Leadership in a Digital Age

Leadership in a Digital
Age

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
SECTION 1......................................................................................................................................3
Leadership theories and models in digital leadership.............................................................3
Analysis of leadership traits through self analysis.................................................................4
SECTION 2......................................................................................................................................7
Leadership capabilities and behaviours along with ethical, social and legal responsibilities for
digital leader...........................................................................................................................7
SECTION 3....................................................................................................................................10
Identify and critically evaluate a contemporary issue from professional practice or research10
Ways in which digital technical leadership can enhance business transformation and
performance of contemporary issue.....................................................................................12
SECTION 4....................................................................................................................................13
Personal development plan...................................................................................................13
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................16

INTRODUCTION
Digital leadership is the strategic use of company’s digital asset and tools for accomplishing
business goals and supporting company in making an effective position in this modern era
(Petry, 2018). This present study is based on digital leadership and their effectiveness. It will
discuss some traits and capabilities that digital leaders have and with these they motivate their
followers for accomplishing company’s goals. Further, it will discuss some issues that occur
within an organization along with ways of digital leader of solving all problems. Lastly, it will
discuss effectiveness of personal development plan as it helps people in improving their skills for
becoming successful and professional life.
SECTION 1
Leadership theories and models in digital leadership
In the context of digital leadership it can be said that it refers a process and way of leading
followers or employees of organization by strategic use of company’s digital assets for achieving
company’s goals. Digital leader knows as how they can accomplish goals of company and how
their job responsibilities can help in it. There are some models and theories of leadership that
also help and make them able to lead their followers in an effective manner. One of the effective
leadership styles that can motivate employees in this modern and digital era is democratic (Terzi
and Derin, 2016). Nowadays employees seek for perks and benefits for working in this
competitive era. So, by making use of this leadership style and providing opportunities to
employees at all stages to take participation in decision making process, digital leader can
become successful.
In addition, leader makes use of transformational style according to the current situation of
the company. As per this leadership style, they encourage motivation as well as positive
development of followers. They also foster ethical environment where employees of all stages
can work in an effective manner and can improve their performance and overall productivity of
the company. Employees in this leadership style have clear direction, values and priorities that
help them out in reducing errors and using their potential (Hoch and et.al., 2018). So, it can be
said that leadership style also plays an important role in becoming successful and motivating
employees towards meeting goals of the company.

Analysis of leadership traits through self analysis

There are some traits and characteristics of digital leader which have been known from self
analysis. From self analysis some strengths and weaknesses of digital leader have been known
such as:
On the basis of above management test some strengths and weaknesses have been found
that can help in developing personal development plan and using strategies for improving skills.
On the basis of total grades and test it can be said that as a digital leader I have some strengths
such as an ability to understand feelings and behaviours of others. Integrity is one of the main
skill plays an important role because it only makes leader able to motivate employees and make
them able to improve their performance and ultimately help company in accomplishing goals
(Zeng, Kelly and Goke, 2020). It is also found that when conflicts occur among employees that
as a digital leader I accept it as an inevitable stage in team development process It motivates

employees and also help in making peaceful working environment. I also believe that technical
skills play a vital role for becoming an effective manager and leader as well. This technical skill
makes us able to solve problems in an effective manner by making use of electronic information
and data. For digital leader and manager technical skill, making use of computer, software and
Artificial intelligence is vital because nowadays in this digital era, all works are being done with
the help of technology for making works easier. I have this skill and this skill can help me out in
my career development.
From self analysis it also is identified that as a digital leader I have self motivation and
inspiring ability which is the main key of success of organization. With self motivation and
inspiration they motivate others for accomplishing goals and improving performance of the
company. They have an ability to influence employees for improved performance. . Self
motivation and ability to inspire others is beneficial for both employees and company as it
improves overall productivity of company and boost confidence of employees (Zeike and et.al.,
2019).
In addition, it is also found that collaboration and ability to work with others also play
an important role and digital leader can increase performance of employees when they work with
their followers. When leader collaborate and work with their employees and guide them then it
makes them feel valued and motivated at workplace. Motivated employees are more likely to
stay with the company for the long run and it improves their relation with leaders.
On the other hand, with self analysis I found some areas in which I am not good as a
digital leader and wan to improve. By self analysing I found that my time management and
flexibility skills are my weakness. Having an ability to adapt changes which occur in both
internal and external business environment is also the main key of successful digital leader.
Flexibility or +ability of adapting changes make a leader able to reduce stress among followers
and keep them motivating towards performing functions without getting affected. In addition,
time management is also one of the main basic traits which all leaders should possess but I am
lacking behind in this skills. As a digital leader, there is requirement of performing several
functions and being multitalented. But due to lack of time management skill, leader can become
frustrated and it can affect their overall performance and productivity as well. Networking
proficiency also plays a vital role but in this area also I am lacking behind as for making
company successful in this digital are it is important to improve this skill. Some other

