Remote Leadership in the Covid and Post-Covid Digital Age

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2021 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, grade: 1,7, Otto Beisheim School of Management Vallendar, language: English, abstract: This thesis provides some best practices and other principles to help overcome the challenges and disruption of the Covid-19 pandemic.

This thesis discusses these eleven best practices and other principles in the later chapters, and will help leaders realize possible challenges and how to overcome them. If teams fail to overcome them and adjust to the virtual environment, they will not be able to work effectively any more and could cause potential damage and losses to the organization by not completing their tasks and goals. These practical implications can help leaders and remote teams adjust to a virtual environment and are why this thesis is very relevant during the Covid-19 pandemic and also post-pandemic, as these are helpful guidelines for remote leaders.

Essential principles for remote leadership are the following in no particular order:
. Provision of technology
. Frequent and well communication
. Sequencing of tasks
. Provision of emotional and social support.
. Maintenance of productivity and engagement
. Promotion of a work-life balance
. Acquisition of mentoring quality
. Reinforcement of trustworthiness
. Encouragement of shared leadership
. Establishment of norms
. Digital leadership

Covid-19 has disrupted many workplaces, changed the working environment, and shifted most workplaces to a remote work setting, meaning most people had to start working from home. As the Covid-19 pandemic was rapidly advancing, working from the office was no longer possible in most workplaces. Many companies implemented a 'new normal' in the form of virtual teams and remote work. With this disruption and change, many difficulties and issues arose. Virtual teams and, therefore, also remote leadership face different challenges than face-to-face leadership and teams do. These new challenges came quickly and somewhat unexpectedly, and now leaders and organizations have to face them. Coping with these challenges is crucial for the Covid-19 era and post-pandemic age, when workspaces will most likely stay remote to some extent. Therefore, this topic is significant in the present and will also remain important for the future.