Triadic Leadership in Remote Teams: A Qualitative Case Study of a Sustainability Initiative in L’Oréal China

Abstract

As sustainability initiatives expand across global organizations, effective leadership is increasingly vital for managing remote, cross-regional teams. This study examines how servant, transformational, and adaptive leadership styles helped a remote team deal with problems in a real project. Using a qualitative case study of L’Oréal China’s Biotherm “Empty Bottle Refill” project, the paper explores how leadership responses mitigated information gaps, trust deficits, psychological disengagement, and coordination inefficiencies. Data were gathered through project documents, semi-structured interviews (six interviews, 50–60 minutes each), and internal communications, and analyzed using thematic coding. Findings include three main propositions: (1) servant leadership fosters psychological safety and team cohesion in remote, cross-functional projects; (2) transformational leadership strengthens mission alignment and stimulates local innovation; and (3) adaptive leadership enables fast, localized experimentation and iterative learning. These styles functioned as a mutually reinforcing leadership system tailored to distributed, sustainability-focused initiatives. The study contributes a pragmatic triadic leadership framework and offers concrete recommendations for managers designing remote projects that must balance trust, purpose, and agility across regions and functions.