Discussions about how digital ecosystems can transform businesses were relevant long before 2020. The simple fact is that as our world embraces more and better technology, digital practices are enabling more efficient practices across all different types of businesses. Potential benefits like real-time connections, improved sales and marketing efforts, and ultimately lowered cost and greater revenue, have been evident for some time now. But in 2020, we’ve come to face an even more comprehensive push toward digital ecosystems.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many workplaces have had to transition toward entirely digital practices. And though some have worked out ways back into the office with strict health precautions, many more may simply be embracing a new, semi-permanent reality. University studies on the matter have in fact found that half of the workforce is now remote in the U.S. And with companies and workers alike realizing some benefits of this situation — such as greater flexibility and fewer wasted resources — there’s a real chance that many businesses will simply stick with remote, digital conditions. A write-up on the aforementioned study pointed out that companies like Twitter and Facebook have already freed employees to become “roving nomads” forever.
This is a fascinating topic to keep an eye on with respect to the pandemic and the future of the American workplace. But in a more urgent sense, it’s also a set of circumstances that raises important questions about how modern businesses should be managed. In short, it makes one wonder how the practice of management should be reimagined given the new normal of wholly digital ecosystems.
The first thing that ought to change given the rapid (and, likely, partially permanent) shift in American business is education. Already today, business school is a dynamic and forward-looking environment. University programs offer education across countless business practices, and a guide to prominent online business programs begins by reminding the next generation of leaders that “business is ever-changing.”
This is all to stress that business education is already a field poised to adapt and embrace new things. But now, it’s crucial that those new things include more of a focus on remote management, effective partner enablement and oversight of digital ecosystems. Right now, business students pursuing positions of leadership are taught how to manage teams and control companies. Moving forward, these areas of education need to include specific framing for digital-only environments.
Adjustments of this nature will help to educate tomorrow’s business leaders, so that a next generation comes of age fully prepared to take on remote working conditions and enable improved intra- and inter-company performance in digital ecosystems. But in the meantime, current leaders and businesses seeking to endure difficult times needs to reimagine structures and practices as well.
The first big change that needs to occur among active managers is a focus on education — both on a personal and company-wide level. People in positions of leadership and management now face an obligation to take it upon themselves to learn about the digital tools and systems they need to implement for the sake of business continuity. To give an easy example in 2020, this might mean learning a video conferencing app like Zoom inside and out before holding meetings — whether internally or with other partners and organizations . Similarly, it might mean gaining familiarity with cloud file-sharing services, or a new digital communication ecosystem for remote workers. Education for business leaders may (and generally, should) even include more attention for cybersecurity.
Following personal education, managers and others in leadership also need to take it upon themselves to convey the importance of digital ecosystems. As a report on the importance of business transformation from long before the pandemic put it, “leadership will have to understand the strategic opportunities presented by technology and communicate this effectively throughout the organization.” These opportunities are now being realized out of necessity rather than general progress, but the point remains the same: Part of modern management in digital ecosystems is conveying the importance of digital practices to the company. Employees will be better able to operate in this new environment if they’re helped to fully understand why changes are being made, and how those changes might be beneficial for all involved, as well as for collaborative purposes beyond internal company operations.
This goes for changes that occur beyond the scope of internal structure as well. As explained in the post “TIDWIT – Ecosystems Reimagined” we are seeing a new, pluralistic model emerging, allowing organizations to connect and form alliance relationships with other ecosystems. This is a model that only figures to strengthen as our workplaces become more digitized and remote. Businesses that are able to scale to support these changes will be more dynamic, but here again it will be up to management to implement changes with the utmost clarity.
Management style should be reimagined as well, in two ways in particular. The first pertains to authority and interpersonal relationships. In ordinary business environments, leaders’ authority is generally assumed, and management is conducted on a person-to-person basis; oversight is an individual matter, because individual employees are very directly accountable. In a digital ecosystem with remote workers however, these assumptions of authority and control are somewhat weakened. Employees may be operating on more flexible schedules, and the loss of in-person contact can detract from the feeling that management is actively in charge. A proper adjustment to these changes is to refocus practices on team efforts and group contribution whenever possible. By piecing individuals together into teams, a manager operating remotely and through digital means can make oversight easier and authority more apparent. Rather than spread-out individuals communicating with each other and occasionally leaders, there can be one team or a few teams working together and then reporting to leadership.
The second way in which management style should be reimagined is in the recognition of accomplishments and completed tasks. While these matters largely depend on the nature of a company and the personal style of the manager, it’s fair to say that progress and achievements in ordinary business environments are either recognized at major milestones or not at all. But this is a way of doing things that exists within the traditional ecosystem, and the assumption that employees will come to work and perform as expected on a daily basis. In a digital ecosystem, however, employees have less direct oversight, more distractions, and — if we’re being honest about the conditions of 2020 specifically — more stress. Incentives to work well and regularly are less prevalent, which suggests that managers should attempt to provide those incentives. Regular recognition of smaller milestones or completed projects is an idea worth considering in our transforming environment.
This is ultimately a fascinating problem, and one that will be solved in different ways by different business leaders. Digital ecosystems offer a great deal of opportunity, and could prove in the long run to represent new heights of efficiency. The transition is challenging however, and just as it will change day-to-day working practices, it needs to inspire new and imaginative solutions from business leaders.
Content intended only for the use of tidwit.com
Written by Alicia Bentley
