1、Effective Leadership in the Digital Age REPORTWhat it means to be an effective leader in the context of digital transformation.No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,electronic or mechanical,including photocopy,recording or any information storage an

2、d retrieval system,without prior permission in writing from the publisher.Econsultancy London Floor 14,14 York Road,London,SE1 7ND United Kingdom Tel:+44(0)20 7970 4322 Econsultancy New York 205 Hudson Street,7th Floor New York,New York,10013 United States Tel:+44(0)20 7970 4322 Copyright E Ltd 2023

3、 Email: Website:http:/ Effective Leadership in the Digital Age This report is an abridged version of Econsultancys Best Practice Guide on Effective Leadership in the Digital Age Effective Leadership in the Digital Age 3 Contents 1.Key Takeaways4 2.The Digital Leadership Context5 3.Leadership Qualiti

4、es in the Digital Age8 4.Leadership Style and Roles in the Digital Age12 5.About Econsultancy14 Effective Leadership in the Digital Age 4 1.Key TakeawaysLeadership in the digital age requires recognition of the challenges of new technologies and ways of thinking,and willingness to adapt leadership s

5、tyles to match the pace of change.Leaders should keep in mind the following key lessons from this quick guide.1.A shift away from hierarchiesLeadership in the digital age requires a shift away from top-down,hierarchical and detail-driven styles towards visionary and empowering leadership.Rapidly evo

6、lving technologies and environments require leaders to consider the balance between optimisation and transformation in the application of digital.2.Future-facing leadershipThe ability to face into the future in pro-active ways is a key leadership quality,which requires adept understanding of changin

7、g contexts and the potential of new technologies.Leaders need to consider possible as well as probable scenarios.3.The integration of digitalChallenges remain around digital literacy among leaders,but this gap will need to be closed as digital becomes ever more integrated into business as usual.Digi

8、tal should not be treated as a separate entity by leaders.4.Technological literacy in leadersLeaders themselves need to demonstrate good technology literacy and understanding,particularly regarding the potential and application of technology.5.Soft skills and digital leadershipSoft skills have becom

9、e increasingly critical for leaders in fast-moving contexts.In particular,the ability to collaborate,work horizontally and partner wisely is more important than ever.The ability to lead and manage change is essential,both for tangible processes and propositions and for the more intangible qualities

10、of organisational culture.6.Psychological safety and aligned autonomyTo empower teams to move fast,leaders should appreciate the importance of creating team environments characterised by psychological safety,and balance team autonomy and alignment.7.Adaptive leadership and lifelong learningLeaders c

11、an benefit from adaptive leadership styles that enable them to draw on different styles to lead well in different situations,and to play to their strengths in leading high-performance teams.Lifelong learning is essential for leaders in the digital age.Effective Leadership in the Digital Age 5 2.The

12、Digital Leadership Context The integration of digital The past decade has seen the increasing integration of digital into everyday business and marketing practice,accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic.Digital is largely no longer seen as an isolated priority but instead a means to achieving strategic

13、 objectives at both organisational and function/team level.One of the most useful ways of understanding how to effectively apply technology-driven solutions to manage change is for leaders to appreciate the balance between optimisation and transformation.Optimisation involves applying technology to

14、support efficiencies,improvements to current practices or the scaling of existing propositions.Transformation requires leaders to reimagine and reinvent since technology is enabling new possibilities.In fast-moving environments,it is particularly important that leaders empower teams but stay connect

15、ed with project outputs and progress.Technologist Bruce Webster has described the danger of what he calls the thermocline of truth,which represents:“a line drawn across the organizational chart that represents a barrier to accurate information regarding the projects progress.Those below this level t

16、end to know how well the project is actually going;those above it tend to have a more optimistic (if unrealistic)view.”1 This gap in information can occur when project leaders wish to avoid delivering bad news upwards,or when senior stakeholders insist on rewarding only good news rather than the tru

17、th.Planning fallacy(an over-optimistic take on the project timeline)and the failure to put in place repeatable and objective metrics to measure progress can also be powerful contributory factors.Future-facing leadership The Futures Cone is a useful way of capturing the range of future scenarios that

18、 leaders need to consider.At the centre lies probable futures,and as the cone widens,the probability of the scenarios occurring moves from being likely to being possible:2 Probable futures:these involve projecting out from current scenarios to define whats most likely to happen.This will require reg

19、ular updating and the application of adaptability to maintain relevance.Preferable futures:these represent scenarios that leaders would like to happen.These may be different from probable futures and be stretching in the context of current trends or situations.1 http:/ 2 https:/ Leadership in the Di

