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As part of the Leading Change in Digital Learning course, we were asked to write about our most important leadership attributes of a leader working in digital learning environments. As a human resources practionner, I work with leaders in organizations and since the beginning of the pandemic, I have supported them virtually. Some of these leaders have shared their struggles leading in a digital world and I decided to ponder the question of what it takes to be a digital leader in organizations today. But first, what is digital leadership?\u00a0 Sheninger (2019) defined it as \u201cestablishing direction, influencing others, and initiating sustainable change through the access of information, and establishing relationships in order to anticipate changes\u201d (para. 5). He further described it as \u201ca transformed construct of leadership that grows out of the leader\u2019s symbiotic relationship with technology\u201d (para. 7).\u00a0 Essentially, digital leadership is composed of fundamental leadership skills combined with technological agility and ability.<\/p>\n
Araujo et al. (2021) shared their perspective of these fundamental leadership skills a digital leader must possess which are flexibility, adaptability, \u201cintellectual curiosity and hunger for new knowledge\u201d (p. 52). The authors further added that digital leaders must have the passion to lead while valuing various perspectives and be comfortable navigating the unknown. To the same degree, Sheninger (2019) stated that \u201cleaders must understand the origins of fear and misconceptions that often surround the use of technology” (para. 1), furthering the point of the unknown.\u00a0 I appreciated both the authors\u2019 views on understanding the misconception of leading in a digital world and the importance of uncovering apprehensions with technology. These views provided me with a frame of reference for what I believe are key leadership attributes in a digital world.<\/p>\n
In my own reflection on what it takes to be a digital leader, transparency and broadminded are two qualities in a leader that I found relevant in a digital environment, from both my experience and the literature. \u00a0Araujo et al. (2021) discussed transparency as a key attribute for digital leadership when understanding critical information, but also when tapping in the opportunities that transparency offers for these leaders. For instance, leaders can leverage social media to tell great stories about their teams and their organizations and interactively engage in online conversations (Sheninger, 2019). However, I believe that supportive transparent cultures would need to be in place for these leaders to effectively lead with transparency.\u00a0 This last point is worth exploring further as what it takes for a transparent leader to be successful in his or her own organization.<\/p>\n
As for broadminded, I did not consider this quality in the first place until I met with my assigned team to discuss our ranked digital leadership attributes.\u00a0 Broadminded was deliberated on our team in relation of personal biases and assumptions awareness in a leader.\u00a0 I initially understood broadminded as liberal, flexible, open to new ideas, and progressive. \u00a0Pasovska & Miceski (2018) discussed broadminded leaders as part of transformational leadership and specified that transformational leaders \u201caccept the diversity among people\u201d (p. 237).\u00a0 In the transformational leadership realm, Castelli (2015) discussed reflective leadership involving \u201cself-awareness and mindfulness\u201d (p. 219) of own behaviors and recognizing own biases and own judgements. Thus, a broadminded leader should recognize his or her inner dynamics and create an openness to the various perspectives.\u00a0From the authors\u2019 viewpoints, I appreciated broadminded being more than just being open to new ideas and beliefs, but also being aware of personal bias that may influence the leader\u2019s actions and words.<\/p>\n
In conclusion, both Sheninger (2019) and Araujo et al. (2021) agreed that fundamental leadership skills are still required to digitally lead in organizations. Our team ranking exercise also supported that viewpoint of the importance of basic leadership attributes (Messier, 2022).\u00a0 Along with acquiring a \u201csymbiotic relationship with technology\u201d (Sheninger, 2019, para. 7), transparency and broadminded are two additional attributes that I believe leaders must possess to virtually lead as long as organizations as stated in Araujo et al.\u2019s (2021) study are ready to embrace digital leadership.<\/p>\n
References:<\/p>\n
Araujo, L. M., Priadana, S., Paramarta, V., & Sunarsi, D. (2021). Digital leadership in business organizations: an overview.\u00a0International Journal of Educational Administration, Management, and Leadership<\/em>,\u00a02<\/em>(1), 45-56. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.51629\/ijeamal.v2i1.18<\/p>\n Castelli, P. (2016). Reflective leadership review: a framework for improving organisational performance. Journal of Management Development<\/em>, 35<\/em>(2), 217-236. https:\/\/www.proquest.com\/docview\/1767544220?parentSessionId=uyMJZjZ4QsF8UURtTaamZS0cyP7p3H2hVxX%2BFNLSOno%3D&accountid=8056<\/a><\/p>\n Messier, S. (2022, February 5). Team C Leadership attributes ranking result. Stephanie\u2019s Blog: A MALAT Student<\/em>. https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0225\/team-c-leadership-attributes-ranking-result\/<\/a><\/p>\n Pasovska, Silvana and Miceski, Trajko (2018) The impact of transformational leadership in improvement of the organizational capability.<\/em> International Journal for Innovation Education and Research, 6 (2). pp. 235-246.\u00a0 http:\/\/www.ijier.net\/index.php\/ijier Sheninger, E. (2014).\u00a0Pillars of digital leadership<\/em>. International Centre for Leadership in Education. http:\/\/leadered.com\/pillars-of-digital-leadership\/<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As part of the Leading Change in Digital Learning course, we were asked to write about our most important leadership attributes of a leader working in digital learning environments. As a human resources practionner, I work with leaders in organizations… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":219,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lrnt525"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0225\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0225\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0225\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0225\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/219"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0225\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0225\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":446,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0225\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442\/revisions\/446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0225\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0225\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0225\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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