New leadership in the digital age: Chief Digital Officer, Community Managers and Change Agents and Activists. Based on data from recent digital workplace survey by Jane McConnell.

1. Jane McConnell
Utrecht, March 2015
TheWorkplaceintheDigitalAge Leadership
in the Digital Age

2. 9th annual survey
373 people from 26 countries
representing 280 organizations.
Participants responded to an in-
depth online survey of 140
questions.
TheWorkplaceintheDigitalAge

3. 3
Strategic Advisor 16 years > 60 large, global
organizations, management briefer and
workshop leader netjmc.com
Researcher on digital workplaces for 9 yrs
digital-workplace-trends.com
American-French living in deep Provence for 25
years

4. 4
Clients who have taught me so much!
•! Air Liquide, Paris
•! Amadeus, Madrid
•! ArcelorMittal, Luxembourg
•! Arup, UK
•! Alcatel-Lucent, Paris
•! Alstom Group, Paris, Switzerland
•! BASF, Germany
•! Ericsson, Stockholm
•! IKEA, Sweden
•! Nokia, Helsinki
•! Novartis, Switzerland
•! UNHCR – United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees, Geneva
•! United Nations Peacekeeping Operations, New York
•! United Nations Secretariat, New York
•! ….
2014
2013
199620042007-2012 2011 1998
2015

5. TheWorkplaceintheDigitalAge
Vision
Reality
Evidence
Leadership

6. Vision
Reality
Evidence
Leadership
TheWorkplaceintheDigitalAge

7. Arie de Geus,
1997
“Surviving and thriving in a
volatile world require, first of
all, management which is
sensitive to its company’s
environment.”
“Only after seeing that
something is about to change
(or has already begun to
change) outside the company
will management be ready to
deal with the effects of that
change.”

8. Value-driven culture and
inspirational purpose
“A strong shared culture is the
glue that keeps empowered
organizations from falling
apart.
Frontline employees are
trusted to make the right
decisions guided by a number
of shared values rather than by
a thick book of rules and
policies.”
Frederic Laloux
2013

9. 1. Open to the external environment
2. Strong, shared sense of purpose
3. Trust and distributed decision-making
TheWorkplaceintheDigitalAge

10. TheWorkplaceintheDigitalAge
A guiding framework – So much more than technology!

11. TheWorkplaceintheDigitalAge
Open, participatoryAt many levels,
in many places!
Digital = strategic! Open, participatory!
Smooth, social,
operational!
Virtual, empowered!
Inclusive, anyplace!Cross-organizational sharing
and trust !
Customer focused!
Skilled, equipped,
motivated!
Imagine what it would be like if…

12. Vision
Reality
Evidence
Leadership
TheWorkplaceintheDigitalAge

13. Too many competing priorities 35 48
Slow decision-making, often consensus-based 22 55
Politics, inside the organization 11 50
Lack of senior management sponsorship 15 48
Lack of strategy 22 45
No strong business case, ROI or proven value 24 30
Hesitation or resistance to rethink how we work 30 36
Too much focus on the tool, not enough on people and change 28 45
Lack of understanding operational issues at decision level 19 45
Difficulty putting theory into practice 15 25
Lack of good practices for comparison 20 16
Management fears about losing control 19 30
Support function losing control (e.g. Comm, HR, IT) 19 23
Concerns about employees wasting time 6 32
Strong Weak
N=58 N=48
Challengestoday
Decision-making
Value
Rethink work
Reality
Control
Reported regularly in surveys over the past 4 years

14. 14
Open to the external environment
Closed

15. 15
Strong, shared sense of purpose
Weak

16. 16
Trust and distributed decision-making
Controlled

17. Vision
Reality
Evidence
Leadership
TheWorkplaceintheDigitalAge

18. What difference does it make to have
a strong, shared sense of purpose?

19. 5
Strong, shared sense
of organizational
purpose and identity
1
Weak, inconsistent
sense of organizational
purpose and identity
Strong,sharedsenseofpurpose
Survey question

20. Strong,sharedsenseofpurpose Too many competing priorities 35 48
Slow decision-making, often consensus-based 22 55
Politics, inside the organization 11 50
Lack of senior management sponsorship 15 48
Lack of strategy 22 45
No strong business case, ROI or proven value 24 30
Hesitation or resistance to rethink how we work 30 36
Too much focus on the tool, not enough on people and change 28 45
Lack of understanding operational issues at decision level 19 45
Difficulty putting theory into practice 15 25
Lack of good practices for comparison 20 16
Management fears about losing control 19 30
Support function losing control (e.g. Comm, HR, IT) 19 23
Concerns about employees wasting time 6 32
Strong Weak
N=58 N=48
Percentage reporting serious challenge holding us back.
Does not include manageable challenge required special effort. Q4 2014.
Strong Weak
Decision-making, politics, senior sponsorship

21. Does a strong, shared sense of purpose
make a difference for our business?

22. Strong, shared sense of
organizational purpose
and identity
Weak, inconsistent sense
of organizational purpose
and identity
How easy is it for your customer-facing
workforce to find what they need to do
their jobs when with customers?
Percentage responding Very easy or relatively easy
50 % 30 %
Strong,sharedsenseofpurpose
Survey question

23. 1. Real time communication
2. Digitalization of
business processes
3. Information management
4. Communities and
social networking
Strong,sharedsenseofpurpose
Factors that enable the customer-facing workforce
Data from Q4 2014.

