It would be hard to find any leader that didn’t agree that communication and engagement have always been an essential part of leadership, they are even more essential in today’s digital age. In her book “The Engaged Leader”, Charlene Li says engaged leaders must “listen at scale”, “share to shape” and “engage to transform.”
While the book does not advocate chasing the latest apps and gadgets, it does say an engaged leader in the digital age means “knowing what your goals are and what tools to use to achieve them.” Becoming an engaged leader requires a transformation in both how you think and how you work.
Simply broadcasting or blasting out the same message to everyone using the ubiquitous digital tools cannot effectively address engagement and communication. Take an architectect as an example, they must know who is going to use the building, what they will use it for, how many people it will accommodate and much more before they can create an effective design. With this in mind, it is remarkable that we seem to accept that the same engagement or communication methods can apply to everyone while having the understanding that individual people and organisations are all different, with different needs, interests and goals.
Ensuring effective engagement and communication with those within and external to your organisation requires a clearly defined strategy, and a knowledge of the appropriate tools available to support and deploy it.
Charlene Li states that leadership in the digital age can be more effective and strategic if we learn to listen, share and engage in ways that were simply not possible in the past but the focus must be on the organisation’s strategy and goals and not just on the popular tools.
To develop an effective strategy, a structured method for creating and implementing it should be followed. Visit our Strategic Framework page to learn how to use Ionology’s 7 Principles of Digital Business Strategy to develop, implement and communicate your strategy throughout your organisation.
