By the term “virtual leadership”, we mean a style of leadership that is intended to transport companies and our society safely into the new era. “Virtual or agile leadership” describes a process of influence that is set in motion by modern information technologies to bring about changes in the attitude, perception, emotions, thinking and behaviour and/or performance of individuals, groups or organizations.
For us, the term “virtual and agile leadership” also includes the conviction that intrinsic motivation is more important than control and command.
We have developed the Supportive Leadership© concept for this purpose.
Of course, modern managers have to ask themselves why employees have to sit in the office and use time recording tools when they can be “always on” and communicate with colleagues virtually via Skype, Whatsapp, Google Apps and cloud technology.
And why strategy and design need to change when every digital process can be documented and evaluated.
Framework conditions for the development of agile and virtual leadership
Above all, the role model and the backing of top management are seen as central here. The company management should not just give the go-ahead. Rather, this is based on the desire to leave “top-down” freedom and show more openness for “bottom-up” activities.
Accordingly, changing the corporate culture is also the second most important prerequisite for agile leadership, followed by the competencies of managers.
“Following the establishment of our shared service center for accounting, in which we brought together around 400 accounting employees from the various Group companies into one organizational unit, it was necessary to get the management team on board with the new objectives and framework conditions. In team-building workshops lasting several days, Sonja Schlömmer responded precisely to our requirements and, with her help, was able to quickly create a team whose members treat each other with appreciation and respect, with an open and solution-oriented attitude.”
“Ms. Schloemmer gets to the heart of management and HR issues in a very professional and practical manner and is very responsive to the individual challenges of the course participants, drawing on her own many years of management experience. I particularly benefited not only from her advice on personnel issues but also from her innovative methods and approaches to everyday management. For me as a young up-and-coming manager, this provided orientation and increased efficiency in my role as head of department in a dynamic, growing organization.”
(Wifi Management Seminar)
“Thanks to the newly acquired skills, I feel more self-confident and self-reflective in my new Team Lead role. Some of the insights were real eye-openers. I started implementing what I had learned immediately after the course ended. I can recommend the training to anyone who is looking for new impulses in the area of leadership and wants to strengthen team collaboration and leadership. (Course “The new manager”)
