Leadership at a Distance
The COVID-19 virus has forced many changes on the business world, and many tough decisions onto leaders. Some shifts are more positive than others: I’ve already seen one cartoon saying, “My God, that meeting could have been done by email!”
Now more than ever, leaders must manage and inspire at a distance. In a large, diverse, and multinational world, this is not new; COVID-19 just pushed us to do it even with those in the office next door.
Ascent develops international leaders from around the world, including those facing considerable change and disruption. We have also operated as a virtual organization right from the first. We believe we have some practical advice for those learning to lead remotely in a time of uncertainty. We suggest keeping in mind three basic principles:
- Face to face matters.
- Casual check-ins are formally required.
- Personal engagement works for professionals.
Face to face matters.
People connect with each other through multiple information channels: reading subtleties of face, voice, and touch. Research shows that people not only read expressions, but can be influenced by subtle “microexpressions” or vocal overtones that add a lot of information at a subconscious level. On some level, we assume this as the normal way to meet people and begin to know them. Any experienced salesperson will tell you it’s easier to try and engage with someone you’ve met in person.
But what if you are “meeting” someone for the first time remotely? What is the impact?
Some people dislike talking by phone or video, let alone communicating by email or text. There are good reasons for this. For example, phones remove all frequencies below 400 hertz and above 3,400 hertz – whereas human voices can range from 85 to 17,000 hertz. Granting that no one needs to hear a coloratura soprano singing arias by telephone, you still lose about 80% of what you can hear, and in fact your brain has to use overtones to interpolate understanding of tones you can’t actually hear.
Likewise, video adds some visibility, but nowhere near the level of detail and richness we find in our direct eyesight.
When one information channel is removed (e.g., contact of handshaking replaced by a wave), or reduced (e.g., speaking by telephone), the others become more important. Once you have met someone face-to-face, it becomes significantly easier to engage remotely by video, phone, or email – you can imagine the full person from then on.
One answer is to “increase the channels” as much as you can, however you can. Video is better than audio is better than email is better than text. Even if the other party can’t use the additional connection for some reason, they often appreciate the effort taken.
You can also increase information flow within the channels you still have:
- Show your feelings: Your voice sounds recognizably different when you smile. This doesn’t mean you should grimace falsely, but that people can detect your feelings to some extent. Demonstrate them where practical.
- Use your voice: Use a wider vocal range to express emotion, which helps overcome missing overtones; in other words, it’s okay to be expressive.
- Clarity counts: Craft text or email messages carefully to avoid misunderstandings. It’s worth pausing to rewrite or edit a crucial message. A finding back from Total Quality Management days: fixing a problem before it goes out the door costs $1, fixing it after it goes out but before it reaches the client costs $10, fixing it after it reaches the client costs $100. I’ve been able to test this on actual cases, unfortunately, and it’s a good measure.
- Leverage relationships. If you are meeting someone through a connection, having that person introduce or join a call can create warmth all around – if A and B are friends and B and C are friends, it’s easier for A and C to have a friendly discussion.
Casual check-ins are formally required
Early studies in organizational climate revealed that when people lack clarity, they tend to come up with their own reasons for what has happened. Unfortunately, the reasons are usually quite negative: “Why aren’t they telling us what is going on? They’re going to fire us all!” A rule of thumb: you cannot provide too much clarity.
One good reason to walk the corridors is to show confidence. Emotions are contagious, whether positive or negative. That’s not a truism; that’s based on neurological research identifying “mirror neurons” in the brain that react to – and mirror – the person in front of you. When you can no longer see people in the hallways every day, then casual meetings become crucial. Formal meetings can and will continue as normal, but are not enough.
What is a casual meeting? It is a meeting without an agenda, or at an unexpected time, with no requirements attached. Chatting about your kids or the big game by the watercooler is a casual meeting. It is a meeting where you do not have work to do, but connect with the person regardless. And if nothing else, it’s good to ask people how they are doing under stress. You can do this remotely with only some effort.
Even as little as an email can help. In a crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic, people feel particularly alone and ignored; an email gives the option of responding or not, while still letting them know someone is asking about them.
Some actions you can take:
- Send group emails asking how everyone is doing.
- Send individual emails to people you know are struggling. This kind of individual attention takes very little time and has a disproportionate impact. To do this well, you must incorporate details if you have them: referring to the kids, the dog, the spouse, the school, the neighborhood, or whatever else.
- Schedule calls if in a crisis, or just call to say hello. The sound of a calm human voice makes a difference.
- Do “town hall” videoconferences or audio conferences to reach many at once with casual connection opportunities built in. The many apps available to do videocalling and videoconferencing today (e.g. Amazon Chime, BlueJeans, FaceTime, Google Hangouts, VidyoMobile, WebEx, WhatsApp, Zoom…) vary in specific tools, but most of them allow you to at least have one person presenting visually. Seeing a person’s face, as noted above, has an impact, but if you can’t do video at all, even audio is far better than nothing.
Personal engagement works for professionals
Human beings haven’t changed much over the past fifty thousand years. One trait we have is our implicit motivation, our emotional drivers. Three particular motives account for 85% of daily thinking time: Achievement (efficiency and innovation), Affiliation (belonging and interpersonal relationships), and Influence (impact on others and the world at large). Two out of three require people on the other end. (https://ascent.net/blog/2019/7/15/how-top-leaders-successfully-navigate-change-part-three-tapping-into-emotion)
The commonest is probably Affiliation: humans evolved as social creatures, traveling in groups of 20-30, and learning to get along with them and with others they met. It’s important for people to connect as people, not just as workers on a task. Even most introverts need to connect, though perhaps not in large groups or for extended periods.
Motives provide emotional energy, attachment, and awareness. You unconsciously look for opportunities to use your motives, and using them is energizing and exciting. You can’t put motives into someone, contrary to what some people think, but you can tap into the motives already in the person.
It’s a truism that business works through relationships, but it’s grounded in fact. Research shows that sharing personal information builds psychological closeness or intimacy. You don’t have to overshare, but even talking about issues you might have in common, such as retrieving children early from college, risking a Starbucks run, bingeing on a TV show – these build bonds.
We are a social species; it’s good for us to remember that, and use it. It’s not just good for your business, or your people – it’s good for you as well. And while the tools are new, what you do with them comes naturally. The connection will help both your organization and you thrive in a time of chaos.