![](https://levensloopleap.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Future-operation.png)
The Future of Management: Developing Leadership Skills for the Digital Age
- Posted by admin
- Categories Business, Management
- Date February 8, 2023
In today’s rapidly evolving world, organizations have to face and address the growing pains and opportunities presented by digital transformation. As technology continues to scale at an incredulous pace, our professional and personal lives are being uniquely shaped, making it crucial for organizations to prioritize digital transformation as a key strategic initiative. We’ve historically witnessed change management and disruptions to established systems require new skills and behaviors to be enabled and adopted across the organization and its work squads.
Digital transformation is a radical change that affects all aspects of an organization and requires leaders who can navigate the complexities of this large scale change. Middle managers, in particular, play a crucial role in leading and are responsible for translating large scale organizational strategies into implementable daily practices. To instigate change, managers and leaders of today’s age need to influence the mentalities and reasoning of their employees and teams.
It’s no more just leading with authority, but leading with influence and persuasion. Managers and leaders need to envision what an innovative culture looks like for their organization’s context, enable new knowledge absorption and adoption, and strive to create a seamless transition to a newer identity as an organization, while handling external ecosystem changes.
Traditional leadership approaches are not sufficient in the context of digital transformation. Leaders need to reassess their skills and behaviors and develop new understandings of leadership in the digital age. Studies suggest a growing need for soft skills and behaviors, in combination with digital intelligence.
Soft skills, such as empathy, flexibility, adaptability, integrity, vulnerability, tolerance, and patience, are increasingly important to enable effective interpersonal interactions and facilitate effective collaboration in the digital environment.
Digital intelligence involves the ability to read, modify, and interpret digital data, as well as make informed decisions based on that data. This change clearly requires managers to possess digital intelligence such as understanding how newer technologies can improve operational efficiency and outcomes. This is not an one time activity, but a continuous upskilling related to digital technology.
In addition to soft skills and digital intelligence, middle managers need to develop additional skills and behaviors to thrive in the digital age. They need to be prepared to adapt to new situations, be comfortable with ambiguity, and be willing to experiment and take risks. These skills and behaviors are crucial for dealing with the rapid pace of technological change and driving innovation in organizations.
Let’s see this through a few examples.
LEGO Brick by Brick
LEGO was facing declining sales and a rapidly evolving toy market, and needed to embrace digital transformation. Lars Silberbauer, head of product development, recognized the key need for enabling middle management, and championed the “Brick by Brick” strategy that enabled LEGO’s revenue to double within six years, fueled by the success of its digital initiatives. He led a cross-functional team of middle managers who focused on:
- Digital content creation: Developing mobile apps and online games that integrate with physical LEGO sets.
- Personalized customer experiences: Launching the LEGO Ideas platform where fans could submit ideas for new sets.
- Data-driven decision-making: Using analytics to inform product development and marketing strategies.
DHL
Similarly, the logistics giant DHL aimed to optimize its delivery routes and improve customer service in a competitive market. Frank Appel, COO, like Lars, recognized the need to integrate middle managers within the company for large scale change management. He set up the company’s innovation centers where middle managers would experiment with new technologies where they implemented:
- AI-powered route optimization: Reducing delivery times and fuel consumption.
- Customer service chatbots: Offering 24/7 support and reducing call center workload.
- Big data analysis: Predicting customer needs and proactively adjusting delivery schedules.
This proved successful at scale as they were able to reduce 5% reduction in delivery costs and 10% increase in customer satisfaction, demonstrating the power of data driven innovation led by middle management.
There are countless leading organizations that have had to shed their old skin and face the growing pains of change every decade. Each of these examples help us breakdown and identify implementable skills that enable successful transformations by focusing on:
- Empowering Middle Managers: Providing resources, training, and decision-making authority to middle managers.
- Cross-functional Teams: Collaboration between teams from different departments fosters innovation and breaks down silos.
- Data-Driven Decision Making: Utilizing data analytics to inform transformation strategies and measure progress.
- Focus on Customer Experience: Prioritizing customer needs and satisfaction through digital touchpoints.
- Continuous Learning and Experimentation: Fostering a culture of learning and encouraging experimentation with new technologies.
Clearly, development programs for future leaders should focus on training in digital tools and technologies while enhancing their interpersonal skills for better team management. If you think this might be helpful to you or your organization, check out some of our offerings or reach out to us for a chat.
References:
- https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1147002/full
- Pui San Saw, Nur Zahirah Balqis-Ali, Kia Fatt Quek, Badariah Ahmad, Weng Hong Fun, Sondi Sararaks & Shaun Wen Huey Lee (2023) Organizational strategies in promoting person-centered primary care: A participatory concept mapping study, International Journal of Healthcare Management, DOI: 10.1080/20479700.2023.2200604
Next post
Are You Ready for the Fintech Revolution? Accelerate Your Career with Finance Management Skills
You may also like
![Knowled Guide you Knowled Guide you](https://levensloopleap.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Knowled-Guide-you-300x200.png)
Let Knowledge Guide You: The Modern Executive.
![Future-Marketing Future-Marketing](https://levensloopleap.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Future-Marketing-300x200.png)