E-Leadership

1
E-Leadership Emerging Behavioral and
Communication Issues

• Kehinde Olagoke

NIGERIA INSTITUTE OF BUILDING
2
Leadership As we know it!

• Have a Vision
• Harness the Talent and skills of Team members and
  clients
• Communicate Articulate the Vision to Team
  members and your clients
• Delegate Function
• Monitor Progress, Mentor Team/Followers/Clients
• Motivate by rewarding achievements and
  reprimanding failure to meet the challenges of
  the clients.

3
e-Leadership?

• Now significant human interactions are mediated
  through
• information technology to produce new
  organizational form
• and new work environment termed E-environment and
  the
• emerging leadership is labeled as E-leadership
• or Electronic leadership

4
Leadership- Traditional or Electronic Any
connection ?

• The goals of leadership have not changed , but
  the e-leader needs to implement those goals
  electronically through computer mediated virtual
  teams that are dispersed over space and time .
• Leadership patterns are beginning to reflect
  transition from industrial to post-industrial
  society. The new society variously called
  information society, is marked by rapid and far
  reaching changes in digitalization of information
  and communication technology.

5
Why e-leadership?

• The use of information technology over the years
• has been altering the way organizations are
• Conducting their business. As a result new
• organizational form -virtual organization - has
• emerged.
• Leader and followers now communicate
• through E-technologies (telephone, e-mail, chat
• social media and video-conferencing etc).

6
So what is in it for Me?

• Instant direct communication with employees,
  customers, suppliers and stakeholders .
• Access to clients irrespective of location
• Enhancement of organizational performance by
  making use of multi-functional teams
• Cost Reduction
• Access to information/greater workforce
  connectivity
• Rapid response to customers demands
• Increased or Improved Bottom-line as competitive
  advantage is enhanced

7
What are we Up Against ?

• Bridging the physical distance between the
  leader, his team and clients.
• Communicating effectively with widespread team
  members who in turn make it simple for the
  clients.
• Conveyance of enthusiasm and inspiration to
  followers and clients electronically
• Building of Trust with team members and the
  clients you dont see

8
Technology Leadership Transformational
Leadership

• Adaptive Structuration Theory
• - Human actions are guided by structures
  Structures are rules and resources that serve as
  templates for planning and accomplishing tasks .
• Technology creates organizational structures of
  which leadership is a part.
• Leadership and technology have a recursive
  relationship .

9
Practice of e-Leadership

• Be prepared
• Develop New Skills
• Be adaptable to Change/Flexible
• Learn to Re-learn
• Learn to Motivate
• Learn to Build Trust
• Understand the value of e-technologies
• Experiment with ideas

10
e-Leadership and Communication

• Comunication is key in e-leadarship. It takes
  place
• through information technology.
• Could be verbal, non verbal, Visual , non Visual
  etc
• The basic responsibilities of the leader do
• not change the only thing that change is how
  the
• leader can communicate with his people
  effectively
• while they are not at the same office building.

11
Barriers to e-leadership Communication

• Beliefs/Perception
• Information Overload
• Assumption

12
Overcoming the Barriers of e-leadership
communication

• Knowing when to replace traditional work
  processes with virtual ones
• Learn about cultural differences, if these could
  pose problems
• Avoid the use of Jargons
• Avoid language that is confrontational or
  Judgmental

13
Audience Analysis

• Analysis- Who is the audience ?
• Understanding- What is the audiences
  Knowledge of the subject
• Demographics- What is their age , gender
  , educational background
• Interest- Why are they listening to me ?
• Environment- Where will this document be
  /presented
• Needs - How can I meet the needs of
  the audience
• Customization - How can I tailor my work to
  meet their needs?
• Expectations What would they learn from my
  presentation
• Note that the results of your audience analysis
  that will determine the tool/channel of
  communication

14
E-leadership Communication Tools

• Email
• Internet Forum Discussion Boards
• Weblogs
• RSS (Really Simple Syndication)
• Social Networking e.g Facebook, Yammer, Twitter,
  etc
• Conferencing Tools (Video or Telephone) e.g Skype
• Online Chat eg. Yahoo Messenger, Blackberry
• Flash meeting
• Application/Desktop sharing
• Intranet

15
Using Email in Internal/External Communication

• A fairly informal business correspondence with a
  set of rules called Netiquette, Digital manners
  etc.
• Be Concise and Unambiguous
• Be clear and Direct in the Subject Line
• Never think your email is totally Confidential
• If this is made public , would you be comfortable
  ?
• Do not torture your readers with abbreviations
• Use Uppercase for emphasis Only
• Dont start with Dear Sir/Madam
• Use Informal Closing
• Dont send one word emails
• Save a tree !
• Use the address fields with care
• Politely Sign your messages