Does being a leader in a data technology field require different skills than running a farm during lambing season? I am part of a larger leadership team made up of executive vice presidents, vice presidents, and managers. Together this team ensures day-to-day operations run smoothly, we are on target to meet business goals set quarterly and yearly, and we stay up to date on current events, competition and tools that can aid our processes in ensuring data equity and efficiency, in addition, we operate in a 100% remote work environment. In my other time, I volunteer on a small hobby farm, and at another nearby farm, it happens to be lambing season. There are many individuals required to ensure animals are fed, and bedding is clean, along with the myriad of other tasks performed daily. In addition, someone needs to ensure business decisions are on track, equipment is running, and there is enough future proofing done to continuously welcome new lambs to the farm for years to come. I wonder to myself, do the attributes required for good leadership change depending on the industry, and if so, how? I will briefly outline the top 5 important leadership attributes based on past experience, course material, and conversations with my peers, followed by an updated list of what I would consider to be the top digital leadership attributes.

The topmost essential leadership attributes for me include being inspiring, forward-looking, caring, supportive, and dependable. My top essential attributes when working in digital learning environments would be trust, mindfulness and flexibility. Sorry lambs, unfortunately, digital leadership might not prove to be economically feasible or offer the stability needed to operate a farm. 

Trust is a quality missing from the initial leadership list but is later introduced by Sheninger (2022), who brings in trust by highlighting the necessity of surrendering control in lieu of fostering creativity by encouraging both learners and instructors to embrace real-world digital tools; Sheninger describes this as a bold move in leadership and relevant in the evolution of digital leadership. In understanding other motivations of trust, Castelli speaks about research that motivates and creates high performance and also associates these cultures with trustworthiness (2015). I think of the tool ChatGPT and how leadership can empower their teams to leverage technologies to inspire and motivate new ways of thinking and doing. Farmers are far less able to introduce tools for the sake of innovation and rely far more on trusting their “teams” to deliver consistently and efficiently, leveraging the tools and technologies at hand.

Mindfulness, according to Castelli (2015), is not only a state of awareness, but it is suggested can lead to more effective leadership. Coming from a remote work setting elevates this characteristic to a top spot as I work with individuals that are physically located across Canada and have diverse backgrounds, skill sets and experiences. I would consider mindfulness as recognizing and reacting to the changing landscape as well as considering potential barriers to imposing new technology on teams. As suggested by Batliwali (2010), politics and purpose are vital components of feminist leadership and a component of mindfulness in addressing the ideologies and realities of the social and economic landscape while applying a forward-looking lens to adapting and addressing areas of equity. Mindfulness on a sheep farm would similarly be a practical skill, especially in understanding business opportunities and risks associated with changing regulations and working with farmhands of varying backgrounds.

Flexibility was surprisingly missing from the original list of leadership characteristics but perhaps is better suited for digital leadership anyway. Flexibility aligns with my personal values of being caring and supportive and can refer to offering alternative work hours and individualized tasks to ensure the technology is supportive of the task, such as allowing team members to join virtually without cameras when bandwidth is limited or allowing for both online and offline workflows to support technology outages as examples. Flexibility is also respecting cultural and religious observances, respectfully working in different time zones and creating training in English and French. Flexibility is likely already fairly common in digital workplaces, given the unpredictable yet vast landscape and talent it recruits. Again without defining further examples, it may be difficult to sell “flexibility” as a top attribute to farmers raising livestock.

Building off the initial set of essential leadership attributes to incorporate what is desirable for digital leadership created a refined list that encompasses trust, mindfulness and flexibility. It is interesting to see how the digitization of workplaces has changed the skills required and desired.

References

Batliwali. (2010). Feminist Leadership for Social Transformation: Clearing the Conceptual Cloud. https://creaworld.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/feminist-leadership-clearing-conceptual-cloud-srilatha-batliwala.pdf

Castelli, P. A. (2016). Reflective leadership review: a framework for improving organisational performance. Journal of Management Development, 35(2), 217–236. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMD-08-2015-0112

Sheninger, E. (2022, August 31). 7 Pillars of Digital Leadership in Education. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.