10 Ideas on How to Effectivelly Manage Your Virtual Team

Virtual Team

A virtual team give access to global talent and brings time and cost savings – but how do you manage it? Plan and standardise: Adopt a disciplined approach using well-tried project management methodology such as PRINCE2®, Scrum, Lean, for your virtual team. Technology: Telephone, fax, email, video conferencing, forum, chat rooms, blog, remote access, networked…

11 Proactive Ways to Enlist Cooperation on Your Project

enlist cooperation

It is rare for a project of any size not to rely on at least one person or group outside your department or even your company. Even in a minor role, these external players have the potential to loom large if they fall behind schedule. So you must be proactive to enlist cooperation on your…

Bennis Transformational Theory – Leadership Theories Series

bennis transformational theory

Use Bennis transformational theory to develop a vision for your organization based on values and beliefs and not management-speak. Following interviews with a range of leaders Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus identified four strategies that leaders should use when trying to transform their organizations. These are shown below. Strategy 1 Develop a clear and understandable vision…

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Bass Transformational Theory – Leadership Theories Series

bass transformational theory

Use bass transformational theory to identify the values and beliefs that you need to display to be recognized as a transformational leader. Bernard Bass built upon the work of Burns to develop an expanded and more detailed version of transformational leadership theory. Bass Identified what he called the 41st: Idealized influence refers to the charisma.…

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Transformational Theory – Leadership Theories Series

transformational theory

Use transformational theory as a means of energizing your staff by aligning their goals with yours and those of the organization. James MacGregor Burns provided the basic transformational theory which was later expanded upon by Bass and Bennis and Nanus. To understand the developed theory and how to use it you should read this and…

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Charismatic Theory – Leadership Theories Series

charismatic theory

Use charismatic theory to remind you that you should constantly act as a role model for your followers, even if you aren’t particularly charismatic. Charismatic theory has been around for a long time but it was Robert House who established it in the popular imagination during the 1970s. He sees charisma as a particularly powerful…

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Exchange Theory – Leadership Theories Series

exchange theory

Use exchange theory if you wish to (potentially) develop a close working relationship with every member of your team and ensure their loyalty to you and you alone. Dansereau, Graen and Haga’s theory is unusual in that it both describes what leaders do and suggests a strategy for how they should act. The exchange theory suggests…

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Transactional Theory – Leadership Theories Series

transactional theory

Use transactional theory to obtain compliance from a member of staff who needs to be persuaded to comply with your request. It was James MacGregor Burns who popularized the transactional theory. In doing so he described a process that has been going on between leaders and followers, managers and staff and parents and children since…

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Contingency Theory – Leadership Theories Series

contingency theory

Use contingency theory to assess how favorable or unfavorable your situation is and identify which factors you need to address to improve the situation. Fred Fiedler’s contingency theory tries to match leaders to posts in which they will be successful. It’s called contingency theory because it suggests that a leader’s effectiveness will be contingent upon…

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Situational Theory – Leadership Theories Series

situational theory

Use situational theory with staff every time you give them a new task to perform. If you’ve ever been on a middle managers’ leadership course there is a good chance that you are familiar with Ken Blanchard’s and Paul Hersey’s situational leadership theory. It’s widely used by trainers and popular with managers because it provides…

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