Commercial Integrator March 2023 - 51

C llab rati n
TODAY and TOMORROW
The best leaders are always actively learning, looking for ways to be more effective in everything they do.
each other up and give their best.
Building a community requires empathy and active inclusivity
to ensure everyone feels they belong and recognizes that
they have an important role to play. Often, this can be seen
more easily when everyone is in the same room all the time.
But when the community has employees who might either
be in person or remote, it is important for a leader to take an
active role to ensure all members feel supported and in alignment
with the team's focus.
When you're leading a meeting and " go around the room, "
be sure that you go outside the room, too. Encourage team
members to be seen and heard. Express gratitude wherever
possible and highlight positive contributions by team members.
Author regular (daily? weekly?) top-level communications
for your team that highlight the big projects on which
everyone is working. That way, people can see that their
activities fit within the greater team effort.
When an opportunity arises to get the team together as a
group, take it. You'll be surprised what one in-person encounter
can do to build ties within the community and inspire
colleagues to do their best work together. Hybrid working
isn't about every person being remote or everyone being in
the office; rather, it's about employees being empowered to
choose the best place to be on any given day. That includes
coming to the office or going to an off-site once in a while for
that special team meeting.
Courage
Being a great leader takes courage. Of course, that includes
the courage to think critically and creatively. However, in
many cases, it also entails the courage to challenge the stacommercialintegrator.com
tus
quo. Great leaders will look beyond what worked in 2019
and, instead, consider alternative solutions for collaboration
and innovation in the world today.
Today's leaders don't have all the answers, and they know
that. The best leaders are always actively learning, looking for
ways to be more effective in everything they do. They're not
afraid to fail because, with each failure, they learn something.
That's what helps them grow along the way.
Throughout my career, I've had the opportunity to work
with many great leaders. Some, I had the opportunity to see
each day in the office; others lived in different states. Some
were my managers; others were colleagues who took on
leadership roles within their organizations.
Many of the leaders I physically saw least frequently ended
up having the biggest influence on my life and career because
they took every opportunity to be present, even when
they weren't visible.
Today, we have more tools than we've ever had to collaborate
and communicate across continents and time zones,
and in ways we've never seen before. Learning these tools is
not enough, though. It will take evolved leadership to inspire
each employee to achieve their fullest potential.
Put simply, throwing a high achiever into a management
role without this essential leadership training would be
akin to throwing a soldier into war without any weapons
or proper protective gear. Embracing the hybrid workplace
requires embracing the need to equip managers to become
effective leaders.
Amelia Vrabel is business development manager, Cloud/
UCC, at AVI-SPL.
MARCH 2023 Commercial Integrator 51
RUDZHAN/STOCK.ADOBE.COM

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Commercial Integrator March 2023

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