NGO Soul + Strategy 031. What you can do to excel in virtual team leadership: Monica Maassen @ Oxfam
Summary
Monica is a change management specialist par excellence. She is also thoughtful about all things management and leadership. How does she see the linkages between change management and virtual/hybrid team leadership - something we all got thrown into big time in the last 2 years (if we did not already practice it before)?
What is the biggest thing(s) we may be missing about not working in a co-located team, and what is it that we may not miss that much?
What are the biggest differences between leading a virtual or hybrid team, and leading a co-located team? And what are the distinct advantages and disadvantages of either situation?
In this podcast episode, I interview Monica Maassen, Head of Change Management and Learning in the context of our new online course ‘Post-Pandemic Virtual Team Leadership Essentials’. A small team of talented freelance contributors and I at Five Oaks Consulting have recently launched this course! And Monica was part of our first cohort. In this interview, I explore some of Monica's reflections and lessons learned after having taken the course.
Monica’s Bio
- Head of Oxfam International’s Change Management and Learning team
- Head of Oxfam International’s Organizational Effectiveness unit
- Deputy Director, Change Management, Oxfam Int
- Head of Change Management, Oxfam NOVIB ( Netherlands' affiliate of Oxfam)
We discuss:
- What are some of the common fallacies when team leaders shift to leading virtual/hybrid teams? For instance, task orientation versus human connection
- The implications of the fact that spontaneous interactions/conversations are more difficult to have
- How we miss body language signals, cannot read the room as well - and what are the consequences of that
- The skills needed for interpersonal conflict resolution in the virtual space
- What are the implications of collaborating virtually for how power is (re)distributed
- A specific challenge: inter-team virtual collaboration – and what to do about it
- The risk of a sense of disconnect
Quotes
“What you don’t see in virtual collaboration, you won’t ask about as a manager”
"Conversely: what you give attention, as a managr, will grow”
“In INGOs, we tend to like to debate, but we avoid conflict”
Resources:
Course Site 'Post Pandemic Virtual Team Leadership Essentials'
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