Leading teams in virtual environment during COVID-19 crisis

Abstract

Abstract Team coordinators are prepared to manage multiple situations such as misunderstanding, conflicts, different levels of engagement and they are usually willing to take risks while accepting a leading position. Yet, not all of them are prepared for crisis such as COVID-19 pandemic. The way they communicate with their teams in this type of periods is essential to ensure continuity and establish organizational trust (Guzzo et al, 2021). In this context, many corporations had to face a new challenge: working mostly or even entirely from home. Employees as well as managers switched to virtual meetings, the concept of a team has suffered modifications and virtual meetings replaced all face-to-face interactions. Leaders had to adapt and learn how to improve their skills to engage with their teams and to ensure performance. The purpose of our study is to see what specific activities were implemented within teams while working from home, what is the perception leaders have about team performance and to find out if this context has diminished their level of control. Data for this paper are gathered using in-depth interviews with team leaders/coordinators/managers from different corporations installed in Bucharest, Romania. The results show that the performance has increased, the teams and coordinators showed a great adaptability, and their level of trust has improved. Recommendations are put forward for teams to consider creating a better balance between their personal and professional lives and to find new ways of socializing at work from time to time on other topics that the business-related ones.