The 12 leadership skills in the digital era

These are the most relevant leadership skills and abilities in the digital era.

In order to be a good leader in the digital era, it is necessary to master all kinds of skills related not only to the management of new technologies in a market that is already very unstable, but also to know how workers act and collaborate.

We are living at a time when there are five different generations coexisting in the business world, generations that think, act and manage with new technologies in very different ways. Not taking this into account means not knowing what to expect from the outset.

In the following, we will discover what are the main skills of a leader in the digital eraAll of them oriented to be able to move forward all types of companies and contribute to a good organizational culture.

The most important leader skills and abilities in the digital age.

To be successful in any organization it is necessary that whoever is at the head of everything knows how to exercise good leadership. In order to make any company an efficient, productive organization with great potential, it is necessary to know and understand how the market in which it operates moves, a market that even before the emergence of new technologies was very unstable, but now it is even more so in the digital era.

The current business context is changing, volatile, complex and uncertain.. Leaders and executives of organizations are often faced with unknown situations, many of them causing great confusion and fear, a natural fear, but if not managed, it can lead to ruin. For this reason, those who are at the head of any company must take into account the following leadership skills in the digital era.

1. Good communication

A leader in the digital era must have good communication skills, clear, direct and efficient. Whether executive, head of department or any high position, the leader must act as a kind of communications director whose goal is that the messages and guidelines are transmitted within the organization in a complete way, reaching clearly and unambiguously to the teams that make it up. A clear and well-delivered message lets the rest of the professionals know what is required of them and what are the objectives to be met..

2. Controlling the sense of urgency

In the digital era process execution times have shortened due to fewer steps being required. This in turn has led to the final results being ordered sooner, since if a faster method is available there is no need for them to take as long as before. However, when specifying the company's objectives and needs, it must be clear what the priorities are and what must be done urgently.

The sense of urgency must be logical and well-measured and is an aspect that must be taken into account in decision-making.. There will be things that need to be done as soon as possible, while others, although important, can wait. The leader must have a good control of the sense of urgency that, in addition, must be flexible, since in more than one occasion what was not thought to be urgent can become something that must be done now, having changes in the list of priorities.

3. Credibility and authenticity

A good leader is one who is credible and consistent with what he says and what he does. You must be honest with the message you are sending and have integrity in your decision making. You must remain true to your own identity and experiences, including the values, beliefs, emotions, needs and goals that characterize you as the person at the forefront. And this should be reflected in your digital identityThe digital identity, taking into account which are the main nodes of message broadcasting and where you are most exposed to public opinion.

4. Courage in decision making

As we can well imagine and as more than one of us has experienced, the business world is not a bed of roses. On more than one occasion there will be tough moments in which risky and difficult decisions will have to be made..

Even if they are urgent, these decisions should not be made in desperation. There must always be a deep reflection process and the pros and cons must be taken into consideration, being consistent with what comes next.

5. Empathy

A leader is not a cold and calculating robot who only thinks about making the company work like a machine. The leader must have empathy, taking into account what the workers feel and think, since his effectiveness depends a lot on their state of mind.

Frustration, disappointment and fear are feelings that can prevent a great project, which is perfectly possible, from moving forward.. As leaders we must know how to recognize these feelings and know how to redirect the situation to transform these doubts and fears into hope, motivation, enthusiasm and concentration towards the resolution of the goal.

6. Contextual Intelligence

The leader must understand the particular environment in which the organization or work group is located, i.e., possess contextual intelligence.that is, to possess contextual intelligence. This ability takes into account three fundamental components:

First, we have retrospective understanding, which implies taking advantage of and valuing what has been learned throughout the history of the organization and which is considered to be still useful.

Secondly, we have foresight, related to the ability to carry out what is desired and to articulate the actions to be taken to achieve it.

Finally, we have convergence, which allows the proper integration of the two previous aspects, using them to identify and define the desired future.

7. Strategic intelligence

In this context, we can define strategic intelligence as the ability to anticipate trends and changes in the marketplace.In this context, we can define strategic intelligence as the ability to anticipate trends and changes in the market, a market that in its digital aspect is very unstable and insecure. In addition to changes in the market, the leader must take into consideration the value chain of the organization itself and lead the desired digital transformation. It is the ability to visualize how the future may impact the company's results.

