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ISBN 9781483511559

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Synthesis at Work Inc.
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Table of Contents

FOREWORD BY DR. RALPH KILMANN

INTRODUCTION

Part 1 : A Technology Driven World

CHAPTER 1

Leadership Mastery the Integration of Tech Skills and People Skills

CHAPTER 2

The Leadership Styles Assessment

CHAPTER 3

Leader Know Thyself for Success

Part 2: Lead in a Fast Pace Workplace and Getting Others Up to Speed

CHAPTER 4

Lead Change in a Fast Pace Workplace

CHAPTER 5

Lead Your Teams to Get Things Done Quickly

CHAPTER 6

Proactively Lead to Minimize Conflict

Part 3 Lead Techies and Non Techies to High Performance

CHAPTER 7

Lead Diverse Personalities & Technology Types

CHAPTER 8

Lead Generations, X, Y and Zoomers

CHAPTER 9

Be the Leader They Stay For

Part 4: Leadership Mastery To Lead Change Across the Digital Divide

CHAPTER 10

Understand The Psychology of Change

CHAPTER 11

People Centered Leadership in a Tech Reality

CHAPTER 12

Lead in a Social Media and Multiple Devices Reality

Part 5: Final Tech and Leadership Tips

CHAPTER 13

Lead Diverse Teams

CHAPTER 14

Lead Up

CHAPTER 15

The Workplace of the Future: Technology, Change & Focused on People

FOREWORD BY DR. RALPH KILMANN

Ralph H. Kilmann, Ph.D.

CEO, Kilmann Diagnostics, and

Coauthor of the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI)

To understand “Leadership Mastery in the Digital Age” in today’s organizations, and thus fully benefit from the timely wisdom in Cheryl Cran’s book, we must first go back to the basics: the evolution of technology and people.

What is an organization? What is the role of technology in organizations? How fast do technologies change and improve? How fast do people change and improve? How can organizations make the best use of its technologies and people, especially when they change and improve at different rates? And how do we resolve the inherent conflict between the increasing rate of technological change and the increasing difficulty that many people have in adapting to that change? The latter question, of course, gets to the heart of how to lead in the digital age.

In Chester Barnard’s classic 1938 book, The Functions of the Executive, his simple definition of an organization still captures the basics: two or more people who are consciously coordinating their efforts in order to achieve a common goal. According to Barnard, an organization’s consciously coordinated systems of people can overcome the innate limitations of separate individuals, which include their biological, physical, psychological, mental, and social limitations.

Consider an individual who wants to move a very heavy boulder in a particular direction: One person may not have the physical strength to achieve this feat. But by consciously coordinating his efforts with those of other people (all pushing the boulder in the same direction), a common goal can be achieved. Simply put: The primary reason to create organizations is to overcome the physical, social, and mental limitations of separate individuals.

Let’s now examine the basics concerning technologies: Way back in the Stone Age, humans began creating and using tools to overcome their limitations—initially to add to their physical strength, later to communicate beyond the volume/reach of their vocal cords, and ultimately to extend far beyond their information processing and cognitive capacity.

Using the boulder example again, if one person can use a large stick as a crowbar, perhaps he can move the boulder all by himself. But very large boulders can still be too heavy for one person, regardless of the size of the crowbar. To achieve the goal of moving a very large bolder in a particular direction, we need an organization of many people with larger and larger sticks. Subsequently, we can invent huge bulldozers and consciously coordinate people—along with their bulldozers—to move a mountain.

Let’s define technologies as all the possible extensions that humans create and then use for the purpose of overcoming their limitations—anything from using a crowbar in a stone quarry to using mobile devices to instantly communicate around the globe.

Ironically, individuals working alone could never have invented (let alone manufactured and then brought to market) the most complex and sophisticated technologies that we see in the workplace today: Today’s technologies (versus yesterday’s sticks) could only have been developed by organizations that are consciously coordinating the efforts of many people who are using all sorts of technologies.

Recognize this accelerating spiral of human evolution: We use organizations to create new technologies (human extensions), which are then used by people in other organizations to further overcome their limitations and thus achieve previously unimaginable goals. For example, only a few years back in 2010, who would've thought that scattered citizens sending out tweets on their smart phones could have consciously coordinated the overthrow of a dictatorial regime?

