28. Januar 15

The Network Mindset

Leadership in the digital age requires more then the typical heroic leadership mindset which still is found quite often in organizations from all fields. Leading in the digital age means coping with uncertainty, preparing for unexpected chances, connecting with people from all over the world, getting feedback from the social networks, being transparent in a scary way and so on…

Leadership in the digital age needs to learn strategies from social media networks: connecting and weaving, self-organizing and doing, learning and risk taking, these are the skills which are described as the core principles of leadership with a network mindset by the Leadership Learning Community http://leadershiplearning.org/system/files/LLCNetworkNLfinal4.pdf.

Networking and Leadership are not new to each other. But what is new is the attention the topic gets at the moment: from Kotter’s “Accelerate” to Herminia Ibarra’s “How Leaders create and use networks”, the network mindset of leadership is a hot topic. When it comes to change or to solving complex problems, you need a well-functioning network inside your organization. This network should not correspond with hierarchy. It should be self-organized and should focus on learning from each other and taking action.