weaknesses that have been identified from management test are: I do not brief my team members
about their problems as what is going around as I want them to know themselves as what is not
right. But this can sometimes create problems as when employees find difficulties indentifying
their own problem then it can create several other problems. It can lower their confidence but
still I believe that for developing and career development it is important for employees to have
this ability to understand their mistakes and taking actions accordingly. Taking risks also make
people able and make them stressed free. So, I do not brief my followers and sometimes only I
help them out in understanding what is going wrong around them.
Strengths play a vital role in taking advantages of opportunities as collaboration and self
motivation can provide opportunity to digital leader to take competitive advantage by reducing
errors and improving productivity. It can also improve their relation with all stakeholders and
can make them influence for investing money in their organization. Self motivation reduces
stress and make digital leader able to accomplish all short term and long term goals without
getting tired and help company in improving their productivity. Whereas, lack of time
management and flexibility skill can create threats of competition (Zupanzic and et.al., 2016).
Due to lack of flexibility skills, digital leader cannot make able to their employees to adapt
changes, occur in external environment which can lower profit margin and also become the
reason of failure of business. Sometimes all my weaknesses like not helping out employees in
understanding their own mistakes sometimes can become reason of poor quality of products and
errors in the production and other process. It can also dissatisfy customers but taking risk is
important for becoming successful. Employees have fear of taking risks and understanding their
own mistakes but gradually it can make them strong and boost confidence.
So, from self analysis, it can be said that digital leader should posses several traits for
making themselves and their companies successful.
SECTION 2
Leadership capabilities and behaviours along with ethical, social and legal responsibilities for
digital leader
For an effective digital leadership it is important to being ethical and has abilities to know the
difference between the right and wrong. Digital leader of multinational company that operates in
several countries have an ability to know human behaviours and respecting values of different

culture. So in regards to ethical responsibility, it can be said that digital leader should have an
ability to respect values of all cultures.
Diversity and integrity: It is one of the main leadership capabilities that make them able to
become successful and help their company in expanding business in an effective manner. An
ability to understand human behaviour is one of the main capabilities that make a digital leader
successful. In this digital era where all functions are being performed with the help of
technology, digital leader requires having an ability to respect values of different cultures.
Arcadia group operates in different countries and the main key of its success is it understands
tastes of different cultures and accordingly it provides fashionable clothing and other products
that satisfy customers and increase their experience. It is also important for digital leader to
maintain diversity within its organization. It is stated that Arcadia group employs different
cultures, gender and age group of employees and for motivating all employees and making them
able to ring innovative ideas, digital leader require providing fair treatment, not discriminating or
respecting their values.
Ability to be more agile: It is found that any people believe that technological innovations are
influential for leader to be successful. The ability to utilise technologies as a leader in engaging
their employees and helping them out in their works can motivate employees. It makes them feel
valued and motivated towards accomplishing goals of company. In the context of digitally savvy
leaders it can be said that they have an ability to employ new technologies while making big
decisions and align technology to business strategy (Pabst von Ohain, 2019). They make use of
all data and informations while making decision as it helps them out in reducing errors and
improving overall productivity. Automation, internal effectiveness and intelligence are
effectiveness of digital leader.
In addition, it is also found that leader of Arcadia group use cognitive technology in
talent acquisition for making use of people’s analytics to improve employees’ retention rate. It
makes digital leader more flexible and they can adapt changes, occur in external environment
without getting affected. It can also be said that using electronic data in making decision also
help company in protecting against law suits as they have prove of all their decision. By doing
so, digital leader become legally responsible for their company.
Ability to drive a culture of innovation: It is believed that innovative leaders are more likely to
demonstrate curiosity, taking advantages of external opportunities and leading courageously.