24. What difference does it make to be open
and reactive to the external environment?

25. 5
Open and reactive to
the influence of the
external world
1
Closed environment
with little interest in
the external world
Opentotheexternalenvironment
Survey question

26. Opentotheexternalenvironment Too many competing priorities 29 50
Slow decision-making, often consensus-based 24 50
Politics, inside the organization 27 39
Lack of senior management sponsorship 27 42
Lack of strategy 24 36
No strong business case, ROI or proven value 13 36
Hesitation or resistance to rethink how we work 22 47
Too much focus on the tool, not enough on people and change 27 47
Lack of understanding operational issues at decision level 29 36
Difficulty putting theory into practice 18 28
Lack of good practices for comparison 18 17
Management fears about losing control 20 31
Support function losing control (e.g. Comm, HR, IT) 13 25
Concerns about employees wasting time 13 33
Open Closed
N=48 N=42
Percentage reporting serious challenge holding us back.
Does not include manageable challenge required special effort. Q4 2014.
Open Closed
Rethinking how we work, focus on people and change

27. How does being open and reactive to our
external environment change our organization?

28. Open and reactive to the
influence of the external
world
Closed environment with
little interest in the
external world
Percentage responding Very agile or agile
48 % 9 %
How agile is your organization when
you need to react rapidly to major,
unexpected events….?
Opentotheexternalenvironment
Survey question

29. 2. Real time communication
1. Expert location across
the enterprise
3. Involvement and behavior
of senior leaders
Opentotheexternalenvironment
Factors that enable agility
Data from Q4 2014.

30. What difference does it make to have distributed
decision-making and control instead of
hierarchical, centralized decision-making and
control?

31. 5
Distributed decision-
making and control
1
Centralized or
hierarchical decision-
making and control
Distributeddecision-makingandcontrol
Survey question

32. Too many competing priorities 38 37
Slow decision-making, often consensus-based 28 41
Politics, inside the organization 28 45
Lack of senior management sponsorship 26 55
Lack of strategy 22 29
No strong business case, ROI or proven value 22 33
Hesitation or resistance to rethink how we work 17 53
Too much focus on the tool, not enough on people and change 28 55
Lack of understanding operational issues at decision level 25 55
Difficulty putting theory into practice 17 43
Lack of good practices for comparison 11 24
Management fears about losing control 15 31
Support function losing control (e.g. Comm, HR, IT) 15 53
Concerns about employees wasting time 20 51
Distributed Centralized
N=68 N=58
Percentage reporting serious challenge holding us back.
Does not include manageable challenge required special effort. Q4 2014.
Distributeddecision-makingandcontrol
Understand operational reality, trust employees
Distrib. Central.

33. Does distributed decision-making facilitate
people growing and developing?

34. Distributed decision-
making and control
Centralized or hierarchical
decision-making and control
Percentage responding Very easy or easy
64 % 21 %
How easy is it for people to learn and
develop their skills and knowledge in
the natural flow of work?
Distributeddecision-makingandcontrol
Survey question

35. 2. Use of video
3. Information management
1. Communities and
social networking
Distributeddecision-makingandcontrol
Factors that enable learning in the flow of work
Data from Q4 2014.

36. Let’s bring it all together.

37. Real time communication
Digitalization of
business processes
Information management
Communities and
social networking
Use of video
Expert location across
the enterprise
Involvement and
behavior of senior leaders
Thebigpicture
Data from Q4 2014.

38. Correlations
Benefits
•! Faster decision-making
•! Fewer internal political struggles
•! Understanding of operational issues
•! Greater trust in employees
•! Rethinking work practices
•! Agility when faced with unexpected changes
•! Better service to customers
•! Learning in the flow for the workforce

39. Vision
Reality
Evidence
Leadership
TheWorkplaceintheDigitalAge

40. Jon Husband www.wirearchy.com
Wirearchy: “A dynamic two-way flow of power and authority,
based on knowledge, trust, credibility and a focus on results,
enabled by interconnected people and technology”.

