How to use a leadership brand when managing a virtual team

A guide to leading teams in hybrid and remote environments?

Creating visibility around your personal brand

At the start of this series we introduced the Hoxby Model of Remote Leadership? and the 14 domains in which effective virtual leaders excel. So far we have looked at several areas including authenticity, agile experimentation, comfort with disagreement and trust. This week we are exploring the importance of building a visible leadership brand, drawing on inspiration and insights from experienced remote leader Caroline Jameson (MD of Operations at Hoxby).

Visibility refers to your identity as a leader. Are you well known? Do you have a clear USP? Do employees know how they can approach and interact with you to get the support they need??

A leadership brand communicates the value you offer and your expectations of those around you. A clear brand means employees are not surprised by decisions, understand priorities, and benefit from consistency of direction – the goal posts don’t suddenly change. It is critical, especially in remote work, to model a leadership brand that attracts people to you and promotes a culture of inclusion and accessibility. Leadership traits like humility, courage, empowerment and accountability have been shown to build belonging and lead to better work outcomes, while research by Gallup found that employees rate four traits as essential to good leadership: trust, compassion, stability and hope.?

A great leader also adapts their identity to the position they hold and further aligns their approach with the purpose and vision of the organisation, as well as the needs of their team. A misconceived brand can block a leader’s impact and effectiveness. Unfortunately, research shows that many of the traits employees deem most important in a boss are those that managers exhibit least often. So when considering your personal brand, make sure you listen carefully to what your employees and colleagues need (in fact, listening in itself was a priority for 88 percent of surveyed employees).

With clarity of personal brand, leaders can concentrate on visibility, embedding their identity in their behaviours and actions. Without visibility, team members don’t understand how to get support and work effectively. At Hoxby, Caroline Jameson reinforces her brand by being omnipresent across communication channels, making herself always available to offer help and answer questions.?

However, she doesn’t create visibility for the sake of being visible. She puts concerted effort into demonstrating her professional substance via the content she produces – freely sharing ideas, knowledge, insights, opinions and expertise with the broader online community, without the expectation of getting anything in return. This takes planning and commitment – especially when engaging in conversations that are not directly related to work projects – but the effort pays off in the long run as her team feels connected and clear on their expectations of her leadership.?

Another way we create visibility of leadership brands at Hoxby is through workstyle documents. These help the entire team get to know our leaders as people - what gives us energy, how we like to work, what our priorities are, and where our boundaries lie. You can see Lizzie and Alex’s workstyle documents by clicking on these links.?

Key takeaways:

• Consider the results you want to achieve in the next one, two or even five years. What behaviours would help you get there?
• Reflect on what you would like to be known for? When people talk about your leadership, which words would they use – collaborative, strategic, supportive, innovative?
• Invite your team to tell you how you can best support and lead them. Make sure you really listen and respond to their needs

Next week is the final article in our series where we will explore the importance of effective role modelling. If you can’t wait to read it, or if you’d like to read more about how the theory can come to life through some real life examples, you can request the full PDF here.?