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.

In my last post I defined digital leadership as a leader’s approach to ensure the quality and functionality of engagement and interaction, of collaboration and communication, of accountability and data collection. In general, the leader must communicate the purpose and direction of the group and guide how to get to that point. The digital leader communicates this through the use of digital tools. But before leading digitally, the leader must become proficient in certain areas.

The leader must become fluent in digital tools. No, this does not mean leaders must constantly be updating social sites. It means understanding their place and how to “integrate digital thinking into everyday management” (IESE, 2013). In addition to keeping oneself fluent, the leader must develop new capabilities and ensure that all employees are developing their own digital skills. If the employees know how to use the tools the company is on track to become digital and will begin to reap the benefits.

The leader must understand how technology is transforming society, and translate this into business impact. This is essentially what leaders do- they foresee how things can impact the organization and they steer it forward. The social media tools make collaborative projects easy today. More collaborative environments should be promoted, especially across job functions. Use technology to break down the silos that exist. It is amazing what new ideas come through.

It is important for the leader to understand and use the information, not just the tools. The tools will bring more data than ever to the company or classroom; how this data is used is determined by the leader. And how it is used will determine where the organization is headed so a clear direction is essential.

Professor Zamora points out, “Digital permeates the whole organization and impacts all phases… therefore “IT departments can no longer be treated in isolation, nor can technology be regarded as a discrete business area” (IESE, 2013). Everyone in the organization becomes tied to the IT department. This may mean a shift in logistics for the department or other movements within to highlight IT. But technology is the heart of digital and the IT department will keep it pumping.

All this technology is overwhelming. And technology changes fast. How can one person keep on top of all of it and successfully navigate a business or institution? They can’t. Good leaders know this and realize that a team must be brought together. Mel Ross names those with three key skill sets to form this “coalition of power, skill and vision” of technology. He says you need “someone who knows technology, someone who knows communication, and someone who knows about people and culture” (2014). The first two are obvious, but an expert on people and culture? Yes, because transformation into digital means diving into the cultural experiences and capitalizing on what people want. Choosing the wrong data can turn the organization in the wrong direction. Someone who understands the culture and the technology can steer and transform messaging.

This post focused on the leader and what he or she must know about technology to transform the organization into a leader in the digital world. The leader must be proficient in technology, enough to use the tools and understand the power of where they can take the company. The leader must use the information to steer the company in the right direction towards his or her vision. These are big and difficult tasks and often it helps to break down these into smaller bits. In my next post I’ll continue on the role of the digital leader and describe how to conquer the huge role of digital leader in slightly smaller steps.

References:

IESE Business School. 2013. How to be a digital leader, Forbes, Education. Electronically retrieved December 12, 2015 from http://www.forbes.com/sites/iese/2013/08/23/how-to-be-a-digital-leader/.

Ross, M. 2014. Digital leadership? Or leadership in a digital world? Business 2 Community, Leadership. Electronically retrieved December 12, 2015 from

http://www.business2community.com/leadership/

 

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.