Next Gen Digital Execs
It’s a conversation I’ve heard so many times before. The executive
says: ”I don’t understand technology and don’t want to; I’m interested in the business outcomes.” The technology manager laments that the executive doesn’t get
technology even though the whole business runs on technology and things
come to a grinding halt whenever systems go down.
The interesting, and crucial, point which both of those perspectives miss is that in fact digital business isn’t about technology at all. It’s about what technology can enable the business to achieve. The governance & management models that were used to manage machinery & plant in the industrial age don’t work in the digital age because technology and business today as synonymous.
There are very few businesses today that aren’t reliant on technology for
their everyday operations and yet there are still so many executives
& directors around that wear the ‘I don’t understand technology
badge’ like it’s something to be proud of. For me it shows a lack of awareness and understanding of digital business. It’s a bit like saying ‘I don’t get that balance
sheet thing’.
A few years ago technology adoption was seen as a choice with most executives seeing technology as an ‘opportunity’ but the speed of disruption has overtaken this to the point where digital transformation is no longer a choice, its an imperative. Organisations that aren’t equipped for Digital Transformation are being increasingly marginalised. The problem is that many don’t see it coming due to a lack of digital governance and literacy.
Now I’m not for a moment suggesting that executives & directors should all be fixing their own laptops before taking up their roles but they need to be aware of what technology means for the organisations they are leading and directing. Digital business and technology doesn’t stand still for a nanosecond and so what’s even more important than that understanding is the ongoing commitment to growing and expanding their knowledge of digital business as it evolves.
Transformation is incredibly uncomfortable - it takes existing skills, knowledge & assets and unsettles them, often greatly diminishing their value almost overnight. That applies not only to processes, facilities and materials but to people. Just like the way we do business needs to be constantly changing & evolving so do the people & skills leading those businesses.
The way we govern & manage needs to be in step with how we do business (digital) and the assets (technology) we use to deliver products & services to our customers. Using industrial age governance is never going to help an organisation succeed and thrive in the digital world.
The corporate and public sector landscape is littered with failed projects with countless reviews pointing to ‘governance’ as the most common reason for failure. I suggest it’s not that there is a lack of governance - most projects I have reviewed have arguably been over governed - but that the governance being used is wrong. It’s a bit like trying to hammer in nails with a wrench just because both are tools - results are likely to be unpredictable and suboptimal.
The next generation of executive needs to be committed to ongoing growth & development - being willing to check what used to work when business was analogue at the door in favour of skills & experiences that businesses need to survive and thrive in the digital age. I’m still perplexed by how few (comparatively) digital executive leadership training and development offerings exist in the market. So often it’s left to Chief Information/Digital/Technology Officers to ‘educate up’ within their organisation as they go.
I would suggest that organisations that will succeed in Digital Business (and its early days) are the ones that recognise and integrate digital & technology competencies into their development programs early, at every level of the organisation including the executive team. Executive leadership development (such as Exec MBAs) need to be re-oriented around doing business in the digital age. With technology automating some many things I would argue there are plenty of opportunities to make space in the curriculum by retiring legacy skills.
Now is also the right time for to seriously consider new management tools such as reverse mentoring, which flips the traditional mentoring model of a executive or older staff member advising a (more seemingly) junior one. Interestingly reverse mentoring has been around since Jack Welch was running GE but few organisations have actually implemented it - I suspect that again this is because it challenges conventional wisdom and views on experience, who has the answers etc.
I would argue that this sort of mentoring arrangement is far more powerful than the traditional model as both parties stand to gain a lot from this arrangement; if both enter the agreement with the right mindset.
The online world is a rich source of business and technology information. Social media provides a rich source of information & insights about your organisation and sector. Chances are your customers are talking online, do you engage with them in an authentic and meaningful way or do you see social media as just another channel to push our your corporate communications (another overhang from the industrial age) and answer basic questions the call centre should be handling? Social media is all about customer engagement so grab a twitter handle and dive in!
And just for the record there is no such thing as a digital strategy -
your business strategy should be digital by default. If you take away
nothing else from this post then let this be it.
Directors and executives need to have an in-depth understand (on an ongoing basis) of what digital disruption/changes in technology mean for:
- the products & services they deliver to their customer, and how those are delivered and experienced.
- their teams and how they continue to re-engineer, re-skill and optimise the way they operate.
- their operating model and how that need to continue to evolve to remain relevant.
Specific vendors and technologies will come and go over the coming decade and so organisations need to be focusing on building digital capabilities and competencies (starting with digital governance and leadership) to help them not only survive the transformation but thrive & grow through it.
