Leadership Evolves Because People Change

Leadership evolves because people change, but the principles remain the same, early in my career I was taught 10 basic principles of leadership.. while the words have changed over the years to reflect contemporary language and changing culture.. but these still hold true.

• Know your job
• Know your strengths and limitations always seek self-improvement
• Lead by example and be consistent
• Make sure your team knows your intent and then lead them to the goal
• Know your people and take care of them before yourself
• Develop the leadership potential in your people
• Make sound and timely decisions
• Train your people as a team and challenge them to their fullest potential
• Keep your people informed, provide clear vision and make your orders understood

We practiced Social Networking in a way back then, in the form of “O” groups, gathering everyone into a circle, passing on the days directions, accepting feedback and re-explaining the mission until everyone understood the intent and goal. Leadership then, as now was about people and communication and that is why I’m a SM advocate, it too is about people and communication. No matter where you are or who you are with, if you practiced these simple tenets you will be the leader… online or face to face it’s that simple (and that hard).

So is there a difference in leading virtually, yes. You are not present, so the cues that come with a physical presence are missing.. the ability to look into their eyes and read fear, confusion or clarity of purpose, read their body language, to have that quiet word to motivate when needed and to just shake their hand at the end of the meeting. But before we run off and design whole new leadership paradigms to compensate, we need to provide a little context, this is not new, we have provided leadership via, messenger, telegraph, radio and telephone and been successful. Social Media and the virtual environment is just the latest evolution in communication and we are adapting to it. It is a lot more work to lead from a distance or virtually; clarity is key in everything you post or send, it must be clear in intent and message. There is the lack of context you provide by your presence, so it must be compensated for in the virtual environment.

But that is not to say there are not some ways to ensure that virtual and digital leadership is used properly: When I talked about digital leadership I promote these principles;

New-ish leadership principles for the digital age

• Empower your team
• Connect them socially (wired and organic)
• Establish a credible feedback loop, (answer promptly)
• Own the culture (build a network of trust)
• Articulate a Clear vision (build common purpose)
• Be transparent but be THE leader
• Create your vision.. Always move towards it
• Focus on what matters
• Know your people, take care of them first, challenge them
• Listen and set the example
• Always learn from you team

One thing I have noticed not to my surprise, is that leaders that are poor in person are still lousy leaders in the digital environment.

Virtual leadership is more collaborative and therefore relies more on trust while in the physical your presence and confidence can balance the trust requirement. The is also a danger in the connected world for leaders to want to much information and not making timely decisions, we wait instead for that next piece of information, (I call it information blindness, like a snow storm where each flake is small but enough of them will stop you from seeing the path). We only need about 50-70% of the required information to make informed decisions, the connected world gets that info to us faster.

I also think we forget that leadership is about people and communications, not technology.. even virtually it must remain a human experience, even if it is not physical. One of the cool things about digital leadership, is the the reach of your vision. In the physical room I can effect only those that can hear me and see me, online that distance becomes irrelevant.

Hope this is not too simplistic for your needs, and I would appreciate your feedback so I can learn from you.

Ralph Mercer