Leaders who use technology in an effective manner can create a culture of innovation and
continuous improvement. This ability of digital leader helps their company in taking advantages
of competition as well as becoming the market leader. Arcadia group operates in intense
competitive era and all companies are striving hard for making an effective position in the
market. But one of the main key of taking advantage of this opportunity and accomplishing this
goal is creativity and innovation. It can only be possible when company has skilled workforce
and a leader that can understand current needs and accordingly using technology. So, Arcadia
group requires digital leadership (Teece, 2017). They can help their company in making an
effective position if they use cognitive tools and realign employees’ skills to work effectively
with artificial intelligence while increasing human skills.
This ability also makes leader able to motivate and encourage employees in making them
understand about their roles as not just innovators but instigators. Along with using technology,
an effective leader tries to create a culture where employees at different stages can embrace
technology and also can feel empowered to think differently. It is also believed that having a
culture where leaders and team members support each others respect their efforts and ideas are
more likely to become successful. On the other hand, when employees feel de-motivated and do
not feel valued then they do not stay with the company for the long run. They also do not support
their leader in taking better decisions and solving problems. So, it can be said that for becoming
successful, team members and leader both play a vital role and there is requirement of having
trust between them.
Ability to be adept at risk taking: For becoming socially, ethically and legally responsible,
there is requirement for digital leader to be adept at risk taking. An ability to take risks and
learning from failures makes a leader successful. Digital leadership leaves little room for fear of
failure and it is found from analysis and critical evaluation that innovative leaders’ score lower in
maintaining accuracy but it is to be expected in risk takers. Digital leader understand that for
remaining stress free and becoming flexible there is requirement of having ability to take risks.
This ability motivates their employees towards accomplishment of goals, becoming flexible and
increasing trust for company and leader. It is also found that leaders who are risk takers and have
willingness to take risks are more likely to become stressed free, refreshed and motivated
towards goals.

Ability to keep people connected: A successful digital leader is the one who inspire others and
make their employees’ experience priority. It is also important for digital leader to share or
communicate digital vision among their employees as it improves their relation and increase
loyalty. Leaders also require articulating organization’s strategic vision for developing short term
and long term goals. A successful leader is the one who has an ability to communicate goals
among employees in a way that can motivate them towards accomplishment. Influencing ability
also increase trust among employees and they are more likely to retain with the company for the
long run. So, overall it can be said that digital leader has all these capabilities and these abilities
keep them motivated and make them become socially, ethically and legally responsible.
Along with all discussed capabilities, digital leader have several other skills that helps him out in
identifying the different between the right and wrong and accordingly guiding their employees
on the right direction (Kane and et.al., 2019). They develop team strengths and improve their
weaknesses by identifying team goals and evaluating their progress. So, it can be said that
Arcadia group can become the market leader, increase employees’ retention rate and improve
customers’ experience by employing digital leader and motivating them.
SECTION 3
Identify and critically evaluate a contemporary issue from professional practice or research
A contemporary issue refers to the problem that is currently affecting the people or place, which
are not properly resolved in proper manner. Usually, contemporary issue means happening or
existing at same time in the “Arcadia fashion” group (Vinas, Schroedl and Rayburn, 2020 ). it
often to person and their acts of achievements. For Example - “Arcadia fashion” group firm is
mainly focused on the contemporary issues from management professional practices such as
Manager of Arcadia Fashion. They have identified the various issues during business task
executions.
In context of professional practices, there are different contemporary issues identified in
the workplace. It is important to overcome some challenges or threat in right manner otherwise,
it will increase a lot of problem for other professionals in the organization.
Conflict among employees
Whether, it is employees, boss and managers, workplace can be filled with individual
people, which have not communicated with effectively (Vinas, Schroedl and Rayburn, 2020 ).
They can discriminate or harass others. Some employees are performing unnecessary activities

