Leadership Competencies for Digital Transformation: Evidence from Multiple Cases

Abstract

Digital transformation (DT) is disrupting industrial organizations, which require significant changes in their properties to remain competitive. This calls for strong leadership to drive this transformation. However, what leadership competencies are required to lead DT impactfully is unclear. Therefore, we seek to identify the key leadership competencies by employing a qualitative, grounded theory approach. By conducting interviews of ten DT experts from two hardcore industrial organizations, we highlight five key leadership competencies that industrial organizations need to develop in their leaders: digital vision, digital knowledge, failing fast, empowerment, and managing diverse teams. The results of this study will help industrial organizations to strategically prepare their leadership for the requirements of DT.

The transformative leadership compass: six competencies for digital transformation entrepreneurship

“…The transformation process is much more likely to drive from the top, which does not mean an autocratic or hierarchical leadership style, but the acknowledgement that durable changes are encouraged by top managers' leadership (Sathe, 2007; Imran et al , 2020). For this reason, the role of leadership in digital transformation is critical to carry and support an organisation towards a digital maturity journey.…”

“…In the last years, with the growing attention to digital technologies and solutions rapidly transforming organisations and industries, the notion of digital leadership has been introduced to address the competence that leaders have to be developed in today's digital age. However, what competencies distinguish a digital leader driving digital transformation are still unclear (Imran et al , 2020). El Sawy et al (2020) define digital leadership as the capacity of doing the right things for the strategic success of digitalisation for the enterprise and its business ecosystem.…”

“…The extant literature has focused on the notion of transformative, wise and digital leadership to distinguish the characteristics of a new leader's profiles to drive organisational development in today's complex and turbulent business landscape. However, each of these research strands focuses on specific perspectives, like the need to develop wisdom, phronesis, or digital and technical skills, or soft skills and attitude to change (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 2011, 2019; Caldwell et al , 2012; Imran et al , 2020). It is missing a comprehensive view of the leaders' competencies defining a digital transformative leader's characteristics.…”

Antecedents of Effective Digital Leadership of Enterprises in Asia Pacific

“…Digital leaders need to be creative visionaries and be prepared to accept and respond intuitively to continual disruption (Tardieu et al, 2020). Digital vision, empowerment, ability to manage diverse teams, are some of the competencies highlighted that are critical for digital transformation (Imran, Shahzad, Butt, & Kantola, 2020).…”

“…Various past studies examining the leadership traits and qualities suggests that state that digital leaders should be able pursue a clear and meaningful digital vision, inspire the employees, and have the capability to execute strategies to actualize the digitalisation process of the enterprise (Swift & Lange, 2018;Larjovuori et al, 2018). Leadership competencies that organisations need to develop in their leaders include digital vision, digital knowledge, empowerment, and managing diverse teams (Imran et al, 2020). Leaders would also be open to new possibilities, new markets, new customers, and new innovations by taking risks (Larjovuori et al, 2018).…”