Our recently-published book, Leadership in Digital Contexts, offers a synthesis of cross-disciplinary research and advances ideas, strategies, and guiding questions for those seeking to explore the dynamics of leadership in an increasingly globalized and mediated world.
While many factors associated with the study and practice of leadership are consistent across situations and contexts, information and communication technologies have altered the leadership landscape in notable ways. In seeking to better understand ways of approaching leadership in digital contexts, it is important to note that most of the theories, models, and strategies associated with the study and practice of leadership were developed before the arrival of the internet, the World Wide Web, and the many digital applications, technologies, and platforms in use today. This book presents a framework for examining and understanding the role of information and communication technologies in shaping how leaders influence, engage, inform, and build consensus in online and virtual settings.
An understanding of leadership in a digital context requires awareness of the interactions across leaders, followers, and the broader environment in which these dynamics occur. Despite exponential advancements in data analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, core social and emotional skills remain necessary for effective leadership in a digital age. Importantly, leadership in this increasingly virtual world requires an understanding of and appreciation for communication, and one’s success as a leader ultimately hinges upon one’s ability to build trust, credibility, and engagement with others. Leaders might choose to draw upon these available technologies as a conduit for communication and as a mechanism by which to influence others, and despite the importance of adopting a digital mindset, leadership remains a human endeavor.
As the challenges and opportunities afforded by advancements in technology continue to impact our work in higher education and across sectors, we invite those engaged in leadership to consider the following questions:
a) What is your purpose for engaging in leadership at this moment in time?
b) In what ways might you leverage available technologies to help support you in your influence efforts?
c) Which voices are amplified or marginalized in your unit, department, or school, and in what ways can you ensure available technologies help to support your goals for equity and inclusion
d) What actions do you intend to take in pursuit of cultivating your desired online identity and brand?
These questions, and others, are ones that we explore more fully in our book, and they are questions we hope leaders will consider as we lean more fully into a “post-COVID” world and realize more fully the impact of these rapidly emerging technologies.
Related:
Peeling back the layers of digital transformation
Ralph A. Gigliotti, Ph.D. is Assistant Vice President for Strategic Programs in the Office of University Strategy and Director of the Center for Organizational Leadership at Rutgers University, where he provides executive leadership for the portfolio of signature academic leadership programs, consultation services, and research initiatives. He holds part-time faculty appointments in the Department of Communication, Ph.D. Program in Higher Education, Rutgers Business School, and Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. His research and consulting interests explore topics related to leadership, crisis, strategy, team dynamics, organizational communication, and training and development within the context of higher education. Ralph is author and editor of 10 books and 50 journal articles and book chapters.
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