When it comes to running a company online where you are managing virtual employees or you might be hiring virtual assistants, your management style might have to shift a little bit to accommodate different cultures if you’re hiring across countries or accommodating different time zones or different types of people that might respond to a different management style than the other.
The different management styles I will discuss in this article will reflect what kind of person you are and hopefully help you have more clarity on what kind of manager you should be at different times or situations.
A lot of the management styles that I’m going to be talking about in this article are based on the book Self Leadership and The One Minute Manager. This book will help you adjust your leadership style depending on the people you’re working with, the circumstances, and even the tasks your employees are doing.
In the book, they talk about how different people, as they are starting out with a task, might have different levels of competence and commitment to doing the job. A lot of people who are just getting started, have high commitment but low competence. This means they are fully willing to learn but have no idea what they’re doing. With this, with someone high in commitment but low on knowing how to execute the tasks, then you step into what is called the…
Directive Leadership Style
This leadership style is also called the “Authoritarian” or “Micromanaging” style. What this looks like is that you are high on directive but low on supportive. Because this person is already very committed to make sure that tasks get done, they don’t need much support but more on direction since they are low in competence.
This management style is more effective in this situation than other styles since this is just short-term as they are starting, and you really want to direct to make sure that everything is clear and understood. This is also to fastest way for them to learn since you are solely focusing and spending more time on what they need to understand and execute. However, one thing that you should note is that during this time, as your employee starts to raise their competence, the commitment will start to lower down a bit.
This usually happens as they start to learn how to do things, they might feel a little bit overwhelmed, or realize how much work needs to be done, and they might not be as excited anymore compared to when they just started. This is something that you should now worry though, as this is what is naturally expected to happen, and this is where another leadership or management style comes into play moving forward.
Coaching Management Style
In this management style, you are high on directive and should be high on support as well. The biggest reason for this is, that they need both. As mentioned before, now that they know how much work needs to be done, their commitment will start to lower down.
So it would be best if you were supportive and directive with them to make sure that they stay on the right path to where they need to go. With this, you must remind them of their goals, handhold them if you must, and not just tell them what to do. After they have gone through this stage, their competency will be in mid to high, but their commitment will still vary. So with this, you pair it with…
Supportive Management Style
With this style, you are basically low on directive and high on supportive. So, this is what you need to take note of is that if competence is low, the directive should be high. And if commitment is low, support is high. It’s important to remember this as you may need to switch management styles on any given day depending on the person or circumstances your employee is in. As you are getting to this third stage, you should be already keen enough to see and notice what your employee are going through and what kind of management or leadership style you should be applying to them.
Delegative Management Style
When you are in the final stage where your employee or your virtual assistant is already high in both commitment and competence, this is where you step in and have a delegative style of management. So this basically means that you are in the low supportive and low directive. Because they are now supporting themselves and already know what they are doing, so you will step back and just delegate tasks to them. You give them that space to grow, and for your employees, it will be easier for them now than when they started.
Later on, when your employees need to start a whole new task, you might have to start all over again with management style stages as this is a process of being a manager or a leader. You might not need to go through all the stages, or it might not be as long or as short as the last time but is essential that you apply the right management style to where your employees are at.
When you are managing people online, try to see what kind of manager they need at that moment and know that you can be flexible. Try to mix and match your management style with your people, because, again, it will vary depending on the person you are managing and the tasks that they are doing.
Being a leader or manager doesn’t have to be this terrifying big thing. It can be really easy as long as you have the right resources and of course support for yourself throughout the whole process.
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