20、gital Age 6 Plausible futures:scenarios that are possible but perhaps less likely,or more stretching.Possible futures:greater creativity is needed to reimagine existing assumptions and project what may become possible in the future.Leaders may operate more day-to-day in probable and preferable scena

21、rios,but it is also important that they take a step back.A good technique,sometimes called backcasting,is to work back from future scenarios to put in place what is required now to make that more likely.The role of influence Influence is important in highly matrixed organisations.This requires empat

22、hy,and the ability to understand not only a stakeholders contexts and situation but also their rational and/or emotional motivations around a decision area.In his book Influence:The Psychology of Persuasion,Roger Cialdini defines six principles of persuasion based on academic research:3 Reciprocity:

23、People are obliged to give back to others when they have received first.So,consider the win-win.Scarcity:People want more of those things that there are less of.Framing decisions as creating unique value or advantage works here.Authority:People will follow credible,knowledgeable experts.This may com

24、e from internal or external sources.Consistency:People like to be consistent with things they have said or done.Show how this decision aligns with their stated aims,or previous actions.Liking:People prefer to say yes to those they like.Look for connection,and take care not to alienate.Consensus:Espe

25、cially when they are uncertain,people will look to the actions and behaviours of others to determine their own.Build wider consensus and use social proof.This more nuanced approach to persuasion can help leaders increase their influence among peers,senior stakeholders and team members.How leadership

26、 is changing in the digital world It is clear that alongside more traditional leadership skills(strategic intelligence,great communication,being visionary and inspirational)the softer skills and behaviours that can engage teams,bring people on the journey and effectively motivate staff towards trans

27、formation or organisational goals are increasingly essential.The over-arching direction of travel is away from strictly top-down,hierarchically-driven leadership where all the answers exist at the top of the organisation,to a style focused on equipping and enabling staff to their best work,facilitat

28、ion,vision and direction.3 https:/ Leadership in the Digital Age 7 Organisational culture in the digital age Capturing a broad cross-section of outputs from Econsultancy surveys,it is possible to articulate the key differences between more traditional analogue cultures and those which are more digit

29、al-native as a series of shifts:Table 1:The differences between analogue and digital organisational culture Analogue Digital Oriented towards efficiencies and existing technologies Oriented towards innovation and new technologies Rigid,functional-based resourcing,squeezing opportunity into existing

30、structures,allocation of key talent to driving efficiency Fluid,flexible resourcing,organising around opportunity,allocation of key talent to developing capability Focused on incremental improvement Focused on marginal and breakthrough innovation Company-focused Customer-focused Slow,politically inf

31、luenced decision-making Rapid,data-driven decision-making Focused on improving existing processes,inputs Focused on products,results,outputs Accepting of constraints,desire for stability and status quo Acknowledgement that constraints empower creativity Maintaining existing competitive position and

32、advantage Early disengagement from areas of declining advantage to focus on creating new advantage Episodic innovation,resources pulled away from innovation Oriented towards continuous experimentation,test and learn,learning from failures as well as successes Generic mission or poor communication of

33、 company vision Strong,unique company purpose,communicated well,evident in senior leadership behaviour Rigid planning cycles Adaptive planning Skewed to secrecy,reliant more on stocks of existing knowledge,internal politics influential Skewed towards openness,transparency,focused on knowledge flow C

34、entralised,highly hierarchical authority and decision-making Distributed authority,empowered front-line staff Effective Leadership in the Digital Age 8 3.Leadership Qualities in the Digital Age Technology literacy in leaders The events of the Covid-19 pandemic put further emphasis on the need for le

35、aders to be technologically literate.However,it is important to recognise that the level and type of technology expertise that leaders require should be focused at a more strategic understanding that can enable sensible prioritisation of development and investment.Leadership and automation One of th

36、e increasingly important areas that is requiring greater leadership understanding over time is the ability to derive value from ever-greater volumes of data,and the application of machine learning and automation.In his book Average is Over,4 author Tyler Cowen predicts a future where workers will in

37、creasingly fall into two categories:The key questions will be:Are you good at working with intelligent machines or not?Are your skills a complement to the skills of the computer,or is the computer doing better without you?5 As increasing levels of technical skills are turned over to machines,the foc

38、us of leaders will be on bridging the gap between technical skills and the kind of intuitive and creative understanding and insight that only comes from human capability.Soft skills and digital leadership In an environment of continuous and often accelerating change,soft skills such as effective col

39、laboration and emotional intelligence are essential for leaders in order to empower greater agility,optimise team performance and enable transformation.Econsultancys Skills of the Modern Marketer report framed this as a foundational mindset on which knowledge and skills can be built.Figure 1:The imp

