Growing pains are an expected part of any job transition. Regardless of how much experience you have, there will always be challenges when it comes to taking on new responsibilities, learning about new systems, and working with new teams.
Victoria Vrana knew all of that when she took over as CEO at GlobalGiving in January after more than a decade of working for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. But she may have underestimated just how hard it is to step in as a new leader when the majority of your staff works remotely from posts across the United States and around the world.
“It’s really challenging, I’ve found,” she said. “I’m trying to build relationships, and that’s paramount. That’s the first thing I have to do as a leader. Doing that virtually is not impossible, but it definitely takes more work than virtually working with people you already know.”
About the author
Stephanie Beasley@Steph_Beasley
Stephanie Beasley is a Senior Reporter at Devex, where she covers global philanthropy with a focus on regulations and policy. She is an alumna of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and Oberlin College and has a background in Latin American studies. She previously covered transportation security at POLITICO.