Let’s make use of Peter Russell’s 1998 seminal book, Waking Up in Time, to explore the accelerating spiral of change in our society. Russell suggests that a few unique qualities of the first human beings set in motion a “positive feedback spiral” that accelerates the pace of innovation: the opposing thumb with an erect posture resulted in two very useful hands, which were then further enhanced by the use of speech and language, which then resulted in an even more complex brain. This more complex brain then developed more elaborate—and innovative—extensions to its limbs and voice, which then further propelled the development of even greater extensions: computing technologies, communication technologies, production technologies, and transportation technologies, including spaceships. In fact, from the dawn of the very first organization that was consciously coordinating Stone Age humans with their sticks and arrows to achieve a common goal, there has always been a need to integrate people and their technologies. Every new extension then sets in motion an accelerating spiral of even more complex extensions that further overcome human—and organizational— limitations.

To illustrate the positive feedback spiral that propels accelerated improvements in people and technologies, Russell cites Buckminster Fuller’s profound findings: Around 5,000 years ago, an innovation (such as a new and improved agricultural method) took place about every 200 years. By the start of the first century A.D., innovations in human extensions (such as new construction methods for building roads and bridges) were taking place about every 50 years. By 1000 A.D., the time for the next great innovation was reduced to about 30 years. By the 1800s, the time for new technology (sparked by the Industrial Revolution) had shortened the innovation cycle to about six months. By the mid-1900s, the time for creating the next innovation was further reduced to one month. When Cheryl’s book is published, the timeframe for each new innovation in technology might take place weekly, as witnessed by the rapid—almost continuous— introductions of new digital devices, operating systems, apps, software programs, and the latest cloud technology.

I will now link the rapid pace of technological improvements in organizations with the pace of improving people’s capacity to use these technologies. Examining why the different “generational types” respond differently to technological change will be especially illuminating—and will lead us toward further understanding the basics of the digital divide. During most of the Twentieth Century, only one generational type, the Traditionalists (born before 1946), was nestled into the workplace.

Given the relatively longer gaps between major innovations in that era, Traditionalists could easily adopt the newest technology of their day (over a relatively long period of time, as compared to today’s world) without having to learn many new technologies during the span of their work life.

By the time the next generational type populated organizations, the Baby Boomers, technological improvements began accelerating much faster than the aging of the workforce, which thus required many more people to regularly replace their time-tested ways with brand-new technologies. In fact, during the last decade of the Twentieth Century, employees had to upgrade their computer software and systems several times a year!

During the first decade of the Twenty-First Century, new generational types began entering the workplace in larger numbers: Generation X and Generation Y, and soon to be followed by Generation Z.

Because each generational type (1) grew up with a different set of core technologies prior to puberty and, as a result, (2) acquired a different capacity to readily adopt the next generation of technologies, there is a growing divide in the workplace among the generations. Yet if today’s organizations wish to survive and succeed in these times of accelerating technological change within a highly competitive interconnected global economy, they must learn how to enable all their employees (across all generational types) to learn how to effectively use the latest and greatest extensions, and to do so at an accelerating rate.

What defines the people/technology divide that we experience today? It’s the digital age of mobile computing and communication devices with accelerated interconnectivity across the globe that challenge the different generational types very differently—which creates massive conflict in the workplace. So now we have to figure out how to manage a new kind of conflict—the digital age—that is raging in today’s organizations.

How do we lead with mastery in this digital age? As demonstrated throughout Cheryl’s book, there must be a newfound awareness and acceptance of digital differences in the workplace. And then there must be an effective process for resolving those frustrating differences. For starters, an organization must provide its members with forums to learn about generational types and why they are differentially inclined to embrace new technologies and to adapt to technological change. Said differently: A big dose of digitaldivide education is now needed in every workplace—which must be fully supported by enlightened leaders and empowered employees.

Even when a greater awareness of generational differences and technological preferences has been developed within an organization, it’s then necessary to magnify those differences—just to make sure that everyone sees the breadth and depth of the conflict before them. Otherwise, the digital divide, just like most conflict in organizations, might be minimized, denied, ignored, and avoided. Years ago, I developed a unique social technology for magnifying and then resolving fundamental differences throughout an organization. This social technology—which enables separate individuals to overcome their limited knowledge, experience, and perspectives—is known as the Problem Management Organization (PMO). A full discussion of how to use the PMO for leadership mastery in today’s world can be found in my 2001 book: Quantum Organizations.

Having provided you with the evolution of organizations, technologies, and people, you're now ready to fully benefit from the extensive wisdom contained in Cheryl Cran’s book.

