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Patricia Hind Viki Holton

28 May 2019 · Features

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT SOCIAL

Leadership in an age of
social media

Social media is changing the role of leaders and

their relationships with ‘followers’ and other
stakeholders.

Abstract

The phenomenon of social media now pervades

almost every aspect of our personal and business
lives – and the revolution continues. In its most basic
sense social media has created a shift in how people
communicate with each other, discover, read and
share information – which has implications for
leaders, leadership and HR’s approach to leadership
development.

HR must play a key role in helping leaders and

managers optimise their in uence in a world where
the fusion of psychological and technological skills is
key to success. This research project identi ed how
social media is changing the nature of the
relationship between leaders and followers.

What’s new

If we look at the pro le of a successful leader they

are in uential in their eld and widely respected by
their team. They are used to shaping opinions and
taking decisions that produce great business results.
However, something is changing.

Conversations are taking place across traditional

boundaries both within organisations and outside.
Other individuals are informing them of new and fast-
changing ideas, and others may be managing new
technology more easily. So what’s going on?

Social media is what’s going on. What started as a

personal networking tool for students was quickly
adopted in business as a way of delivering niche
marketing and branding advantage. And there it
remained for a little while. But in recent years the
growth of social media has been explosive.

Social media and HR:

Social media is damaging young professionals'

careers

Can employees be held liable for social media

posts?

What to do about employees’ offensive social media

posts

According to Hootsuite and We Are Social’s global

Digital in 2018 report internet users worldwide in
2018 reached 4.021 billion, up 7% year on year. Active
social media users worldwide reached 3.196 billion,
up 13% year on year, and unique mobile phone users
reached 5.135 billion, up 4% year on year.

It is now estimated that there are 11 new social media

users worldwide each second. So it is inevitable that
such global blanket usage will eventually permeate
every part of the business world.

As one leader commented during this research: “If the

slowest mode of communication you have ever
known is email then your expectations are different
and leaders must adapt to survive. People are used to
being listened to and to having their voice heard
through social media. They expect it at work too.”

One of the key reasons this is important for

leadership is that social media changes the way
relationships develop. For leaders a key relationship
is the one they have with those who follow them.
Social media has, however, repurposed what it means
to be a follower. ‘To follow’ used to refer to behaviour
that meant to go behind someone else and so a
follower would tread in the footsteps of a leader.

It now implies a choice made by the follower

regarding information or communications. The
workplace choices made by followers are now much
more selective, voluntary, multi-channelled and
arguably better informed.

Other changes have also taken place that merit a

closer look at the leader/follower relationships that lie
at the heart of effective leadership. The traditional
organisational hierarchy between leaders and their
followers has eroded over time, partly due to social
movements and the growing empowerment of
followers through their ability to access information
more easily.

Leaders are no longer the sole source of information

about their companies or sectors. High-pro le
incidents at companies such as Enron, BP, Lloyds,
TSB and Exxon have led followers to question and
potentially distrust top leaders. Mergers and
acquisitions continually disrupt the stability of
leadership.

And other factors such as new business models and

the gig economy are all blurring the distinction
between leaders and followers. As too is the concept
of ‘slashies‘, people who identify themselves by the
breadth of their interests and skills – so as a market
analyst/app designer/yoga teacher/author, say, rather
than a ‘programmer’ or an ‘administrative assistant’.

In addition to the leader/follower relationship

dynamics there is evidence that people are more likely
to trust a company whose leadership team engages
with social media, and that they would prefer to work
for a company where leaders are active on social
media.

Most people also believe that use of social media

improves CEO engagement with employees and that
this is mission-critical for a business (according to a
BRANDfog 2016 survey).

Over the past two years this research project,

conducted by Ashridge Executive Education and
sponsored by UNICON, interviewed and surveyed a
cross-section of consultants, leaders and HR
professionals about the impact of social media and
what it means for effective leadership.

Through qualitative and quantitative analysis it

examines whether the fundamental attributes of
leadership are changing in the modern digital world.

Key ndings

The research explored what has changed and what

has remained the same for effective leadership today.
It found that beliefs about the essentials of
leadership are relatively stable; people still say that
leadership is about trust, communication, in uence
and good relationships.

What has changed in the leadership mix is the nature

and granularity of the relationship between leaders
and all those around them, in particular their direct
followers. We identi ed several important aspects of
this changing relationship.

Breadth of reach

Social media allows leaders to access many more

stakeholders, both directly and indirectly, than has
previously been possible. As well as enabling uid
communication within teams there is now the
opportunity to engage with many other stakeholders
in more meaningful ways.

