Digital leadership – how to get it right

Many of the traditional sectors and businesses such as Water Utilities, Power Companies and Engineering houses are feeling the effects of the advent of digital technologies. In fact, the integration of mobile devices, SMART assets, social media, cloud, big data and analytics are spearheading digital transformation across the board.

Arguably for the first time ever, technology is commercially attractive and available to businesses. There are very few companies doing this well, operating at the level of integrating real-time data and predictive analytics and pushing out leading digital customer engagement. This is driving a thirst for human capital with digital capability and executive candidates who have the ability to lead through change.

Transformation and digitalisation require different sets of competencies. The ability to drive and transform large organisations is different from simply having digital experience.

So where are the skills coming from and how do these traditional organisations source them?

It’s not just the obvious suspects such as Google, Facebook, LinkedIn etc. Predominantly the candidates with the desirable skills are found within the financial services, direct-to-consumer, insurance, travel, and e-commerce & retail sectors.

Tempting staff in these sectors to digitally immature industries such as Power and Energy can be hard but needs to be focussed around the project, as well as the possibility and challenge offered with such a move.

The opportunity to be involved in a ground-breaking transformation and leave a demonstrable legacy is highly valued by ‘digital’ candidates. Companies need to approach transformation with a 5-year timeline and communicating that externally to the job market is critical to secure the right talent.

With digitally immature organisations, roles can often get mired in the detail and become overly custodial. Ensuring there is a clear alignment between expectation and reality is important. Without this alignment, it will be harder to attract and retain talent. In some cases, the new hire will need the skills to elevate above the day-to-day and will see how to drive a vision, frame and solve problems. Organisations, with the right leadership hires, can buy into both the solution and the person.

Digital often sits under a CIO or Head of Marketing’s remit and whilst many establish digital as its own workstream, digital really needs to sit across the whole of business approach. For the companies that get this right the opportunity is there to embed digital within their culture and organisational design.

It is valuable to have digital representation in executive and senior leadership teams, and the creation of Chief Digital Officer position allows for this. But digital should be a shared journey for a whole executive group.

So, what are the key steps to embarking on a successful digital journey and being able to bring in the right digital leaders to a business?

• View digital adoption as a long-term business transformation and not simply a program or initiative
• Sell the digital story and possibilities of the role
• Ensure roles don’t get bogged down with compliance and enforcement
• Embed digital adoption across every ELT and SLT’s responsibilities and ensure it doesn’t become allocated simply to a Marketing or Digital team
• If need be, appoint a Head of Digital or CDO to provide further impetus in Executive decisions and business vision
• See business transformation and digital adoption as two different sets of competencies and recruit accordingly
• Look at quick wins to engage the business and generate results, often through Marketing or Customer Service areas

Matthew Woodall is an Energy sector Search specialist with over 20 years in the industry. For further insights and regular industry updates please connect with him on LinkedIn.