Social Media Drives Organizational Change Which Drives the Need for Changes in Leadership Skills

In their 2013 McKinsey & Company article Six Social Media Skills Every Leader Needs, authors Roland Deiser and Sylvain Newton explain organizational changes that have resulted from the advancements of technology and social media.  These changes have required both a reevaluation of the structure of organizations as well as the skills leaders need in order to capitalize “on the transformational power of social media while mitigating its risks” (2013).  In their article, they explain the dilema this has caused for senior leaders.

While the potential of social media seems immense, the inherent risks create uncertainty and unease … there’s a mismatch between the logic of participatory media and the still-reigning 20th-century model of management and organizations, with its emphasis on linear processes and control. Social media encourages horizontal collaboration and unscripted conversations that travel in random paths across management hierarchies. It thereby short-circuits established power dynamics and traditional lines of communication. (2013, para. 02) 

In order to address this, the authors believe organizational leaders need to enhance additional leadership skills as well as “cultivate a new, technologically linked social infrastructure” (2013, para. 05), and are calling this Social-Media-Literate Leadership.  The exhibit below, presented in their article, reviews the six interrelated dimensions at both a personal leadership level, and a strategic and organizational design principles and media literacy level.   

The Six Dimensions of Social Media Literate Leadership

The authors caution leaders to maintain the skills that elevated them to leadership status while adding skills that help them understand the currencies of the social media world, including cocreation and collaboration (Deiser & Newton, 2013, para. 04).  A representative example of this focuses on just one of the skills leaders need to learn, creating compelling and engaging multimedia content where their influence in the content is so great they are considered auteur filmmakers.  Mark Begor, President and CEO of GE Energy Management, explained his work in this area  “I was used to a studio environment where I could do several takes and have editors polish what I wanted to say.”  Begor explains how he crafts his short, informal, authentic stories, finding they are more engaging and help employees relate to him.  “I talk about what I learned during the week, about a great deal we’ve closed, and the status of the business. I also add comments about employees that I want to recognize” (2013, para. 11 – 12).  

Each of the skills and strategic / organizational design principles and media literacy are, as the authors explain “interdependent and feed on each other” (Deiser & Newton, 2013, para. 06).  No one skill is more important than the other.  As leaders need to refocus their existing skills and work to learn these new skills, “they will initiate a positive loop allowing them to capitalize on the opportunities and disruptions that come with the new connectivity of a networked society. And they will be rewarded with a new type of competitive advantage” (Deiser & Newton, 2013, para. 37).  

Watch the interview between General manager and founder at HeadlineAffairs, Jochen Leufen and Roland Deiser as they discuss The Six Social Media Skills Every Leader Needs.

YouTube interview of Roland Deiser

Reference

Deiser, R., & Newton, S. (2013, February). Six social-media skills every leader needs . Retrieved August 05, 2015, from McKinsey & Company: http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/high_tech_telecoms_internet/six_social-media_skills_every_leader_needs