40、ortance and context of marketing mindset 4 https:/ https:/fs.blog/2014/04/average-is-over/Effective Leadership in the Digital Age 9 As an example,ANZ Bank implemented a programme of work around mindset change(called New Ways of Leading)as a key part of its transformation.6 This programme focused on

41、empowering attributes including curiosity,empowerment,empathy and growth mindset alongside alignment around clear goals.Leading high-performing teams Given the direction of travel towards more inclusive leadership styles,it becomes important for leaders to understand how they can create team environ

42、ments which can truly empower high performance.Research conducted by MITs Human Dynamics Laboratory across a wide set of industries has shown that the way in which a team communicates is critical to performance and team success,and that there are three key aspects of team communication that really m

43、ake a difference to team performance:7 1.Energy:the number and type of exchanges between team members.2.Engagement:energy and communication is more evenly and equally distributed across the team.3.Exploration:the team seeks external input and connections and communicates well with other teams.Figure

44、 2:Leading high-performing teams Source:Econsultancy The role that leaders can play in enabling a culture of empathy,trust,and good communication in teams has never been more critical to teams and therefore organisational performance.6 https:/ 7 https:/hbr.org/2012/04/the-new-science-of-building-gre

45、at-teams Effective Leadership in the Digital Age 10 Psychological safety The concept of psychological safety can be key in enabling a culture of high team performance.Research by Google(across 180 active Google teams and covering over 250 different attributes)found that how a team communicates and i

46、nteracts is more powerful in driving team effectiveness than other attributes including a teams collective intelligence and composition.8 Harvard professor and author Amy Edmondson has described psychological safety as creating a shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking.9 Te

47、ams with high psychological safety are characterised by high levels of trust,respect and positive and equal communication.Elsevier has used simple online surveys of staff to track psychological safety.10 Team members are asked how strongly they agree or disagree with seven key statements based on th

48、ose used by Amy Edmonson in the original study on the concept:11 1.If I make a mistake in this team,it is held against me 2.Members of this team are able to bring up problems and tough issues 3.People on this team sometimes reject others for being different 4.It is safe to take a risk in this team 5

49、.It is difficult to ask other members of this team for help 6.No one on this team would deliberately act in a way that undermines my efforts 7.Working with members of this team,my unique skills and talents are valued and utilised Aligned autonomy The growing popularity of the servant leadership conc

50、ept is a good example of the shift away from strictly hierarchical leadership.This approach emphasises the importance of leaders finding success in the growth and well-being of teams.The originators of this concept,Robert Greenleaf and the Center for Servant Leadership,have described how:“The servan

51、t-leader shares power,puts the needs of others first and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible.”12 One of the key ways in which leaders achieve success through others is by empowering teams through greater autonomy.However,autonomy needs to be combined with a clear direction and vis

52、ion in order to optimise outcomes.8 https:/ http:/web.mit.edu/curhan/www/docs/Articles/15341_Readings/Group_Performance/Edmondson%20Psychological%20safety.pdf 10 https:/ 11 https:/www.jstor.org/stable/2666999?seq=1 12 https:/www.greenleaf.org/what-is-servant-leadership/Effective Leadership in the Di

53、gital Age 11 Spotify has described this balance as aligned autonomy,a principle that enables leaders to combine both of these attributes effectively so that they dont disenfranchise one another:13 Low alignment and low autonomy=directionless,demotivated staff High alignment and low autonomy=the lead

54、er solving all the problems Low alignment and high autonomy=individual progress but potentially going in different directions High alignment and high autonomy=the leader frames the problem to solve but allows the team to come up with the best solution Effective digital leadership It is possible to d

55、efine a number of key characteristics of an effective digital leader.These run across broad areas of leadership focus including operational orientation,ways of working and leadership styles and qualities and include:Customer-centric:Often seen as an essential attribute and demonstrated by a leaders

56、ability to bring customer insight into business decision-making Technology-literate:Notably in regard to understanding the potential of,integration and application of technology to business Visionary:Able to articulate and demonstrate a compelling,ambitious vision Adaptive and agile:Greater agility

57、in the face of continuous challenge and change Data-driven:Embedding data into decision-making,process and mindsets Curiosity and continuous learning:The value of having a learning culture alongside a mindset for exploration Commercially focused:In ways that do not disenfranchise the need to be cust

58、omer-centric Innovative and entrepreneurial:Continuous,rather than episodic innovation,a willingness to take risks and a desire to solve customer problems Openness and transparency:Enabling trust,collaboration and communication In an Econsultancy survey,when asked to rank the qualities(from a pre-se

