In spite of being in the digital age where there is a lot of information available to update and upgrade oneself, talented and hard-working people are still struggling to get into leadership roles. The digital era seems to have created a big leadership gap in organizations as the work environment is becoming more dynamic and creating a demand for the new-age leadership. The core traits of leadership defined over thousands of years are not enough to deal with the complexities of the age of artificial intelligence and continuous digital disruption. The focus of the new-age leadership needs to move more from domain expertise and authority to softer skills like humility, adaptability and innovative bent of mind.
The digital leadership skills can be inculcated by developing a few habits that the new-age leaders demonstrate in this digital era.
Strive Only for the Best
While in the digital world, people look at instant success and immediate services, they do not necessarily strive to deliver the best. However, great leaders do not rush to simply finish something. They focus only on quality and the ideal outcome. They take complete ownership of their actions and results, display a genuine passion for their work, value relationships and help people rise. They display a personal touch in whatever they do which imparts genuineness to their words and actions.
Morning Routine
Most successful leaders have a strict morning routine that they follow every single day without fail. Unlike most people who think that responding to their emails and messages first thing in the morning, will give them a headstart at work, successful leaders think and act differently. They don’t touch their gadgets and start their day with meditation, exercise and journaling. This morning ritual helps them develop a leadership growth mindset where they start their day with a positive attitude, clear their head and thus, avoid mental fatigue throughout the day.
Creating Capsules of Time
Time is the most significant asset of a leader and effective time management is one of the most important leadership skills. An immense challenge that the digital era brings, is the continuous stream of emails, messages and notifications that can be extremely distracting. It is not that successful leaders have some superhuman ability to concentrate but they certainly use the right techniques to manage their time, focus and deal with the innumerable distractions. They create capsules of time and allot it to produce and result- oriented tasks which allows them to focus on one task at a time without getting distracted by what needs to be done in the next hour. This technique is also known as ‘chunking’. It leaves them enough time and headspace for innovative thinking which is an essential function of leadership in the digital era.
Continuous Learning
Successful leaders demonstrate a genuine hunger for knowledge. In this dynamic business environment, where continuous digital disruption brings unprecedented changes, sometimes the leaders can just get stuck in managing the day-to-day affairs. However, successful leaders think ahead and keep looking for new opportunities. Individuals who demonstrate digital leadership skills do not get too comfortable with their existing knowledge and push themselves continuously to learn new things and come up with new ideas. One of the most important traits of leadership is that they are highly inquisitive and satisfy their curiosity by reading voraciously. They realize that however, knowledgeable they might be, there is always something new to discover.
The learning can also come from people with varied experiences who might not necessarily be a senior or a fellow leader. Individuals with leadership growth mindset, are aware that they can learn new things even from someone who might be ten years younger and a few levels down the organizational hierarchy. The idea is to share and leverage the knowledge of peers and team members for the benefit of the business.
Disciplined Lifestyle
Self-discipline is the most important trait of leadership without which it is impossible to be successful. In this era of information overload, digital entertainment platforms and online shopping, it is very easy to waste time on these trivial things. However, successful leaders demonstrate high levels of self-discipline and employ their time in developing skills, working on fitness, playing a sport, reading or doing more productive work. The new-age leadership has innumerable challenges and opportunities to choose from and making conscious choices is what sets them apart.
Adaptability
The most important quality for the new-age leadership is the ability to adapt to new challenges, situations and ideas. They need to be highly adaptable, risk-taking and open to new opportunities. They are not scared of committing to a new course of action when the situation demands and keep aside their ego and change their opinion when required. This gives them excellent decision-making skills and the ability to respond to industry disruptions with agility, flexibility and innovation. These are the digital leadership skills and qualities that they must demonstrate. When they foster the same adaptability and agility in the organizational culture, the organization is better equipped to manage and move beyond the digital disruptions.
It’s a myth that leaders are born and success is brought by luck. The new-age leadership is not limited to certain skills or training and has more to do with developing a leadership growth mindset. The functions of leadership in the digital age are not radically different from what it used to be, but there certainly are a few key distinctions that are critical. While the hard skills of the leaders will continue to be supported by smart machines, soft skills will become more important than ever. The new-age leader needs to be more focused, more adaptable, learn continuously and have an open and innovative bent of mind to not just survive but thrive in this era of digital disruptions.
References:
- Developing the new-age leadership mindset- Payal Nanjiani, 10 September, 2019
- As AI Makes More Decisions, the Nature of Leadership Will Change- Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, Michael Wade, Jennifer Jordan, 22 January, 2018
- 3 Characteristics of the New Age Digital Leader Mindset- Sharon George, 25 January, 2018