such as backstabbers and so on. It causes for creating a lot of misunderstanding, stress, anxiety
and other distrust. In this way, it is directly affecting the productivity, performance, reputation,
employees or management relationship.
Unwillingness to acknowledge problems or issue
Each and employee often approach problem from same perspective whereas new issue
arise, they have risk acknowledging them, but not properly recognising them as problems. AT
certain level, managers have not recognised the problem so that it is very difficult for hindering
them from finding success (Pehlivanova, 2020). In this way, it is important for “Arcadia fashion”
group to overcome challenges that need to adopt new perspectives to help shift mind-sets and
identify the specific points of other employees in the workplace. Sometimes, a small problem
will create a lot of distraction to employee in business operational task. In this way, it keep
moving towards to adopt innovative thing and improve overall business performance in proper
manner.
Lack of integrity
Every employee want to be successful in their career, will do perform different activities
in step by step manner. In Arcadia fashion group, manager could cut corners, omit information
and deceive others (Vinas, Schroedl and Rayburn, 2020 ). This type of problem will completely
destroy the trust between people. Without loyalty or trust, it is very difficult to handle the
business operations and functions.
Ineffective training and development programs
Training and development program is not working proper because of hectic schedule of
staff members. in order to increase lack of engagement, poor learning habits and other irrelevant
engagement. This will increase conflicts among staff members, which can lead to poor job
performance, increased stress, and high turnover and so on. This type of challenges are directly
affecting overall business performance and speed (Pehlivanova, 2020). In this way, it is
important to provide better training session for their employee so that they can improve own skill
and gain more knowledge. Effective training program which enable enterprise to up-skill its
workforce, compete successfully and deliver tangible enterprise growth and development.

Ways in which digital technical leadership can enhance business transformation and performance
of contemporary issue
Digital technical leadership is a strategic use of an organization’s digital assets in order to
achieve business goals. Digital leadership plays a vital role enhancing overall performance of a
business and in business transformation. Enhancement of business transformation and
performance is one of the most important issue which is being faced by organizations (Khan,
2016). Digital technical leadership can help organizations like arcadia groups in overcoming
various kinds of contemporary issues that can further help organization in enhancing business
transformation and performance (Neubauer, Tarling and Wade, 2017). It can help in identifying
strengths of employees help them in providing a clear vision of employees that can further help
in enhancing business performance. Issues like ambiguity among employees can directly impact
relationship of employees with organization. There are various ways in which digital technical
leadership can arcadia group in resolving contemporary issues faced by then and enhance their
business transformation and performance in an appropriate manner. Some of the ways in which
digital technical leadership can enhance business transformation and performance are as follows:
 It helps in developing a digital culture that helps in getting the best out of employees and
enhance their overall performance (Neubauer, Tarling and Wade, 2017). Digital culture can
help in bringing improvement within work of employees which eventually helps them in
making their employees more productive. It can directly help in resolving issues like lack of
integrity because all the activities of employees can be recorded in step by step manner and
efficiency of business operations and functions can be enhanced.
 It helps in enhancing overall satisfaction of customers because it can help leaders in
providing satisfaction to customers in terms of speed, convenience, customer support by
providing appropriate and needful training to employees. Digital technical leadership can
directly help in bringing improvement within overall training and development program
asper the business and customers needs (Neubauer, Tarling and Wade, 2017). It eventually
provides a support to business for bringing transformation in business and enhancement of
performance of business. It helps in providing technical training to employees so that they
can get comfortable with the new technology, and use in an effective manner for providing
excellent customer service.

 Digital technical leadership helps in enhancing vision of organization so that they can get a
clarity of ways in which they can achieve pre-defined objectives which can further enhance
overall revenue of organization and enhance retention rate (Neubauer, Tarling and Wade,
2017). Increased clarity of vision, objectives to be achieved helps the organization in
acknowledging issues or problems in a much appropriate and effective manner. Resolving
problems can directly helps in introducing required business transformation and increase
overall performance of organization.
There are some ways in which digital technical leadership can enhance business
transformation and performance by resolving contemporary issues identified above.
SECTION 4
Personal development plan
Personal development is an effective process and way by which people can improve their skills
as well as qualities for becoming successful in the future and for performing tasks. It also makes
the able to improve their professional qualities and maximizing their potential. From the above
self analysis it is found that there are some areas in which I am not good as a digital leader and
requires improvement (Lejeune, Beausaert and Raemdonck, 2018). For performing all functions
and helping out company in accomplishing their goals in this new digital modern era it is
important for me to make an effective plan and identify effective resources for improvement.
There is one of the best and effective ways of improving skills such as:
Areas for
improvem
ent
Resources Importance Time
frame
Time
manageme
nt
Time management is one of the
main key of success of business
and for digital leader it is
important to complete multiple
tasks in a timely manner. There
are several resources and tools
are available that can help in
improving this skills such as:
Time management skill not only
helps in professional life but also is
helpful in personal life as well. As a
digital leader there is requirement to
get information and making use of
technology for performing several
tasks. When people do not complete
their tasks in a timely manner then it
15-20
days

