Working remotely is something that I’ve touched on many times on this blog, and despite evidence suggesting that those who partake in it are more efficient and happier, it is still something of a rarity in many workplaces.
Much of this is perhaps down to the so called face time problem that asserts that employees that work remotely are denied promotions and pay-rises on account of not being visible enough.
Whilst most of the time, such discussions are explored from the perspective of employees, a recent study from researchers at Georgia Southern University and Brigham Young University finds that leaders can also suffer from being distant from their team.
Out of sight, out of mind
“We found that people are biased toward the people they are physically located with,” the authors say. “People who are working remotely on a team can be at a disadvantage when it comes to being seen as a leader.”
In other words, if the majority of a team are located together, and the leader can only communicate with them virtually, that leader is likely to experience significantly more problems than if they are all located together.
These issues could involve confusion over strategy, communication problems or even power struggles between the team.
The authors are adamant that if you want to be an effective leader, then it’s impossible to do so whilst located away from those you hope to lead, unless the whole team is connecting virtually. The moment the majority are physically together and you’re not there, trouble looms.
“We learned that if you want to have a clear leader emerge, you are better off having them all located face to face or all working remotely,” the authors conclude. “It’s when you start mixing and matching–some on site, some virtual–that’s when the real confusion comes into play.”
Is virtual working a bad thing?
It’s certainly tempting perhaps, to therefore assume that virtual working is too much of a risk and should not be allowed, but I think it’s perhaps more sensible to treat this study, and it’s findings, as a cautionary tale of a potential risk rather than a warning that it should be forbidden outright.
If you would like some guidance on how to do it well, then a recent post covered a study, from researchers at Cornell, looking at the ideal size of virtual teams to encourage the best results.
“The key is having a cohesive team and a limited number of contacts in the communication network,” the author says. “This allows team members to benefit from the strength and relationships within their team and not have their team interactions diluted by a larger base of network contacts.”
So if you want to take anything from this post, it’s that virtual working can be effective, but it’s not suitable in every situation and you should decide accordingly whether it’s something you wish to offer.
