"Hello, Nathalie. What avatar should I use to communicate with my employees?" This is the rather unexpected question that a CEO asked me very recently. In the age of social networks where you change your profile picture using inopportune Snapchats and Instagrams, it seems that social and corporate virtual image has never been so important. It is a current phenomenon that also affects new generation CEOs, leaders who maintain their image among their employees and customers through their blogs and personal Facebook pages. The ultimate goal is to maintain dialogue and make communication more personal and instant. It appears, as well, that 30% of Fortune 500 CEOs are active on at least one social network, with Twitter and LinkedIn in the lead. This percentage may even go as high as 50% among executive management committee members. For 80% of employees, a CEO who is present on social networks shows modern and innovative leadership. There are so many good reasons for him to be concerned about his avatar, aren't there? Nevertheless, the real question is what emerges from this conversation. Indeed, if the only goal is to follow fashion, there is a risk of "followers" turning into raging critics: the rule is to keep it simple, genuine and transparent and ABOVE ALL to have the real CEO himself as the author of any posts, and not a public relations consultant hidden behind the screen. In the land of social networks, nothing can be hidden for very long and everything comes out eventually.
Let's get back to our CEO's question. Simon is a company director in the consulting services field. His employees are all from the millennial generation, in other words, ultra-connected, ultra-trendy, ultra-mobile and not very committed to rules and norms. In short, a gang of switched-on young professionals! For this boss just into his fifties there are still some areas where he finds these specimens incomprehensible, such as their approach to deliverables and their sense of loyalty or customer service, but overall they are a motivated and closely-knit team. Until the day Simon decided to move outside the city. So Simon wondered how to provide leadership remotely, without being there with his team on a daily basis. Welcome to the virtual world of the leadership of the future!
Today's technology also allows you to communicate through robots, as a quick look at this video will show you. Your boss can now walk around on the floor using a robot. It feels as if we are in Wall-E's world!*
Managing his employees remotely is possible and it is nothing new. People who work in international companies with a matrix organization structure know something about it already. They spend their time in conference calls and video conferences. What Simon has in mind is rather to set up a camera at each workstation which will enable him to talk to and communicate with his team remotely and at any time while having real-time access to their documents and files. The ultimate in virtual team work! Even so, it is a touch "big brother" and privacy is forgotten even in the office.
With this kind of model, what will the new leadership style be? The work environment as we have known it is obsolete. New and future generations seem to prefer to trade access to their private life and personal data for a new image of professional freedom. While working from home networking with colleagues and going for hierarchy-based ultra-connectivity at the expense of their private life appeals to some, there are many who are worried about losing meaningful human relationships. Recently, Deloitte Consulting announced that the people working in its new downtown offices will have neither offices nor assigned administrative assistants but rather access to collaborative workspaces and an administrative support group.
Will tomorrow's leaders use the faces of blue and green Avatars or selfie snapshots according to their boss's mood? One thing is for sure, I look forward to exploring these new offices with my GoPro!
Welcome back to work, everyone…
Nathalie Francisci, CHRP, ICD. D
Partner
ODGERS BERNDTSON
Global Leaders in Executive Search
References and sources:
* Wall-E: A Walt Disney Pixar Film http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WALL-E
http://www.brandfog.com/CEOSocialMediaSurvey/BRANDfog_2013_CEO_Survey.pdf
http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/9-ceo-blogs-watch
http://blog.sfgate.com/techchron/2013/01/31/an-ipad-telepresence-robot-creates-a-virtual-you/