Lesson 7: Global Virtual Team Leadership

Global Virtual Team Leadership

Think back to a previous group you had membership in. Who was the leader? What kind of leader was he/she? What made him/her that kind of leader? Take a moment and write down several characteristics of a leader that was good and effective and one that was not from your past experience.

Leadership consists not just the individual's personality traits and skills, but also the situation where they lead. A highly effective leader in one place and time may be largely ineffective in another location and time. One of the goals of good leadership is gaining the skills and abilities that enable a person to lead across a broad range of situations and locations.

Harry S. Truman, a former U.S. President, defined leadership in a free country as "a man (woman) who can persuade people to do what they don't want to do, or do what they're too lazy to do, and like it" (Garton and Wegryn, 2006, parenthesis added).

On a global virtual (GV) team the challenge becomes learning how to lead and motivate team members who are separated by distance, culture, language, time zones and technology. It becomes important to understand the qualities of an effective, good leader in a co-located team to understand how those qualities become modified or changed by leading a GV team.This lesson seeks to identify the qualities and key skills of a GV team leader.

Before proceeding with this lesson, it is important to state that nobody possesses all of the leadership qualities to the highest degree. Nor does this lecture intend on being all-inclusive in describing GV team leadership. It is an overview of key qualities that any individual may develop to become a more effective leader in a GV team situation. The value of this lecture will come from evaluating your leadership qualities and determining areas you could develop and strengthen.

In this lesson we present two different leadership models. While each may be used on any team, co-located or global, in the context of this lesson, the global approach will be emphasized. The first describes global leadership using broad characteristics of a global leader. The second provides more of a task approach to skills and activities a global leader should have or develop. The final section describes some best practices of a global leader.