However, they must understand that they need to play their part in ensuring timely delivery of tasks and proper time management.
- Extra effort in maintaining employees’ commitment to the company vision. Some employees may be unable to connect their leader’s goals and vision with the work situation. Others may perceive the challenges as too difficult to accomplish or even unrealistic. Therefore, leaders must keep reinforcing their understanding of the impact of the transformation they are aiming for.
How to Apply Transformational Leadership in a Remote Working Environment
If you feel like transformational leadership is the best leadership style for virtual teams, here are the best practices to help you apply it successfully:
- Always take the time to listen to the concerns, ideas, and suggestions your teams may have.
- Act as a role model to your subordinates by showing dedication and commitment to achieving goals and fostering teamwork.
- Have a solid understanding of your vision for the organization’s future and the importance of company objectives.
- Regularly seek feedback from the team members to get insights about what’s really going on the ground. However, don’t stop there. Be sure to act on their contributions if you want to see real change. In one survey to determine whether companies listen to employees, 82 percent said they have ideas to improve the company. Yet, over half the employees said the company failed to act on them.
- Strive to meet your workers’ needs. Show that you care about your employees by fulfilling their needs. Meeting their essential needs will make them happy, and turnover will decrease. In turn, the company will enjoy employee loyalty, improved performance, and increased profitability.
In Conclusion…
By and large, transformational leadership can empower your remote workforce to put their best effort into everything they do. However, this doesn’t mean it will work in all circumstances.
Sometimes, transactional leadership or any other leadership style may be more effective in bringing the results you want.
That said, always keep communication a top priority. It’s the key to effective collaboration, to a greater extent, for distributed teams who may feel disconnected at times.
