Since being exposed to the concept of ‘Digital Leadership’ in a former corporate life it has intrigued me; my leadership thinking and curiosity has been peaked and challenged.

Speak to many people about it and they haven’t heard of Digital Leadership. If they have, they haven’t considered it much, even those in leadership positions or academia. Is this because the concept is flawed? Is it not important?

Or more likely, are leaders not fully grasping the impact of technology and digital within their organisations, and the resulting need to reframe their approaches to leadership?

World 2.0

‘Digital’ is around us all the time. At home and work we are assimilated into it, whether we are aware of it or not. The pace of technological growth is exponential and relentless. Employees are expecting organisations to have the latest technology and embrace its thinking and practices. Customers expect the same service, interaction and efficiency that they experience with their home shopping, downloading or social media interactions.

The pace of digital requires us to ‘flip’ and shift our leadership thinking and culture to realise both the digital realities and the opportunities presented by ‘World 2.0’ (as coined by Jemima Gibbs from Cass Business School).

It is not just about technology

A gap exists between the pace of technological change and the organisational behaviours and abilities required to be able to deliver through it. Simply buying in the technology is only half the solution and some CEOs and CIOs who have purchased the technology may wonder why their organisations still aren’t delivering up there with the best.

But buying the technology won’t develop the employee or leadership behaviours required. To deliver through the technology requires leadership of people.

Digital Immigrants

Most current leaders and CEOs were born before this technological advancement, the “digital immigrants” as they are sometimes called. Their more traditional leadership habits formed many years ago and many business schools do not yet have ‘leading in a digital world’ on their educational agenda.

My experience is that senior business leaders often see digital technology as something to “keep up with” and something the IT department and Product Development department takes care off, so “we don’t fall behind”.

Being a Digital Leader

Our leadership needs to not just keep pace with technology and digital change. It needs to be a step ahead.

To be an effective leader in a digital age you need to embrace:

  • How to lead from the edge not the centre
  • How to lead experts and lead virtually
  • How to lead and facilitate effective collaborative environments
  • How to lead as facilitator, as ‘host not hero’
  • How to lead real-time data-driven local decision making and communication, in a world with huge amounts of data being available and bombarding customers and employees alike
  • How to make sure your organisation, your team and you, yourself, are agile and can continuously adapt
  • Amongst others

Fingerspitzengefühl – not hands-on

The vision of the digital leader is someone who leads by ‘Fingerspitzengefühl’ – a word borrowed from German, literally meaning ‘finger tips feeling’, i.e. a light touch with intuitive flair and instinct. The idea being that leaders are so in tune with what is going on, that only subtle changes through leadership are needed to sustain organisational performance and direction.

Eventually, I expect the term ‘Digital Leadership’ will become encapsulated within the broader leadership sphere. But until then there is growing and urgent need to focus our efforts on developing relevant leadership behaviours and allowing us to effectively interpret our digital world. This will enable us to more efficiently translate and deliver to our employees and customers alike.
How have you dealt with the challenges posed by Digital Leadership? Please share your experiences with us.

 

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