Tag: Leadership

  • Technology-Focused Career Options for Women: Virtually Limitless

    Technology-Focused Career Options for Women: Virtually Limitless

    Framing digital technology as a means to an end rather than an end unto itself can help girls and young women in particular realize the diversity of career options for women available in the Digital Era. This knowledge can in turn encourage them to pursue areas of study and choose professional paths that combine topics…

  • Women in Technology: Promoting a Broader Perspective

    Women in Technology: Promoting a Broader Perspective

    For many, the notion of “women in technology” is focused on computer science and the tech industry. Should the definition be so narrow? Do we really want to send the message to girls and young women that aspiring to be coders and tech entrepreneurs is the best (or only) way they can make a professional…

  • What Does it Mean to be a Leader and Thrive in the Digital Era?

    What Does it Mean to be a Leader and Thrive in the Digital Era?

    To be a leader in the Digital Era requires complementing and extending traditional leadership competencies with a new set of knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviours that reflect today’s realities and embrace tomorrow’s possibilities. Making the necessary changes will require both rational and affective shifts among leaders, starting with the recognition that digital technologies are now…

  • Digital Property is Real Property: 5 Ways to Treat it That Way

    Digital Property is Real Property: 5 Ways to Treat it That Way

    Recognizing and respecting that digital property is in fact “real” property requires organizations to (1) make sure they own their own domain name(s) and lay claim to related social media properties, (2) require all official email be sent via domain-linked accounts, (3) take cybersecurity seriously, (4) maintain a presentable web presence, and (5) create policies…

  • Digital Literacy: Helping Learners Learn in the Digital Era

    Digital Literacy: Helping Learners Learn in the Digital Era

    Digital literacy is a critical component of learning in the Digital Era. Organizational leaders and learning professionals must understand the digital competencies required for learning success, create a digital learning culture, assess employees’ baseline competencies, leverage both formal and informal learning to help them increase their digital literacy, identify and promote subject matter experts and…

  • Culture Change is Critical for Successful Digital Transformation

    Culture Change is Critical for Successful Digital Transformation

    Adopting digital technologies is not about replacing an existing system with an upgrade or building a new website. Rather one of the most important impacts of these technologies is to essentially change the way people work. Adopting digital technologies needs to be seen as first and foremost a culture change or probably more appropriately a…

  • Social Media Policies and More: Managing Digital Era Risks

    Social Media Policies and More: Managing Digital Era Risks

    A presentation at SHRM’s Annual Conference and Exposition offered guidance for managing Digital Era risks beyond developing and implementing social media policies. In addition to providing greater perspective on the risks to be managed, the presentation included specific guidance for HR professionals and other organizational leaders to develop and update relevant policies, provide training and…

  • Becoming a Digital Organization: A Three-Phase Journey

    Becoming a Digital Organization: A Three-Phase Journey

    There are three main phases to becoming a digital organization: digitization, digital engagement, and digital transformation. This post offers a lay oriented description and assessment of these phases. The objective is to help leaders who are digital rookies develop a conceptual foundation for understanding where their organizations have been, where they are, and – most…

  • Managing Digital Era Risks: Social Media Policies and More

    Managing Digital Era Risks: Social Media Policies and More

    Managing risks is part of the cost of doing business, and managing them well can be a competitive differentiator, in both the economic marketplace and the war for talent. A relatively small percentage of organizations have addressed Digital Era risks in a meaningful way, however. This post provides an overview intended to help organizational leaders…

  • Transforming Talent Management: The Impact of Social and Digital Tech

    Transforming Talent Management: The Impact of Social and Digital Tech

    Transforming talent management requires digitization and leveraging social and digital technologies to promote and enhance communication, collaboration, and engagement. This post presents some of the ways in which social and digital technologies are transforming talent management throughout the employee life cycle. All of the practices are currently possible based on available technology; however, none of…

  • Website Upgrades: 5 Essential Considerations

    Website Upgrades: 5 Essential Considerations

    Organizations are increasingly realizing they need to update the look, feel, and functionality of their websites. The process for website upgrades has changed significantly in the past few years. The days of hiring a web developer to “hard code” a site. A better alternative is to go with a platform like WordPress.org, which enables the…

  • Trickle-Up Socialnomics: How BtoB Firms Can Leverage Social Media

    Trickle-Up Socialnomics: How BtoB Firms Can Leverage Social Media

    This post introduces the idea of Trickle-Up Socialnomics™, which describes how BtoB (business-to-business) firms can view their supply chain as a Social Media Chain and leverage it to identify business opportunities and increase revenues. It includes links to a white paper that describes the Social Media Chain more fully and provides examples of how participants…

  • Social and Digital Engagement: You Can’t Outsource Leadership

    Social and Digital Engagement: You Can’t Outsource Leadership

    Effective social and digital engagement requires informed and active involvement from the top of the organization. Although it may be appropriate to outsource and delegate some responsibility and many activities, it’s not in an organization’s best interests to outsource leadership. To achieve the best results, leaders must educate themselves, develop a strategic, integrated approach to…

  • What Factors are Relevant to Becoming a Social Enterprise?

    What Factors are Relevant to Becoming a Social Enterprise?

    Many leaders are still trying to figure out whether, when and how they should begin to transform their organization into a “social enterprise.” This post addresses the organizational and workforce characteristics that should be considered in making that decision and taking the necessary actions by addressing three sets of factors: those that matter less than…

  • Social Media Reality Check: Four Mental Shifts Leaders Need to Make

    Social Media Reality Check: Four Mental Shifts Leaders Need to Make

    This Social Media Reality Check addresses four key mental shifts organizational leaders must make to accept new Digital Era realities and move forward. These shifts include recognizing changes in the balance of power, accepting loss of control, developing new perspectives on productivity, and viewing social technology integration as mandatory rather than optional.

  • Social and Digital Technology Trends: 9 Take-Aways for YOU

    Social and Digital Technology Trends: 9 Take-Aways for YOU

    The evolution of social and digital technologies proceeds unabated. We continue to witness dramatic changes, and it’s safe to say that the anticipated changes promise to be equally profound. Even if you don’t consider yourself an early adopter or are a digital Luddite, it’s virtually impossible to avoid the impact of these changes both personally…

  • Employee Research in the Digital Era: Future Trends

    Employee Research in the Digital Era: Future Trends

    Developments in social technologies, increased frustration with traditional survey methods and a general movement towards mass transparency reflect society’s growing preferences in the Digital Era. In light of these changes, Silverman Research conducted a study using a collaborative, online tool to assess how the public view the changing face of employee opinion research – in…

  • The New Digital Divide: Thoughts for Leaders and Laggards

    The New Digital Divide: Thoughts for Leaders and Laggards

    The digital divide has increasingly become about knowledge and adoption of new technologies rather than access. Which side of the divide are you on – are you a leader or a laggard? This post offers insights into the factors contributing to the growing chasm between those who have embraced and leveraged new technologies and those…