Leadership drives the tech journey for our older workers
In our previous article, we discussed how we can help our older workers to adopt new technologies. Today, we are focusing on the leader's role in these workers' tech adoption journey.
It is not surprising that leaders can have an impactful influence on their team. We have seen great leaders in our time who aspired their employees to think beyond – like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Howard Schultz, and the list goes on. In the context of adopting tech, leaders can have two roles; coaching leaders and/or enabling coaching opportunities.
Important digital leadership traits, according to MIT Sloan, include:
Transformative vision and forward-looking perspective; this entails anticipation of markets, smart decision-making, and problem-solving abilities during changes.
Digital Literacy; the word digital literacy speaks for itself, meaning leaders themselves need to have a grasp of modern technology. Understanding the structures of technology contributes to developing their transformative vision, which in turn helps them anticipate market changes. Now, this doesn't mean leaders need to be architects. However, they should be keen to understand the many doors that can be open to them when they leverage technology effectively. Many organisations realise the need for a digital transformation.
Adaptability; This trait is mainly due to the continuous changes in the market and business. Leaders need to create a drive to keep developing their knowledge through education and training. E-learning, which is a form of online education, makes self-development very efficient nowadays.
We mentioned leaders as coaches in the first paragraph. The idea of coaching leadership suggests that leaders who are accountable for the technology adoption of their group of employees are responsible for making the tech journey more exciting and appealing. This aligns with the research findings of MIT Sloan. According to MIT, an essential aspect in digital leadership is conveying the value of technology itself and adapting it to employees. To convey the value, the why, of technology effectively, leaders need People Skills.
People Skills
People Skills are emotional and social intelligence skills that connect emotional intelligence with interpersonal social competencies [1]. People skills are drivers of leadership capabilities and vital for leaders to excel in communication, influence and delegation. Motivating and coaching are also considered People Skills [2]. A couple of leadership People Skills are communicating, being compassionate, sensemaking, flexibility, and problem-solving, which in turn enable leaders to develop the work culture and motivate employees [3].
The need for enhanced People Skills in the workspace increased notably because of the influence of growing globalisation, cultural diversity, and technology. Right now, we're focusing on supporting senior employees in adopting new tech. These People Skills form an essential part of the solution to supporting our older workers in their tech journey. In this changing world, People Skills are getting more critical, meaning leaders need to be more in contact with their employees or team to establish a relationship.
The development of these skills should be more emphasised in leadership training. Interpersonal skills are fundamental for improving People Skills. Leaders that possess excellent People Skills have a competitive advantage over competitors. Moreover, those skills contribute to supporting senior employees in their adoption of new tech systems [4]. The latter also suggests that the organisation should be more horizontal rather than the traditional hierarchic system. Agile organisations are a prime example of this. Read our recent article about agile to get an understanding of being agile and its benefits. In this article, we focus on leadership skills.
Leaders as enablers
The next approach requires leaders to provide the solutions, coaching, and training, sometimes tapping on external expertise. Leaders should provide the necessary support to employees in their journey of adopting new technology. In this case, the leader may assign coaching to certified coaches and workshops to people who can design and deliver them. The leader takes a mediating role, meaning he checks on the progress of the interventions at regular intervals.
Talking with employees about related processes remains an essential role for the leader. It's mainly because it shows that you care about your workers. This approach is primarily for leaders who have very little time to support senior employees directly in adopting new technology. Even though external interventions/support can get quite costly, it can be highly effective too. Also, MIT Sloan stated the importance of empowering employees to carry out new initiatives. This goes for supporting and motivating older workers to use tech and increasing their digital literacy.
Even when leaders delegate this process, they still need to monitor the progress and talk to their employees because communicating and establishing a good relationship helps employees to put more effort [5].
Employee satisfaction is one of the critical factors of performance and productivity. Leaders play a vital role in supporting employees in achieving their goals and addressing the challenges they face in today's competitive environment by helping to increase job satisfaction[6]. New technologies may bring uncertainties to older workers. Communicating openly, providing positive feedback, encouraging senior employees, building trust, creating a meaningful workplace, and providing effective coaching can enhance employees' resilience and adaptability. Resilient employees might be better positioned to respond to changes. Resilience refers to the ability to bounce back from demanding and stressful situations.
To conclude, the leader's role in influencing the determinants of technology adoption is:
- Providing social support through well-developed People Skills;
- Provide clear roadmaps of new technologies and coaching to senior employees who need it. This can either be executed by the leader or delegated to people who specialise in those fields.
REFERENCES
[1] Boyatzis, R. E., Thiel, K., Rochford, K., & Black, A. (2017). Emotional and Social Intelligence Competencies of Incident Team Commanders Fighting Wildfires. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 53(4), 498-516. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021886317731575
[2] AbuJbara, N. K., & Worley, J. A. (2018). Leading toward new horizons with soft skills. On the Horizon, 26(3), 247–259. https://doi.org/10.1108/oth-10-2017-0085
[3] buJbara, N. K., & Worley, J. A. (2018). Leading toward new horizons with soft skills. On the Horizon, 26(3), 247–259. https://doi.org/10.1108/oth-10-2017-0085
[4] AbuJbara, N. K., & Worley, J. A. (2018). Leading toward new horizons with soft skills. On the Horizon, 26(3), 247–259. https://doi.org/10.1108/oth-10-2017-0085
[5] Salehzadeh, R. (2019). The effects of leaders’ behaviors on employees’ resilience. International Journal of Workplace Health Management, 12(5), 318–338. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijwhm-02-2019-0016
[6] Torlak, N. G., & Kuzey, C. (2019). Leadership, job satisfaction and performance links in private education institutes of Pakistan. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, 68(2), 276–295. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijppm-05-2018-0182
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