I wanted to write about the latest jargon- digital leadership and began to research. The first surprise was the key words I thought of pulled up completely different concepts than I thought. It was a typical problem – lack of definition. Before we can even talk about digital leadership a proper definition has to be established.
However, can one ever come up with a proper or correct definition with a socially constructed term? Probably not, but it is important to establish some agreed upon components. This is especially true if one is to banter about digital leadership and expects others to have similar thoughts.
Steve Hearsum, a development consultant, also acknowledges the definition problem and tackles the problem in his recent article “How to develop digital leadership capability” (2015). In short he first instructs defining “the terms and underlying assumptions around digital in your specific context” (p1). That is what do you mean by digital. In my search of digital leadership I assumed digital meant the types of apps and software a leader would use to communicate. Not so fast- it can also mean a bunch of code, visual screens, and a host of other concepts. Then I assumed leadership would pull up examples of leaders. And another search of digital leaders simply pulled up companies who produced apps and software.
Therefore, this post simply tries to define digital leadership constructed for my field, education and training. What does digital leadership look like for the future of training? And first, I’ll build up on the meaning in that context.
“Digital leadership is a strategic management approach focused on the quality and functional value of a company’s digital assets…. Digital leadership is concerned with digital engagement, collaboration and accountability” (Rouse, http://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/digital-leadership). Although this definition is used for business, it forms the basis of digital leadership for my purposes.
In this post and the following, digital leadership is a leader’s approach to ensure the quality and functionality of engagement and interaction, collaboration and communication, accountability and data collection. Next I’ll focus on the leader of a digital enterprise and what qualities are must-haves.
References:
Hearsum, S. 2015. How to develop digital leadership capability. Strategic HR Review, 14, 5. Electronically retrieved December 12, 2015 from EmeraldInsight database.
Rouse, M. N.D. Digital leadership definition. TechTarget. Electronically retrieved December 14, 2015 from http://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/digital-leadership.
Katherine Senko 