Ralph H. Kilmann, Ph.D., is CEO and Senior Consultant at Kilmann Diagnostics in Newport Coast, California, which provides online courses on conflict management and change management. Formerly, he was the George H. Love Professor of Organization and Management at the Katz School of Business, University of Pittsburgh—which was his professional home for thirty years. He earned both his B.S. in graphic arts management and M.S. in industrial administration from Carnegie Mellon University (1970) and a Ph.D. degree in the behavioral sciences in management from the University of California, Los Angeles (1972).

Ralph is an internationally recognized authority on systems change. Ralph has published twenty books and more than one hundred articles on such subjects as conflict management, organizational design, problem management, change management, and quantum organizations. He is also the coauthor of more than ten assessment tools, including the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument and the Kilmann-Saxton CultureGap® Survey. Ralph’s latest book (2013) is The Courageous Mosaic: Awakening Society, Systems, and Souls.

INTRODUCTION

Right now there is a wonderful opportunity for leaders.

Never before has there ever been a convergence of people and technology like we are seeing and experiencing right now.

New technology is being created every second of every minute of every hour of every day and people are connecting, communicating and working differently now then they have ever worked before. Today the speed of technology creates expectations which not that long ago would seem totally unreasonable and unfathomable.

With opportunities very often comes along the old nemesis - challenges. A major challenge facing leaders and business owners is what I like to refer to as the ‘leading in the digital age’ where there exists digital divides. Until recently it was considered that the biggest challenge was among the different generations in the workplace and in fact some experts have labeled these two challenges a ‘clash'.

My opinion is that in reality what we are experiencing isn’t a ‘clash’ at all- what we are experiencing is different levels of adaptation of technology and this in turn has created a ‘digital divide’ which has now created a high need for superior level leadership. Mastery of leadership in a digital age.

To be a great leader now and in the future ‘Leadership Mastery’ will be required, having good leadership skills won’t be enough to achieve the extraordinary results that companies will require to grow and succeed.

The digital age consists of leaders and their teams who with varying levels of technological knowledge are struggling with leading change, collaboration, innovation and productivity. The challenges involve adapting to rapid change, increasing technology and varying work attitudes among the teams.

Leaders who have mastered the skills of leadership will be able lead change in the digital reality of rapid onslaught of technology, inspire their teams to collaborate and innovate and create a culture of commitment and engagement.

There are different scenarios where technology and generations challenges can show up in the workplace. You may have a young newly graduated employee who brings education and technical knowledge to the workplace but does not know how to tie that knowledge to the business goals or strategy. Another scenario is that you have an employee who is in their late thirties who has adapted to technology and has even leveraged it to be able to increase life/work balance but due to lack of leadership training they lack the ability to lead people at a high level of effectiveness. And finally a third scenario is that you have a long-term employee who has on the job experience and lots of company knowledge but is slower to adapt to the new technologies and is resisting the changes being presented.

All three of the above scenarios are opportunities to lead, coach, and provide skills development and to balance technological knowledge with enhanced people management skills. There is an opportunity to integrate at this time the technological side of the business with the people side of the business, but it requires more than just good leadership skills to do so, it requires ‘leadership mastery'.

This means leading entire teams to adapt to change, to view change as an opportunity to learn and grow and to provide coaching and support to increase buy- in by each person on the team of the purpose and direction of the company.

Leaders today are faced with ongoing changes in technology as well as the reality of generational attitude differences around technology and work ethic. It is the speed with which leaders integrate the skills of leading people to adapt to technology that will drive innovation and growth for the organizations.

Leaders are faced right now with managing issues such as remote workers, telecommuting workers, global teams, and developing plans and strategies for retaining their good people.

Work itself is being redefined among all of the generations. Regardless of age or demographic most people want similar things such as flexible work, meaningful work, project based work and the option to work from various locations.

These options allow workers to be happier however at the same time they create challenges for today’s leaders to manage these ongoing realities of the changing workplace. Many of the solutions are found in maximizing technology as well as improving leadership abilities to manage their teams through change.

Some of the questions a leader seeking to achieve leadership mastery in the digital age should be asking are:

            What are the dynamics of my team when it comes to technology knowledge? Who is tech savvy? Who isn't? How do we close the gap?

            As a leader am I using skills that have worked in the past but are not as effective in this new digital age?

            How can I evolve my own leadership skills so that I am even more adaptable, flexible and able to lead the changing dynamics of leading in the digital age?

            How can I as a leader leverage technology to do the things that are mundane and help me to focus on leading my team to higher performance?

            Am I willing to change and learn how to become a better leader so that I can effectively lead and support the individuals on my team to change?

            How can I effectively manage a remote, flexible workplace and multigenerational team effectively?

            How can I increase my knowledge and application of technology to do my job as a leader more effectively?