8. Adaptability and learning speed

The leader must have a high adaptability and agile learning capacity, he/she must be very flexible with the changes that occur in the market. It is essential to to learn quickly from the experiences of a given market behavior and to be able to apply it immediately in all kinds of new contexts.. This agile learning capacity allows to face the ambiguity and uncertainty that many companies face today, since there are so many changes in the market that executives may be undecided about which new strategy to apply.

9. Seduction and combination of talent

Today's companies are places where up to 5 different generations share space, each with a different handling of new technologies and varied ways of looking at organizational life:

• traditionalists (1928-1945)
• baby boomers (1946-1964)
• generation X (1965-1980)
• generation Y (1980-1990)
• generation Z (1990-2000)

The last two generations, and especially generation Z, are considered digital natives.. These people have grown up in environments where new technologies were either bursting into the work and educational landscape or were already widely implemented. In both Gen Y and Gen X, the use of computers and the search for information is done quickly and superficially, but effectively, while in the three previous generations they choose to read everything and act much slower with the use of new technologies.

These apparently contradictory aspects can be taken advantage of in an organization, as long as leadership is properly exercised. The leader must seduce and combine talent, knowing that the older ones are much more careful about what they select, while the new generations opt for speed.. The different skills, styles, motivations and objectives between generations must be taken into account, taking advantage of them for each type of situation.

10. Psychological capital

At the individual level, psychological capital can be related to personal satisfaction and performance. In the business world, it can be associated can be associated with four psychological states, represented by the HERO acronym:

• Hope: is the state associated with the desire and ambition necessary to be constant in the achievement of established goals.
• Efficacy: the ability to achieve the established objectives in dynamic, unstable and unforeseen contexts.
• Resilience: the leader must have the ability to face adversities that may arise, resisting changes and managing the uncertainty of the market context.
• Optimism: the leader must have the ability to associate positive events with the team members, and consider the negative events that may occur as learning, situations that, no matter how bad they may be, will imply a greater knowledge.

11. Creative and innovative thinking

Creative thinking is one of the fundamental skills in the field of business and, in fact, it is considered to be one of the most important skills in the business world. and, in fact, it is considered to be key for the 2020s. Taking a strategic perspective, the leader must position himself as a source and driver of innovation in two ways. This makes a difference especially in a historical context in which the Internet and the development of new technologies make it possible to quickly develop tools and inventions of all kinds and to have a great scope.

On the one hand, the leader must act by establishing a work environment focused on the creation and innovation of new methods and, on the other hand, it must serve as a means to achieve competitiveness in the face of the changes and environment faced.

12. Collective leadership

Today's leadership is neither authoritarian nor associated with power or position held.It should be focused on facilitating and empowering employees, each of whom has a way of seeing and opinions about the measures being taken in the company. Collective leadership should be exercised, that is, involving employees in the analysis and decision making instead of deciding a strategy unilaterally.

This helps to generate empathy, commitment and motivation among the organization's employees. Through collaborative leadership it is possible to promote decentralized decision making, promoting high levels of collaboration and a feeling that the objectives within the company are shared by all team members.

Summary

Cultivating all of these skills allows you to to exercise effective, collaborative, creative, innovative and strategic leadership in the digital age.. Today's business world is an environment of uncertainty, an ambiguous, dynamic and complex place where the leader and his followers must work as a team, adapt to the market context and work on emotional and work skills to anticipate any adverse event. A long-term and optimistic strategic vision must be prioritized.

The Internet and new technologies in general will continue to be an engine of transformation, opportunities and growth in every organization, but it is those organizations that will have to know how to adapt to the new methods of the digital era. Leadership that takes into account the new characteristics of the digital economy will allow the development and development of all types of successful organizations.

Bibliographical references:

• Serrato-García, M. A. (2019) Do you want to be a leader in the digital era? These are the 11 skills you must develop. Spain. Entrepeneur.
• Alami, Z. (n. d.). how to develop leadership in the digital age. Denmark. Internationally.