- So, let's talk about another taboo subject
which is power.
Power is oftentimes seen as a zero-sum game
inside of organizations.
Either you have power or you don't.
If you have power, you want to hang onto it
because you're afraid that it might be taken away from you.
And in a digital workplace,
what we oftentimes talk about
is empowering our employees,
so when employees have power,
what does that mean for their managers and directors
and the leaders in the organizations?
It implies that they have less power.
And I think this is an important dynamic to understand
for an HR professional
because you're dealing with people
in the midst of tremendous change
that digital is forcing upon them.
The fact that employees can get
onto an internal social network
or enterprise collaboration platform
and say what they want,
what they really think about their leaders,
what's really going around, maybe our strategy's awful,
that's hard to hear
but in many ways I think leaders
in HR should celebrate the fact
that employees feel comfortable enough,
feel trusted enough
that they won't get fired for speaking
what they think is true.
So, how do you help employees first of all,
find that voice
and leaders who also feel comfortable hearing that?
And I think this is one of those most delicate places
that HR needs to navigate inside of this digital world
to understand how you give people power
but also help people feel and comfortable
that they're not giving up power
because frankly, they never had it to begin with.
The thought that you could control people,
that you have power over them,
I think is a misconception
and what leaders really want to know
is even when people are empowered,
will they still listen to me,
will they follow me when they give the command
to go in this direction, will they go in that direction?
Do I have confidence that I can steer this ship
in the places it needs to go?
So, I think in many ways,
what we're talking about here,
the workplace that's changing
because of digital is that leadership needs
to be changed also, we need to think about it
in a very different way
and leaders need to feel comfortable using
these digital tools and channels to lead.
And this is where HR comes in.
The role of HR in this transformation then
is how can we help the leaders of the organization
learn how to lead through these digital channels.
They do not know and understand how to actually do this,
so when it comes time for them
to step into this void,
HR needs to be there to be able to catch them
and HR in particular needs
to learn how to do this themselves
and what a better place to practice this
than within the leadership opportunities
inside of HR departments
to practice how do you lead in the digital way?