            How can I bridge the digital divide within my own team?

The answers to these questions will help to direct your attention and focus and will help you to effectively achieve the leadership mastery required to lead in the digital age.

This book will provide insights and resources for you as a leader to be a more masterful leader, to leverage the skills of your team and to approach the technology gap with new ideas and strategies.

Leadership Mastery in the Digital Age helps leaders to develop their own skills as well as plan training, mentoring and innovation programs that will improve collaboration and innovation within the entire company.

Part 1: A Technology Driven World

CHAPTER 1

LEADERSHIP MASTERY

THE INTEGRATION OF TECH SKILLS AND PEOPLE SKILLS

“The real danger is not that computers will begin to think like men, but that men will begin to think like computers.”

Sydney J. Harris

Leadership mastery in the digital age requires an integration of skills. Whether your dominant skill is technology aptitude or your dominant skill is dealing with people the future requires all of us to integrate our skills to achieve mastery of leadership in the digital age.

If you are a tech-savvy leader it is likely that you are smart, capable, analytical, process oriented, fast and focused. These skills are highly valued in the workplace and now it is time to integrate tech skills with people management skills in order to improve overall leadership effectiveness and to move your team and the organization forward. The skills needed to be a masterful leader in these digital times include being tech-savvy AND being an evolutionary.

In the past the development of people skills have often been put aside as too ‘touchy feely’ or non-important and in the past decade there has been a higher value placed on technological skills. Since the global economic challenges of 2008 progressive organizations have noticed the gap and have been investing in training and developing their leaders to now include highly developed leadership skills as they relate to the ‘people’ side of the business. A talented, trained workforce is an asset that companies are now understanding the value of and as such now know that they must have great leaders who inspire and develop the talent within or their good talent will leave and go elsewhere.

A few years ago I had a consulting contract with a high tech company that was experiencing challenges with keeping their Generation Y employees. Upon investigation it was discovered that the Baby Boomer leaders were not adapting to the attitudes and work styles of the Gen Y. In that company the Baby Boomer leaders had an attitude of superiority and demanded all employees to conform, the old style of ‘my way or the highway'. As you can imagine this did not go over very well with the Gen Y employees and a good number of highly skilled employees were leaving in droves.

As leaders in technology become younger and younger the challenges have switched to having the leadership knowledge and understanding of human behavior in order to keep the team happy, functioning and creating superior results.

Baby Boomer leaders had an attitude of superiority and demanded all employees to conform. As you can imagine this did not go over well with the Gen Y employees and a good portion of them were leaving in droves.

There is a need in today’s modern workplace and the workplace of the future to have leaders who are adaptable, astute, and able to mobilize people to perform their work at their highest levels, manage remote teams and flexible work teams and be technologically savvy, leaders who are more than good leaders; leaders who have leadership mastery.

With a lot of focus being put on the technological aspects of the work many leaders have lost sight of good change leadership tactics or have never been exposed to them. In this chapter we want to look at the difference between a tech savvy leader and a people savvy leader.

Let’s take a look at the chart below to see examples of some of the main differences:

As you read through the lists for each description of the tech savvy leader and the people savvy leader you may have found yourself judging some of the items on the lists. Or you may have thought that you have a high level of each of the skills listed.

For example I have a client who is an extremely people focused CEO however she lacks the technological knowledge so she is people savvy but not so strong with the tech savvy. As her consultant I am working with her to develop both areas so that she can be more effective as a leader. When I refer to technological knowledge what I am referring to is having technological awareness, and function- not becoming a tech expert!

Leaders seeking to achieve mastery who are more technological savvy choose to spend the time required to develop their people skills in addition to the time spent on continually developing their technological knowledge and awareness.

Recently I was presenting for a major multi-national technology group in Orlando Florida and when I present I give out my cell number so that my audience can text me while I speak and ask me questions. This really works well because the questions are anonymous (unless they want to self identify) and I can answer them while going through the content of my presentation. One of the questions I was asked while talking about the need for tech professionals to improve their people skills side of leadership was, “how do I get my team members to just stop all of their politicking and focus on the work?”

I texted the leader back to ask if it was okay to openly announce the question and address it as a benefit to the group. He said yes and so I asked a question back, “do you have regular team update meetings either in person or by Skype?” the leader answered, ‘no’ and then I asked, “do you openly share what is happening with your team so that they have the latest information first hand?” and he answered, “no”.

People don’t leave their jobs - they leave their leaders - a harsh reality and one you have likely experienced as an employee yourself and as a leader.