Leadership in the new working environment

In the summer members of the Leaders Club were fortunate to spend an evening with Raja Saggi at the unique and impressive Google Headquarters in London.

We asked Raja, a Founding Member of the Leaders Club to get out his crystal ball to predict how he saw the next 5 years from his own personal observations, and what trends and changes he foresaw to help us ordinary mortals to plan for the future.  Raja has been Head of SMB Marketing position at Google for over 3 years working on AdWords and other Google products with UK & Irish SMEs through partnerships and online/offline channels. His team also manages flagship programs such as Getting British Business Online (GBBO), Think and Google Engage.

After a fascinating lecture and discussion during the question session the leadership impact of both outsourcing and teams working away from the office was raised.  The fundamental question of “how do you lead diverse teams or individuals who will quite often be working virtually, away from the office and potentially in another country?”

We all know how important “human contact” can be but if you are leading a group of people working remotely how do you communicate and connect? How do you inspire them or motivate them for the Unity of purpose required to deliver overall?
How do you ensure you are seen to be strategic and making the right timely decisions?

How do you give recognition to their contribution and how do you develop and empower them appropriately?

How do you set an example and act as a role model?
The Leaders Club will develop this debate and I look forward to your contributions and thoughts on an issue which is already here and if Raja is right with his crystal ball gazing, is something we need to actively think through and develop.

Sir Trevor Soar is Chairman of The Leaders Club  And is also a Director of TRUE Leader