How to Manage Teams Remotely: Best Practices for Virtual Leadership
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, remote work has become more commonplace. In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that between 2019 and 2021, “the (weighted) average percentage-point increase in remote workers across industries was 14.9.”
Remote work has also transformed how organizations operate, requiring leaders to adapt traditional management approaches to dynamic virtual environments. Today, remote team management involves more than just the right technology and coordinating efforts across a group of employees who work from different locations — but clear communication, trust, accountability, and strong leadership skills as well.
Whether you aspire to lead fully remote teams or hybrid workforces, effective virtual leadership skills can empower you to boost productivity, engagement, and collaboration among team members. And with a better understanding of the best practices for remote team management, you may be better prepared to meet the challenges and opportunities of today’s managers and emerging leaders.
Why Virtual Leadership Matters in Today’s Workplace
It’s no secret that remote and hybrid work environments have reshaped not only how teams collaborate with each other, but how leaders support performance. When managers understand the importance of virtual leadership skills, they can better adapt their own leadership approaches to support communication, accountability, and engagement in distributed workplaces.
The Rise of Remote and Hybrid Work Environments
Although shelter-in-place orders during the COVID-19 pandemic may have initiated the shift to remote and hybrid work, the reality is that organizations across industries have continued to embrace remote and hybrid work models to increase flexibility and overall access to talent. In fact, according to Founder Reports, only 27 percent of companies had returned to fully in-person models in 2025.
As a result of this shift, the need for strong virtual team leadership skills has also increased, especially for organizations looking to manage productivity while maintaining cohesion among team members.
How Leadership Expectations Have Changed
With a shift toward a remote/hybrid workforce, the expectations of leaders have also evolved. Specifically, modern leaders, including remote managers, are expected to guide teams without the need for constant in-person interaction. Managing remote teams effectively, then, centers around outcomes, trust, and clear communication that transcends physical presence.
Establish Clear Communication and Expectations
Without physical presence, strong communication skills become the foundation of remote team management. Leaders must be able to clearly define goals, workflows, communication norms, and expectations to ensure understanding and alignment across virtual teams.
Setting Goals and Performance Standards for Remote Teams
Effective leadership in remote work requires clearly defined goals that help employees better understand their expectations and prioritize tasks. Meanwhile, outcome-based performance standards empower leaders to support accountability while still allowing for flexibility in how team members complete their work.
Choosing the Right Communication Tools and Channels
Virtual leaders are also tasked with selecting the appropriate platforms for meetings, messaging, and project management among remote teams. This requires an extensive knowledge of the different tools and platforms available, as well as an understanding of the team’s unique needs and dynamics. By selecting the right tools, leaders can reduce confusion while improving efficiency.
Avoiding Miscommunication in Virtual Settings
Without the clarity of face-to-face interaction, miscommunications can easily occur in remote work environments. As a result, leaders managing virtual teams must find ways to encourage clarity, active listening, and schedule regular virtual meetings for consistent follow-up to minimize misunderstandings and maintain harmony among remote team members.
Build Trust and Accountability in Remote Teams
When leading remote teams, direct oversight is inherently limited. As a result, building a sense of trust without micromanaging is crucial, requiring an ability for leaders to prioritize transparency, open communication and accountability while creating stronger and more engaged remote teams.
Fostering Trust Without Micromanagement
One of the greatest challenges virtual team leaders face is fostering trust without feeling the need to micromanage remote teams. To achieve this, remote leaders must balance oversight with employee autonomy, empowering employees to manage their work while building trust and supporting long-term engagement.
Encouraging Ownership and Responsibility
When remote employees are empowered to take ownership of their work, they may also be more likely to stay engaged, motivated, and productive. To support this sense of ownership, virtual team leaders can set clear roles and expectations that reinforce accountability in virtual environments.
Measuring Outcomes Instead of Hours Worked
Finally, rather than focusing solely on the number of hours remote employees are putting in, effective virtual team leaders look more closely on results. Not only does outcome-based management promote fairness and flexibility in remote teams, but it also aligns well with remote and hybrid work models.
Promote Engagement and Team Connection
When teams are geographically dispersed, maintaining engagement and connection can be challenging for leaders. However, with intentional efforts, it is possible for online leaders to maintain connection and sustain morale.
