Leading in the digital space: putting language back at the centre
Employees are spending more and more time in the digital space. Digitalization, the megatrend of our time, is radically changing work. Here, technology is forcing workflows, even communication processes with customers, more and more into fixed patterns.
From the factory to the boardroom - we are moving into the digital space. What is new, however, is that this transformation is now affecting not only industrial production, but also more and more the Swiss service sector: banking transactions are becoming digitalized, customer contacts are increasingly taking place via technical channels, and communication between employees, and also between them and customers, is shifting into the virtual sphere. And here the rules of the game of information technology apply, largely standardized and formalized.
What does this mean for leadership?
It means that direct, personal, free communication with employees, not regulated by technical media, takes a back seat. But it is precisely this that forms the core of management work. And its medium is language.
Leadership means communicating, it means acting with language. Those who think that leaders should not talk but do something are making a fundamental mistake. Leaders act straight, by they talk. When they promote and challenge employees, when they explain and motivate, when they negotiate and settle conflicts, they do so to a large extent with language. And it is precisely this that is increasingly being pushed into a corner by digitalisation.
If managers want to get ahead, it is not enough to swim as agilely as possible in the megatrends. Rather, they must give language back the weight it has always had - or should have - in people management. A leader gains profile by using language skilfully, carefully, precisely and with nuance - in other words, professionally.
This is not a plea for writing courses or German seminars. It is about much more. Anyone who thinks about how to win over and motivate their team, how to defuse conflicts and bring employees together, how to involve their "difficult employee", how to explain and inspire them for a goal, is always working on their language.
A differentiated approach to it automatically leads to progress as a leader. And conversely, this examination of one's own leadership actions inevitably sharpens one's linguistic competence. Those who develop their linguistic skills also grow as leaders.
Continuing education on the topic: CAS Leadership Skills for Financial Professionals - next study start: August 28, 2019