Speed of communication

Through social media leaders can communicate

frequently and ‘instantly’ with their teams in a variety
of sophisticated ways. The social media channels
available allow for better dialogue, with immediate
reaction and response.

Targeted messaging

While leaders have always been aware that their

message must address the ‘what’s in it for me’ factor
for different audiences, this is now ampli ed. Given
the veritable tsunami of data available to followers
online they now have signi cantly more choice about
the information they receive, attend to and respond
to.

Balance of power and in uence

Social media allows for much more personal

communications between leaders and their followers.
This two-way dialogue creates the opportunity for
followers to in uence decisions and outcomes, which
means there has been a shift in the power dynamics.

From research to reality

HR must be the ‘go-to’ place for leaders who need

advice, support and expertise on how to proactively
make the most of the social media tools available.
This means re ecting on the potential of social media
to enhance leadership effectiveness in the L&D
strategy and in leadership development.

Firstly, the trend in leadership development over

recent years has been to focus on ‘soft’ skills such as
listening and empathising. While these are critical
leadership qualities, the research identi es the need
for hands-on technical training.

Where some leaders have independently developed

themselves to become ‘ uent’ users of social media,
every business needs a strong HR capability to guide
and direct the use of the powerful leadership tools
that social media offers.

It should not be left to DIY learning, as this risks a

happenstance rather than thought-out strategy. To
make the most of the value and power of social
media HR must ensure that the technical skills and
capabilities of all those in the leadership cadre are
world class.

While an outsourced team of experts may operate on

behalf of a few senior executives this will not help the
ranks of middle managers who may need to be
brought up to speed and who, for example, may
unexpectedly be exposed to a message that goes
‘viral’, or a crisis that requires urgent resolution.

The research also highlighted that while many

managers have become comfortable using a
WhatsApp group with their immediate team, there is a
reluctance to engage with social media in a more
strategic way.

Opportunities could be missed here. Personal

blogging, for example, can not only raise the pro le of
individual leaders but can provide a useful platform
from which to share company achievements and
developments.

Yet such use is far from universal. When asked about

the adoption of social media for the more task-related
functions of leadership such as performance
management, most leaders said they had not yet
considered this.

They are, however, increasingly aware of the power of

using social media to reward and recognise the work
of others, suggesting they could be helped to explore
and expand their use of the potential functionality
available.

If the business is to be as responsive and agile as

possible in today’s turbulent environment, leaders and
managers must also be helped to stay connected
with their networks of relevant stakeholders. Cross-
sector partnerships, interdependencies and blurred
boundaries all make for a busier and potentially more
confusing communication landscape today.

Add to that the differing capabilities and expectations

of digital natives, and it is imperative that managers
and leaders are supported to use social media to
meet these challenges. One way of developing the
necessary ‘ lter management’ here is to ensure
leaders at all levels have a clear line of sight from
their teams to the overall business strategy.

HR is also uniquely situated to help people address

some of the personal tensions and paradoxes that
have emerged. For example, the use of social media
involves creating a public pro le and this can be a
double-edged sword. On the one hand it creates
opportunities for opinion-forming and in uence, but
on the other it can expose leaders to risk and
vulnerability.

We have always known that for leaders to be trusted

they need to demonstrate integrity and authenticity,
and this often means sharing personal experiences
and views.

Social media appears to amplify this need and

leaders must be cautious and manage the
boundaries between their private and corporate
personas. HR can help leaders to continue to develop
their self-awareness and understanding of their
impact on others.

Another tension raised in the research concerns the

need for immediate ‘sound-bite’ responses to social
media activity at the expense of strategic long-term
thinking.

There is a balancing act to be performed here

involving strategy, decision-making skills, judgements
and communication. Leadership development should
not simply follow a competency-based menu but
encompass some of the multi-layered challenges that
are likely to emerge.

Conclusion

It is unlikely that the social media genie can be put

back in its bottle – and leaders would certainly not
wish to do this as it can bring many bene ts.
However, it must be acknowledged that there is a
potential dark side, which is where HR expertise is
needed.

The research found that for organisations that

embrace social media, and really think about how
they want to use it, this can be a game changer,
spurring new ways of communication, data-gathering
and connecting with stakeholders.

For individual leaders it is essential that they embrace

the changes. Otherwise they risk becoming irrelevant
to those they aim to lead.

Patricia Hind is a business psychologist and director

of the Centre for Research in Executive
Development at Ashridge Executive Education, Hult
International Business School. Viki Holton is a
research fellow at Ashridge Executive Education,
Hult International Business School

This piece appeared in the May 2019 issue.

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