Maintaining Team Culture in a Virtual Environment
Virtual leaders can reinforce organizational culture online, for example, with regular check-ins and inclusive practices to help teams stay connected. Likewise, maintaining shared values that are clearly communicated can strengthen team culture — even when employees aren’t able to meet face-to-face.
Supporting Collaboration Across Locations
Effective remote leaders can also promote teamwork and collaboration across locations with appropriate levels of structure. More specifically, leaders can rely on collaborative tools and regular communication to keep teams working together toward shared goals.
Preventing Isolation and Burnout
Because of the isolating nature of remote work, burnout is a common problem that leaders need to be aware of and take measures to mitigate. Virtual leaders can do this by carefully monitoring workloads and encouraging balance to support employee well-being.
Develop Essential Remote Leadership Skills
Leading remotely requires a unique set of online leadership skills, ranging from emotional intelligence and empathy to adaptability and mentoring.
Emotional Intelligence and Empathy in Virtual Leadership
Specifically, emotional intelligence (or the ability to read and respond to others’ emotions) empowers leaders to understand and meet team needs. In cultivating emotional intelligence and managing remote employees with diverse circumstances, a strong sense of empathy is especially important.
Adaptability and Decision-Making from a Distance
Just as in a physical work environment, leading in a remote setting requires the ability to adapt quickly to changing circumstances. This sense of adaptability, combined with strong decision-making skills, can support consistency and confidence across distributed teams.
Coaching and Mentoring Remote Employees
Team members can grow professionally when they’re supported by capable leaders — that said, virtual leaders are tasked with effectively coaching and mentoring remote workers to support skill development and long-term career progression.
Overcoming Common Challenges in Remote Team Management
Even with strong online leadership skills, virtual leaders must be prepared to overcome a wide range of unique obstacles when working with remote teams.
Managing Performance Issues Remotely
When performance issues inevitably arise, virtual leaders face the difficult task of addressing them tactfully and effectively. Specifically, virtual leaders must maintain clear communication and documentation while providing timely feedback and ongoing support in remote settings.
Navigating Time Zones and Flexible Schedules
Because distributed teams often span multiple time zones, this can create challenges for leaders when it comes to keeping teams aligned and coordinated. Leaders can navigate these challenges by balancing flexibility with coordination and maintaining clear lines of communication between team members in different time zones.
Addressing Conflict in Virtual Teams
Even in an online work environment, conflict can arise between team members. As a result, virtual leaders need to be equipped to address issues promptly while with conflict management skills while encouraging respectful communication among all involved parties.
How Education Supports Effective Virtual Leadership
A formal education can strengthen the conflict resolution, performance management, communication, and mentoring skills that are so important to have in a virtual leadership environment. In a formal degree program, students can learn the frameworks and practical tools needed to manage teams effectively.
Leadership Training for Remote Environments
A degree program in organizational leadership or a related field provides strategies tailored specifically to virtual and hybrid workplaces, including coursework in relevant topics such as:
- Communication
- Ethics
- Organizational behavior
Building Management Skills Through Online Degree Programs
Online degree programs in leadership offer students a strategic opportunity to cultivate practical leadership competencies, including the use of video conferencing tools, while managing daily obligations — reflecting the demands of remote collaboration and equipping professionals for effective virtual leadership roles.
Preparing for Leadership in a Remote-First World
Remote work is here to stay, which will make virtual leadership skills increasingly valuable across industries. By preparing to lead in remote-first workplaces, professionals can set themselves up for long-term career growth.
Why Virtual Leadership Skills Matter for Career Growth
As organizations continue to seek out leaders who can manage virtual teams effectively, strong remote leadership skills can enhance adaptability and make professionals more competitive in an evolving workforce.
Applying Best Practices Across Industries
Whether you’re interested in becoming a business, nonprofit, healthcare, or public service leader, virtual leadership skills readily translate across diverse workplace settings.
Explore Leadership and Management Programs at St. Thomas University Global
If you’re eager to rise to the challenge of leading teams in an increasingly virtual work environment, it may be time to pursue a Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Leadership from St. Thomas University Global. Through STU Global’s online Organizational Leadership program, students can complete career-ready coursework while gaining valuable, hands-on experience that prepares them to lead with confidence in diverse professional settings.
Visit our website to learn more about STU Global’s Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Leadership or any of the other online leadership programs we have to offer, including our:
- Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in Business Management
- Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in Sports Administration
Eager to take your next step? You can begin your online application for admission.
Sources
https://www.stu.edu/program/ba/organizational-leadership-online/
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