Challenges of Leadership in the Digital Age: leading Post-Millennials

 

As todays organizations adjust to the new digital landscape, the challenges of leadership have never been greater. With the rise of post-Millennials in the workplace, leaders must be prepared to navigate these complex challenges and create an environment that is favorable to success.

We have witness last decades how the digital tools has changed the way organizations operate and the types of skills and competencies are necessary for successful leadership. In the past, leadership was centered on traditional skills such as vision sharing, solving potential future problem(s), communication, and decision-making. However, today, leaders must be able to use more than only technology and data to effectively lead their teams. Leaders must be able to adapt to employees’ working culture changes, environmental pressure, what role technology is playing and be comfortable with leading in a virtual environment.

Leaders must also be prepared to deal with the unique challenges that come with managing post-Millennials. Therefore, they should possess necessity to understand the power of social media and the importance of cultivating relationships. Post-Millennials are more connected than ever before, and leaders must be able to engage with them on social media platforms. Post-Millennials have different expectations in terms of flexible working hours, transparency, feedback, and autonomy. To maintain organizational goals and work flow, todays leaders must be able to meet those expectations of post-Millennials workforce.

The prerequisite of today’s leadership is to have a strong understanding of data analytics and the ability to use big data to drive decisions. With the rapid advances in technology, the correct and up-to-date data is becoming increasingly important in decision making. Leaders must be able to interpret and use data to steer the organization properly and effectively.

The digital age has transformed the way organizations operate and the challenges of leading today so different workforce and understand their values have never been greater. In order to successfully lead post-Millennials, leaders must possess a unique set of skills and competencies. They must be able to use technology and data, be connected in virtual environment, understand the power of social media, and be prepared to deal with the unique challenges associated with managing post-Millennials that are the rising workforce. With these skills and competencies, leaders can ensure that their organizations are well-positioned to succeed in competitive environment full of technology, changes, virtuality and communications.