Session Title

Virtual Leadership in Today’s World

Abstract

The ongoing pandemic and technological advancements work in tandem necessitating improvements in the ways businesses can communicate virtually. With the COVID-19 transforming our very way of life, businesses all around the world have been trying hard to adapt themselves in the hope to function smoothly.

However, there is no denying that the curveball of the pandemic to the industries has brought the entire world economy to a grinding halt. This is a new world and as such warrants a shift in workplace standards, insomuch as to keep companies afloat. The impact of these shifts goes beyond the day-to-day functioning of the business but opens an entirely new debate around ideas of leadership. The challenges that the pandemic has brought are unprecedented and unknown to almost all in leadership roles. This mounting challenge in a drastically virtual world, one where we cannot afford to act rashly underscores the criticality of virtual leadership.

Data from the Institute for Corporate Productivity suggests that almost 87 percent of major organizations believe, their business is undergoing rapid transformation. For many of these businesses, the primary cause of such rapid transformation has been greater adoption and reliance on digital platforms owing to remote working ushered by the pandemic. Currently, over 25% of employees worldwide work in a 100% remote work organization observing virtual team collaboration. Furthermore, every employee in these organizations works in her or his domestic time zone.

As the world adjusts to this newness related to work and work-related communication, leaders in businesses have been subject to unseen and unthought-of organizational challenges. Since this is a relatively new way of working and communicating for many businesses, leaders in virtual settings have faced many organizational challenges including that of managing their workforce.

Countering this unpredictability and making the best out of the cards dealt, it becomes crucial for leaders to dig deep and hone their virtual leadership skills. One way to achieve this and make your virtual teams successful is developing an understanding and empathetic approach to maintaining employee morale and motivation while simultaneously being mindful of mental health. In addition to ensuring that the human element exists when handling the challenges that a virtual work environment brings to the table, having certain ground rules established, a detailed plan of action made, and most importantly having patience can go a long way in strengthening work relationships and garnering support as a leader.

Beyond the logistics, training, and building capacity of employees and colleagues to ease the process of transitioning from a physical to the virtual working mode, leaders also need to be cognizant of challenges such as that of internet bandwidth, limited working space, and noise that are often a part and parcel of working from home.

Streamlining work processes and facilitating workshops to further enhance collaboration between teams through cloud-based services and tools like Google Drive, One Drive or Google docs can also be valuable as business leaders work towards rebuilding their organizations after the shock of the pandemic.

Bio

Mr. Abhishek Agarwal, President - Judge India - Global Delivery at The Judge Group, has played a key role in propelling the company to new heights. Judge India began with a modest employee count of 50 people and has since grown to a family of 300+ dedicated employees. He has received several honors for his outstanding achievements since 2016.

Here are some of the accolades he’s won in recent years:

• Top 15 staffing owners and operators to watch in 2021 by World Staffing Summit 2020
• Executive of the Year - Business or Professional Services by Stevie International Business Awards 2021
• Global Indian of the year by Asia One 2020 – 2021
• Global Achievers’ Award for "Outstanding Professional Achievement and Contribution in Nation Building" by Indian Achievers’ Forum 2021
• Entrepreneur of the Year by Golden Globe Tigers Award 2020
• Recruiting & Staffing Industry Leader of the Year by Global Talent Management Award 2019
• Role Model and Exemplary Leader Award by ET Awards 2018
• Excellence in Technology, Talent, and Learning Solution by BAM Awards 2018

Having led multiple successful and large organizations over the last 20+ years, Abhishek believes that leadership and innovation require a set of impeccable values that are to be respected and followed at all times. He abides by a code of conduct that not only guides him in challenging times but also helps to keep the fire of passion and motivation burning. He follows a set of principles based on The Rule of 3 I’s. They are Intent, Integrity, and Intelligence.

In addition to this, he has made unimpeachable efforts in the last 5 years to quadruple Judge India’s employee footprint; he has introduced and implemented a revolutionary hybrid work model due to which Judge India’s workforce’s productivity has increased by 100%.