New style leadership

Increased automation leads to new style leadership

In the UK we need to be competitive but we also need to improve our productivity.  To achieve both we need to take a fresh approach to our leadership style.

At a Big Data conference given by @cloudera: Bernard Marr, bestselling author and leading business and data expert, stated how the pace of business processes automation is accelerating.  For example; sports commentaries originally written by journalists are now written by a computer by analysing the photos of match play and the players’ performance and strategies – truly amazing.

In the US it is reported that truck driving and related jobs employ more people than any other job in 29 out of America’s 50 states.  It is one of a few jobs that still provides a decent income without requiring higher academic qualifications.  It is reported that in May 2016 in Nevada a Daimler truck became the first licensed self-driving truck.  It is part of a significant testing programme potentially leading to the roll out of self-driving trucks nationwide.  If successful, one can only imagine the impact on employment, the organizational structures in distribution companies and the necessary leadership in this new world.

These new capabilities may bring productivity but it will need a different style of leadership.  Leaders will need to have the courage to challenge the insight Big Data brings when their domain knowledge might assert that the insight is not correct.  There is a risk that this might not happen leading to wrong outcomes by automated processes without the right checks and balances.

For example: Boston city invited people to download an app for their mobiles to measure the ‘bumpiness’ in cars being driven around the city’s streets.  The idea was to survey where the worst pot holes were so the limited street repair fund was maximised.  A town council employee challenged the map of the streets in most need.  It reminded her of a map of the most affluent neighbourhoods in the city.  It turned out she was right!  The individuals who had joined the scheme were not representative of the city population so the data gave an incorrect view.

Increased automation is leading to a silent revolution.  The value people provide in business processes is changing to;

• making decisions
• empathising with people – client, supplier, colleague
• collaborating with another team.

Company cultures will need to nurture collaborative and innovative leadership to be competitive.  People working in this new paradigm will expect empowerment, flexibility, creativity that requires a new style of leadership to nurture and remain productive.  To me this is mindful leadership;

A mindful leader is someone who embodies leadership presence by cultivating focus, clarity, creativity and compassion to reach common goals that maximize the well being of all stakeholders.