Virtual Leadership: Practical Strategies for Getting the Best Out of Virtual Work and Virtual Teams

The future of work is virtual, with dispersed teams, telecommuting, remote working and virtual meetings becoming the norm across sectors and industries around the world. However leading virtual teams requires a new set of skills and a facilitative leadership approach, Virtual Leadership is here to help.

At its best, virtual working can be productive and creative, tapping into the best people wherever they are and bringing skills and experience together efficiently and at low cost. But it can also lead to isolated and disengaged workers, ineffective communication, and uncoordinated and even counter-productive activity.

Virtual Leadership provides practical strategies, tools and solutions for the key issues involved in managing at a distance. How can I provide leadership, motivation and vision through virtual channels? How do I make virtual meetings effective, engaging and productive, and ensure actions are followed through? How do I create engaged and cohesive teams across distance, cultures and languages? How do I stop virtual team members silently checking out, distracted by local challenges and offline issues?

With diverse case studies and examples, this is the essential guide to making a difference as a leader of virtual work.

Penny Pullan is a thought leader in the field of virtual leadership, specializing in complex change projects involving virtual teams. She is a director of Making Projects Work. Her clients include: Rolls Royce, UK Government, Skandia, PWC, Novo Nordisk, AstraZeneca, Abbott Laboratories, Cummins, Capital One, National Grid, Open University, CAFOD, Save the Children and Christian Aid.

Penny Pullan has run the Virtual Working Summit since 2010 with thousands of participants from around the world. In addition, she's a Senior Instructor in Business Analysis for ESI, a leading training organisation. Penny is the co-editor of Business Analysis and Leadership (2013, also published by Kogan Page).