In large organisations, digital fluency, confidence and knowledge are still lacking at senior levels, but the answer is not just to appoint a more digital CDO or CTO to fill the gap. Instead, we need practical models for distributing digital leadership among those who understand it and who are involved in development, and we need to clear that ‘digital’ is now everybody’s responsibility. Change agents and local digital teams are often at the forefront of adopting new ways of working and creating elements of digital strategy, and they should be teaching and guiding traditional leaders, rather than asking for permission and being satisfied with brief moments of attention from above. The greatest challenge for any leader today is transforming their organisational architecture and culture to meet the challenges of the digital age. This talk will share a practical model for distributed digital leadership, some insights into the challenges and opportunities of this approach, and some thoughts on how digital change agents should take control of the agenda and challenge their leaders to do better.

1. A Prac'cal Model for Distributed Digital Leadership
Social Now, June 2019, Lisbon
Lee Bryant POST*SHIFT

2. Digital Strategy
Digital maturity diagnostic
Digital capabilities mapping
Digital roadmap for action
Org Transformation
Digital learning hub
Digital guides network
Distributed transformation
Business & Team Agility
Organisation design & optimisation
Agile teams enablement
Digital operating model
Digital Leadership
Animation sessions
Digital learning journeys
Agile leadership programs
Org transforma!on can only be unlocked by addressing leadership issues

3. our crisis of leadership

4. Management theory and the rise of a special class of non-workers

5. The gurus hold on to the pretense of management
exper3se because that is the idea that fuses their
work into a meaningful whole … [and] subscribe to
the myth that Taylor concocted and that has
sustained the business of management ever since —
the idea that management is a specialized body of
knowledge or exper3se that evolves over 3me and
is the preserve of a certain class of professionals.
“
Ma#hew Stewart, The Management Myth

6. Orgs need architectural innova!on - not just product innova!on - to survive

7. We need leaders who are also organisa!onal architects & curators

8. People can achieve anything if we let them; but at work, we don’t

9. Learned helplessness is a product of old-style management theory & culture

10. Trea!ng this as only a culture issue is like blaming lab rats for the maze

11. Trea!ng this as only a culture issue is like blaming lab rats for the maze

12. the power of connec4on
versus the power of division

13. Give power, take power, share power, distribute power

14. The digital leadership group / forum as an alterna!ve to all-powerful CDO

15. Digital guides, change agents and emergent leadership within the org

16. Sheeren mosaic 2 by Paul Wells
Distributed, devolved & inclusive: Use the ‘human sensor network’ to guide

17. how does this strategic approach
create & capture value for the org?

18. You never change things by figh3ng the exis3ng
reality. To change something, build a new model
that makes the exis3ng model obsolete.
“
Buckminster Fuller

19. We need a new organisa!onal opera!ng system

20. Pla"orms + services is the horizontal alterna!ve to ver!cal hierarchies

21. Haier’s pla"orm strategy is an example of this model in ac!on
CUSTOMERS
VALUE CREATING FUNCTIONS: Marketing, R&D, Manufacturing etc.
SHARED SERVICES PLATFORM: IT, HR etc.
SERVANT LEADERSHIP: Execs, Management

22. Our digital workplace plaCorms are a good starDng point for development

23. Service-oriented architectures: automate, standardise, simplify & connect

24. where do we begin?

25. What opportuni!es & threats do we face? What capabili!es do we need?
ORGANISATION

26. What opportuni!es & threats do we face? What capabili!es do we need?
ORGANISATION

27. “As a sales organisation we need
to offer an integrated experience
(not front-ends to a set of
separate silos working apart)
to grow key account value”
Define the capability need as an ‘agile user story’ for the organisa!on

28. What is the value proposi!on of of this new capability?

29. How can we create it? What systems, skills, data, etc do we already have?

30. Background photo by Stuart Caie
Not only tech: an adap!ve org OS is also built on our human capabili!es

31. Iterate, build on what works & improve un!l you have the capability you need

32. 3 levels of digital strategy

33. op!misa!on: making today’s work more effec!ve
Toyota Prius: 1997

34. transforma!on: using technology to change what we do and how we do it
Tesla X: 2015

35. innova!on: combine, re-mix & packaging capabili!es to create new value
Flying Taxi: 2021?

36. The DLG as coordinator and controller of capability development

37. Change is rouDne: agility requires conDnuous improvement & feedback

38. This strategy / ac!on loop is the basis for agile management
People over process
Dynamics over documents
Collabora'on over cascading
Adap've over prescripHve
Leadership over management

39. Agile transforma!on cannot be an island - the whole org needs to commit

40. FrameworkManagers as service designers for employee experience

41. we should demand more from our
leaders to accelerate org change

42. Addi!onal image credits
https://www.flickr.com/photos/81133120@N06/14911009117
https://www.flickr.com/photos/blakespot/3029273217/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/paulwe/718329501/
https://www.suse.com/solutions/devops/
https://strategyzer.com/canvas/value-proposition-canvas
https://www.flickr.com/photos/evanblaser/5984652456
https://www.flickr.com/photos/riseconf/35080470223
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nicholas_t/3602389004
https://www.flickr.com/photos/danielahartmann/6836936038/
https://dribbble.com/shots/94252-Dot-Loop
https://www.flickr.com/photos/kheelcenter/5279194177/sizes/l/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/paulwe/718329501/
https://www.nwnewsnetwork.org/post/self-flying-air-taxi-developed-boeing-subsidiary-makes-first-flight
https://res.cloudinary.com/carsguide/image/upload/f_auto,fl_lossy,q_auto,t_cg_hero_large/v1/editorial/tesla-model-x-p90-
black-2017-pa-%282%29.jpg
https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/pictures/history-of-the-toyota-prius-pictures/