Is leadership adaptability towards change a skills gap?
In research from the World Economic Forum (2018, p.58) on the Future of Jobs, several barriers for adoption of new skills have been identified. In Figure 1, two substantial barriers sit with leadership. Either by not showing an interest in the adoption of technology (29%) or the skills gap (59%) of the leaders themselves.
Figure 1. Barriers to adoption of new technologies (Source: World Economic Forum, 2018).
Sivathanu & Pillai (2018, p10) suggested that leadership styles need to become more open. They need to cope with changes in both culture and structure towards Industry 4.0.
Kotter (1996, p. 218-219) mentioned that leaders should embrace change. He mentions that leaders should not be on the defensive end of change or fear from it. Kotter identified intention and willingness to grow and develop additional leadership skills as a differentiator for themselves, their families, and their companies.
What are the key traits for digital leadership?
MIT Sloan Management Review (2018) and Deloitte identified the key traits of effective digital leadership. These traits are based on their global survey of more than 4,300 managers, executives, and analysts and 17 interviews with executives and thought leaders. These traits include the following:
- enabling the organization by providing vision and purpose
- creating conditions to experiment
- empowering people to think differently
- getting people to collaborate across boundaries.
In conclusion of this short article, we could identify that in many companies a skills gap occur to deal with change. Is this also the case in your company?
Read also my other article on either replacing or developing your employees.
Sources:
Kotter, J. (1996). Leiderschap bij verandering. Den Haag: SDU uitgevers.
Sivathanu, B., and Pillai, R. (2018). “Smart HR 4.0 – how industry 4.0 is disrupting HR”, Human Resource Management International Digest, Vol. 26 No. 4, pp. 7-11.
MIT Sloan review (2018). Coming of Age Digitally. Retrieved https://sloanreview.mit.edu/projects/coming-of-age-digitally/ Last visited December 24, 2019.
