Leaders & Leadership 3 - leadership in a digital world

Heading up one of the country’s newest councils - one that only came into being on April 1 - Matt is also the policy spokesman on digital leadership for the council chiefs’ body Solace. In this digital age, he says, the speed of change requires leaders be even more curious, willing to learn, and prepared to invest time in thinking about what’s coming next. One of the benefits of today's tech for leaders is that it makes it easier for them to be visible, even with a highly dispersed workforce, providing they are prepared to take advantage and make time for things like regular vlogging and participation in interactive and live-streamed meetings. Digital skills and behaviours are now essential for employees, and new hires must demonstrate these. However the existing workforce should also be supported to acquire them, and its notable that where new skills are acquired, attitudes also change as new possibilities are understood. As for automation anxiety, given the local authority cuts that have taken place in the last few years and the resulting increases in workload, people can see the benefits of having time freed up from routine, repetitive tasks to allow time for higher quality interactions to take place where these are needed.