A recent Harvard Business Review blog post by James Champy argues leadership does not change in a Web 2.0 World. Mr. Champy’s core points are that (a) leadership requires relationships and personal engagement and (b) technology does nothing to alter this requirement in leaders. Based on his points, Mr. Champy seems to suggest that the most appropriate way forward for a leader in a Web 2.0 world to is engage her/his followers face-to-face. While Mr. Champy’s core points are accurate, they rest on a very simple picture of leadership. It is only when one sees the more complex picture of leadership offered by leadership scholars, one can begin to see that the requirements for leadership are expanding in a Web 2.0 world. If all we say to leaders is that they need to keep focusing on building relationships and enabling personal engagement in a Web 2.0 world, we would be giving them advice that would be technically correct but of limited practical value.

A more comprehensive view of leadership

Francis Yammarino, Fred Dansereau, and Christina Kennedy offer a comprehensive picture of leadership by identifying five areas that have been important to scholars of leadership. The first area, fundamental human processes, covers psychological and related processes that enable the formation of relationships that people think of as leadership. These processes serve as basic foundations without which leadership would not be possible. These processes cover cognitive and emotional processes, attraction between individuals, the norms, values, and culture of collectives, and, finally, communication. The second area, leadership core processes, are behaviors or qualities displayed by a leader to exercise leadership. They include charisma, transformational leadership, empowerment, providing task and relationship functions to groups, and supervision and management. The third area, leadership outcomes (hereafter referred to as leadership tactics), covers the ways in which a leader puts together core processes. Examples of such tactics include team building, delegation, and participation in decision-making. The fourth area, second-level leadership outcomes, refers to the immediate outcomes of leadership core processes and includes variables such as performance, satisfaction, absenteeism, engagement of followers, and leader-follower relationships. Note that it is just this area that Mr. Champy seems to be focusing on. The last area, substitutes for leadership, covers leadership enhancers, neutralizers, and replacements.

To show how leaders will need to adapt in a Web 2.0 world, it is sufficient if we just focus on the first three areas.

Web 2.0 and fundamental leadership-related human processes

Technology is changing the fundamental human processes that serve as basic foundations for leadership. Leaders need to understand that when we use technology, the mental processes that are triggered are not the same due to the absence of non-verbal cues and lack of social presence. We bring different information and emotions to bear on a situation when communicating via electronic media. For instance, email has been shown to trigger egocentrism. It may also make receivers perceive messages to be more negative than they actually are. Attraction between individuals is also altered by technology. While individuals interacting via technology tend to have low attraction towards one another, this reverses under certain conditions; we are all aware of someone who has fallen in love online.

In a Web 2.0 world, our norms and expectations about effective leadership are changing. With proliferation of technology-mediated virtual teams, there is greater need and expectation for leaders to provide us with an inspiring purpose and structure that hold the team together and propel it forward despite the numerous challenges of working virtually. Our values and cultures may be changing such that we seek different qualities in a leader. Our younger generation, which is growing up in an open, tell-all culture, is likely to seek similar information-sharing qualities in its leaders. Additionally, the communication processes that enable leaders to instill their leadership philosophy in others are changing due to technology. The effectiveness of these tools and consequently, the leader-follower relationship that develops, varies with the presence or absence of a variety of technology-related or technology-induced factors. My previous post about the effectiveness of video conferencing illustrates this point.

In sum, several of the processes that affect the formation of leader-follower relationships are changing in a Web 2.0 world, thereby changing who is seen as a leader and what makes a leader successful. Therefore, to emerge as a leader and to become successful, one will have to be aware of how technology may alter the fundamental human processes that affect leader-follower relationships. Armed with this knowledge, one can dial down actions or steps that damage leader-follower relationships and focus on actions that promote strong leader-follower relationships.

Web 2.0 and leadership core processes

The “appropriate” fundamental human process just don’t happen. A leader has to exhibit appropriate behaviors to enable appropriate fundamental processes to occur.

Web 2.0 can be a double-edged sword for charisma and transformational leadership. While on one hand, Web 2.0 can help spread the word about a leader’s admirable qualities and behaviors far and wide and enable the development of charisma among distant followers, it can also puncture this “ideal” picture about the leader by readily making the followers more aware of the leader’s missteps. In a Web 2.0 world, leaders need to be careful every step of the way because they are tracked like never before. Thus, to help them form meaningful and strong relationships with their followers, they have to monitor their behavior and tread carefully even when they are not with their followers.

Electronic media can make it challenging for a leader to convey emotions and be transformational. However, electronic media have also been shown to help a leader when they are utilized properly. Specifically, the absence or relative lack of nonverbal cues in electronic media can remove focus on inter-personal differences. A smart leader can take advantage of this and transform the followers by making them focus on the commonality among them and a higher purpose that binds them together (read about this research).

In a Web 2.0 world, a leader cannot hope to supervise and manage in the same way as in a non-Web 2.0 environment. With delayed information from remote followers, a leader cannot expect to be very effective at direct supervision and management. Proper and more elaborate structures will have to be set in place beforehand. For situations where prior structures are not sufficient, the intent or purpose behind follower’s work will have to be clarified and followers will have to be trained and empowered to deal with unexpected situations themselves. Hiring, too, will be impacted in a Web 2.0 world. Leaders will have to be careful and choose those who are self-motivated and can discipline themselves.

Web 2.0 and leadership tactics

A Web 2.0 world offers greater opportunities for organizations to take advantage of the innovation and leadership capabilities of their workers. Research suggests that in organizations that seek to benefit from IT investments that enable grassroots participation, leaders would need to delegate more and they would need to focus more on team building and goal alignment (e.g., through inspirational leadership). Moreover, in a Web 2.0 world, organizations have the opportunity to tap into the creative and leadership capabilities of their external stakeholders, such as their customers. Here too, letting go of control while providing inspiration and a guiding hand for collaboration are likely to be vital for a leader.

What does Web 2.0 mean for leadership?

To be sure, the focus on building relationships and personal engagement in leadership will not change in a Web 2.0 world, as pointed out by Mr. Champy, but how a leader achieves these goals will have to change. With increasing globalization and cost pressures, it would not be optimum for leaders to travel and meet their followers face-to-face, despite the efficacy of face-to-face meetings for relationship building and personal engagement. Moreover, they would be unable to tap into the expertise and creativity of external stakeholders if they attempt to rely on face-to-face meetings with them. Future leaders will have to rely more on technology. Effective leaders will need to figure out both the opportunities and perils of electronic communication and take steps to maximize the benefits and minimize the downsides in a Web 2.0 world.

What leaders have under their control are their mental processes and their behaviors and tactics. It is these that play a role in determining the relationships and personal engagement that result. It is these that make up leadership. Leaders need to be cognizant of how technology can change their mental processes and behaviors and adjust themselves appropriately. They also need to be aware of how the relevance and requirement of certain behaviors and tactics changes with technology so that they can change their behaviors accordingly. With so many things changing for a leader in a Web 2.0 world, how can leadership remain the same?