Digital Age Leadership
Contributed By - Yogs Jayaprakasam
When you think of leadership, what comes to your mind? A position or a personality? Most of the time when people ask, “how to become a leader?” they leave me with an impression that they usually mean, “how to get a leadership position?” and not “how to develop leadership qualities?”
You usually hear people say, “I’m extremely good at what I do, and I have read all the books on leadership”, or - “I’m the most efficient in my field, and I can lead others and drive the overall group’s efficiency”- and hence I’m ready to become a leader. In my opinion, leadership has always been about “how do you help the people around you to get their best, not about showing you are the best and you should lead”.
Traditionally, leadership positions were offered to employees, who were great in their field. The leader’s job was to train/coach his or her team to increase their productivity and deliver better results for the company. Though this approach does not guarantee to get the employee’s best, certainly gets better results for the company. Applying the traditional “command & control” leadership style in this digital age is totally inappropriate, and here is why.
We live in a knowledge economy, where most job functions are not repeatable like in the industrial age. Digital age jobs require constant learning, creativity, active problem solving and - the last but certainly not the least - the collaboration with other team members to bring the full product to life. It requires employees to be at their best cognitive level, where they are energized to bring their best.
2016 CEB (Corporate Executive Board) survey reveals that currently, there are around 25% leaders in the corporate world are millennial and this figure is expected to grow to 44% by 2024. For all the aspiring leaders out there, in order for you to capitalize on this great opportunity to become a successful leader in the digital age, I urge you to consider the following.
1. It’s a behavior, not a position: It all starts with the mindset. Take Mahatma Gandhi for an example, he is considered one of the greatest leaders of all times, not because of his position or title. No one invited him to lead the mission, but he gathered huge followership for his non-violent fight to get the freedom for India. He explained why non-violence is the right way to fight for freedom. People who got inspired by his purpose (the “Why”) followed him, even when there were no social media to spread his mission across the country. As a leader, it’s your job to explain to your employees, “why” what they are doing is important, not just for the company, but also individually for them. Explain the bigger picture, and explain why one should care.
2. Show them their best, not yours: In order for the employees to bring their best, they have to feel that they are capable. Even the most talented employees do not know their full potential on their own. It usually requires multiple opportunities, constant encouragement, and freedom to make mistakes which help them realize that they can create consistent success. Good leaders observe what their employees do, when they get stuck; they encourage them along the way, and not stop and show them how to do it.
3. Set the direction, not the goals: Setting goals is one of the age-old processes in leading teams. Setting goals takes the autonomy away and limits employees to focus only on what the company defines as goals, and not explore the possibilities. Great leaders, focus on the broader areas that the employees directionally should focus, and use definitive goals as examples. This enables employees to feel broader autonomy to explore the possibilities in their job. Daniel Pink, famous author on work and behavioral science, argues that autonomy and freedom is one of the greatest motivations at the workplace.
Mark Zuckerberg, single engineer created Facebook in his Harvard dorm, which turned into a multi-billion dollar company today. In the digital age, every single employee has such potential and resources. Your job as a leader is to offer such an environment for each employee. Aspire to be such a leader, start with how you look at leadership today and leadership positions will find you.
Note: Opinions expressed here are solely mine and do not express the views or opinions of my employer.