One morning I read an article about digital leadership, namely Leadership disrupted: Pushing the boundaries from Deloitte's research and also an article written by Andrew Senduk entitled Leadership In The Digital Era: How to grow Digital Leaders? Here are the summaries.
In a world that changes by the minute, businesses are being disrupted. The wave of digital transformation is affecting all business models. Whether it's how we communicate, how we do analysis, how we pay bills, or how we recruit.
Things are changing every minute. Just like other aspects of business, the era of digital transformation is forcing companies to also change their leadership programs to produce a new generation of leaders, leaders of the digital age.
When old business models no longer work, leaders need new capabilities. Yet most companies are digital “immigrants,” new to the world and built on old models such as financial control and return mechanisms.
Now, companies are scaling for different purposes, such as innovation and moving at high speed. Ninety percent of companies are redesigning their organizations to be more dynamic, team-centered, and connected. This change requires not only a new operating model, but also a different type of leadership to mobilize and execute this model.
Because of this change, organizations need people who can lead teams and partner with the wider ecosystem. This new type of leader must understand how to build and lead a team; keep people connected and engaged; and fostering a culture of innovation, learning and continuous improvement. They must also be able to lead a workforce that now includes contractors, contingent workers, and crowd talent.
Today's economy needs a new generation of leaders and in order to stay competitive, organizations need to revamp their internal leadership programs to build new leaders who have interdisciplinary skills, with an understanding of different business, industry and technology functions. Leaders in the digital age can create a culture of learning and breath improvement every day. They are flexible enough to manage teams that are increasingly including contract and part-time workers. The two most important characteristics of digital leaders are that they have innovation in their DNA and are willing to take risks.
Fostering digital leaders is important for any business, but especially important for organizations undergoing business and IT transformation. In today's digital economy, this includes any company! It's time for organizations across sectors to start inspiring and reconnecting corporate culture and talent across organizations to build new ways of thinking, collaborating and connecting.
There are basically four types of roles that digital leaders should be able to cover:
The venture capitalist: Executives who understand how investors think and approach innovation from a valuation perspective. They understand the scoring game, invest in talent and foster innovation. They primarily focus on educating others about the implications of digital technology and the value it creates.
The innovators: These are leaders who are constantly exploring the forefront of technology and testing how technology can improve business. They re-imagine the future and the business models that support that vision. They create roadmaps, winning digital strategies, and set the pace for change.
The transformers (Transformers): These are leaders who understand the vision and are able to change operations and culture. They manage organizations and their people through radical change and are able to push the digital agenda forward.
The enablers: These are the executives who enable the path from digital initiatives on the drawing board to the marketplace. They bring in and build technical capabilities such as analytics, application design and development that enable strategy execution. They increase workforce confidence by providing them with the right tools and helping employees overcome digital challenges.
To identify and support this type of leader, the Chief Innovation Officer and their C-level colleagues can work together to:
- Rethink organizational leadership models, with a focus on innovation, growth, inclusion and collaboration.
- Identify potential digital leaders in the organization: venture capitalists, innovators, transformers, and enablers and train them.
- Ensure accountability by identifying the person or group responsible to C-level and the board for building leaders as part of the business strategy.
- Promoting young people into leadership faster, giving them the opportunity to learn on the job.
- Promote risk taking and experimentation by focusing on new product and service innovations. Experimentation should be built into the company's DNA.
In the global effort of digital transformation, organizations need to recognize that leaders in the digital age require different strengths and skills. Organizations need to focus on innovation and collaboration. They should restructure their leadership program and focus on empowerment. By empowering potential leaders to think, act and react differently, companies can position themselves for competitive advantage in this digital age.
by: Setyo Budianto - Director of PosFin Indonesia