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2015-03-11 02:20:59
Robert J. Thomas
Yaarit Silverstone
Advances in digital technology and their use in organizations carry huge
promise to empower people at all levels. Social media and collaboration tools
not only open the door to faster and more extensive knowledge-sharing, but they
also enable conversations that skip levels, silo-busting, and
self-organization. Big data and analytics can make organizations more efficient
and agile by empowering middle-level and far-flung managers to make decisions
and seize business opportunities that previously required scarce data and
executive approval. But without an organization-wide understanding of what s
good for the business and what s not, these powerful tools can be dangerous.
Empowerment in whatever form requires alignment around purpose, strategic
intent and the boundaries within which decisions can be made. Otherwise, it
could result in confusion, contradictory behaviors and chaos.
Savvy CEOs use fire to fight fire, effectively employing digital media inside
their organizations to create the kind of alignment and shared purpose they
need. In our research, we find that smart leaders do these three things:
Tune into global conversations: It may seem odd to refer to the daily torrent
of emails, tweets and posts as conversations, but in reality they are.
Collaboration software and mobile apps make it possible for these conversations
to connect practically everyone in the organization and to distribute
information and authority much more widely than ever before. Rather than be
paralyzed by fear about who has access to what, savvy leaders recognize that
information can empower employees to move the business closer to customers,
that decision-making can be accelerated when vital data is not held hostage (or
lost) and that visible conversations can prevent wasted effort and even spark
innovation. For example, Microsoft IT leaders take their organization s pulse
using analytical software that monitors trending topics in their Yammer
collaboration space. This allows CEO Satya Nadella to hear early warning
signals. According to Microsoft, the goal is go beyond using scorecards and
KPIs historical views to absorb and respond to real-time sentiments. Tools
like Oblong Industries Mezzanine can bring multiple streams of data onto HD
displays where they can be easily organized, manipulated, and archived into
files that can be accessed for later use.
Smart leaders listen ahead anticipating and shaping the way conversations
move next by inserting questions that stimulate or re-direct the
conversation. Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff actively participates in
conversation threads in order to stir the pot and keep current on the ways
programmers and customers test the limits of his company s products. His goal,
like many of the leaders we interviewed, is to establish a presence that
reliably represents who he is and what he stands for so that in the
decentralized world of autonomous teams that his company s software has
helped create people can formulate strategy, make decisions and deal with
ambiguity.
Leverage global networks: CEOs need to choose the most effective influence
channels through which to create alignment. Interestingly, it s here that an
old and venerable feature of organizations informal networks takes on new
prominence with social media. It is common knowledge that some of the most
influential people don t register on the formal org chart. Yet, what s less
well known is that when researchers conduct social network analyses, executives
often cannot name even half of the central connectors (people to whom others
turn for information and advice, in other words, the influencers) in their
organizations.
In the digital enterprise, that unknown other half could turn out to be
critical to establishing new directions about purpose, intent and boundaries
especially when everyone has the potential to connect with everyone else. Soon,
leaders will be able to see and tap into influence networks inside their
organizations using tools similar to those available in Facebook and LinkedIn.
Knowing the real central connectors will mean that leaders can address more
people faster than would be possible with a company-wide email blast.
As well as knowing who s who in an organizational network, leaders need to be
alert to the blind spots that may exist in their own personal networks.
Personal networks can insulate, even diminish a leader s presence. For example,
a study of a multinational pharmaceutical company revealed that leaders in its
U.S. subsidiary s networks were skewed to familiar faces: people from similar
functional backgrounds, hierarchical levels, and cultural and gender groups.
Their networks kept divergent or controversial news from getting in and
hindered their ability to get important messages out. This might not have
mattered in a time when old boy networks ruled the roost, but in an era when
workforces are increasingly diverse and difference is a source of both
innovation and revenue, leaders cannot afford to cut themselves off from the
networks that compose their organizations.
And, in a networked environment where everyone can be a fact checker, trust is
essential to aligned action. As Luis Di Como, Unilever s senior vice president
for digital media, told us, when leaders venture online (whether internally,
externally or both) authenticity matters hugely: Authenticity must be at the
center of your online presence in order to have credibility with the people who
work with you.
Deepen the dialogue: It is well understood that a leader s ability to
articulate strategic priorities in a compelling way can mean the difference
between moving fast in a common direction and spinning in place. However,
traction depends on more than the frequency with which strategy is
communicated. It depends on the richness and the accessibility of the leader s
thinking. One emergent use of social media is a new sort of leadership mind
map, i.e., a model of the CEO s key ideas accessible to any corner of the
organization.
Popularized in the 1980s, mind mapping was designed as a visual technique for
individuals to array topics of interest, much like some people use their
computer s virtual desktop to create clusters of activities or ideas. Now,
programmers are replacing hand-drawn diagrams with robust digital illustrations
connected to databases that can be easily accessed and queried. Harlan Hugh,
CEO of TheBrain.com, told us that mind mapping will soon evolve into a vehicle
for rich communication: I can put my thinking into something and then another
person who is on the same topic can get the benefit of my analysis. Dr. Craig
Baker, Chief of Cardiac Surgery at the University of Southern California
developed his private store of data, articles and videos into a public brain,
accessible to students in his absence. It has since become a team brain a
resource for a rapidly evolving field built with contributions from
colleagues at USC and beyond.
Until now, the biggest drawback to mind-mapping has been the amount of time it
takes to build a brain and keep it current. However, semantic software and
unstructured data analytics tools are making it possible to scan speeches,
memos, blog entries, etc., to automate the creation of mind maps and, by
extension, to create leader brains that employees and others can access and
explore. When they can digitally share their brains, leaders can achieve a more
robust digital presence than would be possible even by the most ambitious
internal media campaign or whistle-stop tour of the company. Leaders will be
able to provide insight, even wisdom, without being physically present.
The implications are clear: savvy leaders make the most of digital technology
to galvanize their organization around a shared understanding of the business.
When leaders use social media to become aware of the conversations within their
organizations and can identify those that generate the most energy or emotion,
they can allocate their attention and their interventions with greater impact.
When they are able to see and tap into social networks, leaders will be able to
interact with their organization the way a symphony conductor does in real
time with nuanced or direct intervention depending on what s needed. And when
leaders can share how they think about a problem with many people at once and
without even being there everyone in the organization has a better
understanding of where the organization is going and why. Even as digital media
can sometimes create cacophony and confusion, few tools give leaders more power
to strengthen their organizations.
Robert J. Thomas is a managing director in the Accenture Institute for High
Performance, as well as in Accenture Strategy Talent & Organization. He is the
author of eight books on leadership and organizational change, including
Crucibles of Leadership (Harvard Business Press, 2008), Geeks and Geezers (with
Warren Bennis, Harvard Business Press, 2001) and Driving Results through Social
Networks (with Rob Cross, Jossey-Bass, 2009).
Yaarit Silverstone is the managing director responsible for leadership and
talent in Accenture Strategy Talent & Organization. With more than 24 years of
experience, she specializes in diagnosing complex organizational performance
issues and designing, implementing and sustaining large-scale transformations.
She is co-editor of The Organization Network Fieldbook (Jossey-Bass, 2010) and
is a regular contributor to Accenture s Outlook Journal.