The January/February issue of the Harvard Business Review (HBR) has an interesting article pointing out that the world of work has changed dramatically over the past decade, this will be more apparent to the older reader who was not brought up in the multi and social media world. Where as in the ‘old world’ one had to be culturally aware, well networked and focused, HBR suggests that the 21st Century manager needs to go deeper. The HBR three skills are:
1/ Code Switching Between Cultures
Being culturally aware is not enough. It is not enough to be aware so that you can educate your employees in the behaviours that you think are ‘right’, you have to go further and take on their culture, however inauthentic and incompetent you feel, to make them more effective. A variation on the theme of if you want someone to change you need to do so first.
2/ Wielding Digital Influence
Having a Linked In or Facebook presence is not enough, you have to know how to use it effectively so moving on beyond broadcasting to finding out how to use it to research, resource and influence.
3/ Dividing Attention Deliberately
Gone are the days you shut the door and take the phone off the hook to concentrate on an important issue. Now is the time for multitasking. On a webinar you may be having a side conversation with another participant on email and the same might be happening at a conference using Twitter where attendees can now even change the topic on the dais. Both these may be more productive.
Something to think about and if you want to know more here is the full article.
