Digitization brings about a new need for competent leadership. Today, we’ll take a look at the most dramatic changes.

Leadership in the digital age will be one of the defining themes of Global Female Leaders 2017. If you haven’t done so already, we invite you to take a look at our 2017 agenda in order to discover every highlight of this year’s event!

In the digital age, competent leadership may be the most important skill any company can cultivate. Because digitization changes companies. It changes working cultures and processes, customer behaviour and corporate communications. It also brings about a new need for, as well as new risks of corporate communications. Let’s just look at three of them!

Challenge 1: Digitization changes the working culture

It challenges employer-employee relationships.

This challenge has multiple facets. On the one hand, workers demand a digitized and modern work environment. In private, most of them use smartphones, social media and consumer electronics that fit their needs. Of course they want access to the most comfortable and hip devices at work, too. At the same time, employment changes too. We can see more and more freelancers, armed with laptops and Starbucks coffees, who will do project work and move on to the next job thereafter.

It challenges the way we communicate.

Digitization also changes the way we communicate. This goes especially for the younger generations who prefer text messages of meetings, but who also have new ideas on hierarchy and teamwork. This brings about a new potential for conflicts within an organization, since the expectations towards work can vary drastically between the members of the now four generations that work within most companies.

In essence, digitization diversifies the means of, expectations towards and ways to put into practice communications and work in general.

Challenge 2: Digitization changes customer behaviour and brings about the need to stay innovative

This is a big one! Similar to the expectations of employees, the expectations of customers are changing, too. Customers today are all about personalized products, about subscribing to platforms rather than buying commodities for good. They also want to talk their companies on Facebook and Twitter, read reviews on their products and chime in when they have ideas about product innovation.

This brings about the need for organisations to stay agile, innovative and fast. It brings about a new kind of competition, namely the race towards developing the most consumer-friendly business models and bringing them to market as fast as possible. Most of those are also data-driven and demand a high level of cooperation between the different units of organisation. Also, let’s not forget that many companies are forced to bring in new skills and know-how in order to branch out.

In essence, this puts pressure on old organizational structures, forces us to dissolve the boundaries between departments and change the way they work together.

Challenge 3: Digitization changes corporate communications

Employees as well as customers change how they interact with companies. And in turn, this changes corporate communications. It becomes more transparent and has to become more honest and open. Within this big shift leaders will have to adopt new strategies in order to guide their organizations towards a digital mindset.

Original Story: The Global Summit Series