I have a relative whose daughter started to look down on her due to her inability to navigate the latest mobile phone she received. Later on as she started to get the hang of it then the more she grew in terms of her daughters credibility; this is unfortunate but not unlike many senior managers who operate in a non IT literate world.
3 years ago I was the executive coach for a CEO, we had been discussing the poor results of the companies employee satisfaction survey and one of the areas on the survey was around trust and comments people had made about not being allowed to use the internet.
She wondered out loud at the point of it other than wasting time, I asked a simple question, “I notice you do not have a PC on your desk, do you have a PC here or at home?”, the reply was, “No, but my estate manager does.”
She then went on to say, “what does anyone actually use the internet for?”, I looked out of her office and saw two PA’s, one for work and one for personal, they printed emails, made the notes then they typed them out for her it went on from there. This is a very successful woman, who has made his fortune through organising her day this way and has done a darn good job of it.
Though the learning for her, was not ‘how to use a PC’, but more to the point the gradual dissociation with the world that everyone else lives in (I know for a fact I can barley function without the internet).
What’s my point? Well feel that there is a mental note to self here for many senior managers probably on topics more far ranging than the internet, even simple things like getting to work. Most senior managers drive and even have their own parking, many people get the bus and an underground train then have to walk, they can’t leave heir desk unless when they feel like it……..
Consider:
- Do I understand the lives my people live?
- Have I lost the understanding that I used to have?
- How can I regain not the credibility but the understanding that will lead back to the credibility?
- Who will be my council and advise me?
Filed under: leadership behaviour Tagged: | leadership culture, leadership employee survey, leadership intouch, Leadership IT, leadership thinking, leadeship and internet
