When you don’t see someone regularly, it is difficult to manage their career progression. Myth or Reality?

Adapted for Posting by Perin Colah

 

Welcome back to Five Myths and Realities of Virtual Teams. This week we explore :

 

MYTH 4: WHEN YOU DON’T SEE SOMEONE REGULARLY, IT IS DIFFICULT TO MANAGE THEIR CAREER PROGRESSION.

 

Reality: Virtual managers can actively assist their employees in career development and help them keep visible track of their contributions as well as actively communicate their accomplishments. It is important for virtual managers to have competence in training and coaching new members. They can advocate for their virtual team members and avoid giving preference to those who are closer geographically.

 

Advice: One interesting finding from AIM Strategies®/Yael Zofi’s interviewees study was the fact that many virtual managers saw no major difference exists around virtual career development and performance management. In fact, many said that both protocols are handled similarly, with communication via the telephone rather than in-person. Successful virtual managers maximized ‘virtuality’ by assigning a local manager to serve as the ‘host’ and help provide feedback observations locally. Of course the ‘host’ should be trained on how to give and receive feedback and the direct manager needs to provide performance feedback about the employee.

 

Other best practices identified mechanisms to ensure there was a process for ongoing conversations around succession planning, development and continuous communication. Several high-performing virtual managers conduct these conversations during their bi-weekly one-on-one calls while others may set a separate time to talk about development on a quarterly basis.

Here are some examples:

 

“We have a Governance document and as part of our routine we actually have a one-on-one succession plan and career discussion conducted quarterly.” Virtual Leader, Bottling Company.

 

“Virtual career management is harder because leaders have to be doubly skilled in two areas: (1) know where the job skill is headed, and (2) understand whoever is working on it and what options exist. Because it is virtual, I pay more attention to making sure I stay in contact with my employees and make it a point of being available to them.” Virtual Manager, Insurance Company.

 

Stay tuned for the final and 5th myth next week!