Technological developments will lead to profound changes in how businesses run and operate in the future, both on a strategic and operational level.

Gordon Barker, Business Psychologist and Consultant, believes that accountants will need to hone their leadership skills to stand out and become integral to their businesses.

In his webinar: Digital disruption: becoming a transformational leader, part of ICAEW’s 2018 virtual conference on digital disruption, he said: “A new way of leading in the digital era will require a reality check. The world is rapidly changing due to digitalisation and the requirements and expectations of leadership are shifting.”

He urged accountants to embrace and develop leadership qualities. “Often, we still tend to value technical capabilities rather than leadership capabilities. Disruptive technology makes high quality leadership an imperative - not a nice to have - if you want to succeed personally and if you want your team and organisation to succeed,” he said.

He noted that successful leaders are highly conscious of their behaviour and its impact on others. “Our behaviour is influenced by a number of factors such as our values, personality, beliefs, feelings, attitudes and experiences. The challenge is that the impact of our behaviour on people is not always perfectly aligned with our intent,” he added.

Four steps towards becoming a digital leader

Accountants can develop valuable and authentic leadership skills by following four key steps:

1. Adopt a disruptive mindset

Don’t be afraid to try new things and different ways of working. Be prepared to fail and learn quickly from your mistakes. This approach allows you to explore, be more creative and develop new competencies. It also enables you to build relationships and resolve conflict. By adopting this approach, leaders can bring energy to the workplace, as well as inspire and engage others. 

2. Create shared values

To be a transformational leader in a digital environment, accountants need to fully understand their own core personal values, the values of their team and how to align those values. In his webinar, Gordon Barker explained: “By creating shared and explicit values, you can work more effectively as a team and work on a common code of behaviour. This means that when things become less clear, you are able to work together to navigate your way through uncertainty.” 

3. Be more inclusive

Be prepared to break down traditional barriers and tap into the collective intelligence that exists with your organisation. In his ICAEW webinar, Gordon Barker noted that finance professionals such as accountants need to be inclusive and depart from old ways of working.

He added that as society changes for the better and becomes more diverse, this shift should be reflected in the workplace. “We need to get out of old routines and [the habit of] asking the same questions of the same people. By fully engaging with the diverse talent in your finance functions and organisations, you can maximise the ability of your organisations and be really successful as a leader in a digital world," he said.

4. Listen and ask great questions

The ability to truly listen and engage is a core leadership skill. In his ICAEW webinar Gordon Barker said: “Challenge yourself to give full attention. In the modern workplace we are distracted at least every ten minutes. If you really want to become inquisitive - an integral part of leadership in a digital world - you really need to become better at listening. This means you are likely to ask better questions, leading to much better discussions.”

He explained there are five levels of listening. To be a truly successful and dynamic leader, accountants should aspire to level 5 when engaging with their team.

Finance leading digital transformation

During ICAEW’s 2018 virtual conference on digital disruption, Tim Leung, Management Consultant at Deloitte, said: “The explosion of data has given finance an opportunity to be at the heart of strategic decision making.”

In his webinar, Visualising finance transformation in a digital world, Leung argued that finance functions must adapt rapidly and develop expertise in technologies, such as AI, blockchain and RPA, and harness them to analyse data. He said: “It is important that finance teams and individuals learn about these technologies and understand how to combine them so they can drive business performance.”

Ultimately, Leung argued that finance functions, and by necessity their leaders, need to address two key questions:

1. How can accountants drive digital transformation in a business?
2. How can accountants implement digital technologies?

His recommendations include, ensuring that finance teams are proactive in looking for opportunities to support business decisions, rather than waiting to be asked, and being more agile in how they serve the business.

• Find out more by watching the webinar: Visualising finance transformation in a digital world

Further support:

General Resources

• An Executive’s Guide to AI, McKinsey
• How Netflix Reinvented HR, Harvard Business Review
• Rethinking the MBA, Harvard Business Review
• The New Cool War, TED

Inclusion

• Tribal Leadership, TED
• Why we have too few women leaders, TED

Play

• Build a tower, build a team, TED
• Trial, error and the God Complex, TED

Inquisitiveness

• Five Ways to listen better, TED
• TED talks on curiosity, TED

Training course:

• Leading change in the finance function, ICAEW