The readings in Unit 1 of MALAT\u2019s LRNT525 have affirmed my belief that digital leaders are those who cautiously strive to understand, embrace, and enact change to the digital landscapes in which they work. Technology is now ever-present in my context, however mindsets around technology are slow to catch up to the various digital opportunities presented to the business. One example of this reluctant mindset is that scripted, instructor led sessions will always be superior and more efficient than leveraging our digital infrastructure to create a continuous Community of Inquiry (Garrison et al, 2010). This reluctance is driven by a \u201cthis is how it has been, so this is how it must be\u201d leadership perspective in some of my organization\u2019s business units. Situations such as the one described are why I value cautious approaches to digital leadership, because it involves not only paving the path forward in the direction of digital change, but also changing the perspectives of reluctant stakeholders.<\/p>\n
In reflecting on corporate leadership in western society, where models have typically circled around the perceptions and values of white male privilege (Julien et al., 2010) I cannot help but wonder if the changing landscapes of workforces will encourage a shift in cross cultural leadership. Surely a workforce that has a higher percentage of female participants, different levels of education, and a generally accepted approach to multi-culturalism (Howard, 2021) will require a more adaptive approach to leadership. In thinking of the workforces that I have been involved in, where the employee population has been younger, multi-cultural, and often largely lacking in the formally recognized education that was more present in previous decades, the findings of Kouzes and Posner (2011) mimic leadership approaches that I have seen successful.<\/p>\n
Kouzes and Posner\u2019s (2011) findings also closely resembled the \u2018human centric\u2019 characteristics that my team ranked highly during our work together. Where their research speaks of developing capacity, appreciation, and creating meaning through motivation, our findings and consensus circled mostly around competence, fostering support, and trust. I was surprised to find these themes consistent throughout much of our readings, regardless of the perception or lens through which it was written. I had expected some of the literature to indicate that there is still a place for the white, privileged leadership approach (which I have been affectionately referring to \u2018storm trooper leadership\u2019), and the multiple voices touting effective leadership is adaptive and human centric was a pleasant surprise.<\/p>\n
To wrap up my reflection, I must comment on one final theme I found concurrent throughout the readings: being that anyone, regardless of role or stature may posses personal attributes that make them a leader to others, and similarly, those in more formal leadership roles may be lacking in the skills required to elevate them to be an embodiment of true leadership. Workman and Innes (2012) succinctly stated, \u201cthe definition of a \u2018leader\u2019 may be a potential distraction more than a useful descriptor\u201d, and I have seen this in practice in the very recent past. \u00a0I am left thinking of Huggins et al. (2012) observation that risk tolerance on the part of leaders is integral to developing employee capacity, as is the ability to maintain trust that employees can do what they were hired to do and do it well. \u201cOtherwise, the role of the leader becomes superfluous since most followers know more about their work, goals, technologies, desired outcomes, and professional expertise than anyone who may be leading them\u201d (Workman & Cleveland-Innes, 2012).<\/p>\n
References<\/strong><\/p>\n Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2010). The first decade of the community of inquiry framework: A retrospective.\u00a0The internet and higher education<\/em>,\u00a013<\/em>(1-2), 5-9.<\/p>\n Howard, J. (2021). MANAGING WORKPLACE DEMOGRAPHICS.\u00a0Patty\u2019s Industrial Hygiene, Hazard Recognition<\/em>, 127.<\/p>\n Julien, M., Wright, B., & Zinni, D. M. (2010).\u00a0Stories from the circle: Leadership lessons learned from aboriginal leaders.\u00a0The Leadership Quarterly<\/em>,\u00a021<\/em>(1), 114\u2013126. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/J.LEAQUA.2009.10.009<\/p>\n Workman, T., & Cleveland-Innes, M. (2012).\u00a0Leadership, personal transformation, and management.\u00a0The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 13<\/em>(4), 313-323. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.19173\/irrodl.v13i4.1383<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The readings in Unit 1 of MALAT\u2019s LRNT525 have affirmed my belief that digital leaders are those who cautiously strive to understand, embrace, and enact change to the digital landscapes in which they work. Technology is now ever-present in my context, however mindsets around technology are slow to catch up to the various digital opportunities … Continue reading “On Leadership…”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":215,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lrnt525","category-reflections"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0221\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0221\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0221\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0221\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/215"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0221\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0221\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":326,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0221\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325\/revisions\/326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0221\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0221\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0221\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}