The 21st century is characterised by complexity, uncertainty and in constant change. The emergence of new technologies and increasing globalisation result in moral tensions and unique challenges that did not exist in previous centuries. New leadership capabilities are required to address these issues.
According to Harvard Business School, the role of an organisational leader is to successfully run a company. Key components of this include leading their organisation into the future, anticipating threats and pursuing opportunities. Digital technology is disrupting sectors by creating new market opportunities, new direct channels to customers, greater efficiencies, cost savings and faster product to market. Leadership that combines business acumen and digital savvy is required now more than ever.
A key component to what makes organisational leadership effective is ensuring the right competencies are present. Technology literacy is a core capability and requirement for all 21st century leaders. In the past, executives, CEOs and Board members were able to delegate responsibility to their Chief Information Officer (CIO), Chief Technology Officer (CTO) or Information Technology (IT) manager.
In an age where technology is the backbone of every organisation, it is an essential requirement for all leaders to have digital literacy to effectively set direction, create value using the tools and resources available, and create opportunity to ensure longevity.
It would be irresponsible and neglectful for any organisation to not have digital literacy as a key competency of their leaders. This does not mean leaders need to be technology experts with deep domain knowledge of platforms, software or hardware. Technology literacy is an understanding of the tools and software that exist, its implications, its use to solve problems and ensuring this is all done safely, securely and without abuse.
Technology enables the business to operate. It is therefore fundamental for all organisational leaders to be au fait with it. Unfortunately, we have seen many leaders abdicate responsibility to their technical teams, avoid the issue, keep business as usual despite the risks, delve into detail under the banner of managing risk as a way of managing their own limited knowledge, capability or confidence when it comes to critical business operations that involve technology.
One characteristic of being a great leader is a deep sense of personal accountability. This means in this digital age adding technology as a core capability to develop and continue to build, especially with the rate of advancement. Without this capability leaders make some common mistakes in decision making.
Technology is the answer
A common decision is to solve problems by purchasing and implementing a technology platform or software. In many instances, this results in organisations having multiple applications, that are not interoperable, are not fully used by staff, and do not solve the actual problem. The technology architecture of an organisation can end up being unnecessarily complex, cost-burdensome, duplicative of functions and redundant. Having a good understanding of what technology platforms currently exist in the organisation and their functions is a good starting point to understating if new applications are required.
Wait for the technology
In line with technology being the answer, organisations wait for the technology to be procured and implemented to solve the problem. This “lift and shift” approach means that if the underlying process, management systems, culture and capability have not been considered, the same issues and pain points will be expressed, perhaps even in a more emphasised way. Technology is an enabler of the business. As such, if pain points exist, leaders should seek to re-design the ways of working, test and iterate this prior to any technology solution being deployed. Not only will it result in delivering better value to customers, but it will also provide greater insight into how the technology will work to enable the business to perform better.
Over-reliance on consultants
To bridge the knowledge and capability gap, many organisations turn to technology consultants to guarantee success. Consultants may be experts in the product they are selling, but they do not know your business. It can also result in a significant capability gap in the organisation, with on-going financial outlay to consultants to maintain fundamental business platforms. Consider what technology capabilities are required to deliver the organisation’s business and whether these should be built, borrowed or bought dependent on criteria such as essential service, time horizon, general or specialised knowledge.
Silos
Technology decisions for an organisation are often delegated to a separate technology team. In many instances, this team has not been part of business discussions, strategy, or planning. This can result in sub-optimal outcomes due to the technology team acting without fully understanding the business requirements or problem that is being solved. To effectively manage the business, an organisation’s business team needs to work hand in glove with the technology team. Joint teams will be critical as we transition further into the digital age.
Conclusion
As the pace of technology rapidly accelerates with an ever-expanding array of products and services, technology cannot remain the domain of a single person or team. A collective pool of knowledge, skill and expertise will be required to successfully navigate organisations in the digital age.
In these unprecedented times, experts are born from their ingenuity, curiosity, creativity, and attitude of “giving it a go”. As such, the digital age is a great equalizer, allowing anyone the potential to be a digital leader.