tma world viewpoint 23 digitally resonant leadership in the borderless workplace
DESCRIPTION
New horizons for developing leadership influence are emerging in the borderless workplace. What were once seen as peripheral capabilities like leading virtual teams and remote knowledge workers are now central to the talent development agenda of the future. This presentation examines the habits, mindsets, behaviors and skills that leaders require to thrive in the digital workplace. To find out more about this topic, contact us today: [email protected]TRANSCRIPT
Digitally Resonant Leadership in the Borderless Workplace
TMA World Viewpoint
Digitally Resonant Leadership in the Borderless Workplace
New Horizons
New horizons for developing leadership influence are
emerging in the borderless workplace.
Digitally Resonant Leadership in the Borderless Workplace
New Horizons
What were once seen as peripheral capabilities like leading
virtual teams and remote knowledge
workers are now central to the
talent development agenda
of the future.
Digitally Resonant Leadership in the Borderless Workplace
As businesses become increasingly connected and collaborative, one of the most significant daily challenges confronting a new generation of leaders is: Transferring the fidelity of leadership performance in a digital environment, without degrading the integrity of personal leadership impact.
Digitally Resonant Leadership in the Borderless Workplace
Whilst it can take years to master the leadership skills and professional expertise required for stand out performance in today’s complex organizations, most people develop those capabilities in the physical world, working face-to-face with colleagues and clients alike.
Digitally Resonant Leadership in the Borderless Workplace
In the new borderless world, the transference required from the physical leadership realm to the virtual sphere is by no means easy or straightforward.
Digitally Resonant Leadership in the Borderless Workplace
Many organizations imagine that their leaders will ‘somehow instinctively pick up’ leading in a virtual environment and whilst it’s true to say that many do, far fewer reach the levels of mastery that excellent performance demands.
Digitally Resonant Leadership in the Borderless Workplace
Effective leaders in a face-to-face situation often become relatively impotent working virtually, frustrated that the digital environment seems to diminish the resonance and impact of their influence and authority. The nuances and subtitles of effective virtual leadership are often unpredictable and unseen.
Digitally Resonant Leadership in the Borderless Workplace
The required skills have to be learned and can to a certain extent be trained. This is particularly true for leaders who have yet to develop the technological fluency of using social and collaborative tools as ‘second nature’. It’s also true of leaders who have yet to develop a borderless workplace mindset.
Digitally Resonant Leadership in the Borderless Workplace
Digital Leadership Skills & Capabilities
Three strands of virtual leadership capability in the borderless
workplace are becoming critical for new generation leaders.
They are differentiated and distinct, but also interrelated:
Team Individual Environmental
Digitally Resonant Leadership in the Borderless Workplace
ENVIRONMENTAL
Leading through collaborative and social networks.
Here leaders focus on establishing, contributing to and leveraging
collaboration across and beyond the business, often in open access
or closed networks and communities of contributors.
Digitally Resonant Leadership in the Borderless Workplace
Leading virtual teams, focused on achieving specific
goals and objectives in a structured and disciplined
way for high performance to meet strategic or
operational goals.
TEAM
Digitally Resonant Leadership in the Borderless Workplace
INDIVIDUAL Remote leadership focused on inspiring the best
performance from remote knowledge workers, often
working as individual contributors.
Digitally Resonant Leadership in the Borderless Workplace
Digital Resonant Leaders
What are some of the habits, mindsets and behaviours
of digitally resonant leaders?
Networked Sense Makers
Attention Getters
(not seekers)
Connectors & Digital
Facilitators
Digitally Resonant Leadership in the Borderless Workplace
Digital Resonant Leaders
Some of the more consistent and distinguishing characteristics of
those who gain digital influence within company communities and
beyond are:
Networked Sense Makers
Attention Getters
(not seekers)
Connectors & Digital
Facilitators
Digitally Resonant Leadership in the Borderless Workplace
NETWORKED
They have cultivated a well developed but
discretionary and selective network of
connections, both inside and outside
the organization.
Digitally Resonant Leadership in the Borderless Workplace
NETWORKED
Powerful networks accumulate over time
and focus on influencing and facilitating
relational energy rather than merely
accumulating vast numbers of
contacts.
Digitally Resonant Leadership in the Borderless Workplace
SENSE MAKERS
They have built their credibility and reputation
on an insightful, reflective and balanced
interpretation of the complex and contradictory
workplace they inhabit and they are offer thought
leadership in their respective professional field.
Digitally Resonant Leadership in the Borderless Workplace
SENSE MAKERS
The borderless workplace is by definition a place
of multiple contexts and therefore it offers
multiple contexts for spawning new
‘thought leaders’ connected to expert
‘communities of practice’ who enrich
collective knowledge.
Digitally Resonant Leadership in the Borderless Workplace
They have an organizational profile that attracts attention ‘in an age
of continual partial distraction’.
They may have implicitly acquired a following, where by their
identity becomes an informal personal brand inside the organization.
ATTENTION GETTERS (not seekers)
Digitally Resonant Leadership in the Borderless Workplace
The reputational value of their brand is reinforced by the dwell time
of others (tracked and measured through social analytics) on the
sites, blogs or social networks personally associated with them.
‘Likes’, ‘dislikes’ ‘comments’ and ‘shares’ all accumulate to build their
brand equity.
ATTENTION GETTERS (not seekers)
Digitally Resonant Leadership in the Borderless Workplace
CONNECTORS & DIGITAL FACILITATORS
They have a reputation sustained not just by how much
they offer personal comment (they are not egocentric),
but also much how they assist, direct, recommend
and connect others to relevant sites, blogs, articles
and comments that help people get things done.
Digitally Resonant Leadership in the Borderless Workplace
CONNECTORS & DIGITAL FACILITATORS
That process is conducted digitally. The more they
usefully facilitate, the more their visible
worth grows.
In that sense they become a centrifugal force
for digital leadership.
Digitally Resonant Leadership in the Borderless Workplace
Virtual Leadership what has changed?
In the world of social and collaborative networks,
leadership presence and charisma take on a
new meaning.
Digitally Resonant Leadership in the Borderless Workplace
Virtual Leadership what has changed?
Specifically in the last three years, new technologies have
significantly shifted and opened up leadership
opportunities for people to become leaders of whole
networks, rather than just specific teams
and individuals.
Digitally Resonant Leadership in the Borderless Workplace
Virtual Leadership what has changed?
This in turn perpetuates a new level of value added
engagement and inclusion among talented employees
who, for whatever reason, may have been locked out
of or excluded from the formal leadership
development pipelines of an organization.
Digitally Resonant Leadership in the Borderless Workplace
Digitally resonant leaders both articulate and personify
the vision of borderless working, by role modeling the
communication behaviours and leadership style
required for exceptional performance.
Digitally Resonant Leadership in the Borderless Workplace
They are quite simply, the new core and the
pulse of a difficult to manage borderless world.
Digitally Resonant Leadership in the Borderless Workplace
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