Trello, toggle plan and others.
Toggle is one of the effective
tool that help busy leaders in
getting their work done in an
effective and timely manner. In
addition, it can also be said that
by reducing procrastination and
making a time table by
prioritizing work, this skill can
be improved.
increases frustration. It affects
concentration power and it can also
increase errors in work. So, for
improving quality of products and
being stressed free at work it is
important for digital leader to
improve this skill.
Networking
proficiency
By attending local digital
conference, making use of start
up pitches and internet summits,
leader can improve this skill. By
practising more and focusing on
all these area, leader can
improve them as a digital and
successful leader and also can
help company in taking
competitive advantages.
For digital leadership it is important
to find appropriate places for
concentring with people along with
creating partnership. It can help them
out in building business bonds,
sharing valuable information and
making their business innovative as
well as creative. It can also be said
that digital leader is forward thinker
and industry leading but it can be
possible only when digital leader has
an ability to make use of technology
and are network proficient.
20-25
days
CONCLUSION
The present report is made on digital leadership and its effectiveness which has shown
traits and characteristics that digital leader should possess. Some important traits and
characteristics that make a digital leader successful and able to perform function of their
company in an effective manner include: integrity, flexibility, ability to analyse digital data or
information etc. Further, it has discussed some ethical, social and legal responsibilities that

digital leader has along with their capabilities that include: ability to engage people, ability to be
adept at risk taking and ability to drive a culture of innovation. All these skills and capabilities
make digital leader successful and also make them able to motivate their employees towards
accomplishing goals. Lastly, it has discussed ways of improving weakness that for becoming an
effective digital leader by identifying weaknesses.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Chaffey, D. and Smith, P.R., 2017. Digital marketing excellence: planning, optimizing and
integrating online marketing. Taylor & Francis.
Hoch, J.E. and et.al., 2018. Do ethical, authentic, and servant leadership explain variance above
and beyond transformational leadership? A meta-analysis. Journal of Management. 44(2).
pp.501-529.
Kane, G.C. and et.al., 2019. How digital leadership is (n't) different. MIT Sloan Management
Review. 60(3). pp.34-39.
Khan, S., 2016. Leadership in the digital age: A study on the effects of digitalisation on top
management leadership.
Lejeune, C., Beausaert, S. and Raemdonck, I., 2018. The impact on employees’ job performance
of exercising self-directed learning within personal development plan practice. The
International Journal of Human Resource Management. pp.1-27.
Neubauer, R., Tarling, A. and Wade, M., 2017. Redefining leadership for a digital age. Global
Centre for Digital Business Transformation, pp.1-15.
Pabst von Ohain, B., 2019. Leader Attributes for Successful Digital Transformation.
Pehlivanova, P., 2020. The Significance of Rationality in Reforming Ethics within
Contemporary Professional Work.
Petry, T., 2018. Digital leadership. In Knowledge Management in Digital Change (pp. 209-218).
Springer, Cham.
Teece, D.J., 2017. Dynamic capabilities and (digital) platform lifecycles. In Entrepreneurship,
innovation, and platforms. Emerald Publishing Limited.
Terzi, A.R. and Derin, R., 2016. Relation between Democratic Leadership and Organizational
Cynicism. Journal of Education and Learning. 5(3). pp.193-204.
Vinas, E.K., Schroedl, C.J. and Rayburn, W.F., 2020. Advancing Academic Continuing Medical
Education/Continuing Professional Development: Adapting a Classical Framework to
Address Contemporary Challenges. Journal of Continuing Education in the Health
Professions. 40(2). pp.120-124.
Zeike, S. and et.al., 2019. Digital leadership skills and associations with psychological well-
being. International journal of environmental research and public health. 16(14). p.2628.
Zeng, C., Kelly, S. and Goke, R., 2020. Exploring the Impacts of Leader Integrity and Ethics on
Upward Dissent and Whistleblowing Intentions. Communication Reports. pp.1-13.
Zupanzic, T. and et.al., 2016. Digital leadership. Complexity, Simplicity. 1. pp.63-68.