My last post states that a digital leader needs to be fluent in technology, use the data from the technology to steer the company in ways he or she envisions for the organization. These are large goals for any leader so it may help to break technology down into smaller steps. In this post I will break digital leadership into two distinct categories, or smaller bits and describe what a leader must do within those categories.
The digital leader has the additional challenge of having both physical and virtual spaces in which to work. And both require attention, manpower and financial resources. (Miller & Marsh, 2015). I suggest breaking the virtual into two categories – internal and external.
The internal category includes the company or class intranet, e-mails, electronic documents, the cloud space, wiki’s, databases, and audio and visual content specific to the internal workings of the organization. These are essential digital tools that keep the business running. But this also includes employee communication and one way to reach all employees is through a blog. It doesn’t matter if your organization is a classroom of 8 students or a multi-national conglomerate of thousands. A blog can reach everyone, and unlike a news memo, blogs get feedback and replies.
Blogs get the leader’s message out and measure the culture simultaneously through comments. Dow Chemical CEO Andrew Liveris delivers a weekly blog to over 54,000 employees and reports that the comments and 15,000 visits per post keep him in touch with his employees. A weekly post that keeps him in touch with over 54,000 – that’s awesome.
The external category includes everything else – the internet, audio and visual content representing the company, data collection, and all social media outlets. Although these tools may have been designed to get the word out about the organization, they also bring in information. The audience is wide and diverse so the message must be general enough to reach out to everyone, but rich enough to keep people interested or following.
Despite the powerful reach of social media, a new study shows that less than a third of CEOs at America’s 500 highest-grossing companies are taking advantage.
According to one study, only 32% of top CEOs have at least one account on a social network. Some 68% have no social presence at all (. The majority of young people reaching working age have social media accounts and will even use these to search for work. People expect a presence from the leader and want to know about the company. Richard Branson is another top digital leader whose Twitter followers are in the thousands. He regularly posts and each one shows the commitment to entrepreneurialism and gratitude that permeate the Virgin brand. What better way to reach the world about your company’s mission and vision than through global communication?
The time has come for all leaders to become digital leaders, to reach out to their employees through blogs and gather information thorugh now-casting and real-time data. The time has come where the world should be able to follow the leader even if they don’t work for the organization. “… it is not that the need for leadership is disappearing but that best practices for effective leadership require new digital communication skills. “Far more personal openness and a mentality that absorbs each digital workplace innovation with gratitude are essential, rather than a philosophy based on fear and avoidance of the unfamiliar” state best-selling authors Miller and Marsh. Today’s digital leaders should recognize that the new economic conditions require new “communication styles and patterns for leadership” (Miller & Marsh, 2015).
Begin your digital leadership experience with small steps. Start within your organization and post blogs. Then move outside and speak to the global community. You’ll be surprised at the response and realize that you are now entering the digital leadership world.
References:
Auricchio, G. 2015. How digitalization changes the way executives learn:The road to omni-learning. IESE Insight, 26,31-35.
Miller, P. and Marsh, E. 2015. What makes a digital leader? Electronically retrieved December 12, 2015 from http://www.managers.org.uk/insights/news/2015/december/what-makes-a-digital-leader.
Katherine Senko 