The August SIOP Work Smart workshop, “Everyday Leadership with a Virtual Lens,” was well received by an audience of practitioners, consultants, and leaders eager to strengthen how they lead teams that are distributed, hybrid, or fully remote. The session was facilitated by Dr. Eileen Linnabery (Vantage Leadership Consulting) and Dr. Mariangela Battista (Sirena Consulting), who drew on current I-O psychology research to offer a practical, evidence-based playbook for leading with clarity and connection across distance.
Linnabery opened by framing virtuality as a continuum that is shaped by geography, time, technology, and richness of communication and by noting that hybrid work is not simply the midpoint between face-to-face and virtual, but its own distinct leadership challenge, since team members no longer share a common experience of their leader. Using realistic case studies, participants explored the five competencies of virtual leadership (digital communication, goal management, empowerment, social support, and trust-building) and where well-intentioned leaders commonly fall short. The session then turned to virtual presence and communication, where participants learned multi-channel, high-quality, and appropriately timed communication better predict team performance than frequency alone and audited their own communication rhythms.
Battista led a deep dive into building trust at a distance, unpacking the three dimensions of trust (ability, benevolence, and integrity) and the difficulties when in-person cues are limited. The final module addressed coaching and performance management, highlighting the shift from monitoring activity to clarifying outcomes and from occasional feedback to an ongoing feedback rhythm. This is reinforced by research showing that coaching outcomes depend more on relationship quality than on delivery medium.
Participant responses to the session and to the speakers were overwhelmingly positive. Participants strongly agreed the presenters knew the subject matter, provided a variety of applied examples, and answered questions effectively. They also appreciated the small group atmosphere, resulting in comfort of folks sharing their questions and experiences. Overall, participants rated the session a 9 out of 10 on effectiveness of the session.
You can still register to access the workshop recording, all the materials that were shared, and additional resources at the SIOP Work Smart resources page. (Please note that breakout sessions were not recorded). And even if you were able to attend, this is a session you will benefit from revisiting.
Thank you to our presenters for so graciously sharing their time and expertise during this dynamic session and providing the audience with so many targeted tools to support their own virtual leadership.
For more information about sponsoring this SIOP learning channel, please contact Jenny Baker at jbaker@siop.org. If you have questions or ideas for the Work Smart Series Team, please email WorkSmart@siop.org
The next Work Smart workshop is “AI in Coaching” on Thursday, November 5, 2026, from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. ET. Please register even if you can’t attend live; all registrants will have access to the session recording and resources.
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Leadership, Work Smart Series
