Digital Leadership

While it is good to know what a digital workplace, stakeholder, and transformation is and how they work, it is essential to have a designated role for someone to lead all of these digital changes. “Leadership is an essential ingredient in any change endeavour or cultural transformation. Period. With engaged, committed and aligned leaders, you stand a chance of success. Without, you face the guarantee of failure.” (D. Rowles, T. Brown, P. 78). In addition to a digital leader, a strong team is also essential in a workplaces or organisations digital success or success in general.     

   Image Source: https://www.chieflearningofficer.com/2021/10/26/human-centered-leadership-five-actions-for-the-new-paradigm/

  

In your own context, who is your digital leader? 

 

After being asked that question, the first person you may have thought of was your boss. Let me clearly distinguish the difference between a boss and a leader. According to the Oxford dictionary, a boss is “a person who is in charge of a worker, group, or organisation”, to put it simply, a digital boss is the forefront of an organisation and is someone who simply gives orders and lets the workers take care of it. A digital leader is also the forefront of the organisation, but they are much more ingrained with their respective team or company and has the company’s success and co-worker’s wellbeing in their best interest. This can look like endorsing team members/co-workers, making sure everyone feels like they bring something to the table.  

 

A strong digital leader also makes their team/company digitally agile. Digital agility is defined as “how easily an organisation can adapt to changing business needs by leveraging digital technologies” (P. Risch, 2022). This is an important skill to attain, without it, a team or a business is surely to struggle with acceptingdigital change and any unexpected disruptions.  

References:

1) Rowles, D. and Brown, T. (2017a) ‘Page 78’, in Building Digital Culture: A practical guide to successful digital transformation. London: Kogan Page Limited. 

2) Risch, P. (2022) What is Digital Agility and What Does It Mean for Your Organization? Scalable , 8 November. Available at: https://www.scalable.com/what-is-digital-agility-and-what-does-it-mean-for-your-organization/#:~:text=Put%20simply%2C%20digital%20agility%20is,completely%20new%20technologies%20and%20channels. (Accessed: 22 June 2023).