Good Teachers are Good Leaders in the Digital Era

The digital revolution changes dramatically our relationship with information. Before the digital era, access to information was expensive and difficult to have, and information was strongly associated with power. In the “content” era, information = power. This relationship was the source of social power we experienced in many different aspects of our lives. For instance, physicians, managers, teachers, among others professionals, use to extract power in the ownership of information. Today, many physicians see their patients checking out the internet to get information about the symptoms they have, sometimes using this knowledge to question some of the physician’s conclusions and/or prescriptions. This can be perceived as a threaten or as an opportunity.

Take teachers, for instance. The fact that a student can check at any time the information the teacher is sharing can be perceived as an important threat to her authority or knowledge. This might lead teachers from the “content” era to feel afraid of having their competence questioned, leading to avoidance behaviors like not allowing internet access in class at all. However, most teachers that understand this paradigm shift will see this transformation as an opportunity to engage with students differently, and use their help to improve the learning experience.

How good teachers are dealing with this opportunity? Good teachers know that content is not at the center anymore; the learner is. Putting the learner at the center changes profoundly the way the teacher conceives and deliver teaching. Instead of focusing on the content, good teachers work on the learning experience, understanding students’ needs and their ways of learning. Good teachers work on creating a culture of growth among students, set up the goals at the good level to each student individually, and set up the right learning architecture for students to bloom.

Now, do you see any similarities with what leaders are facing today? Leaders face the same challenges, because their role in the industrial “content” era is turning upside down in the digital economy. In the “content” era, managers had a key role of information pipeline and top down decision making. Today, the information is available and usually accessible to teams, who look more for meaning and sense of purpose. The context is too complex and it changes too fast to allow centralized and decontextualized decision making. So leaders, including middle management, face an identity crises that can lead to fear, denial and toxic behaviors in their organizations.

So what should leaders do? Instead of focusing on the content, good leaders work on the employee experience, understanding their individual and collective needs and linking it to the company goals and strategy. Leaders also create a culture of growth and development among their teams, making sure that each person in the team is constantly learning and engaging with the organization’s mission and vision. As teachers, leaders set up the right work architecture for employees to bloom.

Obviously this transformation is not easy. Put yourself for a moment in these leaders’ shoes. The organizational world that rewarded their behaviors in the past (top down decision making, information pipeline role, etc) now asks for a complete different posture as leaders (collaborative, co-construction, Test & Learn, etc). Some leaders might have a hard time understanding what exactly they are supposed to do in the digital era. Sometimes, even if they understand it conceptually, leaders need to work hard to rewire their beliefs to be able to really change their behaviors.

Like teachers, leaders need to embrace this change. Many teachers are still struggling with this change from the “content” era to the digital era. So are some leaders. However, understanding how good teachers are using experiential learning and other innovative training methods can help leaders to switch the focus from content to their teams, opening new avenues for excitement, discovery and development to everyone.

If you have any comments or thoughts on this topic, I would love to hear from you.

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Adilson Borges is the Chief Learning Officer at Carrefour France and the President of the Academy of Marketing Science. Adilson is also the IRC Professor of Marketing at Neoma BS. Before that, he held various positions at Neoma Business School, Reims Management School and Unilever. He's is passionate about marketing, learning, decision making and behavioral science. Adilson enjoys sharing his personal thoughts here on LinkedIn. All statements and opinions presented in his articles or posts only reflect his personal opinion.

Follow Adilson on Twitter: @aborges_mkt