41. Some organizations are here, or think they are!

42. Some people would like to be here, or think they would!

43. The reality is that we are all here.

44. What kind of leadership in such a mixed world?

45. Community Managers
Change Agents and Activists
Influence from any level and from any part of the
organization that results in change
Chief Digital Officer

46. CDO
Communication
Internal and
external
Customer-facing
Marketing, Sales,
Customer service
Human
Resources
IT, CTO
Information
Technology
Knowledge
Chief Digital Officer: a role that encompasses both
internal and external

47. The Community Roundtable
•! Be a connector – which is different from a hub.
•! Have a desire to attract people vs. hunt people down.
•! Have an assertive perspective but no need to be
right.
The Community Manager
•! Build relationships within the community.
•! Create value for members.
•! Be the liaison between community and company.
Community managers, connecting…
http://thecommunitymanager.com/2014/01/31/the-definition-of-community-management/
http://www.communityroundtable.com/definitions-best-practices/what-defines-a-community-manager/

48. Yes, and the role is official -
Yes, the responsibility is included in other job roles -
Yes, but it is not officially included in job roles –
We are planning to do this in 2015 –
No community management –
CommunityManagers
Survey question
Do you have community managers?

49. Yes, and the role is official - 5%
Yes, the responsibility is included in other job roles - 12%
Yes, but it is not officially included in job roles – 34%
We are planning to do this in 2015 – 12%
No community management – 37%
CommunityManagers
Survey question
Do you have community managers?

50. Survey question

51. Communities around personal interests are a
way to learn how to lead and share in a
community context.

52. Strong, shared sense of purpose
Weak, variable sense of purpose
Blue = internal members, Gray mixed internal + external
Blue = internal members, Gray mixed internal + external

53. A change agent leads change, whatever their
position in the organization.
“These ‘radicals’, often operating at the edge
of current thinking and practice, will espouse
unorthodox views, question existing practice
and open up new fields of inquiry and areas
for action.” *
* The New Era of Thinking and Practice in Change and Transformation by Helen Bevan and Steve Fairman
Change agents and activists, challenging…

54. Who is more likely to report change
agents as a top change driver?
1. Organizations with distributed
decision-making and control?
Or
2. Organizations with centralized
decision-making and control?
Changeagents

55. Why?

56. Organizations with hierarchical, centralized decision-making and control
Behavior: colleagues
Change agents
A sense of 'why'
Behavior: senior leaders
Internal communication
Communities
Success stories
Business processes
Behavior: operational mgrs.
Informal gatherings
Job objectives
Classroom training
Recognition, rewards
Formal events
52%
52%
40%
38%
37%
33%
31%
21%
19%
19%
17%
13%
10%
8%
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Because they
are needed.
Other change
drivers are
not strong
enough.

57. Majority - 80 % of the survey respondents
A sense of 'why'
Behavior: colleagues
Behavior: senior leaders
Change agents
Success stories
Internal communication
Communities
Behavior: operational mgrs.
Business processes
Classroom training
Job objectives
Informal gatherings
Recognition, rewards
Formal events
46%
46%
44%
41%
37%
34%
29%
28%
22%
18%
17%
11%
7%
7%
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Less critical
here.
Senior
leaders
beginning to
influence
change.

58. A sense of 'why'
Internal communication
Behavior: senior leaders
Communities
Success stories
Behavior: colleagues
Behavior: operational mgrs.
Business processes
Change agents
Classroom training
Job objectives
Recognition, rewards
Informal gatherings
Formal events
56%
54%
51%
47%
46%
42%
28%
28%
28%
25%
21%
14%
7%
7%
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Early Adopters - the top 20 % in digital workplace maturity
Change is
happening.
Early
Adopters
have many
other drivers
in action.

59. What future for these new leaders?

60. New leaders
Chief Digital Officer
Digital will be a natural
part of work, no longer
something special.
Community Managers
Community management will
be a skill and not a dedicated
role.
Change Agents and Activists
Challenging the status quo and
doing something about it will
always be needed.
Obsolete after 10 years
Obsolete after 5 to 6 years
Perpetual….
the new normalbecoming

61. In the meantime, what can you do?

62. TheWorkplaceintheDigitalAge
Open, participatoryInfluence what you
can, where you are.!
Integrate digital where
it makes sense.!
Work out loud.!
Improve a process.!
Create or join a
community.!
Reach out to someone
far away.!
Share something across your
organization.!
Think how your work
affects customers.!
Acquire the skills
you need.!
Be a change agent.

63. Bealeaderwhereveryouare.
Think about the purpose of what you are doing:
communicate it with others.
Open your work: bring in information, ideas and
people from outside your organization.
Encourage decision-making at the lowest levels
possible.
….
Behavior of colleagues is one of the top
change drivers in all organizations.

64. TheWorkplaceintheDigitalAge
Thank you!
Jane McConnell
Get in touch
jane@netjmc.com
Twitter: @netjmc
Where are you on the digital workplace
journey?
Consider organizing a collective diagnosis of
your own digital workplace!
http://www.digital-workplace-trends.com/customized-digital-workplace-report/