Leadership and Management in the 21st Century: Row harder!
Leadership and Management in the 21st Century: Row harder!
By David Tiplady: Head of Commercial, Vodaphone Automotive
In the fourth of six monthly articles I make light hearted comment on remote leading.
Over the last years many more people have experienced remote working than would normally be the case. More than ever the skills to build, motivate and lead a team are needed to drive a business forward. Much is made of “lazy” employees who, when unobserved, take the opportunity to indulge in any one of a panoply of enjoyable pastimes at the expense of productivity. Is there not just as much opportunity to do this in the office? How many people work only or less than their contracted hours, taking lunch at the desk and working late into the evenings and weekends and will organisations squeeze people for ever more output until something breaks? Is it a paranoia of quantum leadership that when unobserved colleagues may be both working and not working?
Are we failing to exploit the opportunity that remote leadership offers?
In December 2023 BlueTusk, a team of four, will push back from moorings in La Gomera to row to Antigua, across the Atlantic, some 3,000 unsupported miles. The crew will be close to one another in every way imaginable. The boat is 8m x 1.5m and we row in pairs 2 hours on and 2 hours off continuously. Every laugh and tear, oar-stroke and snore, meal and trip to the bucket is to be observed. Everyone will be minded to power the boat closer to Antigua as quickly as possible, no-one wants to spend an extended period of time in the mid-Atlantic. Surely then, any perceived slacking must, surely, only be in the eye of the beholder.
We will be in touch with land by satellite and even be able to live stream video from the mid-Atlantic. It is possible we can provide an example to those who follow our voyage without, perhaps, enticing others to cross the Atlantic in a rowing boat. The row will take more than 30 days. It will become tiresome at some point (we hope it’s not “exciting” the whole way – please). We rejoice in the mundane. Will support from dry land include unsolicited advice, critique of our decisions and incitement to row faster?
Are problems with remote leadership more about emotional connection to the team than geography?
David runs the Commercial Department in Vodafone Automotive. He gained his MBA from Henley in 2002. Since then he has enjoyed several management positions in organisations creating technology solutions and competing in amateur endurance sport. He is a qualified Triathlon coach. Before this year, he had never rowed.
