Leaders are finally catching up with the rest of the working world when it comes to technology and career development. “We are on the cusp of change in leadership development,” says leadership, learning and technology expert, Nigel Paine. Traditionally, leadership development has been all about big, expensive, all singing, all dancing programmes that run over several days, once or twice a year. These were face to face, content driven and followed a very orthodox approach.
Modern leaders need to be agile and flexible, so their learning needs to be agile and flexible.
That model is fast disappearing and technology is largely driving the change. Modern leaders need to be agile and flexible, so their learning needs to be agile and flexible. It has to be quick, instantaneous and manageable. Three to four days is too long most of the time. Sometimes, even three to four hours is too long. Leaders want to snatch learning in three to four minute bites, just as everyone else is doing. “We can’t expect leaders to devote big chunks of the week to a piece of learning any more,” says Paine. “Instead, we have to fit it into the moments in people’s lives.”
And like everyone else, this new learning needs to be on demand and designed and developed around technology. Leaders want and need community learning, the ability to share knowledge, insights and commentary, the ability to ask questions and receive timely answers. The technology enabling this has to be simple, easy to use and ubiquitous so that it works across multiple platforms, networks and devices. It is critical that leaders can use the device they want, how they want, when they want.
There is still the scope and need for face to face learning and getting groups of people together, but the focus of that time is changing. “Getting people together will be treated as very precious time,” says Paine. “It will be about doing exercises that integrate the group and build up communities.”
“Leaders need to work in communities, linked by technology. They too need instant support in their hands.”
Technology is really driving this change. Technology is also driving change in more subtle ways – it has changed the whole model of work and that includes the model of leadership. “The idea of self sufficient leaders is increasingly redundant, as is the idea that you learn everything in the beginning and that will see you through your whole career,” he says. “Leaders need to work in communities, linked by technology. They too need instant support in their hands.”
Because of technology, today’s world is agile, flexible and uncertain. Leaders cannot presume that assumptions formed (even when correctly formed) five years ago still hold true. They need to constantly question and challenge content and ideas. Curation is really important here.
All of this is facilitated by technology, particularly now that smaller organisations have been able to break into the market with their exciting innovations. A few years ago the big guys dominated the leadership development scene but now there are lots of opportunities for small, niche players and applications. “Some of these wouldn’t have stood a chance three to four years ago,” says Paine. “But now that boutique companies can come in and offer something different to what big enterprise software companies are doing, we are at the beginning of something special.”
Paine thinks leaders are ready for this change. They now just need to start doing it and using technological innovations to their advantage.
Nigel Paine is a change-focused leader with a worldwide reputation and unique grasp of leadership development and learning technology in the public, private and academic sectors..