The Technology Fallacy: How People Are the Real Key to Digital Transformation (Management on the Cutting Edge)

by Gerald C. Kane

we discuss in later chapters, fear of failure is a huge impediment to experimentation and innovation in many organizations. Leaders must overcome this obstacle and create an environment that encourages genuine experimentation. Talent building: Supporting continuous self-development. Developing people has always been a core leadership trait. In an environment where continuous learning is critical to building capabilities, leaders must empower and enable self-development. This includes providing employees with opportunities to take on new challenges, as well as supporting self-directed learning outside the organization (see chapters 8 and 9). Influence: Persuading and influencing stakeholders. As we discuss in later chapters, hierarchical structures with solid lines on org charts will diminish. Instead, organizations will look more and more like peer-to-peer networks. Power through simple authority rarely exists. Instead, influence and persuasion become key to building support and getting things done. Collaboration: Getting people to collaborate across boundaries. As we discuss in chapter 13, collaboration is a core trait of digitally maturing organizations. Leaders must encourage and enable this collaboration internally by breaking down silos and increasing cross-functional teaming, as well as outside the organization by extending partnerships and blurring the boundaries of the organization.