Leading Remotely: Competencies Required for Virtual Leadership

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic caused the largest education system disruption in history, resulting in many districts abruptly, and often ineptly, implementing remote learning to maintain the continuity of instruction. The majority of educational leaders were unprepared for working and delivering instruction in virtual environments. Research indicates that few educational leadership programs provide preparation for leading in virtual learning environments but the COVID crisis made clear that it is imperative for all school leaders have an understanding of virtual leadership. The purpose of this study was to develop an understanding of the competencies required for virtual school leadership as they relate to the Professional Standards for Educational Leaders(P-SEL). Interviews were conducted with 28 virtual leaders using a semi-structured interview protocol. Results indicated that while the P-SEL Standards were categorically aligned to their work, there were distinctive differences in the ways in which virtual school leaders engaged their work across various leadership domains that required unique competencies. These findings are important to our understanding of how to better prepare educational leaders to maintain the effective continuity of instruction in future emergencies as well as to continue to implement and improve upon promising practices that developed during remote instruction.

Discovering the antecedents of virtual leadership in universities and higher education institutions of Iran during Covid-19 pandemic: a qualitative study

“…Before the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020, there were many concerns about the quality of virtual leadership and how its groundwork is laid. Poor performance in accountability (Azukas, 2022) inadequate leadership, technical and communication problems and time and cultural differences are among the challenges which virtual leaders face. Also, the development of standard operational processes along with setting rules and expectations, setting project timelines and reporting systems, regular communication between team members to clarify goals and evaluate performance better need more consideration (Loucks and Ozogul, 2020).…”

“…, 2021). Recently, researchers have called for more investigation about the specific competencies of virtual leaders (Azukas, 2022). Azukas (2022) emphasizes identifying required competencies for a virtual leader and examine their differences with traditional leadership competencies in order to be prepared in future critical situations such as the Covid-19 pandemic.…”

“…Recently, researchers have called for more investigation about the specific competencies of virtual leaders (Azukas, 2022). Azukas (2022) emphasizes identifying required competencies for a virtual leader and examine their differences with traditional leadership competencies in order to be prepared in future critical situations such as the Covid-19 pandemic. Alward and Phelps (2019) also highlight the importance of trust, emotional intelligence, training and development, communication, team building, technology, leadership styles, employee recognition and motivation and other virtual leadership competencies (Chew and Mohamed Zainal, 2022).…”

“…Although, there had already been demand for online education (Loucks and Ozogul, 2020), during Covid-19 pandemic, educational organizations with about 1.6 billion students in more than 200 countries were forced to suddenly switch to remote learning (Razemba and Devi, 2021). Meanwhile, most educational leaders were not prepared to provide education and manage the educational system (Chew and Mohamed Zainal, 2022) or change their role from an educational leader to a virtual leader at once, provide infrastructure, as well as necessary training for using online systems, online communication strategies and physical distance management to teachers and trainers (Azukas, 2022). Ensuring the maintenance of employee productivity (Bekirogullari and Thambusamy, 2020), Meanwhile, virtual leaders faced challenges such as technological automation, connections and interactions, evaluations and scientific experiments Chew and Mohamed Zainal (2022) and one-way knowledge stream from sender to receiver Wei and Ko (2021) that had to be held virtually.…”

“…Due to the challenging nature of virtual leadership compared to traditional one, most of research in this area has developed around two main subjects including leader's personality and behavioral characteristics (Bizilj et al, 2021). Recently, researchers have called for more investigation about the specific competencies of virtual leaders (Azukas, 2022). Azukas (2022) emphasizes identifying required competencies for a virtual leader and examine their differences with traditional leadership competencies in order to be prepared in future critical situations such as the Covid-19 pandemic.…”