59、lected list)that they thought were most important in an effective digital leader,respondents ranked customer-centricity as the most important attribute,followed by collaboration,being data-driven,adaptability,and curiosity and openness.13 https:/ Leadership in the Digital Age 12 4.Leadership Style a

60、nd Roles in the Digital Age T-shaped leaders Originated by IDEO founder Tim Brown,the concept of T-shaped people described the need to combine strong functional and vertical expertise with good empathy and collaboration in ways that can empower improved cross-functional working.Alongside this,Brown

61、also argued that rather than the answers always coming from the top of the organisation,leaders need to draw on a wider set of leadership roles that are dependent on the moment and circumstances to get the best out of teams and unlock the kind of creativity and agility that can help organisations to

62、 navigate rapid change.In this context,leaders need to set the direction but also ask the best questions and maintain the humility to learn and adapt their thinking as required.14 Adaptive leadership In his book The Practice of Adaptive Leadership,Dr Ronald Heifetz of the Center For Public Leadershi

63、p at Harvard University has differentiated between the technical and adaptive change and challenges that leaders need to respond to.Technical change focuses on shifts that involve more tangible elements like products and processes and may be easier to deal with in the short term,since the business m

64、ay already be equipped with the necessary knowledge to deal with the challenge.Adaptive change,however,is concerned with less tangible,more human-focused aspects such as beliefs,mindsets,values and behaviours.These aspects of change take longer and often require different thinking,new skills or a ch

65、ange in mindset.While people may be more willing to embrace technical change,in more uncertain fast-changing environments it is key for leaders to focus on adaptive change that brings in an evolution in mindset and behaviour.To do this effectively,leaders need to be more flexible and adaptive with t

66、heir own leadership style to embrace change themselves but also to articulate a compelling vision and direction.Leadership and management Given the shift to more inclusive leadership styles,it becomes increasingly important for leaders to not only empower teams and recognise leadership at all levels

67、,but also to set a clear course and then bring leadership and management together in compelling ways to achieve goals.Leadership is needed to inspire,engage and create a compelling vision and strategy.Management is needed to execute,scale and operationalise.14 https:/ Effective Leadership in the Dig

68、ital Age 13 Figure 3:Leadership and management working together Source:Econsultancy Leadership and lifelong learning Creating a good culture of learning in the organisation is critical in enabling greater agility,but it is also important for leaders to take greater ownership of their own learning an

69、d draw insight continuously from a broad range of sources to effectively understand and interpret shifting dynamics.People learn in different ways,and it is important for leaders to be self-aware about their own learning styles.One useful way of considering a three-dimensional approach to learning i

70、s the concept of See One,Do One,Teach One(SODOTO),which is often used in a medical context when trainee surgeons are learning new procedures.15 This approach combines learning first by observation,then by performing the task,and then through teaching.It combines different learning styles in ways tha

71、t embed knowledge and true understanding.Visual learning may use video tutorials,presentation and demonstration.Learning by doing involves practice,experimentation and prototyping.Learning through teaching brings in coaching and mentoring.The concept of reverse mentoring,for example,typically sees y

72、ounger or less experienced staff mentoring senior leaders to introduce new thinking and break open assumptions.Leadership roles in digital While specific roles have emerged to support greater focus and clarity around digital,including Chief Digital Officer and Chief Customer Officer,knowledge and de

73、cision-making should be integrated into wider business as usual in all board roles.Everyone on the senior team needs to take responsibility for their own learning in this area.The creation of new decision-making structures including so-called digital boards,which involve a small group of C-suite mem

74、bers in overseeing digital developments,have helped to catalyse greater agility in fast-moving environments,but good digital literacy among all members of the senior team is increasingly seen as essential.15 https:/ Effective Leadership in the Digital Age 14 5.About Econsultancy At Econsultancy,were

75、 reimagining the learning experience,to keep up with an ever-changing digital world.Since our inception in 1999,weve been at the heart of the digital marketing and ecommerce community bringing fresh perspectives,deep insights and the kind of expertise that only comes from living and breathing our su

76、bject matter.Our mission is to transform our clients teams with digital skills training that shapes minds and shifts performance.We do this through our Multi-Touch Learning approach that draws on a unique blend of training techniques to keep everyone engaged and help them embed their newfound knowle

77、dge.As part of Xeim,a family of businesses dedicated to excellence in marketing,we are a global team,with access to a professional community of senior marketers from some of the worlds most ambitious brands,boasting more than 3.8 million interactions per month,award-winning events and unparalleled media exposure.To find out more how we can help you and your organisation,get in touch with our team today:Tel:+44 20 7970 4322 E Further reading Econsultancy|Building a Digital Culture https:/ the Race for Digital Skills https:/ Marketing Mindset https:/ Leadership in the Digital Age 15